South Serbia Albanians want to join in Kosovo dialogue

Democratic Party of Albanians leader Ragmi Mustafa said the Presevo valley in southern Serbia has been waiting for a solution to its problems since 2001 when an armed conflict with Serbian security forces ended. “There are no obstacles for Serbia to promote the rights of the Albanians in the Presevo valley and to say that it has done everything for the Albanians and the same should be done for the Serbs in northern Kosovo,” Mustafa told the Beta news agency.  

“Belgrade’s policy is to keep problems under the rug like they have been for 100 years. They expect the dialogue with Kosovo to end in some way without resolving the problems of the Albanians in the Presevo valley. We don’t know Belgrade’s program for the Brussels negotiations but why shouldn’t we ask the same for the Presevo valley if it includes a division of Kosovo with that section being annexed to Serbia then,” He said.  

Mustafa said he expects “the joint declaration by all Albanian local council members in Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja (southern Serbian municipalities with large Albanian populations) to get support from Pristina”. Albanian councillors adopted a declaration at a joint session on July 14 empowering “the Kosovo parliament, president and government to include the rights of the Presevo valley Albanians in the final negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina”. The declaration was condemned by the Serbian authorities at national and local level.