Dacic Suggests Kosovo Should Be Divided Between Albania, Serbia

Ivica Dacic, Serbian Interior Minister | Photo by FoNet

In an interview with the Serbian weekly newspaper Nin, Dacic advocated the partition of Kosovo, explaining that people "do not need fairy tales of multi-ethnic life anymore".

"We have tried to defend Kosovo with war, but we didn't succeed," he said, maintaining that partition is the only realistic solution to the problem.

The Serbian government's official stance on Kosovo is that it forms an integral part of Serbia, and cannot be partitioned or divided. Belgrade rejected Pristina's declaration of independence and maintains that Kosovo remains its southern province.

"That's why I speak of demarcation, before it is too late," Dacic continued, explaining that he meant the correction of borders between the two neighboring states - Serbia and Albania.

"Serbia should not have recognized anyone else as negotiator on the other side except Albania," he said, referring to the ongoing Belgrade-Pristina talks in Brussels headed by negotiators from both Kosovo and Serbia.

"Are we really so naive to think that Kosovo will survive as an independent, autonomous state?" the minister asked.

He said that Kosovo, which declared its independence from Serbia in February 2008, could join Albania, just as Republika Srpska, Bosnia's predominantly Serb entity, could join Serbia.

"You want me to say that there are different Albanians in Pristina and Tirana?" Dacic asks.

When asked why he thinks it's easier to divide Kosovo between Albania and Serbia, and not between Serbian and Kosovo authorities, Dacic said that Kosovo Albanians are an Albanian national minority.

Drawing a parallel with Republika Srpska, Dacic said that if the Bosnian Serb entity decides on a referendum to secede from Bosnia it will not want to become an independent state but to join Serbia, as they are the same people.