South Serbia Albanians Demand Talks With Belgrade

The assembly of ethnic Albanian leaders from the ethnically mixed border region sent their request for talks to Belgrade and the European Union, which is currently mediating negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo.

The 65 delegates also adopted a decision to boycott the census in Serbia scheduled for October.

“We are not satisfied with the attitude of the state, which treats Albanians discriminatorily,” Riza Halimi, the only Albanian MP in Serbia's parliament, said.

Halimi, leader of the Movement for Democratic Action, the strongest Albanian party in the region, said the state was economically hostile to Albanians in southern Serbia.

“There are no investments in Presevo and Bujanovac whatsoever, there is great poverty and there are no new jobs, which is why Albanians are forced to move out,” said Halimi, who recalled that the unemployment rate in Presevo was 70 per cent.

Jonuz Musliu, speaker of the local assembly in Bujanovac, said the state had a “discriminatory attitude” towards Albanians, which threatened their fundamental rights.

"The state is deliberately not investing into this region in order to keep Albanians in poverty,” said Musliu, leader of the radical Movement for Democratic Progress.

“Albanians still don’t have the right to freely use national symbols and their language, and the region is not demilitarised, which is why we want the Albanian position discussed in Brussels,” said Musliu.

The assembly unanimously decided to boycott the census, partly because the census lists are being printed in Serbian, and partly because Albanians who have moved out of South Serbia to Kosovo cannot take part.

The region of Southern Serbia, which has a majority ethnic Albanian population, is still recovering from the armed conflicts in 2000 and 2001 between the security forces and Albanian insurgents of the self-styled Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac.

The conflict ended through the mediation of NATO and the international community.