Serbia to offer territory swap and UN chair to Kosovo (Roundup)

Jul 9, 2010, 13:34 GMT

Belgrade/Pristina - Belgrade plans to offer Pristina a territory swap and a UN chair - but Pristina has no intention of discussing such a proposal, Serbian and Kosovo newspapers reported Friday.

Belgrade plans to use a 'favourable moment' to offer a part of southern Serbia in exchange for northern Kosovo. It would sweeten the deal by offering to end its blockade of Kosovo in the United Nations, the Belgrade daily Blic said, citing diplomatic sources.

But Hashim Thaci, Kosovo's prime minister, immediately dismissed any possibility of new talks on the status of Kosova, saying 'that chapter is closed,' the daily Zeri quoted him as saying in Pristina.

The parts of southern Serbia reportedly on offer have a majority Albanian population, while Serbs dominate the parts of northern Kosovo in question. Both areas are flashpoints with a high potential for instability.

Kosovo is Serbia's former province with a 90-per cent-Albanian majority. It declared independence in 2008, nine years after NATO ousted Belgrade's security forces from there.

Most Western nations and neighbours have recognized Kosovo, but Serbia - through ally Russia's power of veto - has so far blocked it from gaining a seat in the UN and becoming a fully fledged country.

Diplomatic sources told Blic that Belgrade regards an upcoming ruling by the International Court on Justice (ICJ), which is considering Serbia's complaint against Kosovo's secession, a 'good moment' to put forward the initiative for the exchange of territory.

But Thaci ruled out a swap: 'We impatiently await the opinion of the ICJ ... (but) the question of the political status (of Kosovo) is forever closed.'

The non-binding verdict by The-Hague based ICJ is expected around July 22.

On Thursday the European Parliament urged those EU nations that have so far refused to recognize Kosovo - Spain, Slovakia, Romania, Greece and Cyprus - to do so. It also rejected partition as an option.

Previous negotiations between Serbs and Kosovo Albanians have not been fruitful.

The two sides met in 2006 under the umbrella of the UN to negotiate the status of Kosovo.