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Serbia complains to U.N. about Kosovo property claims

Other News Materials 18 June 2009 03:31 (UTC +04:00)

Tens of thousands of Serbs would like to return to Kosovo but have been stonewalled in their attempts to recover illegally seized property, a Serbian minister told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

In a speech to the 15-nation council, Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic reiterated Belgrade's opposition to the independence of Kosovo, which seceded from Serbia in February 2008. Some 60 countries have recognized its independence.

Jeremic cited figures from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), estimating that over 200,000 Kosovo Serbs have yet to return home a decade after a 1998-99 war. He said only around 500 went back to Kosovo last year and 30 during the three months from March to May of this year.

He said Serbs "want to exercise their right of return and we must do everything to bring them back home." He added that few destroyed houses have been repaired and most remain empty.

"This is not, however, where the biggest problem lies," Jeremic said. "More than 40,000 claims have been filed by Kosovo Serb IDPs for the return of illegally seized property. And they have not heard back."

He used the term IDPs -- internally displaced persons -- to emphasize that he continues to view Kosovo as part of Serbia.

Many Kosovo Serbs have been displaced ever since the war between Serb forces and Albanian guerrillas led to a 1999 NATO bombing campaign against Serbia that forced Belgrade to withdraw its security forces from Kosovo.

Jeremic called for the UNHCR to take over the role of the Kosovo Property Agency (KPA) in processing restitution claims. He said the KPA, administered by the now-sidelined U.N. Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), had effectively "ceased to exist."

Kosovo's Foreign Minister Skender Hyseni disputed the UNHCR estimate for displaced Kosovo Serbs and dismissed Jeremic's figure of 40,000 unresolved property claims as "science fiction." He also accused Belgrade of encouraging Kosovo Serbs not to return to Kosovo but to remain in Serbia.

Hyseni added that Kosovo was committed to the return of "every single displaced person, every single refugee" and that the KPA would process all outstanding property claims.

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