Meyer: Recognize south of Kosovo, send army, police to north
The National Defense University (NDU) in Washington political science professor Steven Meyer says Serbia should demand a partition of Kosovo.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Friday, July 09, 2010
"Belgrade should first recognize the independence of Kosovo south of the Ibar River," Meyer told Belgrade weekly NIN.
According to him, Belgrade's next move should then be to immediately declare the area north of the Ibar River a part of the Serbian territory, and send it troops and police - "not to fight a war, but to help guarantee peace and protect Serbs in the area".
Meyer pointed out that the Serbian government should also insist on the adoption of a "new UN resolution and a plan that would guarantee the lives and property of those Serbs south of the Ibar River".
The current UN Security Council resolution, 1244, passed at the end of the 1999 war, guarantees Serbia's sovereignty over the territory, while establishing an international administration there.
According to Meyer, Serbia's move to include the International Court of Justice (ICJ) into the Kosovo status issue was a "naive decision".
"Unless, of course, the government wanted to lose, and in that way secure an excuse for itself for the secession of Kosovo," the American professor was quoted as saying.
The top UN court has been asked to assess the legality under international law of the unilateral proclamation, and is expected to give its advisory opinion this year.
