ALBANIAN PARTIES FROM SOUTHERN SERBIA DEMAND AUTONOMY FOR PRESEVO VALLEY
BBC Monitoring - July 30, 2004

"Albanians demand autonomy for the Presevo valley"; carried by Serbian news agency Beta

Presevo, 28 July: Three Albanian opposition political parties in southern Serbia - the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA), the Movement for Democratic Progress (PDP), and the Democratic Union of the (Presevo) Valley (DUD) - today adopted a political platform demanding territorial and political autonomy for the "Presevo Valley" with the right to unite with Kosovo.

The text of the platform adopted by the Consensual Council of Albanian parties from the "Presevo Valley", which was formed by the three parties on 15 May, says that "Presevo Valley should be organized as a specific autonomous region in keeping with the results of the 1992 referendum, when the Albanians from that region voted for territorial and political autonomy with the right to unite with Kosovo".

Consensual Council spokesman Orhan Rexhepi has told BETA that the platform will be sent to all the relevant international players, as well as the authorities in Kosovo and Serbia.

The text of the platform, on which the council worked for two months in Presevo, demands that representatives of the "Presevo Valley" be included in the negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo on the province's final status.

The Consensual Council will demand that the final status of Albanians be settled together with the final status of Kosovo, that the Presevo, Bujanovac, and Medvedja region be defined as an autonomous region called "Presevo Valley", and that the region be demilitarized under the international community's supervision.

The platform also demands that the local police assume responsibility for the security of the region, that the Albanians from the region be exempt from recruitment and the military service, that the amnesty for the former fighters of the OVPMB (Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja, and Bujanovac) be respected, and that the Presevo, Bujanovac, and Medvedja region be declared a tax free zone.

The text of the platform was signed by DPA leader Ragmi Mustafa, PDP leader Jonuz Musliu, and DUD leader Skender Destani.

The largest party of Albanians in southern Serbia, the Party for Democratic Action (PDD) of Riza Halimi, is not represented in the Consensual Council. According to Halimi, "Albanians in southern Serbia need a body like the National Council, rather than an insignificant body like the Consensual Council."

Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1753 gmt 28 Jul 04

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