Foreign Minister of Serbia and Montenegro calls for 'compromise solution' for Kosovo

VIENNA, 11 May 2006 - Serbia and Montenegro's Foreign Minister, Vuk Draskovic, called Thursday for a "compromise solution" on Kosovo that would leave the province part of his country.

In an address to the OSCE Permanent Council, Minister Draskovic argued that making Kosovo independent could spark turbulence in the region and that the humiliation would be resented by Serbs living anywhere in the world.

"An imposed solution on Kosovo ... could extinguish the European perspective not only in Serbia but in neighbouring countries also as Serbia is key to the stability of the whole region," he said, arguing that Serbia's integrity should be respected under the U.N. Charter.

A solution that would transform the province into an independent country also could give fresh arguments to separatists across the world, the Minister told representatives from the OSCE's 55 participating States.

Still, Serbia has no interest in running the ethnic Albanians' day-to-day affairs, he said, adding that Belgrade is concerned about the protection of the Serb minority in Kosovo.

Minister Draskovic also said he hoped that war crimes fugitive Gen. Ratko Mladic would be arrested soon, saying the failure to deliver Mladic to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, the Netherlands, was holding the country hostage.

"We must liberate Serbia," he said. "One fugitive must approach The Hague. I still hope this is a question of days, not months. This is also our national moral obligation."

The Permanent Council, the OSCE's main, regular decision-making body, meets weekly to discuss current developments in the OSCE area and to make appropriate decisions.