Kosovo signs new constitution to more criticism from Serbia

KOSOVO:KOSOVO'S FIRST constitution as a sovereign state came into force yesterday, but Serbia refused to recognise it and fears grew that disagreement over the new country's status could hasten its partition along ethnic lines.

"This is a historic moment for Kosovo . . . the constitution marks the completion of the cycle of building the state," said president Fatmir Sejdiu.

"This shows that Kosovo is a democratic country and has accepted and will respect the highest international values and standards."

However, the constitution was derided in Belgrade where liberal president Boris Tadic and nationalist prime minister Vojislav Kostunica again vowed never to recognise Kosovo's February 17th declaration of independence.

"Serbia regards Kosovo as its own southern province, and is defending its integrity by peaceful means, through diplomacy, not force," said Mr Tadic, calling the introduction of the constitution "a political event . . . [which] for Serbia it is not legally valid".

He also called for a new round of international negotiations on Kosovo, amid Serb anger and widespread confusion regarding United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon's plan to "re-configure" the UN mission in Kosovo.

Russia's refusal in the UN Security Council to approve Kosovo's independence and the deployment of an EU mission to oversee it has left both the nascent EU team and the current UN mission in limbo.

Mr Ban's plan is to transfer some of the UN administration's powers to the 2,200-strong EU justice and security mission, while allowing some UN personnel to remain in Kosovo to oversee mostly-Serb areas where the EU team is not welcome.

"We are entering a process that is a very risky one in terms of having two international missions, with two different realities . . . one as perceived by the Albanian community and one as perceived by the Serbian community," said Agron Bajrami of Kosovo-Albanian newspaper Koha Ditore. "That could lead to the division of Kosovo."

Leaders of Kosovo's Serbs - some 5 per cent of a population of two million - are planning to create a local assembly which will not answer to the new state's ethnic-Albanian government, and will co-ordinate affairs with Belgrade, potentially entrenching de-facto partition.

Moderate Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic said the constitution "lessened the possibility that Serbs and Albanians converge in the future".

"Serbs will be more inclined to turn to their parallel institutions, which could lead to more conflict."