Serbia's government has intensified its activity in buying out the property of Albanians in northern  section of Mitrovica,  a city in the Republic of Kosovo, says Mitrovica Mayor Bajram Rexhepi.

 

Rexhepi expressed his concern about the attempts of Serbia's government to buy out the properties with Albanian owners in the neighborhood Kroi i Vitakut in northern Mitrovica by offering very high prices.

 

He said that at the Security Council meeting will be insisted for this to stop. "Although the trading of property is the right of owners, we will insist to stop this trade, because it is politically motivated since this is the strategy of Serbia's government to ethnically cleanse this neighborhood from Albanians," said Rexhepi. Similar protections are already in place for minority Serb areas around Kosovo.

 

The neighborhood in question has 150 houses and since the end of the war remains uninhabited and desolate, whereas KFOR and UN Police under the pressure of Serb leaders in Mitrovica have not allowed the reconstruction of these houses nor the return of Albanian inhabitants to what is now a majority Serb area of the city.

 

Meanwhile Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, has said that  Kosovo Government will invest 2 million Euro on the northern part of Mitrovica. According to Thaçi this money will be spent on roads, sewage, and housing reconstruction. 

 

Prime Minister Thaçi also stated that "in a not so distant future our neighboring state Serbia will recognize Kosovo." Thaçi said that institutions of the country are working on lobbying for independence recognition, and according to him, this is being done along with Kosovo's allies. PM announced that charge d'affaires that will represent Kosovo abroad will be appointed during this month.

 

During the press conference presenting the six months of work of his government, Thaçi called the period "historic for Kosovo."