US Serbs Urge Congress to Reject Kosovo Partition

Leaders of Serbian Orthodox congregations and Serbian-American organisations have appealed to Congress members and the US administration to protect the rights of Kosovo Serbs and expressed "strong opposition to the proposed ethnic partition of the territory", Serbian media reported on Monday.

"[We] resolutely oppose the proposed territorial partition of Kosovo and Metohija which would result - as all historic partitions have done - in a mass exodus and internal displacement of people," said a letter published on the website of the Eastern American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

The signatories also warned that partition would leave most important Serbian churches, monasteries and holy sites "exposed and vulnerable - devoid of basic 21st century legal and institutional safeguards".

The letter was signed by presidents of organisations such as the Serbian National Defence Council and the Ravna Gora Organisation of Serbian Chetniks. 

The signatories claim to have additional 771 signatures from clergymen of the Serbian Orthodox Church, local congregational leaders and "representatives of cultural, educational and national organisations throughout the USA".

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic is thought to be pushing for a territorial swap as a way to finally resolve the dispute with Kosovo and so move on with Serbia's EU membership aspirations.

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci recently said that he would raise the issue of "border correction" in negotiations with Serbia.

Territorial swaps between Kosovo and Serbia have not been raised officially in the Belgrade-Pristina talks in Brussels, but would potentially concern the northern, mainly Serbian part of Kosovo and some majority-Albanian districts of southern Serbia.

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