Ethnic Serbs push for "no" to Kosovo

By Daria Sito-Sucic

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Ethnic Serbs in Bosnia and Montenegro reject Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia and will try to block its recognition by their own countries, officials said on Monday.

The Serb Republic, the autonomous Serb half of Bosnia, said it "neither recognises nor accepts" Sunday's secession, and Prime Minister Milorad Dodik and President Rajko Kuzmanovic branded Kosovo's declaration an "unacceptable act".

Their joint statement made clear the Serb half of Bosnia would stop the central government in Sarajevo recognising Kosovo regardless of the wishes of the more sympathetic Muslim-Croat federation, its partner in the fragile state.

"The Serb Republic will not allow any Bosnian institution to recognise or establish bilateral links with unilaterally declared independent Kosovo," the statement said.

Bosnia's Serbs have been only unwilling partners in Bosnia since the Dayton accords that ended the 1992-95 war. In recent years, they have looked to Kosovo as a precedent they could use to also secede, possibly uniting with Belgrade.

There were mass protests in the regional capital Banja Luka on Sunday and Monday, with some chanting the name of Ratko Mladic, the fugitive war crimes suspect who led the Bosnian Serbs in the war against Bosnian Muslims and Croats. Others sang "Kill, Kill Shiptars", a pejorative name for Albanians.

Dodik, who has threatened a referendum on secession, said on Monday it would be "difficult to explain to people why the Kosovo principle cannot apply" in the Serb Republic's case.

Branislav Dukic, head of a veterans' association, asked the Serb Republic parliament to declare the "self-determination" of the region.