Serb minister dismissed from Pristina government

Serb minister dismissed from Pristina government

PRISTINA -- The minister for returns and communities in the Kosovo government, Aleksandar Jablanovic, has said that he learned about his dismissal from the media.

He told the Pristina-based RTV 21 broadcaster that he did not resign, and that Prime Minister Isa Mustafa should be asked about the reasons for the decision to sack him.

Jablanovic added that the Serb (Srpska) List would "in the coming days" announce its position on Mustafa's decision, and on continued participation in the government in Pristina.

"All options are open. The Serb (List) represents a serious political force and will not make decisions overnight or under anyone's pressure. In the next two to three days we will reach our position and discuss it with prime minister and leader of the LDK Isa Mustafa and his deputy and leader of the PDK Hashim Thaci, face to face, like serious people do," he said, adding that he believed Mustafa made the wrong decision.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mustafa announced that Jablanovic was "no longer a part of the government of Kosovo."

The opposition demanded his dismissal after he called those ethnic Albanians who attacked Serb IDPs in Djakovica with stones on Christmas Eve "savages."

Jablanovic apologized multiple times for the statements, the Beta agency reported, and that he referred to those who stoned the IDP's bus in order to prevent them from visiting their town and take part in Christmas ceremonies, and not a group known as "the mothers of Djakovica" whose family members were killed or went missing during the war in the late 1990s.

His resignation was one of the demands during violent demonstrations in Pristina organized by the Self-Determination...