Serbian PM Rejects Idea Of Independent Kosovo

Vojislav Kostunica (CTK file photo) (CTK) 22 October 2005 -- Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said today that he would never accept independence for the republic's UN-run Kosovo province.
Kostunica was speaking shortly before leaving Belgrade for New York, where he is expected to attend a key UN Security Council session on Kosovo on 24 October.

The Security Council is expected to announce the start of UN-mediated talks to determine the future status of Serbia's volatile province.

Kosovo, formally part of Serbia, has been an international protectorate for more than six years and its majority ethnic Albanian population overwhelmingly favors independence for the region.

But Kostunica said Serbia would never accept such "legal violence."

(AP)