Serb PM defends Kosovo carve-up

Kostunica says the two communities should live apart

Serbia's prime minister has defended his case for Kosovo's division along ethnic lines after meeting top European Union officials in Brussels.

Vojislav Kostunica told a news conference that establishing separate regions for Albanians and Serbs was the only way to prevent violence in Kosovo.

European Commission President Romano Prodi urged Mr Kostunica to exercise his authority to stop further violence.

Twenty-eight people were killed in Kosovo last week in a series of riots.

Hundreds of others from both communities were injured and more than 3,000 Serbs had to flee their burning homes and churches when ethnic Albanian mobs attacked.

(My proposal) has to do with normal life there, or something that should look like normal life Vojislav Kostunica Serbian prime minister

It was the worst outbreak of violence since the province came under United Nations administration five years ago.

Kosovo is still part of Serbia but it is in effect run by the UN.

Its unresolved final status is a subject of bitter dispute between its independence-seeking majority Albanians and minority Serbs who strongly oppose this.

Mr Kostunica told reporters on Tuesday his proposal had nothing to do with the final status of Kosovo.

"It is for the sake of the human rights and nothing else," he said.

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"It has to do with normal life there, or something that should look like normal life, and prevent any further violence like the one we faced on 17 March."

He insisted he was not talking of cantonisation or partition, but of decentralisation.

Speaking at the same news conference, European Commission President Romano Prodi called on Mr Kostunica to help prevent any future acts of violence, but he did not comment on the separation proposals.

The BBC's Nick Thorpe in Pristina says Serbs and other minorities are guaranteed rights and positions in local and central government by the UN administration.

But, our correspondents says, they have often preferred to administer their own affairs.

Albanian leaders accuse them of running parallel structures.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, is due to travel to Kosovo on Wednesday to examine ways of improving the safety of Serbs and other minorities there.

"Minorities, in particular the Serb minority in Kosovo, have not been well protected, that is a fact," Mr Solana said. "We have to see how we can do better."