Belgrade rejects Kosovo census

14 January 2011 | 09:45 | Source: Tanjug

BELGRADE -- The population census scheduled for April by Kosovo institutions is unacceptable for Serbia, the Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija told Tanjug on Thursday. The census should be postponed to the end of the year and the possibility of organizing a regional census should be considered, the ministry said. The ministry noted that the Serbian government has not yet taken an official stand on the issue, but expressed concern that by excluding the internally displaced persons from the census, the ethnic picture would be changed and ethnic cleansing would be verified. If over 200,000 internally displaced persons are excluded, the ethnic picture would be changed and ethnic cleansing carried out since 1999 would in fact be verified, Minister for Kosovo and Metohija Goran Bogdanović said. The Kosovo Albanian government in Priština announced that the census would be held in April.