BELGRADE—Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica called on Serbs in Kosovo on Wednesday not to leave the breakaway province after its ethnic Albanian majority declares independence.
"Our people in Kosovo should stay in their homes, in their province, in their Serbia," Kostunica said in a statement to the Tanjug state news agency.
"For the Serbian government, every individual in Kosovo is considered an equal and rightful citizen of the state."
The statement followed a call by a prominent Kosovo Serb urging Serbian leaders not to sow panic with their rhetoric but to call on Serbs to stay in their homes, despite some fear of possible unrest.
Kosovo Albanians are to declare independence from Serbia on Sunday, almost nine years after NATO bombs drove out Serb forces to halt a wave of killings and ethnic cleansing by Serb forces in a two-year war against separatist rebels.
The major Western powers are expected to recognise the new state quickly, over the fierce objections of Serbia and its ally, Russia.
Kostunica said Serbia was obliged "to do absolutely everything to provide normal living conditions in the province".
Ninety percent of Kosovo's 2 million people are ethnic Albanians. Around 120,000 Serbs remain, just over half in scattered enclaves watched over by NATO's 16,000-strong peace force.
State of Alert
A spokesman for the 35-nation NATO-led peacekeeping force KFOR said security had been stepped up.
"We are intensifying our state of alert and activities to monitor the situation, using intelligence means, more patrols and greater visibility," said Colonel Bertrand Bonneau.
Serb Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac said an escalation of violence might follow the declaration of independence. "Personally I don't believe it will happen, but we are ready for the worst possible scenario", he said.
Kosovo's imminent secession has driven a wedge into Serbia's uneasy governing coalition, split over whether to pursue closer ties with the EU if the bloc takes over supervision of Kosovo in a 4-month transition from the United Nations.
Taking a softer line than his coalition partner Kostunica, Serbian President Boris Tadic said late on Tuesday that only in the EU could Serbia best defend its claim to Kosovo.
"Serbia's place is in Europe," he said in a statement. "I will never give up the struggle for the interests of our people, nor the struggle for Kosovo."
Opinion polls suggest 75 percent of Serbs are in favour of joining the EU. But that figure drops to 50 percent when asked if the country should join despite losing Kosovo.
Pollster Svetlana Logar of Strategic Marketing said mixed messages from the government were confusing Serbs and boosting the popularity of straight-talking nationalists who reject the EU altogether.
"Confidence in the government has been in constant decline because of the confusion they create," Logar told Reuters.
"Ordinary people simply no longer understand the language used by Boris Tadic and Vojislav Kostunica and that is exactly where (the opposition nationalist) Tomislav Nikolic gains."
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