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[h=1]No agreement on controversial memorial[/h] Source: Tanjug BELGRADE -- The Coordination Body for Bujanovac, Preševo and Medveđa and leaders of Albanian political parties in southern Serbia failed to reach an agreement Thursday.
The controversial memorial in downtown Preševo (Beta, file)
The representatives of the Coordination Body met with political leaders of ethnic Albanians in the south in order to try and find a solution for a controversial memorial erected in downtown Preševo to honor participants of an armed rebellion which took place in 2000.
Party for Democratic Action leader Riza Halimi said no agreement was reached at the meeting which was held behind closed doors.
"We agreed to continue the dialogue in order to resolve the problems in Bujanovac and Preševo," said Halimi, a member of the Serbian parliament.
He added the Preševo and Bujanovac local assemblies would hold emergency sessions Friday, while Albanian representatives in the assemblies of all three municipalities would meet Saturday.
"Representatives of the government in Belgrade and the international community have been invited to attend the session, and we will see who will show up," Halimi said in an unplanned address to reporters after the meeting.
When asked whether this meant there was no united stance ahead of an important session of ethnic Albanian representatives on Saturday, Halimi said briefly: "Yes. We do not yet have a united stance."
"This was a meeting of Albanian political representatives, the coordination body with Chairman Zoran Stanković, secretaries of the U.S. and British embassies, and representatives of the EU and OSCE," he explained.
The meeting was held at the OSCE Mission office in Bujanovac and chaired by Stanković.
On November 16, 2012, a memorial honoring members of the so-called Liberation Army of Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa (UCPMB) killed in a 2000 armed rebellion aimed at uniting this part of southern Serbia with Kosovo was unveiled in downtown Preševo.