Serbia has proposed a plan for the "functional division of Serbs and Kosovo Albanians" in Kosovo, Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic was quoted today as saying.
He said the plan referred to all of Kosovo and was part of the government's action plan to reject Kosovo's independence, declared with Western support on February 17th.
Diplomats said it amounted to a plan for partition which the West rejects.
Mr Samardzic said Serbia respected a UN resolution on Kosovo which turned the province over to UN administration and NATO protection in 1999, and the mission that has run it ever since, known as UNMIK.
"We accept resolution 1244 and the authority of the UNMIK police, judiciary and customs office. But after the unilateral declaration of independence, only Serbs, with the help of Serbia, can perform those duties," he told the daily Politika.
Samardzic confirmed he submitted the proposal to UNMIK deputy chief Larry Rossin a week ago.
He said that if Serbia did not take over those institutions, then "Kosovo Albanians will, with the tacit approval of UNMIK, within a couple of months gain control of all institutions".
He said Serbia had not given up on 1244, but it had been undermined by the unilateral declaration of independence.
The current situation was "a challenge to UNMIK to be creative and not withdraw with the job not done".