Serbian minister visits Serb enclave to reassure residents; delivers aid

Описание: (20 Feb 2008)
1. Road sign for Ranilug village, with KPS (Kosovo Police Services) by roadside in distance
2. Wide shot of KPS checking people entering Serbian enclave
3. Various of street scenes and residents in Ranilug
4. Motorcade of Serbian Minister Rasim Ljajic arriving, Ljajic getting out and walking to building
5. Ljajic greeting local officials, woman with plate of bread in foreground
6. Various of Ljajic meeting with local officials, giving van keys to a woman as a donation to the community
7. Wide of donated van in front of building
8. Various of Ljajic starting van then climbing out
9. SOUNDBITE: (Serbian) Rasim Ljajic, Serbian Minister for Social Affairs:
"The basic reason is that the government of the Republic of Serbia wants its ministers to be as often as possible in Kosovo and Metohije so that all institutions of the Serbian Republic function here and that the inhabitants feel that nothing has changed. On the contrary I think that the help and support of all the government's institutions will increase even more and we have to show this concretely."
10. Wide of onlookers
11. SOUNDBITE: (Serbian) Rasim Ljajic, Serbian Minister for Social Affairs:
"We have to be much more clever and our answer to everything that's going on has to be a politically well thought out answer at any time because not just the international law is on our side but political logic too, so we shouldn't do anything that can damage this position and harm us."
12. Wide of Ljajic talking to villagers
13. SOUNDBITE: (Serbian) Vojislav Stankovic, 71-year-old resident:
"This is illegal in my opinion and they can't do this. Ethnic Albanians are our citizens, our people, we have to live with them in Serbia. This has to be Serbia. The same way I live in Serbia, they live in Serbia."
14. Various of bus station with bus schedule for Serbia
STORYLINE:
Serbia's Minister for Social Affairs, Rasim Ljajic, visited a Serb enclave in Kosovo on Wednesday as Belgrade sought to reassure residents in the wake of Kosovo's declaration of independence.
Ljajic, who is also head of the Serbian coordination body for the border area, visited the predominantly Serbian enclave of Ranilug, 65 kilometres (40 miles) east of Pristina, where he met with local officials and donated a van to the community.
Explaining the reason for his visit, Ljajic said: "The government of the Republic of Serbia wants its ministers to be as often as possible in Kosovo and Metohije so that all institutions of the Serbian Republic function here and that the inhabitants feel that nothing has changed."
For three days, Kosovo's Serbs have shown their anger over Sunday's declaration of independence by ethnic Albanians by destroying UN and NATO property, setting off small bombs and staging noisy rallies.
NATO peacekeepers closed off roads between Serbia and northern Kosovo and armed United Nations policemen guarded smouldering border checkpoints on Wednesday.
A local man said he still regarded Kosovo as part of Serbia.
"This is illegal in my opinion and they can't do this. Ethnic Albanians are our citizens, our people, we have to live with them in Serbia. This has to be Serbia. The same way I live in Serbia, they live in Serbia," said 71-year-old Vojislav Stankovic.
Kosovo, which is 90 percent ethnic Albanian, has not been under Belgrade's control since 1999, when NATO launched airstrikes to halt a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.
A UN mission has governed Kosovo since, with more than 16-thousand NATO troops and KFOR, a multiethnic force, policing the province.

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