Kosovo Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi says tensions between his government and the territory's Serb minority are due to what he called "Belgrade's political agenda."

In an exclusive interview with VOA's Albanian Service, Thursday, Mr. Kosumi urged Kosovo Serbs not to take political guidance from Belgrade, but rather to make decisions for themselves.

Earlier this month, moderate leaders of Kosovo's minority Serb community rejected a decentralization proposal offered by the province's ethnic Albanian-led government, and they called for additional concessions.

The international community is pressuring Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders to guarantee the rights of minorities before the planned opening of talks later this year on the final status of the Serbian province.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority wants independence. The area's Serbs want the province to remain part of Serbia.