KOSOVO WILL BE INDEPENDENT, DANIEL FRIED SAYS

PanARMENIAN.Net
30.04.2007 16:46 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Kosovo will be independent with or without a United
Nations resolution, and Russia should back an agreement to protect the
Kosovo Serb minority, the United States said on Saturday. Assistant
Secretary of State Daniel Fried said it was possible the latest Russian
criticism of UN mediator Marti Ahtisaari’s plan for the final status
of the breakaway Serbian province meant Moscow intended to block
a resolution.

"We hope that Russia understands that Kosovo is going to be independent
one way or another," Fried told Reuters in an interview at a Brussels
Forum on transatlantic relations.

"It will either be done in a controlled, supervised way that provides
for the well-being of the Serbian people, or it will take place in
an uncontrolled way and the Kosovo Serbs will suffer the most, which
would be terrible." Moscow has repeatedly said it will not accept a
solution which is unacceptable to Serbia, which is adamantly opposed
to any form of independence for Kosovo.

A UN Security Council fact-finding mission, which visited Kosovo
at Russia’s suggestion, wrapped up its visit on Saturday saying
they would deliberate on the proposal for its independence without
setting deadlines.

"Deciding on important issues should never be hostage to predetermined
deadlines," Belgian ambassador and mission head Johan Verbeke told
a news conference in Pristina.

Ahtisaari, a former Finnish president, proposes supervised independence
with a strong role for an international presence to protect minority
rights.

Fried acknowledged the European Union could be split over whether or
not to recognize Kosovo if there was no UN resolution and Kosovo’s
overwhelming Albanian majority declared independence unilaterally.

"I see absolutely no advantage to doing this any other way than
through a Security Council resolution. I see merely disadvantages,"
Fried said. "The alternatives are all worse."

"A divided Europe is a bad thing in general and a terrible thing in
this particular case."

A resolution would provide legal authority to protect the Kosovo
Serbs and help the Europeans to unite, he said.

Kosovo has been an international protectorate since NATO waged an air
war in 1999 to drive out Serbian forces and end ethnic cleansing. Some
90 percent of the province’s 2 million population are Albanians.

"Kosovo is in the list of problems that do not improve with age and
neglect. The situation there is not inherently stable," said Fried.

Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke told
the Brussels Forum the next few weeks would be a fundamental test of
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s view of his role in the world.

"If he vetoes the Ahtisaari plan in the Security Council, there will
be a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo. The United
States will recognize them, I hope the same day … Some of the EU
will, some won’t," Holbrooke said.

"There will probably be violence on the ground and it will be Russia’s
fault."

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told the Forum he expected a period
of "diplomatic trench warfare" over Kosovo at the United Nations and
suggested the EU should take the lead in seeking a compromise solution,
which would take time.

Asked about Holbrooke’s scenario of unilateral independence, he said:
"That is playing with fire," FOCUS News Agency reports.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress