U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE: SERBIA AND KOSOVO "ARE NEVER GOING TO BE ONE AGAIN"
PanARMENIAN.Net
22.12.2007 13:21 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said
Serbia and Kosovo will never be part of the same country again, and
all those concerned should work for a stable outcome in the Balkans
based on that reality.
Rice stopped short of endorsing a timetable for Kosovo independence,
but she made clear her expectation that the majority-Albanian Serbian
province will soon be on its own, and urged all concerned parties to
accept that reality.
A final round of talks between Kosovar and Serbian officials
mediated by the United States, the European Union and Russia ended
inconclusively earlier this month. Serbia, backed by its ally Moscow,
had offered a maximum degree of autonomy but not independence for
the region.
In the aftermath of the talks, U.S. and European Union officials have
made clear they favor giving Kosovo supervised independence under
the plan presented last March by UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari.
Kosovar leaders in Pristina have said they will announce independence
early in the coming year.
Asked about such a prospect, Rice said it will be important to take
decisions about Kosovo’s status in the next several weeks, and that
not doing so would be destabilizing:
"The fact is that Kosovo and Serbia are never going to be part of the
same state again. I think that’s quite clear. It was the logic even
of (UN Resolution) 1244 on the special status accorded Kosovo as a
result of the war. And the important thing is for these two peoples
to get on with their futures," she said, VOA reports.