PanARMENIAN.Net

U.S. Department of State: Serbia and Kosovo `are never going to be one again’
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.