RIA Novosti, Russia
Jan 11 2008

Kosovo will not declare independence before March 10 – paper
19:42 | 11/ 01/ 2008

BELGRADE, January 11 (RIA Novosti) – Kosovo will not declare
unilateral independence before March 10, a Pristina-based newspaper
said, citing sources in the Kosovo delegation negotiating the
province’s status.

The Express daily referred in particular to an agreement between
Spain and other European Union states that Kosovo authorities would
not proclaim independence until after parliamentary elections in
Spain, due on March 9.

The paper said Madrid believes that the events in Kosovo could affect
the outcome of the Spanish elections and strengthen separatist
sentiment in the country.

According to Kosovo’s newly elected prime minister, Hasim Taci, the
breakaway province of Serbia will unilaterally declare its
independence in a few weeks.

"I assure you that we will declare independence in a few weeks. It’s
already an accomplished fact – we only need to declare it," said
Taci, who was sworn in by parliament on Wednesday.

Taci’s Democratic Party of Kosovo (DPK) has formed a governing
coalition with President Fatmir Seidiu’s Democratic Alliance of
Kosovo.

Russia warned on Thursday that it will block any resolution on
Kosovo’s status at the UN Security Council until both parties have
found a mutually acceptable settlement.

Throughout long-running talks aimed at finding a solution to the
status of Serbia’s breakaway province, Russia has backed Belgrade in
opposing Kosovo’s sovereignty, warning it would have a knock on
effect for other secessionist areas, such as Transdnestr in Moldova,
South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia and Nagorny Karabakh in
Azerbaijan, so-called frozen conflicts since the 1990s.

The Albanian-dominated Serbian province has been a UN protectorate
since the NATO bombing of the former Yugoslavia ended a conflict
between Albanian and Serb forces in 1999.

Most Western states have backed the volatile area’s drive for
independence, and said recently that Kosovo’s status would now be
determined by the European Union and NATO. Russia is insisting that
Belgrade and Pristina continue to try to reach a compromise.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress