EU AND NATO SHOULD STAY IN KOSOVO

PanARMENIAN.Net
21.01.2008 13:09 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "EU and NATO should retain a robust monitoring
presence in Kosovo to ensure that no violence breaks out after the
declaration of independence," said Jason Lyall, an expert of the
Princeton University.

"I would ensure that the EU position monitors among Serbian minorities,
especially in Kosovo’s northern region, to ensure their safety. This
would help keep the lid on conflict and would prevent the kind of
abuses that might make Serbia intervene on behalf of Serb minorities. I
also believe that the EU and the US should tie their economic relations
with Kosovo to its continued observance of minority rights. In short,
we should be thinking about managing the consequences of Kosovo’s
declaration of independence since there clearly is no diplomatic
solution to preventing it that would be acceptable to all parties,"
the expert said, Trend reports.

The latest UN discussion on Kosovo was blocked by Russia.

Technically, Kosovo – populated by mostly ethnic Albanians – is
still a province of Serbia. But since 1999, Kosovo has been under
the administration of the United Nations and NATO. That followed a
more than two-month long NATO-led bombing campaign that ended a Serb
crackdown on ethnic Albanians.

Kosovo is expected to proclaim independence in early February.