PanARMENIAN.Net

U.S. Department of State calls on Russia to recognize Kosovo independence
04.07.2008 14:18 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A senior Bush administration official Wednesday
expressed satisfaction with Kosovo’s progress since its independence
in February. But Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Dan
Fried says challenges remain for the former Serbian province,
including ethnic-Serb thuggery.

But Assistant Secretary Fried acknowledges continued challenges for
the fledgling state, including a still-lagging economy, a restive Serb
minority in the north, and political thuggery he says may be inspired
by some officials in Belgrade, the Voice of America reports.

The majority-ethnic Albanian former Serb province, which had been
administered by the United Nations since 1999, declared its
independence in February over the strong objections of Serbia and its
main diplomatic ally Russia.

In a talk with reporters, Fried said an independent Kosovo has now
been recognized by 43 countries including along with the United States
most of Europe and a majority of UN Security Council members.

Under questioning he rejected the notion that Russia’s refusal to
recognize Kosovo, and by extension its refusal to allow recognition by
the Security Council, dooms Kosovo to semi-statehood.

"It is a completely-independent country, whether or not there is a
U.N. resolution that says so. It is independent," Fried said. "It’s
been recognized as independent by two-thirds, of Europe, Japan,
Australia. It is an independent country. I regret very much that
Russia chose to make this harder rather than easier, and thereby
making it harder risks stability, and making it harder put as risk
Serbia’s European future. It was not helpful."

Fried said he hopes that with time, Moscow will become less strident
and obstructionist over Kosovo and will not try to prevent the new
moderate government in Belgrade from pursuing what he called a
European future.

He dismissed, as having no legal status, the separate parliament
declared by ethnic-Serbs in northern Kosovo late last month. He said
many Kosovar Serbs are prepared to accept the new political reality
but are afraid to say so – intimidated by what he said is rampant
thuggery by Serb extremists, some of whom cross into Kosovo from
Serbia.

"You have Serbs coming over, and it is sometimes hard to tell whether
they’re sort of private nationalists, semi-connected with the
government, or official," Fried said. "There seem to be some of all of
them, and the Serbs should not be sending over, or supporting
thuggery. That’s not responsible. And we hope the new government will
act in a responsible way."

Fried said the United States will commit $400 million in aid over the
next four years at a donors’ conference for Kosovo being convened by
the European Union late next week.

He said he expects the conference to raise more than one billion
dollars overall to help boost the economy of the new state, which is
one of the poorest parts of Europe with an unemployment rate about 40
percent.

The State Department’s top European affairs expert says the relative
quiet and political success of Kosovo since February has silenced
critics who forecast dire scenarios for the region, including ethnic
violence and refugee flows.