US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reassured officials from Kosovo that the US would push for recognition of the breakaway province's independence from Serbia within months.
The officials, who included the Kosovar prime minister and president, told Rice they would not upend new negotiations by unilaterally declaring independence, but would coordinate any move with the US.
"The United States made clear very firmly that the issue needs to be resolved sooner rather than later," Kosovar President Fatmir Sejdiu said in an interview on Monday.
The meetings followed the failure of the US and European countries to win Russia's support of a UN Security Council resolution endorsing independence.
Following a move by the Security Council to set aside a resolution on Kosovo, the US and the EU said on Friday they would move the forum for deciding Kosovo's status to the Contact Group on Kosovo -- which includes representatives from the US, Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Russia.
LAST ATTEMPT
US and European officials have agreed to allow 120 days for further negotiations that would include talks with Kosovo and Serbia in a last attempt to reach an agreement.
Sejdiu said the US had reassured Kosovo that countries will move quickly after the 120 days have passed to recognize Kosovo's independence. That move would happen regardless of objections from other countries including Russia, Sejdiu said.
"We can see that the United States is very serious about this 120 days of engagement and this was quite an assurance," he said. "It is quite evident that independence will be the outcome at the end of that engagement period and that independence is inevitable."
US officials have said the US would move to recognize Kosovo within months, though they have not specified the 120-day period.
During a visit to Albania last month, US President George W. Bush hinted that the US could recognize Kosovo even without Security Council consent, saying there cannot be endless negotiations over its independence.
The Kosovar population is predominantly ethnic Albanian.
Sejdiu expressed disappointment that the Security Council was unable to reach a consensus and that the resolution on Kosovo's future was set aside on Friday in the face of a possible Russian veto.
GRAVE FAILURE
"It was a grave failure that was a big disappointment to everybody," he said.
The talks in Washington followed a comment by Kosovar Prime Minister Agim Ceku suggesting that the province's parliament should adopt its own resolution setting Nov. 28 as a possible date for declaring independence.
But Sejdiu said that Kosovo would not declare independence without coordinating with its allies.
"Of course at a certain stage the Kosovo parliament will announce the status of Kosovo, its independence," he said. "But this will only be done in a close partnership and agreement with the countries that support Kosovo's independence."
Senior US officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak for attribution, said that all the officials in Monday's talks, including Ceku, agreed on coordinating a declaration of independence.
INSTABILITY
Sejdiu said that delay beyond the 120 days could lead to political instability in Kosovo. The moderate political forces represented by the delegation are under pressure from more radical parties and the public to show that they will deliver independence.
Although Kosovo remains a province of Serbia, it has been under UN and NATO administration since 1999 when a 78-day NATO-led air war halted a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.
The UN's special envoy on Kosovo recommended internationally supervised independence in April.
Tomorrow, US officials, including Rice, will discuss the province's future with Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic in Washington.
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) purge of his most senior general is driven by his effort to both secure “total control” of his military and root out corruption, US Ambassador to China David Perdue said told Bloomberg Television yesterday. The probe into Zhang Youxia (張又俠), Xi’s second-in-command, announced over the weekend, is a “major development,” Perdue said, citing the family connections the vice chair of China’s apex military commission has with Xi. Chinese authorities said Zhang was being investigated for suspected serious discipline and law violations, without disclosing further details. “I take him at his word that there’s a corruption effort under
China executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” of telecom scam operations, state media reported yesterday, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Myanmar. Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world. Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. In the past few years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation
RSS