- Title: SERBIA: France urges Kosovo Albanians to work with international community
- Date: 14th July 2007
- Summary: VARIOUS OF THE MEETING BETWEEN FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER BERNARD KOUCHNER AND HEAD OF UNMIK (UNITED NATIONS MISSION IN KOSOVO)
- Embargoed: 29th July 2007 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Serbia
- Country: Serbia
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVA3JIML3IDG5NTOTXRZB824CPLV
- Story Text: French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has urged Kosovo's Albanian majority to work with the international community in order to achieve supervised independence.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has urged Kosovo's Albanian majority, which is impatient for independence from Belgrade, to work with the international community, during a visit to the provincial capital, Pristina on Friday (July 13).
Kouchner served as the first U.N. administrator in Kosovo after the war.
France backs the proposal by U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari for Kosovo to be granted supervised independence -- a move staunchly opposed by Serbia and its powerful ally, Russia.
Kouchner arrived in Pristina after a visit to Belgrade where he had insisted that Serbia would have to make an agreement over Kosovo before it could join the European Union.
NATO has patrolled the territory since bombing Serbia in 1999 to expel its forces and halt the killing and expulsion of Albanian civilians in a two-year war with separatist guerrillas.
The West sees zero prospect of forcing 2 million hostile Albanians back into the arms of Belgrade. Some analysts see the territory's division as possibly the only way out of the deadlock, but NATO fears stirring regional conflict.
It also fears that Albanian hardliners could turn to violence against KFOR (NATO Kosovo Force) and U.N. officials in the province if the West is seen to have broken its word.
Russia has threatened to use its U.N. Security Council veto to block any resolution that fails to meet with Belgrade's approval.
After meeting Kosovo's "unity team" Kouchner told reporters that if there is no compromise with a new resolution then there should be a return to the Ahtisaari plan. Kosovo's "unity team" is a pact meant to maintain stability as pressure for independence mounts.
"We have changed strategy but we have not changed our thoughts," he said.
"It needs time. We have asked for a new resolution, maybe there will be a compromise, if not we will turn back to Ahtisaari's plan," he said.
Russia sees no point in joining discussions about a new resolution on Kosovo in the United Nations unless the draft is radically changed, Interfax news agency quoted a senior diplomat as saying on Friday.
Kouchner urged Kosovans to remain optimistic. It's feared that Kosovo's political leaders are nearly out of patience with Western powers who promised them independence by mid-year but are now proposing four months of further talks with no guarantee of the outcome.
"Sometimes it takes one day, sometimes it takes months, to be in agreement with all the people, and this is a very difficult problem," Kouchner said.
"Don't believe that we kidding with you, don't believe that we are playing a game. This is the most important problem to be decided in the world, with Middle East," Kouchner said.
Some 10,000 Albanians were killed and almost one million expelled in Serbia's 1998-99 war against ethnic Albanian guerrillas. NATO bombed for 78 days before Serb forces pulled out eight years ago this week. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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