Wed Oct 5, 2005 6:44 AM ET
By Matthew Robinson
PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro (Reuters) - Special envoy Kai Eide has submitted a report to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan that diplomats say will trigger talks on the fate of Serbia's U.N.-run province of Kosovo.
A U.N. spokesman said Eide handed over his assessment of Kosovo's progress toward U.N.-set standards of democracy and minority rights late on Tuesday.
"The secretary-general will study the report and then forward it together with his recommendations for the next steps to the Security Council," Neeraj Singh told Reuters.
He said the council would take up the issue in the second half of this month. U.N. officials say if 15-member body agrees, talks on Kosovo's future status could begin in November.
Legally part of Serbia, the majority Albanian province has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombing drove out Serb forces accused of killing and expelling thousands of Albanian civilians in a two-year war against guerrillas.
The 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority is increasingly impatient for independence. Serbia says Kosovo must remain part of Serbia and wants the talks delayed, arguing Pristina has done little to improve the rights of 100,000 Kosovo Serbs.
Diplomats and U.N. officials say Eide's report criticizes the lack of progress but recommends talks begin, echoing concern voiced by the European Union and United States at prolonging Kosovo's political and economic limbo.
The United Nations is publicly non-committal on the possible outcome, though a European diplomat told Reuters last week that Western powers would push for a form of conditional independence.
Former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari is expected to lead what could be months of shuttle diplomacy between Serb leaders in Belgrade and the ethnic Albanian authorities in Pristina, with the possibility of talks in Vienna.
Echoing the mood of optimism among Kosovo Albanians, the front page of the Pristina daily Express on Tuesday showed a tick in a box next to the headline "Standards".
"Eide recommended the start of talks on final status through shuttle diplomacy," the paper wrote, quoting diplomatic sources. "According to Eide, Kosovo has the capacity to become a sustainable society."
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8 comments:
Read this suckers !!
US “tired of Kosovo” | October 05 | VOA
WASHINGTON -- Wednesday – The US administration is tired of dealing with the situation in Kosovo and wants to hand it over completely to the European Union, US Balkans analyst Nicholas Gvozdev has said.
Gvozdev told The Voice of America that stumbling block is that the EU, with its 25 member countries, has problems in making decisions and already has its hands full with issues such as the further enlargement of the union.
Even though Kosovo status discussions may begin shortly, Gvozdev said that they could last many years, comparing the situation to the apparently never-ending Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
“The possibility that the discussions will begin soon does not mean that momentum for a rapid solution exists. The insistence of some people in Washington on the independence of Kosovo minimizes the possibility for upholding the territorial integrity of countries such as Iraq and Georgia, while calling for decentralization could weaken the Dayton Agreement for keeping Bosnia-Herzegovina unified.” Gvozdev said.
Gvozdev compares the situation in Kosovo to Nagorn-Karabagh, over which Armenia and Azerbaijan have been in status talks for fifteen years. The situation in this region has come to a stand-still, despite various talks of independence, decentralization and united countries.
Asked who he thinks will be responsible for having the last say in Kosovo, Gvozdev said that the EU is more likely than the US to be the key player in the eventual solution.
“The US is looking to detach itself from participating in finding peaceful solutions for various global situations. The US are tired of Serbias hard-headed stance and the Kosovo albanian criminality. In addition, Kosovo and the Balkans are a part of Europe, and the European Union should take care of these problems, because it has more shared interests; trade, migration, borders, visas, etc.” Gvozdev said.
What else would one expect from someone with a Russian last name.
He said the same thing in February, and since then, U.S. has shown true involvement in resolving the issue of Kosova...
It is funny how all the Serb and other Communist/Socialist websites have spread this demagogy exponentionally.
Read his analysis about Iraq (that turned out to be wrong) below:
Thu May 1, 2003
Nicholas Gvozdev from the Washington Nixon Center, close to the conservative wing of the Republican Party, thinks that France, which is trying to mend relations with the US, is shifting the responsibility for the further development of the situation in the Security Council to Russia. In his opinion, in the final analysis the US and the "pacifists" will reach a compromise. For example, the UN inspectors will be allowed to advise the Americans who are involved in searching for WMD in Iraq, or to analyze the material collected. This version was confirmed yesterday by an anonymous employee of the Russian MID, who told the Interfax Agency that "a compromise will be found in the UN Security Council."
Here's what he said about Kosova in February, 2005.
Kosovo "not Bush's priority" | 15:08 February 08 | Beta
WASHINGTON -- Tuesday - The new Bush Administration in the US is
unlikely to invest much effort in resolving the problems of Kosovo, an
associate of the Nixon Centre said today.
Nicholas Gvozdev told The Voice of America that the administration will
be focused on Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The US says that it is opposed to any kind of change of borders in
the Balkans. I think that this position is a vague formulation of the
problem because it is not a Kosovo's borders that are to be changed but
its states and respect for Resolution 1244 which takes for presupposes
its autonomy but not any change of borders," he added.
Gvozdev says that Washington is keen not to show support for any
change in the political structures of the Balkans, which is
understandable taken the situation in Iraq into account.
"You can't back the integrity of Iraq and pressuring the Kurds not
to demand independence but to seek autonomy within Iraq, you can't allow
and justify the break-up of Serbia-Montenegro on an ethnic basis and the
regional separatism of Kosovo Albanians.
"In Kosovo and other parts of the Balkans, the politics of
expectation prevails, which means that if the US doesn't support the
resolution of the final status today, then that issue can be debated for
three or five years, by which time all sides are exhausted by the
problem," he added.
What amazes me is how the anti-Kosovar posters here think that their comments or those of "thinktanks" and "encyclopedia" sources can overpower the will of an entire nation to be independent and free of Serb terrorism.
Kosova to Kosovars!
I feel bad about the Serbs. They spend so much time finding these so-called "experts" to get a soundbite that in essence says nothing.
It's interesting to see though, how Serbs have no clue on how things work in Washington. They listen to people like Gvozdez, yet they ignore statements that Nicholas Burns makes. Unseen ignorance.
The other thing that is intresting to see is how much hatred and racism there is in their comments. They genuienly despise Albanians and consider them as less human.
The last time a nation behaved in this manner was in 1940s and we all know what hapened.
Great job second poster.
Fourth poster. I agree. And don't forget what Serbian racism caused in the 1990s. Serbs don't have to go far back in history to find such an example. They are e recent example themselves. It is sad that they don't seem to understand that.
lol this is quite possible the dumbest blog website in existance.
That's was my first reaction after reading what a Serb blogger had written.
Tell Nicholas Gvozdev and his Nixon Center to KISS MY KOSOVAR ASS!!!
From Department of State he he he
07 October 2005
United States To Focus on Balkan War Crime Fugitives, Kosovo
Iran, Afghanistan also figure in briefing on State's Burns travel to Europe
By Jeffrey Thomas
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- The future of Kosovo, war crimes fugitives, Iran’s suspected nuclear ambitions and NATO’s role in Afghanistan will be the focus of an upcoming trip to Europe by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, a trip that includes stops in Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Serbia.
The United States intends to make a major diplomatic push on these issues over the next few months, said Burns at a briefing October 7 at the State Department.
KOSOVO FINAL STATUS TALKS SHOULD BEGIN, BURNS SAYS
On Kosovo, he said the United States agrees with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that final status talks should begin. Burns said he expects Annan to appoint a special envoy soon to oversee the talks, which he hopes will start before the end of 2005.
Kosovo has been under United Nations administration since 1999, when a NATO-led force drove out Serbian forces persecuting the ethnic Albanian majority. A NATO-led peacekeeping mission (KFOR) with 18,000 soldiers currently provides security.
The status quo no longer is sustainable, Burns said. “The people of the region have a right to know that they have a future and that they can control that future,” he said.
The United States will appoint its own special envoy to work in partnership with the U.N. envoy, he said, adding that the United States will be “centrally involved” in these talks, using its influence and exercising leadership, although the United States has no position on the talks’ eventual outcome.
“My trip is meant to prepare the ground for these talks and to try to make progress with the parties on the issues,” he said.
U.S. TO DEMAND ARREST OF INDICTED BALKAN WAR CRIMINALS
Burns said that during his meetings in Pristina and Belgrade he intends to demand the arrest of the three most prominent indicted war criminals still at large. Until General Ante Gotovina is in The Hague standing before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the United States will block any NATO move to normalize relations with Croatia or to bring Croatia into NATO membership, he said. Until General Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic are captured and turned over to the tribunal, the United States similarly will block any move toward NATO membership for Serbia, he said.
The under secretary added that during his last trip to the region in June the Serb leadership had led him to believe the arrest of Mladic was imminent. The United States was “severely disappointed” that the arrest did not take place prior to July 11, the 10th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacres, when 8,000 men and boys were murdered in or near the Bosnian town, allegedly at Mladic’s orders.
“We will have a very tough-minded view of this,” Burns said, adding: “Someone has to stand up for the people, for the families of the victims of 10 years ago, and we cannot forget what happened at Srebrenica. We won't forget it and they will not be coming into NATO until these actions are taken.”
He noted that while the United States resumed foreign assistance to Serbia in June after the Serbian authorities arrested a number of indicted war criminals during the first six months of the year, that aid again could be suspended.
“It's a lack of political will on the part of the Belgrade authorities,” he said. “It does not stand to reason that these people cannot be found.”
For additional information on U.S. policy in the region, see Balkans.
BURNS TO DISCUSS AFGHANISTAN, IRAN, KOSOVO AT NATO MEETING
In Brussels, Belgium, the first stop of his four-country trip, Burns plans to participate in a special meeting of the North Atlantic Council at NATO headquarters, where Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iran will be the major items on the agenda.
He will discuss with his NATO colleagues the future role of the alliance in Afghanistan, with the aim the increasing integration of NATO forces and the U.S.-led coalition force “so that we can have a more seamless and effective military presence in Afghanistan.”
Burns said he also expects Iran’s nuclear program, an issue “at the forefront of our diplomatic agenda,” to figure prominently in the meetings at NATO.
The United States continues to support the “EU-3 process,” Burns said, referring to talks with France, Germany and the United Kingdom from which Iran withdrew in August. Iran should suspend its uranium conversion activities, return to the negotiations with the EU-3 and seek a negotiated settlement, said Burns.
Noting the September 24 vote at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) finding Iran in violation of its nonproliferation obligations and decision by the IAEA board of governors to refer the matter to the U.N. Security Council, Burns said, “The solution should be that Iran shall not have access to the nuclear fuel cycle on Iranian territory. No one trusts Iran to have that.” (See related article.)
Given the actions of the new Iranian government the last two months, “we will continue to have a very tough-minded approach to Iran,” he said.
POLICE REFORM TO BE FOCUS OF SARAJEVO VISIT
In Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burns said a central objective is to encourage police reform.
The 1995 Dayton Accords that brought the civil war in Bosnia to an end left the country with three entities divided along ethno-religious lines, one Serb, one Muslim and one Croatian.
The United States welcomed the passage October 5 of a defense reform law by the parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina as the “most significant step towards Euro-Atlantic integration taken by Bosnia and Herzegovina since the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords” because it creates a unified defense establishment. A similarly unified police institution would help Bosnia continue on its way towards a multiethnic future within Europe, he said. (See related article.)
The United States will be inviting some of the Bosnian and other Balkan leaders to Washington in November to commemorate the 1995 Dayton Accords, he said.
A transcript of the briefing is available on the State Department Web site.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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