US warns against delays on Kosovo's future

Mar 12, 2007, 22:15 GMT

Washington - Moving forward with a UN plan for Kosovo's political future is the key to stabilizing the breakaway Serb province, even though Serb leaders and Russia oppose it, a US diplomat said Monday.

US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried's comments came as a UN envoy puts the final touches on a proposal to place Kosovo on a path toward independence, the goal of majority ethnic Albanians.

Powers involved in Kosovo diplomacy - the so-called contact group comprising Russia, Germany, France, the US, Italy and Britain - want a resolution, Fried told reporters after a trip to the region.

'I think after eight years, the overwhelming sense in the contact group, certainly in the US government, is that the people of Kosovo need clarity,' he said. 'Delay is not going to bring more stability.'

He urged Serbian leaders to accept a solution for Kosovo that 'keeps open a European future for Serbia,' a reference to the prospect of eventual European Union membership.

Serb and ethnic Albanian negotiators broke up without agreement Saturday after the final round of UN-sponsored talks on Kosovo's status in Vienna, Austria. UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari is expected to present his plan to the UN Security Council in late March.

Armed extremists on both sides can be expected to stage 'provocations,' Fried said. But the 'orderly well-managed process' foreseen in Ahtisaari's plan 'is far preferable to stalemate, deadlock, dithering,' he said.

'This is the Balkans. People have guns. People have guns at home,' Fried said.

The UN plan calls for internationally monitored independence for Kosovo with far-reaching guarantees for the Serb minority. Russia opposes the plan, which is strongly backed by the EU and the US.

However, Russia's Foreign Ministry said last month it does not intend to veto the plan in the Security Council.

A 16,000-strong NATO-led force that helps enforce peace between Serbs and ethnic Albanians in Kosovo 'will stay there as long as it's needed,' subject to periodic review, Fried said.

Kosovo has been a de-facto UN protectorate since NATO airstrikes on former Yugoslavia ousted Serbian security forces and paramilitaries from the province in 1999.

NATO's 79-day air war followed fighting between Serb forces and Kosovo rebels, which escalated into forced expulsions and killings of ethnic Albanians. Several thousand people died and some 1 million ethnic Albanians, about half of Kosovo's population, fled during the clashes and the air war.