PRISHTINA, KOSOVA -- Kosova will declare Independence by the end of this year regardless of who supports it or not.
In light of the latest developments at the UN, tensions in Kosovo are rising as international negotiations over its status have headed into a dead end. Many Kosovars are demanding the Unity Team set a date when Kosova will declare independence by itself and not rely on the continued failures of the UN. Russia has rejected all previous versions drawn up by the United States and its European allies in the past few weeks and has threatened to block any resolution unacceptable to Serbia.
As a result, the people of Kosova have grown frustrated and are now demanding an immediate declaration of independence by their elected leaders. These demands have been coupled with speculative fears that Kosova's citizens will take independence by force if they are not allowed to rule themselves, something that has spread panic throughout the Balkans and the West, where a repeat of the Balkan wars can start once again.
The same frustration has also taken its toll from the elites. Prime Minister Agim Ceku suggested Friday that “Kosova should unilaterally declare independence from Serbia on November 28th”, arguing that Western efforts to put the province on the path to statehood through the UN have failed.
Veton Surroi, head of the opposition ORA party and one of the politicians negotiating Kosova’s status, suggests that “Kosova’s Assembly fulfill its obligation before Kosova’s citizens by declaring independence by Christmas”.
In the same vein, US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said, "We are committed to an independent Kosova," … "We will get there one way or another."
Envoys of the Contact Group on Kosova -- the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Russia -- will meet next week to discuss launching another 120 days of shuttle diplomacy between Belgrade and Prishtina. However, this may be too late because the Kosova Unity Team has refused to meet with Belgrade saying that there are no other concessions to be made as independence is non-negotiable.
The Contact Group, where Russia has no veto, is believed to swiftly recommend independence for Kosova. Additionally, many experts believe that Kosova’s unilateral declaration of independence will be met with recognition from several states (including the U.S., Britain, and several EU and Mideastern states) and after that, the issue would go back to the United Nations with many more arguments, and Kosova would be officially recognized by the Security Council.
5 comments:
It is only fitting that Kosova now declares independence unilaterally.
Albanians have been overly patient in allowing foreigners to decide when they get to rule themselves.
Alnin Kurti was right all along, there should be absolutely no negotiating the independence of Kosova! Independence is a forgone conclusion, and the SLAVS and RUSSIANS are desperatly trying to hold on by the slightest hopes, those of which have no bearing on the political process, ie, independence of Kosova on Novemeber 28, 2007!!!!
Since the war in Kosova ended almost eight years ago, Albanians throughout the province have continued to stockpile weapons in their homes and in undisclosed areas just in case they don't become independent.
There was even a documentary done about this where plane loads of weapons from the USA were being flown into Albania and crossed over to Kosova. The most powerful of which were 50 caliper rifles that could knowck down a helicopter.
There have been no reports that any attacks in Kosova associated the use of such weapons, BUT there is documented evidence that weapons are continually imported to Kosova for the purposes of being used in case independence is not awarded.
Kosova declaed many years ago that they will never again live under the jurisdiction/rule of Slavs (Serbia), and will fight without hesitation to win her freedom.
It is damn unfathomable to think that Serbia believes it can hold onto Kosova given the atrocities it conducted to wipe an entire people off teh face of the map. This woudl be like Germany claiming territorial authority over Israel.
The international community knows thsi very well, and so do those Russians, and the longer they delay the only outcome possible (independence) the sooner a wave of new ethnic warfare will ensue!
Pristina _ Kosovo leaders promised not to declare independence unilaterally after meeting the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, on Monday afternoon in Washington.
“It was a very important meeting, a meeting which has proved the consistency of the United States’ support for Kosovo”, Fatmir Sejdiu, President of Kosovo, said, during a live broadcast from Washington on Kosovo’s RTK public television.
Sejdiu said Rice had clearly reiterated earlier declarations of American support for the independence of Kosovo.
Kosovo has been under UN and NATO administration since 1999, after NATO forced Serbian forces to withdraw from the province, where 90 per cent of the population is Albanian.
A plan drafted by UN special envoy, Martti Ahtisaari, recommended that Kosovo be granted a form of internationally supervised independence.
Russia, Serbia’s ally, has blocked a UN Security Resolution endorsing the Ahtisaari plan. As a result, the issue of Kosovo’s status has been shifted from the UN to the so-called Contact Group of six countries – Britain, the US, France, Germany, Italy and Russia.
US and European officials have agreed to allow 120 days for further negotiations in a last-ditch attempt to reach an agreement.
“We will give our contribution during the negotiations, but we will not negotiate about Kosovo’s independence, because it’s something that cannot be negotiated”, Sejdiu said, during the interview, insisting that independence remained inevitable.
“We have demanded that these 120 days have a clear epilogue and that the epilogue is independence,” Sejdiu said.
Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Agim Ceku, last Friday suggested Kosovo’s parliament might adopt a resolution setting November 28 as a date for declaring independence.
But Sejdiu said that Kosovo would not declare its independence without coordinating with its allies.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Rice had planned to “underline the fact that nobody gains by trying to short-circuit the diplomatic process that is under way”.
It's a fucking sad day in the UN when the will of the world via the Security Council is disrupted by those bastard Russians.
How can a veto-threatening state shut down teh entire process of negotiations like that?
I am very disappointed in this institution ... perhaps it should just stick to its peace-keeoing missions around teh world.
WASHINGTON, United States --State Department spokesman Tom Casey said on Thursday (August 2nd) that Kosovo's final status will be determined after the Contact Group, together with three international representatives, sends a report on the results of negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina to UN General-Secretary Ban Ki-Moon. That will likely happen December 10th, according to Casey, who reiterated Ban's position that the status quo is unstable.
In other news, EU security chief Javier Solana has appointed Swedish diplomat Jonas Jonsson as his personal representative for Kosovo. Jonsson, who succeeds Torbjorn Sohlstrom, will also serve as head of the International Civilian Office and the EU Special Representative Preparation Team in Pristina. (Telegrafi, RTK - 02/08/07; RFE - 01/08/07)
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