[Arthur Gordon Pym]

U.S. diplomat says support for independent Kosovo should not preclude good relations with Belgrade


The Associated Press

Published: April 17, 2007


WASHINGTON: A senior U.S. diplomat said Monday that the United States hopes that its strong support for Kosovo's independence from Serbia will not cause lasting damage to relations with Belgrade.
In a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said that the U.S. considers independence the only option for the province, which has been a U.N. protectorate since 1999.
Letting go of Kosovo would allow Belgrade to move toward greater integration with Western Europe and beyond troubled relations with Washington, Burns said, while gesturing toward Ivan Vujacic, Serbia's ambassador, who was sitting in the front row. Burns identified the Serbian diplomat as a friend.
"We don't want this very painful and difficult decision about the independence of Kosovo to in effect scuttle the possibility of good relations between our two countries," Burns said. "Following this very painful separation of Kosovo from Serbia, the United States will signal very clearly our belief that we can have a good future with the Serb people."
Burns called Serbia: "that great state with which we have had very good and warm relations throughout our history with the exception of the last 10-15 years."
But he said that the United States hoped that a plan proposed by chief United Nations envoy for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari granting the breakaway province supervised statehood would be debated by the U.N. Security Council within weeks. Under the proposal, Kosovo would have interim period of international supervision with its own army, flag, anthem and constitution, before achieving full statehood.
"We are on the verge of a major development with the looming independence of Kosovo as a new state in the international system," Burns said. "It is very clear to the United States that the future of Kosovo should be one of independence and we will lead the way as authors of a resolution that would allow that to happen."
Serbia has rejected the proposal and has been supported by Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council with veto power. During a question period following Monday's speech, Vujacic, asked Burns, the third ranking official in the State Department, why the U.S. would not consider Serbia's proposals for extensive autonomy for Kosovo.
"There is every reason to believe that that solution put forward by Russia, put forward by the Serb government itself, would lead to more violence, rather than less," Burns replied.
He said that Kosovo was effectively lost for Belgrade in the 1990s when brutal repression by former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic led to NATO intervention in 1999.
"You put forward the proposal of autonomy. We think that is 10 to 12 years too late," Burns said.
Vujacic also asked Burns whether the United States would rule out unilateral recognition of Kosovo. The question is sensitive because some have suggested that if Russia carries out threats that it has made to veto a resolution on the Ahtisaari plan, other countries, including the United States, should recognize Kosovo's independence anyway.
"We will support a declaration of independence by the people of Kosovo," Burns said.
But he made clear that the United States expected that U.N. resolution would pass and that recognition would follow.

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