US pushing both sides for Kosovo agreement

KOSOVO: Washington is cranking up the pressure on Belgrade and Kosovo to reach agreement on the future of the troubled region, which Serbs call their spiritual homeland, and whose ethnic Albanian majority demands full independence.

Nicholas Burns, a senior US State Department official, called 2005 the "year of decision for Kosovo" this week, just as the possibility emerged of rare talks between Serb leaders and their Albanian counterparts from the province.

Mr Burns said a breakthrough on the final status of Kosovo, which the UN has run since 1999, could hinge on a forthcoming UN review of the region. Leaked details of that review suggest that Kosovo's UN governor will give glowing praise next week to the region's efforts to strengthen democracy, transparency and minority rights.

"If the results of the review are sufficiently positive the United States will advocate a swift launch of status talks," Mr Burns said.

"Resolving Kosovo's future status in a way that also brings Serbia and Montenegro fully into the community of democratic nations is an administration priority, that will allow us to advance our goals for the entire region, and put the bloody break-up of Yugoslavia firmly in the past." But Mr Burns also acknowledged that a chasm still separated the ambitions of the government in Belgrade and the Albanian-dominated leadership of Kosovo. "The negotiations will be difficult," he admitted. "Passions run high on both sides and opening positions are likely to be diametrically opposed." The difficulty was underlined by a row that quickly broke out over the prospect of talks next week that would be the first face-to-face meeting between the Serb and Kosovar prime ministers in six years.

The Serb authorities complained about the Kosovars' description of the potential meeting as one "between two states" in search of "good neighbourly relations". That sounded like Kosovo was already independent, Belgrade said.

In response, Kosovo's prime minister rejected Belgrade's suggested location for the talks, the town of Prizren in western Kosovo, one of a number of Serb enclaves that were attacked by Albanian mobs last March, in riots that left 19 people dead, drove about 4,000 Serbs and Roma from their homes, and left some Orthodox churches in ashes.

That was the worst bout of violence since a Nato bombing campaign in 1999 put a stop to fighting between Albanian guerrillas and Serb forces, who were accused of killing some 10,000 Albanian civilians and driving about 800,000 from their homes.

While Kosovo's Albanians are frustrated with six years of "limbo" status, Belgrade's politicians are torn between their public's widespread desire to hold onto the province, and the need to win favour with Washington and the EU, which Serbia would ultimately like to join. Serbia's leaders have suggested that they are willing to allow "more than autonomy but less than independence" for Kosovo and, for now, even political enemies are united on that somewhat-vague point.

Serb president Boris Tadic issued a joint statement with his prime minister and an ultra-nationalist leader this week, demanding that "international borders in the region must remain unchanged to preserve and strengthen regional stability".

In a tentative breakthrough, however, Kosovo Albanian president Ibrahim Rugova said he was ready to meet Mr Tadic next month, probably in Geneva and preferably in the presence of senior international diplomats. Mr Burns said he hoped to bring a potential deal on Kosovo's final status before the UN Security Council next year.