It is feared that Kosovo's Serb minority may try to break away from the mostly ethnic-Albanian region if it makes a unilateral bid for independence, raising the spectre of renewed violence in a province where more than 10,000 people died between 1998 and 1999.
"I expect Kosovo to be able to declare its independence by the
end of May," said Kosovo premier Agim Ceku. "There is a very strong
US commitment to do this," he told the
Internationa
Herald Tribune
. "It wants to
finish the job. Britain's [prime minister] Tony Blair is on board,
too." Mr Ceku dismissed Russia's threat to veto independence in the
UN Security Council, where Moscow has demanded a solution that is
amenable to both Belgrade and Kosovo, which has been run by the UN
since Nato bombing drove out Serb forces in 1999.
"Russia is using Kosovo to prove it is a player," he said,
adding that he expected the province of two million people to
declare independence regardless of Moscow's position. "Our friends
who are realistic and countries that have invested soldiers, money
and eight years of engagement here . . . want an end to this
unresolved status." Mr Ceku also suggested that major EU nations wanted to reach a
final decision on Kosovo before the G-8 meeting of industrialised
nations begins in Germany on June 6th. "I don't think Chancellor
Angela Merkel of Germany will want G-8 countries to attend the
summit without resolving Kosovo's status," he said. On Sunday Serbia's prime minister urged Kosovo's leaders to
accept "supervised autonomy" rather than "supervised independence",
saying that would avert strife and allow Serbia to retain its
territorial integrity. But the vast majority of Kosovo's residents
demand sovereignty, and Washington has stated clearly that it will
not tolerate further delay over a decision on Kosovo. "We hope that Russia understands that Kosovo is going to be
independent one way or another," US under secretary of state Dan
Fried said this weekend. "It will either be done in a controlled, supervised way that
provides for the wellbeing of the Serbian people, or it will take
place in an uncontrolled way and the Kosovo Serbs will suffer the
most, which would be terrible."
