John Bolton: No Imposed Solutions or Ultimatums
Bolton: If One Side Keeps Insisting on Independence, There Can be No Agreement
WASHINGTON, U.S.A, Feb. 21, 2007 (Source: Tanjug) — Former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said on Wednesday that ultimatums or imposed solutions cannot be considered the right way to solve the future status of Serbian Kosovo-Metohija province, and opposed the imposition of a solution that would be unacceptable to either the Serbian government or Albanians in Kosovo province, explaining that he was not sure such a resolution would ever be adopted.
Speaking for the Voice of America, Mr. Bolton said that the future status of Kosovo province should be acceptable to all sides.
If one side insists on independence, it is evident that there would be no agreement, Bolton said and added he believed that the Serbian government was prepared to offer a high level of autonomy to Albanians in Kosovo province and that he hoped that a negotiated solution would be reached.
Neither the UN, Nor Other Countries Can Carve Up Democratic Serbia
Bolton said that Serbia could not be divided without the agreement of its government and that this issue was not in the competence of other countries or the United Nations, because this was the new and democratic Serbia and “not Milosevic’s old Yugoslavia.”
It would be unprecedented if the United Nations interfered in the affairs of a country in democratic development and adopted its own solution, he said and added that China and Russia, each for its own reasons which may not have anything to do with Serbia, would not want such a precedent to be set.
Imposing Ahtisaari’s or Any Other Solution Would be “Very Unwise”
Bolton said that many at the United Nations believed that under UN Security Council Resolution 1244, the UN Security Council had the right to impose a new resolution if the solution was not acceptable to both sides. However, he believed that it would be very unwise if the UN Security Council tried to impose any solution — either Ahtisaari’s plan or something else, because Russia or China, or both countries, would veto such efforts.
The UN Security Council should continue insisting on negotiations, refrain from imposing artificial deadlines and insist on goodwill approach to negotiations by both sides, in an effort to find an appropriate solution, Bolton said.