Byzantine Blog

American Administration Persists in Sinking Negotiations

Serbian State Minister for Kosovo and Metohija province, Slobodan Samardzic, on Wednesday warned that U.S. officials persistently obstruct the New York agreement on restraining from prejudicing a solution for the future status of southern Serbian province of Kosovo.

“Even though we have all agreed in New York and adopted the declaration on restraining from prejudicing the outcome of the negotiations with such statements, U.S. officials persistently obstruct the agreement and continue to make statements on a prejudiced solution,” Samardzic told Tanjug.

As the latest examples, he cited the statements by Rosemary DiCarlo, Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Zalmay Khalilzad saying that Serbian province “will be independent.”

Samardzic stressed that this has encouraged the Albanian separatist representatives in London to disregard the contents of their talks at the Foreign Office, and state that they would proclaim independence of the province immediately after December 10, when the mediators are due to submit their progress report on the negotiations to the United Nations.

“In such climate, one has to wonder about the purpose of the joint declaration, and to question the purpose of press releases and statements, the purpose of the Troika’s efforts and, in particular, of the efforts of Mr. Ischinger, who is really investing great deal of energy in attempts to maintain a normal atmosphere of the talks,” said Samardzic.

He also questioned the purpose of the negotiations, when highest officials of the country that has its own representative within the mediating Troika, United States, are constantly destroying the work of everyone involved with such statements.

“These are entirely destructive and obstructive activities, aimed against a possible negotiated solution,” Samardzic said.

Despite the obstructions, Serbian delegation, according to Minister Samardzic, is going to Brussels on October 14 fully prepared to take an active part in the negotiations, but it will keep warning that all the efforts and the work invested is being rendered meaningless through the constant “projections” of the American administration about Serbian province’s “inevitable independence.”

Great Britain Against the Unilateral Moves

On the other hand, Great Britain appears to be reserved regarding unilateral proclamation of Kosovo independence, Tanjug reports, explaining that Kosovo Albanian separatists were clearly informed during their visit to London on Tuesday about the British standpoint that negotiating processes and the stands of the international community as a whole should be followed in the search for a solution to the future status of Kosovo and Metohija province.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband advised Kosovo Albanian separatists to approach the continuation of the negotiations in a creative manner and in the spirit of a compromise, and to coordinate their activities with their partners in the international community, it was announced.

Such a message announced by the British foreign secretary is seen in London as Britain’s request to Albanian minority in Kosovo province not to resort to a unilateral proclamation of independence if the negotiating process does not result in a solution by December 10.

One of the Kosovo Albanian secessionist representatives, Fatmir Sejdiu, implied to reporters that Great Britain is not ready to recognize Serbian province as an independent state in the event that its ethnic Albanians unilaterally proclaim the independence.

Tanjug learned from diplomatic circles that Britain does not want to step outside the political process in the international community, primarily in the European Union. This at the same time means that the traditional loyalty of the United States in the policy toward Kosovo is not certain either, the diplomats said.

There is no accord within the European Union over the status of Kosovo-Metohija or, more precisely, on the proclamation of the independence of this Serbian province. Britain has already launched a diplomatic initiative for the final shaping of this accord, and is attempting to persuade, with the support of France, those who are ‘disrupting’ this process.

It appears that Germany is the key, British diplomats claim, since its stand will essentially decide the final determination of the European Union, and it seems that Berlin is not inclined toward the independence of Kosovo province.

Cartoon by Milenko Kosanovic (Serbia)