Belgrade: The US obstruct Kosovo talks
Serbian Minister for Kosovo and Metohia Slobodan Samardzic said on Wednesday that U.S. officials "keep obstructing" the New York agreement on refraining from defining a solution for the future status of Kosovo in advance.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Thursday, October 11, 2007
"Regardless of the fact that we all agreed in New York and adopted a declaration on refraining from making such statements, U.S. officials keep obstructing the agreement and making statements about the status," Samardzic said.
He mentioned statements by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Rosemary DiCarlo and U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Zalmay Khalilzad that Kosovo would be independent.
That, as Samardzic pointed out, "emboldened" Albanian representatives in London to disregard the contents of the talks they had had at the Foreign Office and say that they will proclaim independence immediately after December 10, when the mediators will submit a report on the course of the current stage of the negotiations to the U.N.
"In such context I wonder - what is the use of declarations, announcements and statements, why does the troika and especially Mr. Wolfgang Ischinger, who is making a huge effort to maintain a normal
atmosphere in the negotiations, even bother," Samardzic said.
In spite of everything, the Serbian delegation will go to Brussels fully prepared, as always, and take part in the talks, but will continue to warn that all efforts and work are being made pointless by constant "projections" of the U.S. administration that "Kosovo will be independent," Samardzic added.
Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said Wednesday during his visit to Spain that he expected a more detailed discussion on Belgrade's proposal for essential autonomy for Kosovo to begin during the Belgrade-Pristina talks in Brussels.
"We are ready to answer the Albanians' questions, we are ready to answer the troika's questions. We hope that the Brussels round of talks will take us one step further in bringing our stands closer to one another," Jeremic said.
The minister also voiced hope that the Pristina delegation would start considering Serbia's proposals in a serious manner.
"I expect the Brussels round to be another step toward a compromise solution for the future status of Kosovo," Jeremic said.
Jeremic and Samardzic will lead Belgrade's delegation in the October 14 talks with Pristina officials in Brussels.
