Saturday - September 01, 2007

Kosovo to be Split?

Will a partition of Kosovo end the stalemate?

Russia will accept a partition of Serbia's Kosovo province if that is the solution agreed by Belgrade and Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.

Asked if Russia would agree to partition, Lavrov said: "Negotiations are continuing with the mediation of the troika of Russia, the European Union and the United States. The aim is to help the sides reach an agreement, and we will support whatever it is on which they reach agreement."

The province, part of Serbia but with a majority ethnic Albanian population, has been run by the United Nations and NATO for the past eight years. Kosovo Albanians want full independence, but Belgrade has refused to give them that.

The U.N. administration agreed with the leaders of the Albanian majority to hold parliamentary and local elections on November 17, officials said.

The vote is likely to increase tension because the talks over Kosovo's political future are due to end in early December.

Russia, a Serbian ally, opposes a Western-backed plan to grant Kosovo independence from Belgrade. The troika format was created after Moscow had blocked the independence plan in the United Nations.

"The aim of the (troika) mediators is to help the sides to reach agreement .... and not to force a particular solution on them," Lavrov told reporters at a news briefing in Moscow.

Partition of Kosovo would most likely involve splitting off a northern slice of the province where a large part of the ethnic Serbian minority live.

Author: The Machiavellian
Technorati Tags: Serbia Kosovo
Technorati Cosmos:
Technorati Watchlist:
Add this entry to: