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- Straw: Kosovo independence 'almost inevitable' |
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Written by News Desk
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Saturday, 11 March 2006 |
 | Kosovo War as seen by Kosovo's children |
Salzburg, March 10, 2006 - British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that Kosovo's movement towards independence is "almost inevitable," and said Serbia may have to accept that reality. The comments were among the strongest indications yet of backing for independence for the majority ethnic Albanian Serb province, currently the subject of final status talks.
"There is a reality which I'm afraid the Serbian population in the end may well have to accept which is that a big majority of people in Kosovo are likely to be in support of independence," he said yesterday at talks among EU foreign ministers. "Everybody accepts that the pre-1999 situation is unsustainable as a basis for the future. And if that is the case, then a pathway towards independence becomes almost inevitable," he told reporters in Salzburg, Austria. His comments came after Kosovo's parliament elected a former ethnic Albanian guerrilla commander whom Serbia accuses of war crimes as prime minister.
Agim Ceku, who led ethnic Albanian rebels against Serbian forces during Kosovo's 1998-1999 war, was nominated prime minister last week after Bajram Kosumi was forced into resigning by his own party. Kosovo was put under United Nations administration in mid-1999 after a NATO bombing campaign drove out Serbian forces loyal to then Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic that were cracking down on the Albanian rebels. |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 11 March 2006 )
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