US Official: Kosovo Status Quo No Longer Sustainable

09/06/2005

Voicing his country's support for a rapid solution to the Kosovo status issue, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said Wednesday the continuing uncertainty is no longer acceptable.

(Blic - 09/06/05; Reuters, DPA, Kosovareport.org, BBC Monitoring, Radio B92 - 08/06/05; US Department of State - 03/06/05)

US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns (right) arrives for a meeting in Pristina Wednesday (8 June) with Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova (second right) parliament speaker Nexhat Daci (second left) and Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi. [Laura Hasani]

The United States supports the opening of talks to determine Kosovo's future status this autumn, a senior US official said in Pristina on Wednesday (8 June), stressing that a continuation of the current uncertainty is no longer acceptable.

"I came to Pristina to talk with the governmental and political leaders about the future, because this is a decisive year for Kosovo,'' US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said during his daylong visit to the UN-run province. Stressing that "the status quo here is not sustainable", he said Washington's view is "that change has to come and that should come in 2005".

The international community will not impose any ready-made decisions, the US diplomat said, adding that a solution to the Kosovo status issue should be reached through dialogue and compromise.

"Kosovo Albanians must be willing to compromise," Burns, the third most senior official in the State Department hierarchy, told reporters in Pristina after talks with the province's political leaders. "We are not going to impose a settlement, we're not even going to say what we support as a final compromise, but we will insist on compromise."

Burns's visit was part of his three-day tour of the Balkans to discuss US efforts to ensure long-term stability in the region and integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions, as well as the international process for determining Kosovo's future status, the State Department said in a statement issued ahead of the trip. He visited Sarajevo on Tuesday and is in Belgrade on Thursday for talks with Serbian officials. The United States is a member of the six-nation body, known as the Contact Group for Kosovo.

While in Pristina, Burns met with UNMIK chief Soren Jessen-Petersen, Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova, Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi, opposition leaders Hashim Thaci and Veton Surroi, and Oliver Ivanovic, a representative of the Kosovo Serb community.

Any talks to determine Kosovo's future will begin only after a positive assessment of the province's progress in implementing a set of internationally endorsed democratic standards. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan recently appointed Norwegian Ambassador to NATO Kai Eide as his special envoy for the standards review, scheduled to begin next week. He is expected to present his report to the UN in two months' time.

"My government believes that enough progress has already been made in meeting standards, and if Kai Eide comes to the same conclusion, we will encourage UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to call negotiations on the final status this autumn," Burns said. "Our position is that a European should chair the negotiations because this is a European problem and Kosovo is part of Europe. The United States will certainly be included and we will be pleased to assist the European mediator and offer him an American as deputy."