VS en EU zullen onafhankelijkheid Kosovo steunen (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The US and EU have backed a UN plan for "supervised independence" in Kosovo despite Russian and Serb opposition, with US diplomat Nicholas Burns in Brussels calling for a new UN security council resolution 30 to 60 days from Monday (26 March).

"The US fully supports the proposals put forward by Martti Ahtisaari," the US' number three man on foreign affairs told experts at a seminar by think-tank CEPS in the EU capital, a few hours before UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari submitted his Kosovo blueprint to UN chief Ban Ki Moon in New York.

"It's time to bring a century of peace to the Balkans, to see Kosovo independent and to see a democratic and strong Serbia," the American said, with UK foreign secretary Margaret Beckett adding shortly afterward from London she "welcomes UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari's final settlement proposals."

The Ahtisaari plan envisages giving Pristina its own army, flag and constitution and the possibility of applying to join international institutions like the UN and EU, but with thousands of NATO and EU troops keeping the peace and an EU envoy that can veto some Kosovo government decisions.

"Independence is the only viable option for a politically stable and economically viable Kosovo," Mr Ahtisaari's final recommendation stated, Reuters reports, in a bold, new tone after months of negotiations in Vienna, Belgrade and Pristina that avoided using the painful word "independence."

Speaking to press the same day, EU top diplomat Javier Solana still remained shy of the term, opting to use the phrase "the work of president Ahtisaari" instead while expressing his support for the ex-Finnish president's ideas.

In terms of a timetable for the solution, the US' Mr Burns said "we're not going to rush to a security council resolution" mentioning "late April or early May" and "30 to 60 days" down the line as targets to get all five veto-holding powers in the UN - the US, UK, France, Russia and China - on board.

The biggest EU foreign policy players back the US line, but some EU states such as Spain, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Cyprus sympathise with Belgrade. Serbia has denounced the Ahtisaari plan and Russia has threatened to veto anything unacceptable to its historic ally. China has been silent so far.

Mr Burns' statement kicks off a heavy week of Kosovo diplomacy, with the US talking to NATO states in Brussels on Kosovo for the next two days, Mr Ahtisaari briefing EU ambassadors on Tuesday and EU foreign ministers devoting a Friday meeting to the topic.

Almost exactly 8 years ago on 24 March 1999 NATO began a bombing campaign in Kosovo designed to halt what Mr Burns called Serbian "ethnic cleansing" against the ethnic Albanians who form 93 percent of the population. The Serb province has been under UN rule ever since.

Kosovo is US and EU's top priority

The US diplomat said the task of EU and US foreign policy today is to "produce peace and stability in the world" adding "our first priority is to be successful in the Balkans, to complete the revolution that has taken place there since the 1990s."

In terms of handling Serb objections to the move, Mr Burns said he planned to call moderate Serb president Boris Tadic this week to explain "we are a friend to Serbia" and guarantee US protection for ethnic Serb enclaves and holy sites in the region.

The EU approach is similar, with Brussels offering to unfreeze Belgrade's EU accession talks despite lack of full cooperation with the UN on war crimes fugitives and with the new EU envoy in Kosovo to focus on keeping ethnic Serbs safe.

The US and EU are also reading from the same page on how to handle Russia, praising Moscow for its help on international problems like Iran and North Korea but scotching Russian talk of Kosovo independence as a precedent for rebels in Georgia or Moldova.

"Our second task [in terms of EU-US foreign policy priorities] is to have good relations with Russia," Mr Burns said. "[But] we certainly would not support any other trade, or precedent that would link Kosovo to other problems in Europe."

The American went a bit further than most European diplomats might dare, saying those countries who "made the biggest sacrifice" in terms of Kosovo military intervention and post-conflict aid - NATO and EU states - should take the lead in the region.

Iraq legacy dogs US

In an aside on recent Russian complaints the US has a "unipolar" world view, Mr Burns said assertively "My country finds itself the most powerful country economically and militarily...we have a lot of power, but we want to use that power for good, peacefully."

It was left to CEPS expert and ex-EU ambassador to Russia, Michael Emerson, to remind Mr Burns that when Bush junior became US president in 2002, he said "the US doesn't need allies" before wading into Iraq.

The Iraq adventure - which has seen over 600,000 civilians killed since 2003 - caused a serious rift between the US and France and Germany, with many ordinary left-leaning Europeans suddenly seeing the US with new, post-Cold War eyes as an oil-hungry imperialist not a force for good.

"Many senior analysts say the [US] language may change a bit, but the fundamentals remain obstinately constant," Mr Emerson suggested.

"I think there's a bipartisan consensus in my country - and I'm a career diplomat not a Republican or a Democrat - there's a consensus that America cannot live in the world alone," Mr Burns replied. "There's a great distance between those statements and the reality today."