Russia warned Kosovo's leaders that if they declare independence the territory will never become a member of the UN or other international political institutions.
The US and Britain countered on Wednesday by reaffirming their support for Kosovo's drive for independence from Serbia, a close ally of Russia.
The future status of Kosovo, a province of Serbia that has been run by the UN and NATO since 1999, was not on the Security Council's official agenda on Wednesday. The council was supposed to discuss a report on the UN Mission in Kosovo, but instead the two sides replayed their debate last month on independence versus autonomy for the Serb province and neither side budged.
With Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders expected to declare independence as early as next month, the stakes were high and the key players sent their top leaders -- Serbian President Boris Tadic and Kosovo's newly elected Prime Minister Hashim Thaci -- to make their case again to the UN's most powerful body.
Tadic echoed Russia's call for further negotiations, saying a solution that would both provide autonomy and guarantee rights for Kosovo Albanians was "possible and attainable."
He said Serbia had become a peaceful democracy and there was no reason it should be "unjustly punished again" because of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists a decade ago.
But Thaci told the council that Kosovo has laid the foundations to be a democratic state and independence is a "first step to regional success and our integration in the European family," according to a copy of his speech.
Later, he told reporters: "Very soon we will take a decision and we hope that very soon [the] international community will recognize us -- Washington, Britain and other states."
After the Dec. 19 Security Council debate, US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad declared the views of the two sides "irreconcilable," and said it was time for an independent Kosovo, a stand backed by Britain, France and most members of the EU.
On Wednesday, Khalilzad told reporters: "We know where we are heading. There is no change with regard to the fact that the council is blocked."
Britain's UN Ambassador John Sawers agreed that "nothing's changed."
"I don't think there's any prospect of further negotiations, so we need to plan ahead and the European Union's made clear its approach," he said. "There will be a further discussion among EU foreign ministers on Saturday."
But Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the future of Kosovo was a Security Council issue and not an issue concerning EU leaders.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Two daughters of an Argentine mountaineer who died on an icy peak 40 years ago have retrieved his backpack from the spot — finding camera film inside that allowed them a glimpse of some of his final experiences. Guillermo Vieiro was 44 when he died in 1985 — as did his climbing partner — while descending Argentina’s Tupungato lava dome, one of the highest peaks in the Americas. Last year, his backpack was spotted on a slope by mountaineer Gabriela Cavallaro, who examined it and contacted Vieiro’s daughters Guadalupe, 40, and Azul, 44. Last month, the three set out with four other guides
Sri Lanka’s fragile economic recovery could be hampered by threatened trade union strikes over reduced benefits for government employees in this year’s budget, the IMF said yesterday. Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s maiden budget raised public sector salaries, but also made deep cuts to longstanding perks in a continuing effort to repair the island nation’s tattered finances. Sri Lanka’s main doctors’ union is considering a strike from today to protest against cuts to their allowances, while teachers are also considering stoppages. IMF senior mission chief for Sri Lanka Peter Breuer said the budget was the “last big push” for the country’s austerity
RSS