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UNITED NATIONS: Kosovo’s planned unilateral declaration of
independence (UDI) from Belgrade would set a dangerous precedent for
other secessionist movements and lead to worsening conflicts around
the world, Serbia and Russia warned Thursday.
The warning came during a closed-door meeting of
the 15-member UN Security Council called by the two allies to
discuss the “dangers” of a UDI by Kosovo’s Albanian separatist
leaders expected Sunday or Monday, just before a key meeting of
European Union foreign ministers.
A core group of big EU states—Britain, France,
Germany and Italy—are expected to recognize an independent Kosovo
quickly, almost in concert with the United States.
“Such a precedent, imposed on the world
community, would echo far, far away, into every corner of our
globe,” Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic told the council.
But the US deputy ambassador to the UN,
Alejandro Wolff, defended the argument of Western countries that the
case of UN-run Kosovo is “unique” and “a consequence of the
ethnic cleansing policy” of late autocratic Serbian leader
Slobodan Milosevic.
“The policies of a previous regime in
Belgrade have created the dilemmas we face today,” his British
counterpart John Sawers said.
But Jeremic dismissed the notion that Kosovo was
unique.
“We all know that there are dozens of Kosovos
throughout the world just waiting for secession to be
legitimized,” he noted. “Many existing conflicts would escalate,
frozen conflicts would re-ignite and new ones would be instigated”
if Kosovo’s UDI was allowed to stand, he warned.
Despite its repeated warnings against a
partitioning of Kosovo, Moscow has never suggested it would
retaliate by coming out in favor of independence for pro-Russian
separatists in its neighbor Georgia.
Spain, Cyprus, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and
Slovakia are the EU members hesitant to recognize an independent
Kosovo because of the fear that that it may set a precedent for
other separatist regions.
Kosovo has been under UN stewardship since 1999,
when a NATO bombing campaign drove out forces loyal to Milosevic to
end a brutal crackdown on the province’s mainly ethnic Albanian
population.
-- AFP
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