U.S. to present draft resolution on Kosovo to UNSC

PanARMENIAN.Net - Following an April 23-24 visit by the UN Security Council to Brussels, Belgium; Belgrade, Serbia; and Kosovo's capital, Pristina, the United States plans to co-sponsor a UN resolution that would allow Kosovo's provisional government to declare independence, U.S. Under Secretary of State R. Nicholas Burns says.



"We must now act quickly in the next weeks and months to finish the job by helping to lead Kosovo to independence," Burns said April 17 in testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Burns is under secretary of state for political affairs, the third-ranking official at the State Department.



Following 18 months of negotiations, UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari on April 3 formally proposed to the Security Council that Kosovo be granted independence while temporarily remaining under international supervision.



Kosovo, a province of Serbia, is administered by the United Nations under U.N. Resolution 1244, passed in June 1999 when a NATO campaign drove Yugoslav Serbs out of Kosovo, halting years of violence and human rights abuses.



Under the Ahtisaari plan, "Kosovo will become independent but will continue a period of international tutelage for a number of years," Burns told lawmakers. "NATO, for example, will continue to police Kosovo's borders and maintain internal peace until Kosovo is ready to form its own armed forces. The European Union will lead the major international civilian effort to ensure that the settlement of the Ahtisaari plan is fully implemented."



Several lawmakers expressed concerns that granting independence to Kosovo would set a dangerous precedent for other breakaway regions. Independence is strongly opposed by Serbia and by Kosovo Serbs. Russia, which holds veto power on the Security Council, has expressed concerns.



"A solution that's imposed from the outside, unless the parties both agree, is going to lead to a real military problem, in my opinion, down the road," Representative Howard Berman, a California Democrat, warned Burns.



Burns stressed that the United States and its European allies consider Kosovo's history of oppression under now-deceased Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to be a unique situation that does not set a precedent for other separatist movements. (See related article.)



Burns also said Ahtisaari spent 18 months trying to achieve a compromise, but the government in Belgrade "made a political decision not to participate" meaningfully in the negotiation. Belgrade also pressured Kosovo Serbs to stay away from negotiations, he said.



The UN Security Council has five permanent members and 10 elected members. A Security Council decision requires approval by nine of the 15 members. However, the five permanent members -- China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States -- can veto a decision. U.S. and European diplomatic efforts in the weeks ahead are focused on persuading Russia not to veto a Kosovo resolution, USINFO reports.