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Kosovo will not declare independence before March 10 - paper

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  • Kosovo will not declare independence before March 10 - paper

    RIA Novosti, Russia
    Jan 11 2008


    Kosovo will not declare independence before March 10 - paper
    19:42 | 11/ 01/ 2008



    BELGRADE, January 11 (RIA Novosti) - Kosovo will not declare
    unilateral independence before March 10, a Pristina-based newspaper
    said, citing sources in the Kosovo delegation negotiating the
    province's status.

    The Express daily referred in particular to an agreement between
    Spain and other European Union states that Kosovo authorities would
    not proclaim independence until after parliamentary elections in
    Spain, due on March 9.

    The paper said Madrid believes that the events in Kosovo could affect
    the outcome of the Spanish elections and strengthen separatist
    sentiment in the country.

    According to Kosovo's newly elected prime minister, Hasim Taci, the
    breakaway province of Serbia will unilaterally declare its
    independence in a few weeks.

    "I assure you that we will declare independence in a few weeks. It's
    already an accomplished fact - we only need to declare it," said
    Taci, who was sworn in by parliament on Wednesday.

    Taci's Democratic Party of Kosovo (DPK) has formed a governing
    coalition with President Fatmir Seidiu's Democratic Alliance of
    Kosovo.

    Russia warned on Thursday that it will block any resolution on
    Kosovo's status at the UN Security Council until both parties have
    found a mutually acceptable settlement.

    Throughout long-running talks aimed at finding a solution to the
    status of Serbia's breakaway province, Russia has backed Belgrade in
    opposing Kosovo's sovereignty, warning it would have a knock on
    effect for other secessionist areas, such as Transdnestr in Moldova,
    South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia and Nagorny Karabakh in
    Azerbaijan, so-called frozen conflicts since the 1990s.

    The Albanian-dominated Serbian province has been a UN protectorate
    since the NATO bombing of the former Yugoslavia ended a conflict
    between Albanian and Serb forces in 1999.

    Most Western states have backed the volatile area's drive for
    independence, and said recently that Kosovo's status would now be
    determined by the European Union and NATO. Russia is insisting that
    Belgrade and Pristina continue to try to reach a compromise.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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