"Kosovo will be represented as state"

Kosovo PM Hashim Thaci says Kosovo will be represented "in all summits as a state". The Kosovo Albanian leader is in Dubrovnik, Croatia, where he is attending a gathering, and where he commented on FM Vuk Jeremic's absence. "Kosovo will be represented as state" "Belgrade, with this policy of the mentality of the past, should know that Kosovo will be represented in every summit and conference as an independent state," he said, according to Pristina's Albanian language daily Express. Jeremic snubbed the Croatia Summit 2009 because of the treatment given to Kosovo's officials, said the newspaper. On Thursday, Jeremic said he would not travel to Dubrovnik because Zagreb "at the last moment abandoned an agreement on the format of participation of Serbia's and Kosovo temporary institutions' representatives". Now Thaci says this reaction was "not good", or "in line with democratic values". It was also not good "for good neighborly relations". He said that the perspective of "Kosovo and Serbia, as separate countries", should be "integration into Euro-Atlantic structures". While in Dubrovnik, Thaci met with Montenegrin PM Milo Djukanovic and officials from other countries. The Djukanovic meeting, he revealed, was "excellent". "We share the same positions with Djukanovic on the issue of Euro-Atlantic integration of our countries," said he. "As the youngest states in the regions we have demonstrated progress and good cooperation," he continued, and added that "Kosovo and Montenegro will soon establish diplomatic relations," but would not specify when. On Friday Thaci, who was one of the leaders of the disbanded so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), told a Montenegrin television outlet that former Hague Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte is a "disgrace for international law and justice". Allegations that KLA was involved in the kidnapping of Kosovo Serb civilians and of taking them across the border to Albania where their vital organs were extracted to be sold in the black market, first surfaced in a Del Ponte book last year. The Serbian War Crimes Prosecution has in the meantime launched an investigation, and believes hundreds of Serbs perished in this way during and after the 1999 war in the province. Thaci, however, says that these allegations come from "Belgrade's yellow press", and that they were then presented in her book by Del Ponte – whom he refers to as "frustrated". He also told Atlas TV that Kosovo is a "sovereign, democratic state with full integrity". The ideas of partition are obsolete "and not very clever", said Thaci. "It doesn’t have influence and is not in line with policy of Pristina, policies in the region or policies of Washington and Brussels. It's an isolated, unsuccessful opinion," he said.

"Kosovo will be represented as state"

"Belgrade, with this policy of the mentality of the past, should know that Kosovo will be represented in every summit and conference as an independent state," he said, according to Priština's Albanian language daily Express.

Jeremić snubbed the Croatia Summit 2009 because of the treatment given to Kosovo's officials, said the newspaper.

On Thursday, Jeremić said he would not travel to Dubrovnik because Zagreb "at the last moment abandoned an agreement on the format of participation of Serbia's and Kosovo temporary institutions' representatives".

Now Thaci says this reaction was "not good", or "in line with democratic values". It was also not good "for good neighborly relations".

He said that the perspective of "Kosovo and Serbia, as separate countries", should be "integration into Euro-Atlantic structures".

While in Dubrovnik, Thaci met with Montenegrin PM Milo Đukanović and officials from other countries.

The Đukanović meeting, he revealed, was "excellent".

"We share the same positions with Đukanović on the issue of Euro-Atlantic integration of our countries," said he. "As the youngest states in the regions we have demonstrated progress and good cooperation," he continued, and added that "Kosovo and Montenegro will soon establish diplomatic relations," but would not specify when.

On Friday Thaci, who was one of the leaders of the disbanded so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), told a Montenegrin television outlet that former Hague Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte is a "disgrace for international law and justice".

Allegations that KLA was involved in the kidnapping of Kosovo Serb civilians and of taking them across the border to Albania where their vital organs were extracted to be sold in the black market, first surfaced in a Del Ponte book last year.

The Serbian War Crimes Prosecution has in the meantime launched an investigation, and believes hundreds of Serbs perished in this way during and after the 1999 war in the province.

Thaci, however, says that these allegations come from "Belgrade's yellow press", and that they were then presented in her book by Del Ponte – whom he refers to as "frustrated".

He also told Atlas TV that Kosovo is a "sovereign, democratic state with full integrity".

The ideas of partition are obsolete "and not very clever", said Thaci.

"It doesn’t have influence and is not in line with policy of Priština, policies in the region or policies of Washington and Brussels. It's an isolated, unsuccessful opinion," he said.