State Department rules out partition

The U.S. is determined to prevent a partition of Kosovo, be it de facto or de jure, says Nicholas Burns. “Nor would the vast majority of states in the world support something like that,“ the U.S. under secretary of state told a press conference in Washington. State Department rules out partition He reiterated EU Special Representative Peter Feith’s remarks, who said in Vienna earlier today that there would be no partition. “He said that we do not advocate a partition of Kosovo and that we won’t tolerate any step in that direction, regardless of whether the partition is de facto or de jure. We won’t support it,“ said Burns. He stressed that the majority of countries supported Kosovo independence. Asked to comment on an article by Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic published on February 27 in the New York Times, Burns said that the Serbs had forgotten the history of the nineties, when they were accused of ethnically cleansing Kosovo Albanians. In the article, Jeremic said that the majority of UN members would not recognize Kosovo, as “only around 40 of 200 countries had recognized Kosovo,“ and he called the unilateral declaration of independence an illegal act and a “historic injustice.” “The Serbian foreign minister deserves a lot of criticism for talking to our papers and media, and behaving as if nothing happened in 1998 and 1999, when the Kosovo Albanian Muslim population was exposed to frightful injustices,” said Burns. The under secretary added that Serbia had tried to expel a million Kosovo Albanians by force, and that for this reason the UN had taken Kosovo from her. “We haven’t forgotten that,” he underlined, stressing that the U.S. considered Serbia responsible for “what took place on the streets of Belgrade” during last week’s anti-independence demonstrations, when the U.S. embassy was set ablaze. Nicholas Burns (FoNet, archive)

State Department rules out partition

He reiterated EU Special Representative Peter Feith’s remarks, who said in Vienna earlier today that there would be no partition.

“He said that we do not advocate a partition of Kosovo and that we won’t tolerate any step in that direction, regardless of whether the partition is de facto or de jure. We won’t support it,“ said Burns.

He stressed that the majority of countries supported Kosovo independence.

Asked to comment on an article by Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić published on February 27 in the New York Times, Burns said that the Serbs had forgotten the history of the nineties, when they were accused of ethnically cleansing Kosovo Albanians.

In the article, Jeremić said that the majority of UN members would not recognize Kosovo, as “only around 40 of 200 countries had recognized Kosovo,“ and he called the unilateral declaration of independence an illegal act and a “historic injustice.”

“The Serbian foreign minister deserves a lot of criticism for talking to our papers and media, and behaving as if nothing happened in 1998 and 1999, when the Kosovo Albanian Muslim population was exposed to frightful injustices,” said Burns.

The under secretary added that Serbia had tried to expel a million Kosovo Albanians by force, and that for this reason the UN had taken Kosovo from her.

“We haven’t forgotten that,” he underlined, stressing that the U.S. considered Serbia responsible for “what took place on the streets of Belgrade” during last week’s anti-independence demonstrations, when the U.S. embassy was set ablaze.