Kosovo will never be an independent state, regardless of the
type of pressure, conditions and threats to which Serbia is
exposed, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said in Belgrade
on Sunday ahead of another round of talks in Brussels on the
UN-administered province.
Addressing a convention of his Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS),
Kostunica said that Kosovo could be an independent state only if
Serbia recognized it or if the UN Security Council violated the UN
Charter.
"Both (Kosovo) Albanian separatists and states which sponsor our
province's independence are more than aware of this fact. They also
know well that every law -- political, ethical, constitutional and
international -- is on Serbia's side," Kostunica was quoted as
saying by the national Tanjug news agency.
"Therefore Kosovo will not be an independent state and will
never be a UN member state," he said.
Kostunica made his remarks just ahead of another round of talks
in Brussels between delegations of Belgrade and Pristina, under the
mediation of the United States, Russia and the EU.
The DSS meeting was voting on a party program that marks a clear
turn away from the West and towards Russia, which blocked this year
apparently imminent independence for Kosovo in the UN, forcing more
talks on the status of the breakaway province.
The talks were launched in August and were scheduled to end on
December 10. Kosovo Albanian leaders, who represent the 90-percent
ethnic Albanian majority in the province, threatened to
unilaterally declare independence after the talks. Belgrade has
offered Kosovo autonomy but fiercely opposes its independence.
The province has been run by a UN mission since mid-1999 when a
NATO bombing campaign halted Serbian crackdown against
independence-minded ethnic Albanians.
(Xinhua News Agency October 15, 2007)
