(27/03/06) KOSOVO TALKS RESUME AMID CONTROVERSY. (Balkan Watch)

• 2006-03-31
• Europa in de wereld

Discussions between Serbs and Albanians over the political future of Kosovo were postponed shortly after having restarted. They will resume on April 3.

Several Serbian diplomats have complained about the selection of Agim Ceku, who became Kosovo’s Prime Minister earlier this month after Bajram Kosumi resigned. Ceku has various warrants out for his arrest in Serbia and is believed by many Serb officials to be guilty of having committed war crimes during the war over Kosovo in the late 1990s.

Also wanted by the Serbian government is Kosovo Albanian official Hashim Thaci, who headed the Kosovo delegation to the talks in Vienna.

UN chief Soren Jessen-Petersen has asked that Interpol and national police organizations around the world disregard the Serbian warrants out for Thaci and Ceku. Before the talks resume on April 3, various international officials will continue to meet with Serb and Kosovo Albanian representatives.

Ceku pledged to make Kosovo a hospitable home to ethnic Serbs. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana praised Ceku’s efforts and devotion to improve the quality of life for Kosovo’s minority Serbs. Ceku, meanwhile, has publicly supported the integration of Kosovo into the European Union and NATO.