US State Dept Calls On Kosovo To Support EU Police Mission

November 17, 2008
BELGRADE (AFP)--A top U.S. official Monday urged Kosovo to support a deal that would allow the deployment of a European Union police mission, but the Kosovan president reiterated his opposition. Daniel Fried, the U.S. State Department's top diplomat for European affairs, held talks with president Fatmir Sejdiu over a deal between Serbia and the E.U. on the 2,000-strong E.U. police and justice mission in Kosovo, called EULEX.

"I believe that despite the questions and concerns and even disagreement...the way forward can be found that allows EULEX to deploy promptly and throughout Kosovo," Fried said.
The U.S. "support the deployment of EULEX as soon as possible," Fried said, adding that the E.U.'s goal of activating the mission in December would be the best timing.
Fried said the plan could "do a lot of good and no harm." "But we respect the fact that the Kosovo government has a different view," he said.

Kosovo, which unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in February, has opposed the agreement between Brussels and Belgrade on the deployment of the law-and-order force.
Belgrade reached a deal with the E.U., which would keep local customs and police services in the Serb-dominated areas in northern Kosovo under U.N. and EULEX command.
The accord must be approved by the U.N. Security Council at Serbia's request.
The authorities in Pristina see the deal as a breach of Kosovo's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"Such a document is unacceptable for Pristina," Sejdiu said after the talks with Fried.
The declaration of independence by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders has so far won recognition from more than 50 states, including the U.S. and most members of the European Union.
Serbia, backed by its traditional ally Russia, promptly rejected the move as illegal.
EULEX was planned to replace a U.N. mission that had administered Kosovo since the end of conflict between Serb forces and pro-independence Albanian rebels in 1999.