Word: albanian
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...small Balkan province of Kosovo during the 1999 war. The effort to get Serbs and Kosovars to agree on the implications of that outcome has taken eight years, consumed billions of dollars and entangled a legion of diplomats. It's not working. By Dec. 10, Serb and Albanian negotiators are supposed to sign on to a detailed, internationally vouchsafed plan for a peaceful separation of Kosovo from Serbia. But Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders are on the verge of scuppering the already deadlocked talks by unilaterally declaring independence. And Serbia, backed by Russia, remains loudly opposed to Kosovo's independence...
...Kosovo Albanian leaders, who have sought independence since well before the 1999 war, are no less adamant. Late last month Prime Minister Agim Ceku, a former rebel commander, proclaimed that Kosovo is now ready to coordinate a unilateral declaration of independence "with the United States and other countries." If "forced" to do this, he added, he would try to make sure it was not a "surprise...
...result, some Kosovo Albanians are demanding that the country unilaterally declare independence. U.N. administrators and the estimated 16,000 peacekeepers in the province fear a repeat of deadly riots in March 2004 that targeted foreigners (as well as minority Serbs and their monuments) if full independence is put off too long. For now the U.S. is telling Kosovo Albanians that their time will come. They are urging Serbian leaders to give up their opposition to the plan in exchange for accelerating membership talks to enter the European Union (Serbia wants to grant the province autonomy but not full independence.) European...
...This is the greatest and most distinguished guest we have ever had in all times.' SALI BERISHA, Albanian Prime Minister, on George W. Bush, who visited the tiny Balkan country on June 10-the first sitting U.S. President to do so. Albania marked the occasion by renaming the street in front of its parliament building in Bush's honor and by issuing a commemorative series of postage stamps...
While most ethnic Albanian leaders are ready to accept token independence over the status quo, some are already grumbling that Ahtisaari's plan falls far short of their expectations. Albin Kurti, the leader of the pro-independence Self-Determination movement, warned that "Ahtisaari's proposal does nothing for Kosovo's independence, state system and sovereignty" - and called for its rejection. Kurti's movement, which intends to stage a series of anti-plan protests, is backed by hard-line veterans of the disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army, a guerrilla force that waged a ruthless war against Serbs. In the short run, Kurti...