http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/15/europe/EU-GEN-Serbia-US-Kosovo.php
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Associated Press
August 15, 2007
Serbia accuses US of wanting to create 'satellite
state' out of Kosovo
-Samardzic, the Serbian Kosovo minister, said that the
Kosovo state created with the U.S. support "would only
serve the interests of America and the local (Kosovo)
mafia clans."
BELGRADE, Serbia - Serbia stepped up an anti-U.S.
campaign Wednesday, accusing it of wanting to create a
"satellite state" out of the breakaway province of
Kosovo.
"Now that we are starting new negotiations on Kosovo,
it is crucial that NATO and the United States give up
their project of creating a satellite state" in the
southern Serbian province, said Slobodan Samardzic,
Serbia's government minister for Kosovo.
His statement to local media was the latest in a
series of accusations against the U.S. for its support
of independence for Kosovo where ethnic Albanians
comprise 90 percent of the province's two million
people.
Samardzic was joined Wednesday by the head of the
influential Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo who said
Serbia should never give up the province at any price,
even if it takes "2,000 years" of isolation.
"They (the West) are offering us membership in the
European Union," Bishop Artemije said.
Kosovo, considered by many Serbs as the cradle of
their statehood and religion, is only formally a part
of Serbia. The province has been run by the United
Nations and NATO since 1999, when NATO launched an air
war to stop Serbia's government onslaught on Albanian
separatists.
Last week, envoys from United States, the European
Union and Russia launched a 120-day effort to end the
impasse over Kosovo.
The new effort follows Russia's threat to block a
Western-backed plan to grant Kosovo internationally
supervised independence in the U.N. Security Council.
The diplomats are to report back to U.N. Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon by Dec. 10.
Samardzic, the Serbian Kosovo minister, said that the
Kosovo state created with the U.S. support "would only
serve the interests of America and the local (Kosovo)
mafia clans."
The latest government-sponsored anti-U.S. campaign is
apparently intended to further foster Russia's
opposition to Kosovo's independence, having in mind
Russia's opposition to U.S. policies on several
fronts.
Serbian News Network - SNN
news@antic.org
http://www.antic.org/
