http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/15/europe/EU-GEN-Serbia-US-Kosovo.php
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/