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BLOOMBERG (USA) U.S. Accuses Serbia of Stoking Tension Over Kosovo Independence By Ed Johnson Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. accused Serbia of increasing tensions between ethnic Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo, as the disputed Serbian province edged closer to declaring independence. The government in Belgrade has tried to block ethnic Serbs in the province from cooperating with the ethnic Albanian majority, Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Alejandro Wolff told the Security Council. ``There is clear evidence that Serbian officials have been engaged in intimidating ethnic Serbs in Kosovo, forbidding them from cooperation with Kosovo and international authorities and threatening their livelihoods,'' he said, according to a UN transcript of yesterday's closed-door debate. Serbian officials have said Kosovo plans to declare independence as early as Feb. 17, a move backed by the U.S. and most European Union nations. Serbia, backed by Russia, opposes independence for the province of 2 million people and yesterday adopted a resolution to ``annul'' the expected proclamation. ``The Republic of Serbia shall never accept any violation of its territorial integrity,'' Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic told the Security Council, Agence France-Presse reported. The Serbian government would ``undertake all diplomatic, political and economic measures designed to impede and reverse this direct and unprovoked attack on our sovereignty'' he said, without elaborating, AFP reported. `Blatant Breach' Ambassador Vitaly Churkin of Russia said a declaration of independence would be a ``blatant breach of international law,'' according to the report. Kosovo has been under international control and policed by 16,000 North Atlantic Treaty Organization soldiers since the alliance's 1999 air offensive pushed out the Serb army. The U.S. and EU back a plan by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari, a former president of Finland, that sets out a phased process of independence for Kosovo. The plan, blocked by Russia at the Security Council, would give Kosovo a flag, an army and access to international financial institutions, while providing protection for the roughly 130,000 Serbs scattered along the province's northern and eastern borders with Serbia. Thirteen months of UN-brokered talks between Serbian and Kosovo leaders collapsed in March last year without a settlement and negotiations led by the U.S., EU and Russia failed to break the stalemate. `Regional Tensions' Serbia increased regional tensions by calling on ethnic Serbs in Kosovo to boycott parliamentary and municipal elections in November last year, ``disenfranchising them, particularly at the local level where they have the most opportunity to work with ethnic Albanian neighbors,'' Wolff said. Independence for Kosovo wouldn't set a precedent, he said. The situation in the province is unique and a consequence of the violent breakup of Yugoslavia and the ``policies of oppression and ethnic cleansing'' of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, Wolff added. ``We all know that there are dozens of Kosovos throughout the world just waiting for secession to be legitimized,'' AFP cited Jeremic as saying. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili warned breakaway regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia not to use Kosovo as a trigger for their own unilateral proclamations of independence. ``Georgia does not have a territory to give out or a land to lose,'' Saakashvili said in a statement on the presidential Web site yesterday. ``This is my sincere and friendly warning.'' The Georgian government is concerned that Russia may recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia if the West recognizes an independent Kosovo. To contact the reporter on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at <mailto:ejohnson28%40bloomberg.net> [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
