Berisha says NATO needed in Kosovo

TIRANA, Sept. 29 – In an interview with business news agency Bloomberg, Prime Minister Sali Berisha says U.S. troops are needed in Kosovo to ensure peace in the Balkans as sectarian divisions continue to roil the region’s politics.
“The U.S. military presence is crucial for stability; the risk from nationalists is still real,” Berisha said. “Nationalism hasn’t disappeared from the peninsula.”
Berisha also said he will tell Serbian President Boris Tadic on a forthcoming visit to Belgrade that his country must accept a July 22 ruling by the International Court of Justice in the Hague recognizing the legitimacy of Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia.
Serbia, backed by Russia, has refused to recognize Kosovo’s independence following the 1999 North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led bombing campaign that forced the Serbian army and paramilitary units from Kosovo after a crackdown on ethnic Albanians in what then was a Serbian province.
Serbia says the declaration was illegitimate and fears Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian government will force the remaining Serbian minority from its ancestral homeland.
“There is a bitter recent past” in the Balkans, Berisha said, referring to the region’s decade of war, marked by ethnic fighting and attempts at genocide. “Countries must stick to existing borders.”
The U.S. has about 1,480 troops in Kosovo in the 9,900- person NATO-led Kosovo Force, known as KFOR.
Berisha said he was encouraged by Tadic’s Sept. 17 announcement that he would open dialogue with Kosovo. The European Union has told Serbia that it must recognize Kosovo if it wants to join the trade bloc.
“They have no more time to waste,” Berisha said of the Serbs. He said Kosovo will “never” remain a part of Serbia, and that Serbia should work with other Balkan states to hasten their entry to the European Union. Of the states carved out of the former Yugoslavia, only Slovenia has joined the EU.
“The national interest is now the EU interest,” Berisha said.
“If a new policy prevailed in Belgrade, then definitely Albanians are ready for a new chapter with the Serbs,” he said. “I would encourage the Albanians in Kosovo, too, to be involved in a dialogue.”
Berisha also spoke about his country’s positive economic prospects.
A youthful, well-educated population, low wages, and government programs to reduce the bureaucratic burden on businesses should encourage investment in Albania’s natural resources, which include chrome, copper and iron ores and oil fields in the Adriatic Sea, Berisha said in his Bloomberg interview.