KFOR commander visits Albania, meets with officials

TIRANA, May 22 – During his tour of the Balkans, KFOR commander Gen. Roland Kather visited Albania Tuesday to meet with Albanian Defense Minister Fatmir Mediu.
Mediu made known to Kather Albania’s commitment to reach the required standards to become a full NATO member. That means not only the fulfillment of the military reforms but also involves the country’s economy, the fight against organized crime, trafficking and corruption.
Mediu stressed that Albania is playing a moderating role, applying a policy of a good neighbor, saying our country is an exporter of peace in the region and world wide.
The minister also mentioned his executive’s stand that a quick solution of Kosova’s status would help the region.
Both officials said that a clear status for Kosova would make it a factor of stability in the region and also part of the integrating development in the democratic Europe.
On Monday, Kather said that his troops would respond strongly to anyone threatening security in the province in the run-up to an announcement on its future status, predicting no violence in the province.
The 16,000-strong NATO-led peacekeeping force would stay in Kosova with the same mandate, organization, size and concept for some time after the province’s status had been determined, he said.
Kosova has been administered by a U.N. mission since mid-1999, when NATO launched an air war to halt a crackdown by Serb forces on separatist ethnic Albanian rebels. The province is patrolled by NATO’s peacekeepers, known as KFOR, who are in charge of overall security.
The province’s ethnic Albanian majority wants full independence, but Belgrade wants to retain some control over what it considers part of Serbia.
The chief U.N. envoy, Martti Ahtisaari, the former Finnish president who has facilitated months of talks between the two sides, is due to make his final recommendation on the province’s future in a few weeks’ time.
He originally planned to present his proposal, expected to involve some form of independence for Kosovo, to the U.N. by the end of 2006. However, that plan was postponed to allow for Jan. 21 parliamentary elections in Serbia, which are being dominated by the debate over Kosovo.