Surroi meets Bush in Prague, receives U.S. support for Kosova independence

PRISHTINA, June 6 – Veton Surroi, an opposition leader in Kosova, said he met U.S. President George Bush in the Czech capital, Prague, where they discussed Kosova’s future. Surroi participated in a conference on democracy and security there.
Bush expressed his country’s commitment to move quickly in resolving the future of the disputed province, he said.
“President Bush expressed the firm U.S. stand to approve a new resolution on Kosova in the Security Council in a quick manner,” Surroi said in a statement issued in Kosova.
Surroi said he told Bush that Serbia’s and Russia’s stands were aimed at “creating a frozen conflict” through the threat of veto or through efforts to partition Kosova’s Serb-dominated north. While Kosova remains a province of Serbia, it has been under U.N. and NATO administration since a 78-day NATO-led air war that halted a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999. Its future has become one of the dividing issues pitting U.S. and key European countries backing independence for Kosova against Serbia’s traditional ally Russia, which objects to the province’s split from Serbia and has warned it would use its veto power to block Kosova’s secession. Last month, U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari recommended that Kosova be granted internationally supervised independence, a proposal welcomed by its ethnic Albanian majority who comprise 90 percent of the 2 million population, but vehemently rejected by its Serb minority and Belgrade.
The United States said Monday it expected a vote this week on the U.N. proposal, but other Security Council members were less certain.