U.S.: Serbs should accept separate Kosovo

WASHINGTON, June 19 (UPI) -- The United States is drawing a line in the sand with Serbia over the issue of Kosovo independence, eight years after the NATO-led war to protect the province.

"Serbia's leaders need to get beyond denial. They need to stop telling the Serbian people that it will not happen. They need to tell the Serbian people the truth, which is that Milosevic lost Kosovo when he went to war with NATO and committed atrocities against the Kosovars. I will tell the truth if the Serbian leaders cannot, and that truth is that Serbia will not rule in Kosovo any more than Hungary will rule in the Vojvodina. It's gone. It's over," Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried said in a meeting with Serb reporters last week.

"And forgive me for my bluntness, but when I read the newspapers, when I read what is written in Belgrade, I think, my God, will no one tell the truth? Is everyone afraid or calculating or cynical? So I will do so. At least," he said.

At issue is a plan before the United Nations, known as the Ahtisaari plan, to finally give Kosovo independence from Serbia while protecting the Serbs who live in the ethnically Albanian province. It would reconfigure the international peacekeeping force still in Kosovo eight years after the 1999 war that ousted Serb military forces.

Serb leaders in Belgrade want Kosovo to remain a part of greater Serbia or want to partition Kosovo as it currently exists along ethnic lines. An attempt to partition Kosovo is generally expected to trigger ethnic violence.

"Violence is not acceptable and KFOR will deal with it," said Fried, referring to the NATO peacekeeping force.

Fried said the only solution for Serbian leaders to embrace is to join the European Union with the other Balkan states -- something that will not occur until the Kosovo question is settled.