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SERBIA: KOSOVO SPARKS U.S-RUSSIA TUG-OF-WAR December 6, 2006
Zainab Osman
(SomaliNet) The United States and Russia are engaged in a diplomatic tug-of-war over the breakaway region of Kosovo, which is awaiting a final U.N. recommendation on whether it will become an independent nation or remain part of Serbia.
Washington supports conditional independence for Kosovo and wants to set a timetable. Moscow, Serbia's traditional ally is against establishing a schedule and says a solution must be found that satisfies both sides.
The situation is complicated by the fact that the Kremlin has signaled it would support Kosovo independence if it is allowed to serve as a precedent for other Moscow-backed separatist movements in former Soviet republics, which has been rejected by the U.S.
Washington claims that Kosovo is a unique case and that any solution imposed by the United Nations there cannot be replicated elsewhere.
Kosovo has been a U.N. protectorate since 1999, when NATO drove Serbian forces out of the mainly Albanian inhabited province to prevent a campaign of ethnic cleansing.
A U.N. envoy is due to deliver a final recommendation early next year on whether the province should gain independence or remain a self-governing part of Serbia.