Obama "supports Kosovo independence"

23 September 2008 | 09:43 | Source: Politika
WASHINGTON -- Democrat candidate for the White House Barack Obama has told voters of Albanian descent that he supports Kosovo independence.

Barack Obama (FoNet, archive)

In a letter to the National Council of U.S. Albanians drafted at a ceremonial dinner on Friday, where former U.S. negotiator Frank Wisner and Congressman Eliot Engel received awards for their support to the Albanian community, Obama—who did not attend the event—stressed that as president, he would continue to monitor events in the Balkans closely.

“I support Kosovo’s independence and her desire to move towards full sovereignty. I believe that the U.S. should help develop a strong democracy in Kosovo that will be guaranteed by the application of laws that safeguard the interests of all people. I support Kosovo’s integration in Euro-Atlantic institutions, and that will best be accomplished by creating a free, tolerant and wealthy society that promotes minority rights and protects religious and cultural monuments,“ said the senator for Illinois, who, according to the latest opinion polls, has a narrow lead over Republican rival John McCain.

In the letter to Americans of Albanian origin, Obama underlines that his administration would assist in the construction of infrastructure and the energy sector in the province, and the interest of U.S. capital in that area is reflected by the fact that as many as three U.S. companies are competing for the contract to build a new thermo-power station there, states Politika.

This constitutes the Democrat candidate’s first address to U.S. Albanians (of whom there are, according to his team’s estimates, over 500,000), while Albanian media add at the same time that this is an attempt to “clarify“ earlier statements given by Obama linked to Serbia and the Serbs that had caused concern among the Albanian diaspora.

The daily points out that the senator’s HQ have released statements on a number of occasions stressing their support for Serbia’s EU integration, supporting the rights of Serbs in Bosnia-Hercegovina and Croatia, though he has made it clear that he considers Kosovo to be “Serbia’s neighbor“.

Priština daily Koha Ditore reported Obama’s comments on its front page under the title, “Obama promises Kosovo full sovereignty“, reports Politika.

Serbia seeks UN support for World Court ruling on Kosovo

UNITED NATIONS: Serbian President Boris Tadic appealed to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday to back his country's call for a ruling by the International Court of Justice on Kosovo's disputed independence.... Economic Times



Video of Tadic's Speech at the UN, Addressing the UN General Assembly on September 25, 2008.

Text of Boris Tadic's Speech at the UN (PDF Format)

Kosovo's envoy to Switzerland not welcome in Bern

Focus Information Agency
9/25/08

Pristine. The Swiss government has informed Kosovo that its newly-appointed representative in Bern is not welcome, a foreign ministry spokeswoman in the breakaway former Serbian province said Thursday, cited by AFP.

"The foreign ministry received information from the Swiss government that Mr Naim Mala is not preferred" as Kosovo's charge d'affaires in Bern, Albana Beqiri told AFP.

"There was no reason provided," she added.

Mala was among the first ten diplomatic envoys appointed by President Fatmir Sejdiu to mainly Western capitals that recognised Kosovo's independence from Serbia after it was unilaterally proclaimed in February.

Mala was politically engaged among Kosovo's Albanian diaspora in Switzerland where he was in exile during the 1998-1999 conflict between ethnic Albanian guerrillas and Serbian armed forces.

According to Kosovo media reports, his diplomatic appointment was refused by Bern because he had a police record in Switzerland.

What "Change"?