Kosovo president seeks final deal with Serbia in 2018
Pristina,(MILLAT ONLINE):Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci hopes to strike an “historic agreement” with Serbia in 2018, 10 years after his country made a declaration of independence that Belgrade still rejects.
“I think that 2018 is a crucial year and should be a decisive one. Otherwise, we will drag on for decades,” Thaci said in an interview this week with AFP in Pristina.
On February 17, Kosovo will celebrate a decade of independence. Supported by the United States and most European Union members, it has won recognition from more than 110 countries — but not from Serbia or Russia.
The unilateral declaration came 10 years after a 1998-1999 war between Serbian troops and ethnic Albanian rebels in the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), of which Thaci was political leader.
But as Kosovo approaches its landmark anniversary, it awaits the first indictments from an EU-backed court set up to try KLA members suspected of committing war crimes in the conflict.
Speculation is rife that Thaci, who denies any wrongdoing, could be among those indicted. He says he is ready to respond to the tribunal “at any moment, under any circumstances” and “with all my capacity”.
“I have nothing to hide,” he said.