SERBIA: NATO Secretary General Sheffer calls for responsibility over Kosovo

Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer calls for maturity and responsibility following failure of Kosovo talks. The NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, met Serbian and Albanian leaders on Friday (November 30) to avert any slide to violence following the failure of talks last week on the future of the breakaway province of Kosovo. Kosovo's 90-percent Albanian majority is preparing to declare independence within months, and is counting on recognition from Washington and the major EU capitals -- a move Serbia says will unleash chaos in the fragile Balkans. "In this important period for Kosovo and Kosovars it must be underlined that KFOR is here and will stay and that General de Marnhac has the forces he need and if he needs more forces he will have more forces" said Scheffer, at the news conference held, in KFOR headquarters in Pristina. "I have talked to the leadership a moment ago and my message to them was that under any scenario it is important that all Kosovo leadership, that goes for majority and minority, alike should show themselves mature politicians and responsible politicians in the sense that they would not do or say anything which might be reason for wrong thoughts," Scheffere added. 45,000 NATO troops were deployed to Kosovo in 1999 following a two-year counter-insurgency war which saw the ethnic cleansing of Albanian civilians by Serb forces. There are now 16,000 NATO soldiers in Kosovo. ow/jrc

ITN Source | December 1, 2007

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