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Powell Tells Kosovo Leaders To Focus On Poll
SKOPJE, April 13 (News Agencies) - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Kosovo Albanian leaders Friday to concentrate on upcoming general elections and not independence, saying such demands could further destabilize the fragile region.
He also called on the leaders to distance themselves from the ethnic violence that has rocked neighboring Macedonia and which still afflicts the U.N.-run Serbian province itself.
Kosovo's general elections "should be held as soon as possible this year," said Powell after meeting here with Kosovo's U.N. administrator Hans Haekkerup and ethnic Albanian leaders Ibrahim Rugova, Hashim Thaci and Ramush Haradinaj, who all sit on the U.N.-sponsored interim administration council.
The council's Serbian representative, Rada Trajkovic, was also present.
"That has got to be enough of a task for this year and I frankly cautioned the leaders that we should build on what was achieved in local elections" last October, and "not look beyond that point."
Rugova, speaking before Powell's news conference, reiterated Albanian demands for independence, saying that secession from Yugoslavia "is always our goal."
Albanian leaders are calling for independence as soon as possible, but Powell warned them: "Let's not move forward into any precipitous acts that might be the cause of instability or concern throughout the region."
He also stressed that any political support for ethnic Albanian extremists who have been fighting government forces in neighboring Macedonia and southern Serbia would jeopardize Kosovo leaders' chances of even running in the planned polls, for which no date has yet been fixed.
"Let me make clear that we see no role [in government] or in the elections that will give rise to those who support violence inside or outside of Kosovo. You cannot have democracy exiting safely in the presence of such violence."
Powell started his first Balkans tour Thursday with meetings with Macedonian and Albanian leaders in trouble-hit Macedonia.
He urged the Macedonian government to push ahead with political dialogue with the country's large ethnic Albanian minority to defuse tensions and address the "legitimate concerns" of the Albanians, who claim they are widely discriminated against.
He said the United States and its allies in NATO would not tolerate the armed campaign of ethnic Albanian rebels who fought Skopje in February and March and who demanded constitutional change to scrap the Albanians' legal status as a minority.
Powell said the extremists came from both Kosovo and Macedonia, "taking violent action against a democratic nation that is working hard to reconcile the differences that still exist" within it.
And while Washington is "always looking for ways to reduce its peacekeeping forces" in the region, Powell said any such move would only be taken after close consultation with its allies.
"The United States came in with its allies and we're not going to cut and run on our allies," he said in a bid to allay fears sparked by the new administration's plans to scale back its forces in the Balkans.
One of the first moves by the administration of President George W. Bush was to slash its peacekeeping force in Bosnia by around 1,000 troops, raising concern that Washington would play a lesser leadership role in the Balkans.
Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski told Powell Wednesday the United States needed a "a clear and coherent policy" in the unruly region.
And Powell admitted there was "certainly a level of danger... that suggests we have to be cautious in our drawdown."
Powell, who met the Kosovo leaders in Skopje after canceling a helicopter trip to Pristina due to bad weather, then flew on to Bosnia later in the day before leaving for Washington.
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