WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday it wants the international community to move more quickly to resolve the status of the Serbian province of Kosovo, left undecided after the Balkan wars in the 1990s.
The No. 3 official at the State Department, Nicholas Burns, will make two addresses in Washington this week about Kosovo to turn the spotlight on an issue that critics say has received little U.S. attention over the last few years.
"We think we're now entering a new stage in our policy toward the Balkans, one that will accelerate the region's integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters in explaining Burns' planned remarks in Congress and at a think-tank.
Kosovo's 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority wants independence, but Belgrade insists the landlocked province of 2 million people should remain a part of Serbia. The United Nations has governed Kosovo since 1999, after an 11-week NATO bombing campaign to halt Serb repression of its Albanian population.
The United States is working to help Kosovo satisfy a list of conditions that the United Nations wants it to meet before the international community can take up the question of its ultimate status, Boucher said.
But he suggested Washington was impatient for the United Nations to conclude that Kosovo has met the standards on democracy and governance issues during a review the world body must make over the next few months.
"We would hope that the standards of democracy and multiethnicity for Kosovo will be changed as soon as possible. And if that is achieved, then the outcome of the (U.N. benchmarks) review would be positive," Boucher said.
Ethnic Albanians rioted in Kosovo last year, torching Serb homes and religious sites, killing 19 and injuring nearly a thousand civilians.
The decision to hold "final status" talks -- on independence or not -- will not be made for several months. But a state department official said: "We all believe it is headed in that direction, we all believe we are coming to a time when we should deal with the status issues."
The Contact Group of major powers involved in the U.N. mission has recommended that Secretary General Kofi Annan appoint Kai Eide, Norway's ambassador to NATO, to decide whether Kosovo is ready for final status talks, a State Department official said.
Eide has been reviewing how to improve the U.N. mission in the province.
Q But -- but -- but since the of the Second World War, America was trying to reverse whatever Hitler did, with the only exception Kosovo. Why?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't think I would characterize U.S. policy as that way.
Q You referred to -- Q Even in -- Q -- you have several times. How would you describe the situation now? Does it require some wrenching change?
MR. BOUCHER: We have had -- Q (Off mike) -- fairly quiet.
MR. BOUCHER: Well, fairly quiet compared to what? I mean, we've seen violence this year -- Q I don't know. Compared to the war?
MR. BOUCHER: -- we've seen uncertainty this year.
Q Compared to the war?
MR. BOUCHER: Compared to the war, yes. But I don't think we'd characterize the situation as stabilized, I don't think we would say that Serbs are finding a future in Kosovo, are able to return to their homes, I don't think we would say that the economic future of Kosovo is on track. There's a lot of things that need to be done there, and a lot of things that, as we achieve the standards, can be aided by proceeding forward to resolve the status issues as well.
Q I imagine a process creates some uncertainty in a nervous area, this process that you say, you know, the of which you're not predicting and nobody's predicting. But don't you -- don't you think that this will trigger all sorts of population shifts and all sorts of -- as we've seen in the Balkans for so many -- you know, for -- what, through the last three administrations. You're rattling the cage. Why are you doing that?
MR. BOUCHER: No. I -- I just don't accept that.
Q Okay.
MR. BOUCHER: The situation is not a stable one or a good one now. We and the U.N. and others have been working to try to create a more stable situation through the achievement of what are called standards of democracy, of good governance, of openness, of welcoming to Serbs and others to move back to their homes. But that process can only go so far without defining the status. People who are involved in that situation want to know in the what they're going to be living in and what they're going to be part of. And we think it's -- if, as we achieve these standards, it's time to start taking up the issues of status as well, we'll see what the review produces this summer and whether that review produces a decision to go forward on some of the status questions as well.
Q Is it your hope that the summer review does give them positive reports so that you can start final status -- MR. BOUCHER: Well, we would hope that the standards, the standards of democracy and multi-ethnic -- multi-ethnicity for Kosovo would be achieved as soon as possible. So -- and if that is achieved, then the outcome of the review would be positive.
So -- and if that is achieved, then the outcome of the review would be positive. So I think the emphasis is on achieving democracy and good governance and multi-ethnicity for Kosovo. If that is done as we want it to be done, as we all are working to have it -- to see it done, then the outcome could be positive in terms of moving on to another stage.
Yeah?