Kosovo PM pulls out of U.S. talks
Country’s president accused of war crimes
PRISTINA, Kosovo — The prime minister of Kosovo on Thursday canceled his plans to attend a White House meeting with leaders of
Serbia following the indictment of Kosovo’s president on war crimes charges stemming from the 1990s armed conflict between the two Balkan countries.
Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti said he informed U.S presidential envoy Richard Grenell of his decision, which is likely to torpedo the talks. Grenell had expected Hoti to fill in for Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and co-lead the talks with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
Thaci called off his trip to Washington after learning Wednesday of the indictment charging him and nine other former Kosovo rebel fighters with crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder.
Thaci has not returned to Kosovo yet and his close staff could not say where he was or when he would be back home.
Grenell posted on Twitter that he understood Hoti’s decision to cancel participation in Saturday’s discussions and “we look forward to rescheduling the meeting soon.”
The White House meeting on Saturday was to be the first talks between Serbia and Kosovo in 19 months. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move Serbia has not recognized. The United States and the European Union have been working to help normalize ties between the two countries.
The EU has been leading negotiations for nine years, and the Washington meeting wasn’t coordinated with Europe. EU spokesman Peter Stano did not comment on the White House talks Thursday, He repeated that the EU was committed to facilitating the dialogue and said it would resume in Brussels next month.
“There is no alternative to the Eu-facilitated dialogue to address the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia,” Stano said.
Hoti met Thursday in Brussels with European Council President Charles Michel.
On Wednesday, the prosecutor for the Kosovo Specialist Chambers said Thaci and the nine others “are criminally responsible for nearly 100 murders” of Serbs and Roma, as well as Kosovo Albanian political opponents. Other charges include enforced disappearance, persecution and torture, he said.