Serbia 'Ready To Make A Deal' On Kosovo

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic says Belgrade is "ready to make a deal" on the final status of its breakaway province of Kosovo. Jeremic made the announcement after talks with his Greek counterpart Dora Bakoyannis in Athens.

Jeremic said that while Serbia cannot give up its sovereignty and territorial integrity, Belgrade is "prepared to consider any kind of autonomy that amounts to self-governance for our southern province."

Earlier, the chief United Nations war crimes prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, suggested delaying a UN Security Council decision on Kosovo's future status.

Del Ponte told reporters after speaking to the Security Council on June 18 that the Kosovo issue was "political," and that a vote in favor of independence could "interfere" with Serbian cooperation to apprehend leading Bosnian Serb war crimes suspects Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic.

Serbia and its ally Russia, a veto-holding member of the Security Council, oppose a Western-backed proposal to grant Kosovo a form of supervised independence.

Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org

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