TIRANA – Kosovo’s president Hashim Thaci has pulled out of a White House meeting with Serbian officials set for Saturday following his indictment on crimes against humanity and war crimes charges, reported AP on Wednesday.
US presidential envoy Richard Grenell, who invited Kosovar and Serbian officials to meet in Washington to jump start their stalled peace talks, tweeted that Kosovo President Hashim Thaci decided to postpone his trip to Washington.
Mr Grenell wrote on Wednesday: “I respect his decision not to attend the discussions until the legal issues of those allegations are settled.”
Kosovo’s president and nine other former separatist fighters were indicted on a range of crimes against humanity and war crimes charges, including murder, by a court investigating crimes against ethnic Serbs during and after Kosovo’s 1998-99 independence war with Serbia.
The Washington talks being diminished also gives an opening for the European Union to seize back the initiative to lead the negotiations, said Bloomberg on Wednesday.
EU-mediated talks between the Balkan neighbors stalled in 2018, but the bloc wants to revive them in a competing effort as the US also seeks a prominent role to broker a deal. Thaci last month said he was in favor of US leadership. /argumentum.al
