Kosovo PM cancels trip to US for talks with Serbia

Kosovo’s prime minister on Thursday cancelled his trip to Washington, where leers of Kosovo and Serbia h planned to meet for talks at White House.

Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti said he abandoned trip after country’s president, Hashim Thaci, and nine or former separatist fighters were indicted on a range of charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Hoti said he informed U.S envoy Richard Grenell of his decision, which is likely to torpedo talks. Thaci also called off his trip to Washington after learning of his indictment Wednesday.

Hoti was in Brussels Thursday, where he met with European Council President Charles Michel to talk about visa rules, coronavirus impact and or issues.

Washington meeting on Saturday was to be first talks between two countries in 19 months. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move Serbia has t recognized.

On Wednesday, prosecutor for Kosovo Specialist Chambers said Thaci and nine ors “are criminally responsible for nearly 100 murders” of Serbs and Roma, as well as Kosovo Albanian political opponents. Or charges include enforced disappearance, persecution and torture, he said.

A pretrial judge at Hague-based court is studying indictment and could still reject it if re is t eugh evidence to back it up.

Washington meeting will t w happen, said independent analyst Agron Bajrami, ding that future of entire Kosovo-Serbia dialogue is in doubt.

“It will be very difficult for him (Thaci) to continue acting acting as a president, if t for anything else but for fact that he cant be part of dialogue w that this has occurred,” said Bajrami.

Isa Mustafa, leer of ruling Democratic League of Kosovo, said that country's political parties should first convene and talk before meeting with Serbia. He also called for all institutions to continue to operate rmally, or “it would be an illusion we could continue toward an agreement.”

Parliament postponed Thursday's rmal weekly session.

Thaci was a commander of Kosovo Liberation army, or KLA, that fought for independence from Serbia. fighting left more than 10,000 de — most of m ethnic Albanians — and 1,641 are still unaccounted-for. It ended after a 78-day NATO air campaign that forced Serbian troops to stop ir brutal crackdown against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

Those indicted include Kri Veseli, former parliament speaker and leer of opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo, who said he considered indictment politically motivated.

indictment was first me by prosecutor of special tribunal for Kosovo based in Hague. court has been operating since 2015 and has questioned hundreds of witnesses. Ar Kosovo prime minister resigned last year before he was questioned.

Hysni Gucati, he of war veterans organization, accused Special Court of being "a racist court because it is unilateral." He mentioned some 460 massacres, more than 16,000 de, including 1,200 children and 200,000 houses burned during 1998-1999 war.

He also said court was politically motivated and indictments were likely an act of revenge by Europe, which was left out when Thaci turned toward U.S. to take leing role in dialogue.

Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia remain high. European Union-facilitated negotiations to rmalize ir relations started in March 2011 and have produced some 30 agreements, but most of m have t been observed.