2007年VOA标准英语-US Hopeful of Security Council Action on Kosovo

By David Gollust
Washington
12 March 2007

The U.S. State Department's top diplomat¹ for Europe says he believes the U.N. Security Council will be able to approve a final-status plan for Kosovo, despite the failure of U.N. envoy² Martti Ahtisaari to conclude a deal with the Balkan parties. Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Dan Fried spoke³ to reporters Monday after talks in Kosovo, Serbia and Macedonia. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

 
Martti Ahtisaari (file photo)
Though U.N. envoy Ahtisaari's final negotiating mission in Vienna ended in stalemate, U.S. officials say the main parties, Serbia, and Kosovo's ethnic⁴ Albanian majority, actually agree on 80 percent of his peace plan.

They say they believe the U.N. Security Council, which will now take up the issue of Kosovo's status, will be able to agree on a settlement plan without a veto by Moscow, Serbia's main political backer.

The Ahtisaari plan would grant Kosovo, a Serbian province which has been a U.N. protectorate for nearly a decade, what amounts to supervised statehood with trappings of independence including its own flag, anthem⁵ and constitution, while protecting the rights of its Serb minority.

 
Ethnic Albanian child sits near a graffiti painted wall reading "Free Kosova" in Kosovska Mitrovica (file photo)
The plan falls short of Kosovar Albanians' demands for full, outright⁶ independence. Serbian leaders adamantly⁷ oppose partitioning their country, with Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica warning that Security Council approval of the plan would be, as he put it, the most dangerous precedent⁸ in the history of the U.N.

But in a talk with reporters, Assistant Secretary Fried said he believes a deal is possible in the Security Council on a revised plan dealing⁹ with the parties concerns.

He said the notion advanced by the Serbian Prime Minister, and at times by Moscow, that the Ahtisaari plan would touch off a wave of separatism in Europe or elsewhere is simply not valid¹⁰:

"The precedent simply doesn't apply. We have said before, and will say again as many times as we have to, that Kosovo is not a precedent for any other area, whether that's Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Chechnya, Trans-Dniestria, Corsica or Texas. Okay? It just isn't and it won't be," said Fried. "We don't have to accept that rather dramatic language at face value."

Assistant Secretary Fried, just back from talks in Belgrade, the Kosovo capital Pristina and the Macedonian capital Skopje, said he thinks a moderate majority across the region supports the outlines of Ahtisaari plan, which he said would be far preferable to the tense status quo:

"There will be extremists who stage provocations¹¹, and we all know this," he added. "But extremists staging provocations in context where the international community is supporting a solution which provides for the rights of all the Kosovar citizens in general, and particularly for the rights of Serb community - that will be a far better situation than a situation where there is no process and no hope, and no status resolution. In that case there will be far more trouble, far more bloodshed, I fear."

Fried put no time frame on U.N. deliberations but said given Moscow's record of cooperation on the issue, including its role in the international contact group on Kosovo, there is no reason to assume a Russian veto.

He also said leaders of all the Kosovo communities agree that the 16,000-member NATO force in Kosovo, K-For, should remain there for some period of time and that is NATO's intention, as well.

International forces have been in Kosovo since 1999, when a NATO bombing campaign ended a bloody¹² Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.

1 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

2 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

5 anthem   

n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌

参考例句：

• All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.奏国歌时全场肃立。
• As he stood on the winner's rostrum,he sang the words of the national anthem.他站在冠军领奖台上，唱起了国歌。

6 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

7 adamantly   

adv.坚决地，坚定不移地，坚强不屈地

参考例句：

• "Come over here,"he told her adamantly. “到这边来，”他对她坚定地说。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His family were adamantly opposed to the marriage. 他的家人坚决反对这门亲事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。

9 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

10 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

11 provocations   

n.挑衅( provocation的名词复数 )；激怒；刺激；愤怒的原因

参考例句：

• We cannot ignore such provocations. 对于这种挑衅，我们不能置之不理。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• They must immediately cease all their provocations. 他们必须停止一切挑衅。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。