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TOP US officials no longer oppose independence for Kosovo, because most think that the province is bound to break away from Yugoslavia eventually, according to news reports signalling a shift in Clinton administration policy.
Officials continue to insist publicly, as they did throughout the conflict with Yugoslavia, that the US does not support independence for Kosovo, but there is a growing consensus among policymakers that such a development is inevitable, The Washington Post reported.
"Nobody in Washington expects this not to happen," one American official was quoted as saying. "Our attitude before the war was, it's better if it doesn't happen. Now we know it's clearly on the way."
That view clashes with the stance taken by Javier Solana, Nato's Secretary-General, who said this week that Kosovo's ethnic Albanians "will have to" give up hope of winning independence to achieve lasting peace.
America has taken the lead in arguing for the creation of an infrastructure in Kosovo likely to distance the province from Belgrade, including a separate legal structure, a new currency and independent institutions. "We support the creation of democratic institutions and a market economy," Sandy Berger, the National Security Adviser, said.
The formal legal status of Kosovo is intended to be settled after an international conference, which will not take place until at least 2001.
Last week, Nato's top diplomat gave warning that redrawing the map to give Kosovo independence would increase the momentum towards fragmentation elsewhere in the Balkans region.
That analysis is shared by some in the National Security Council, where doubts about independence for Kosovo persist, but among senior officials of the State Department and within the Pentagon there is a widespread assumption that an independent Kosovo is only a matter of time.