Nuland On Crisis Visits to Kosovo, Macedonia

On her visit to Kosovo on Sunday, Nuland is expected to try to persuade MPs to back unpopular constitutional changes that will allow for the establishment of a special court to handle war crimes committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, in the 199os conflict.

Nuland will meet President Atifete Jahjaga, Prime Minister Isa Mustafa and Foreign Minister Hashim Thaçi.

Thaci has for months been pushing for the ratification of the amendments, but in the last vote, held two weeks ago, even members of his own Democratic Party of Kosovo voted against it, calling it an "unfair smear of the just struggle for liberation" by Kosovo Albanians.

Former members of the KLA, a guerilla force that took on Serbian paramilitaries and the Yugoslav army during the late 1990s, could now be tried for crimes committed against civilians during and after the conflict.

According to media reports, the government is likely to resubmit the draft amendments to the assembly following Nuland's visit.

While in Kosovo, Nuland will also discuss the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue and progress on implementation of the April 19, 2013 Brussels Agreement on normalization of relations, the US State Department said.

On Monday, Nuland is expected to head for Macedonia, where a political crisis revolves around a massive illegal surveillance scandal centred on Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

Nuland's visit to Macedonia comes after the opposition said EU and US-brokered talks with the government had failed and a deal on early elections was therefore void. The opposition has accused Prime Minister Gruevski of avoiding talks.

Nuland's scheduled meeting with Gruevski and opposition chief Zoran Zaev is seen as a chance to revive the talks and enable a...