US reassures Kosovo it won’t support Serb-majority ministate

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — The United States has reassured Kosovars that it wouldn’t support the creation of a Serb-majority ministate in Kosovo like the one in Bosnia as Washington attempts to convince the country to accept a controversial association. The U.S. Embassy in Pristina met with a group of civil society leaders, government officials and political leaders on Tuesday to discuss the Association of the Serb-Majority Municipalities or ASM. The ASM’s aim is to coordinate the work of Serb-dominated municipalities on education, health care, urban and rural planning and local economic development. Pristina has been reluctant to accept the creation of the ASM. Kosovo’s government fears it could lead to the creation of a ministate like Republika Srpska in multi-ethnic Bosnia-Herzegovina.