KOSOVO
Kosovo independence plan still alive
Thursday, August 9, 2007
A United Nations plan to give Kosovo independence from Serbia is still on the table, a European Union envoy said at the start of fresh talks on the fate of the breakaway province.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
By Reuters
LONDON, Aug 9 (Reuters) - A United Nations plan to give
Kosovo independence from Serbia is still on the table, a
European Union envoy said on Thursday at the start of fresh
talks on the fate of the breakaway province.
EU Kosovo envoy Wolfgang Ischinger was speaking in London
after the first meeting of envoys from the United States, EU and
Russia, heading what the West hopes will be a final round of
diplomacy and talks on the majority Albanian territory.
Serbian ally Moscow has so far blocked the adoption of the
U.N. plan at the U.N. Security Council, forcing fresh talks to
be steered by the six-power Contact Group -- the United States,
Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Russia.
The troika makes its first visit to Belgrade and the Kosovo
capital Pristina on Friday and Saturday. Russia insists the U.N.
plan of envoy Martti Ahtisaari is dead.
But Ischinger told reporters: "It is not our job as a troika
to make new proposals. It is a fact that the Ahtisaari plan is
on the table," said the German diplomat.
"It has unfortunately not been ratified by the Security
Council, at least not so far."
"We will encourage both sides to tell us, if not in this
way, how then do they intend to agree?"
Drafted after 13 months of sterile Serb-Albanian talks, the
Ahtisaari plan offers the 90-percent Albanian majority
independence under EU supervision.
Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when
NATO bombed to drive out Serb forces and halt the killing and
expulsion of Albanians in a two-year war with guerrillas.
FACE-TO-FACE TALKS
NATO powers leading 16,000 troops in the territory fear
unrest if its 2 million Albanians are denied independence.
The troika is due to report back to the United Nations by
Dec 10. The West says this is the deadline for talks to end, but
Russia insists the dialogue should be open-ended.
"The deadline will be reached," said Ischinger. "Dec 10 is
sure to happen." The West hold out little hope of a deal.
A senior European diplomat briefed on the meeting said the
Contact Group had agreed to pursue an initial phase of shuttle
diplomacy, but "if the circumstances are right the two sides
should be brought together."
"The mindset of the troika is to put the onus on the two
parties, especially Belgrade," the diplomat told Reuters.
He said an eventual face-to-face meeting could be a
"Rambouillet-type showdown," referring to the failed peace
conference of February 1999, which preceded NATO's 78-day
bombing campaign to expel troops under Slobodan Milosevic.
Kosovo Albanian leaders are urging the United States and EU
to back a unilateral declaration of independence this year.
This would pose a serious challenge to the unity of the
27-member EU, which has so far insisted on a U.N. resolution as
the legal basis for it to recognise Kosovo and take on
supervision of the fledgling state.
Kosovo independence from Serbia is still on the table, a
European Union envoy said on Thursday at the start of fresh
talks on the fate of the breakaway province.
EU Kosovo envoy Wolfgang Ischinger was speaking in London
after the first meeting of envoys from the United States, EU and
Russia, heading what the West hopes will be a final round of
diplomacy and talks on the majority Albanian territory.
Serbian ally Moscow has so far blocked the adoption of the
U.N. plan at the U.N. Security Council, forcing fresh talks to
be steered by the six-power Contact Group -- the United States,
Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Russia.
The troika makes its first visit to Belgrade and the Kosovo
capital Pristina on Friday and Saturday. Russia insists the U.N.
plan of envoy Martti Ahtisaari is dead.
But Ischinger told reporters: "It is not our job as a troika
to make new proposals. It is a fact that the Ahtisaari plan is
on the table," said the German diplomat.
"It has unfortunately not been ratified by the Security
Council, at least not so far."
"We will encourage both sides to tell us, if not in this
way, how then do they intend to agree?"
Drafted after 13 months of sterile Serb-Albanian talks, the
Ahtisaari plan offers the 90-percent Albanian majority
independence under EU supervision.
Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when
NATO bombed to drive out Serb forces and halt the killing and
expulsion of Albanians in a two-year war with guerrillas.
FACE-TO-FACE TALKS
NATO powers leading 16,000 troops in the territory fear
unrest if its 2 million Albanians are denied independence.
The troika is due to report back to the United Nations by
Dec 10. The West says this is the deadline for talks to end, but
Russia insists the dialogue should be open-ended.
"The deadline will be reached," said Ischinger. "Dec 10 is
sure to happen." The West hold out little hope of a deal.
A senior European diplomat briefed on the meeting said the
Contact Group had agreed to pursue an initial phase of shuttle
diplomacy, but "if the circumstances are right the two sides
should be brought together."
"The mindset of the troika is to put the onus on the two
parties, especially Belgrade," the diplomat told Reuters.
He said an eventual face-to-face meeting could be a
"Rambouillet-type showdown," referring to the failed peace
conference of February 1999, which preceded NATO's 78-day
bombing campaign to expel troops under Slobodan Milosevic.
Kosovo Albanian leaders are urging the United States and EU
to back a unilateral declaration of independence this year.
This would pose a serious challenge to the unity of the
27-member EU, which has so far insisted on a U.N. resolution as
the legal basis for it to recognise Kosovo and take on
supervision of the fledgling state.
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