BELGIUM: U.N mediator for Kosovo said he remained committed to year-end Kosovo plan.

The U.N mediator for Kosovo said on Wednesday (October 17) he remained committed to delivering a plan on the future status of the breakaway Serbian province by the year-end, despite suggestions it might be delayed. The Finnish Presidency of the European Union and the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Tuesday (October 16) the plan could be postponed by a few weeks or months if elections were held in December in Serbia. But they stressed this was up to U.N. mediator Martti Ahtisaari to decide in consultation with the Contact Group of big powers overseeing the diplomacy -- the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the European Union. Ahtisaari told reporters after meeting NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and NATO ambassadors in Brussels he had heard no change of plan from the Contact Group, with which he is due to meet again later this month and next. "2006 is still my target date, I haven't heard anything else from the contact group and I don't want to participate in any hypothetical speculation about possible elections or referendum might happen. At the moment, my plan is to be ready to present the plan before the end of the year," he said. When pressed if the elections were going to affect his timetable Ahtisaari said that he actually didn't know of any firm dates of any elections. "I am not going to participate in any speculation of any election and we will see when we come to that and first of all hear, are there going to be some elections. Everyone is speaking of them but I haven't seen any firm dates of any elections," he said. Serbian President Boris Tadic pleaded last week for a postponement of the final status plan -- which is likely to lead to Kosovo's independence from Belgrade -- saying it was better to have elections first. Solana said on Monday (October 16) elections by the year-end would be a good timetable for Serbia. On Tuesday (October 17), he said Ahtisaari may adapt the timing of the status plan as there was a possibility of a referendum on a constitution after the elections. De Hoop Scheffer said he did not believe it was correct to suggest the European Union as a whole had decided on the need for a delay. He stressed that NATO was committed to keeping its KFOR peacekeeping force in Kosovo after a status settlement. De Hoop Scheffer also joined other EU leaders in calling on Serbia to deliver Ratko Mladic, war crime suspect, in order to foster closer ties with NATO and the EU. "Serbia will have to deliver. I would very much appreciate to hear Prime Minister Kostunica saying publicly that Mladic should be arrested. I would very much appreciate to hear him say publicly to those who support Mladic should be tracked down and arrested. I should not only want to see an action plan on paper, but I would like to see action. I mean, action plan is fine, but action is what is necessary," said De Hoop Scheffer. British as well as U.S. officials have argued against a delay in the status plan, saying there was no point given that all Serbian parties were equally opposed to relinquishing sovereignty over the province. Russia, a close ally of Serbia, has in the past warned against artificial timetables..

ITN Source | October 19, 2006

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