SERBIA: U.N. envoy deliver plans for Kosovo's future status but not optimistic on a compromise

United Nations envoy Martti Ahtisaari on Friday (February 2) unveiled a plan to set the breakaway province of Kosovo on a path to independence, an outcome immediately welcomed by Kosovo Albanians and rejected by Serbia. Ahtisaari's proposal did not mention the word "independence" or address the loss of Serbia's sovereignty over the territory. But both sides said this was clearly what it implied. "The Unity Team is convinced that the international process for the resolution of Kosovo status led by President Ahtisaari will be concluded soon, with Kosovo becoming an independent state with all requisites for guaranties for communities living in Kosovo," said Kosovo president Fatmir Sejdiu after meeting Ahtisaari in Kosovo's capital Pristina, where there were celebrations. Prime Minister Agim Ceku, a former guerrilla in the 1998-99 Kosovo Liberation Army which fought the forces of the late Serb strongman Slobodan Milosevic, said the document "is very clear for Kosovo's future". After a meeting in Serbia, President Boris Tadic agreed that the plan opened up the possibility of independence, but he also told the envoy that Serbia would never accept the independence of Kosovo. Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has condemned Ahtisaari for "anti-Serb bias", and took the lead in rejecting his plan in advance, refusing even to meet the envoy on Friday (February 2). The plan gives Kosovo access to international bodies usually reserved for sovereign states and to use its own flag, anthem and other symbols. It also includes measures to promote sustainable economic development including Kosovo's ability to apply for membership in international financial institutions. Ahtisaari declined several opportunities to address the issue of Kosovo's ultimate status, saying this would be settled by the United Nations Security Council once he formally presented his plan, following a last round of consultations. He said the diametrically opposed positions of the Serbs and Kosovo Albanians were "extremely fixed", but he was allowing them "one more chance" to find compromise. Invitations would be sent for a meeting in Vienna on Feb. 13 and it would be up to Serbs and leaders of Kosovo's 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority to decide whether to turn up. The poor landlocked province of two million is cherished by Serbs as the medieval homeland of their nation. Kosovo has been run by the U.N. since 1999 when NATO bombing forced Milosevic to withdraw troops accused of killing 10,000 Albanians during a counter-insurgency war. About 100,000 ethnic Serbs remain. Some predict violence and secession, and both NATO and the U.N. mission have made contingency plans for a crisis. President Tadic has told Serbs Kosovo might already be lost. Kostunica says he will never accept this and is urging all parties in the next government to solemnly pledge that Serbia will cut ties with any country recognising the province as an independent state, including major Western powers

ITN Source | February 3, 2007

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