SERBIA: Balkan leaders meeting in Belgrade negotiate between Serbia and ethnic Albanians on the future of the breakaway Kosovo province

The current plan for Kosovo, drafted by United Nations envoy Martti Ahtisaari, sees the province get a form of 'supervised independence' under a European Union overseer and police force. Serbia has rejected the plan outright, and U.N. Security Council member Russia has urged for more talks. Ahtisaari submitted his plan last week, after 13 months of fruitless Serb-Albanian dialogue in Austria. "Serbia is in principle defending its own integrity, sovereignty, which means the country, Serbia as whole, including Kosovo. Our starting point is the 1244 resolution and international law and in that sense Serbia is not accepting independence of Kosovo as future solution for the province, " said Serbian President Boris Tadic. At a news conference the visiting Bulgarian Prime Minister showed a united front with the Serbian leader "It is also crucial for our family on the Kosovo status and the standards there to have them internationally legitimate solution. And from this point of view it is important to stress and focus not only on the status but also on implementation of democratic standards and functionable institutions, decentralisation, the protection of the historical and religious monuments of Serbs in this region," Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said. "Number one, we'll not accept an imposed solution on one side to the determent of the other side. This is not a lasting solution, this is a recipe for trouble in the future. And secondly, EU and NATO membership to Serbia into the western Balkans is not a compensation and is not a substitute for a solution which would be lasting in the region, including in Kosovo," Geoana said. Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians make up 90 percent of the 2 million people, has been run by the United Nations since NATO bombs drove out Serb forces in 1999. Ten thousand Albanians died and almost one million fled during a 1998-99 Serbian war against separatist guerrillas. The crackdown drew NATO into its first "humanitarian" war, and the West sees no prospect of restoring Serb rule. The powers heading the current contingent of 16,500 NATO soldiers in the territory want the Security Council to endorse Ahtisaari's plan by mid-year, concerned that delay would spark unrest among the Albanian majority.

ITN Source | March 22, 2007

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