PanARMENIAN.Net

Kosovo report to be submitted 3 days ahead of schedule

06.12.2007 12:29 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon said on
Thursday that international mediators in talks on Kosovo would submit
a report on talks on the province’s status on Friday, three days ahead
of schedule.

The Contact Group troika of mediators – Russia, the United States and
the European Union – concluded months of talks last week, and was due
to report to Ban Ki-moon on negotiations geared towards a compromise
between Belgrade and Pristina on December 10, a deadline set by the
UN.

The secretary general said that rescheduling the report was not
politically motivated, but due to his upcoming trip to an
international global climate conference in Bali.

EU representative Wolfgang Ischinger told a news conference on Monday
that the report would state that Belgrade and Pristina had failed to
reach a compromise on the status for the Albanian-dominated
province. The document will also list the proposals made by both the
Serbian delegation and Kosovo Albanians.

The troika denied that the report would contain any concrete proposals
for a solution to the issue of Kosovo.

During the latest round of negotiations held in Austria last week,
Serbia reiterated offers for broad autonomy while Kosovo, a UN
protectorate since 1999, continued to insist on full independence.

Kosovo has threatened to unilaterally declare independence in January
if no agreement is reached with Serbia, while Belgrade has warned it
may impose an economic blockade on the small impoverished region if
Kosovo Albanians carry out their threat.

The U.S. and some European countries back Kosovo’s independence, while
Russia, Serbia’s long-time ally, says independence would have a
knock-on effect for other separatist regions, including in former
Soviet republics, and insists on the resolution of security and
humanitarian problems in the region, particularly the return of
refugees and displaced persons, RIA Novosti reports. Parliamentary
elections in Kosovo on November 17 were won by former rebel leader
Hashim Thaci, who has vowed to declare independence for Kosovo. The
province’s ethnic Serb population (around 6%) boycotted the election.

A NATO bombing campaign against the former Yugoslavia ended a bloody
war between Serb forces and Albanian separatists in 1999.