Kosovo News 220607

Kosovo News: UPDATE 220607

* Revised Kosovo Resolution Submitted to U.N. Security Council
* Russia rejects plan paving way for independent Kosovo
* UPDATE: Serbia Praises Russia's Rejection Of UN Kosovo Plan
* EU warns Kosovo against declaring independence

Revised Kosovo Resolution Submitted to U.N. Security Council

Change would allow for 120-day negotiation period between Serbia, Kosovo
By Judy AitaUSINFO United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- The United States and two European members of the U.N. Security Council have submitted a revised resolution that would pave the way for Kosovo's independence.
Submitted during a closed council meeting June 20, the new draft would allow for a four-month period for negotiations between officials in Serbia and Kosovo to give the two sides time to reach an agreement before the independence plan drawn up by U.N. special envoy Martti Ahtisaari goes into effect. It asks U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "to immediately convoke the parties to continue final status negotiations within the 120-day period" and says that the Ahtisaari plan will go into effect unless the Security Council "expressly decides otherwise after conducting an evaluation."
The council's evaluation of the negotiations would be made "on the basis of a report by the secretary-general or his representatives," the draft says.
The draft also asks that "the parties refrain from making any unilateral declarations regarding final status" during the period of negotiations.
U.S. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff said that the 120-day delay "is designed to allow for continuing negotiations, something that several members of the council believed would be useful."
Wolff said that in presenting the new draft, the United Kingdom and France underscored "the importance of the implementation of the Ahtisaari plan and the expectation that this would result in Kosovo's independence."
"There is an expectation among many that the ideal solution would be agreement between the parties. This [delay] allows a little more time to see if that's possible. It may not be possible and the resolution allows for immediate steps after the period of negotiation to implement to Ahtisaari provisions," the U.S. ambassador told journalists after the meeting.
He said that after consultations with all 15 council members, the co-sponsors will decide when to call for a vote.
A 1999 Security Council resolution (Resolution 1244) placed the Serbian province of Kosovo under U.N. administration and set out a political process to determine Kosovo's final status. It gave the council the responsibility of determining a settlement. Following months of exhaustive negotiations with Serbian and Kosovo officials, Ahtisaari concluded that independence was the only option to ensure Kosovo's political and economic stability.
Under Ahtisaari's plan, which was submitted in April, Kosovo would be a multiethnic society with the language, education and cultural aspects of all communities protected and promoted; the Serbian Orthodox Church would be safeguarded. The NATO-led Kosovo force would continue to provide security and an international civilian representative would oversee the settlement.
The United States and many European nations say that open-ended negotiations and further delay in arriving at a long-promised settlement would cause only more instability.
Russia, which has veto power in the council, has called the new draft resolution unacceptable.
United Kingdom Ambassador Karen Pierce urged Russia to work with the co-sponsors on the draft. "We much prefer to stay within the Security Council. There have been 115 resolutions on the Balkans since the former Yugoslavia disintegrated," Pierce said. "It strikes us as right that the last piece, as it were ... should be dealt with by the council."
Pierce said that the co-sponsors expect the negotiation period to be "used wisely and not to press for unrealistic ambitions. We look to [Serbia], in particular, if we do go ahead with a further round of negotiations, to come forward with realistic proposals."
"It is fair to say that one way or another Kosovo independence is going to be inevitable," she said. "It is much better that that is reached through a managed process with proper and adequate guarantees for the Kosovo Serbs and other minorities in Kosovo. We believe that the Ahtisaari provisions provide for that."
A transcript of Wolff’s remarks is available on the U.S. Mission to the United Nations Web site.
For more information on U.S. policies in the region, see Southeast Europe.

Russia rejects plan paving way for independent Kosovo

By Evelyn Leopold, Reuters June 21, 2007

UNITED NATIONS -- Russia rejected as unacceptable yesterday a new UN Security Council resolution drafted by Europeans and the United States that paves the way to independence for Kosovo in four months.
The document, obtained by Reuters, asks for negotiations for another 120 days. But if the talks fail, the resolution would automatically put into effect an independence plan drawn up by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari "unless the Security Council expressly decides otherwise after conducting an evaluation."
Russia, which has veto power on the 15-nation Security Council, still opposes independence for Kosovo, a Serbian province of 2 million people dominated by ethnic Albanians, unless its allies in Belgrade agree.
"It is unacceptable," Moscow's UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said of the draft introduced by Britain and France.
He told reporters that the sponsors now agreed with Russia that more negotiations were necessary. "However, I am afraid that does not really bring us closer," because after four months "Mr. Ahtisaari's proposal will go into force."
Kosovo, seen by Serbia as a cradle of its culture, passed out of Belgrade's control in 1999 when NATO bombing drove out Serb forces who had killed 10,000 ethnic Albanian civilians in a two-year war with guerrillas.
The province has been under UN administration for almost eight years. If Russia refuses to agree to the plan, the West has to decide whether to go ahead.
Britain's deputy ambassador, Karen Pierce, made clear that was an option. "I think it's fair to say that one way or another, Kosovo independence is going to be inevitable," she said.
The draft never uses the word "independence" but points to various provisions in the Ahtisaari plan that pave the way for a break with Serbia.
Russia has argued that having the United Nations split Kosovo from Serbia sets a dangerous precedent that could apply to other regions, such as the breakaway Georgian province of Abkhazia. But Western leaders say Kosovo is an exception because of the 1990s Balkan wars that led to the breakup of Yugoslavia.

UPDATE: Serbia Praises Russia's Rejection Of UN Kosovo Plan
(This updates an item published at 1129 GMT, with comments, details.)

BELGRADE (AP)--Serbia on Thursday welcomed Russia's rejection of a revised U.N. resolution that it said would only delay internationally supervised independence for its breakaway Kosovo province.
The new text, introduced in the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday and drafted by European Union nations and the United States, would give Serbs and independence-seeking Kosovo Albanians four more months to reach an agreement over the disputed region.
It states that the resolution's provisions, which lead to full independence, would take effect after 120 days "unless the Security Council expressly decides otherwise after conducting an evaluation."
Veto-wielding Russia and its traditional ally Serbia immediately rejected the revised plan, saying it would only postpone and not abolish the proposed independence for Kosovo.
Serbia's Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica issued a statement urging the U.S. and E.U. countries to withdraw the draft resolution. Kostunica said that "it is clear that, thanks to the Russian principal stand, a resolution which violates basic rules of the international law, cannot pass."
"No resolution is necessary for the relaunching of the negotiating process, only good will (is needed) to sit down and seek a compromise through dialogue," Kostunica added.
Earlier, other Serbian officials said that the new draft wouldn't lead to " real" negotiations as Kosovo Albanians would not have an incentive to accept anything else but the promised independence for their province.
"We highly appreciate Russia's stand on the new resolution," Serbia's Vice Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic said. "We are ready for new negotiations. But, the serious negotiations were not the idea in this resolution."
Serbia's government minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samardzic, said no new U.N. resolution was needed for reopening talks with rival Kosovo Albanians, " especially not the proposal that gives a time frame and prejudges the result of the negotiations."

EU warns Kosovo against declaring independence

By Matt RobinsonThu Jun 21, 7:53 PM ET

The European Union warned Kosovo on Thursday against an "irresponsible" declaration of independence after Russia again rejected a Western-backed United Nations resolution that would effectively grant the move.
EU Kosovo envoy Stefan Lehne said it "would be a huge step backwards" if Kosovo Albanian leaders were to take the issue into their own hands.
"Unilateral action or other irresponsible behavior in Kosovo would take away all the goodwill that you have received," he told reporters after meeting the ethnic Albanian president of Serbia's breakaway southern province, Farmer Sadie.
"It will not help you overcome the remaining obstacles but build many, many more," Lehne said.
EU foreign ministers discussed the deadlock with Russia at a summit in Brussels and stuck to the EU line that the West should continue efforts to get a U.N. Security Council resolution.
"We are trying to avoid a veto. We are sticking to our position that we need a (U.N. Security Council) resolution," said Luxembourg Foreign minister Jean Asselborn after the talks.
Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said: "More or less most of us believe that more time is needed. We should take it and give the negotiations a chance."
Public pressure is building on the leaders of Kosovo's 90-percent Albanian majority to declare independence. Diplomatic stalemate between the West and Russia has blocked a U.N. plan that would lead to statehood, eight years after NATO drove out Serb forces and the United Nations took control.
Russia on Wednesday declared "unacceptable" the West's third draft of a resolution for the U.N. Security Council, which called for a further 120 days of Serb-Albanian talks.
This would be on top of 13 months of negotiations that ended in March with no compromise whatever on the central issue -- Serbia's total opposition to the Albanians' bottom-line demand.
The latest draft proposed that if there was still no deal, the plan by U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari for EU-supervised independence would take effect.
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica called for the resolution to be withdrawn. Serbia is ready for talks, he said in a statement, but without conditions.
"A new resolution is not needed to restart talks, only the good will to sit at the table and search for compromise."
Russia's rejection increased pressure on Kosovo's main supporters, the United States and the EU, to consider backing a unilateral declaration of independence or risk potentially serious unrest among Kosovo's two million Albanians.
Security is in the hands of 16,000 NATO soldiers.
Washington has indicated it would support such a step, but the 27-member EU fears its fragile unity on the issue would crumble and it would not have a legal basis to take over supervision of Kosovo from the eight-year-old U.N. mission.
(Additional reporting by Ljiljana Cvekic in Belgrade and David Brunnstrom and Mark John in Brussels)