November 25, 2005

KiM Info Newsletter 25-11-05

Ahtisaari continues Belgrade visit

| 10:29 November 25 | B92, Belgrade

BELGRADE -- Friday The UNs special envoy for negotiations on the future of Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, continues his visit to Belgrade today.

Serbian PM Vojislav Kostunica with Martti Ahtisaari

The former Finnish president is spending his time in Belgrade familiarising himself with the situation on the ground before beginning negotiations. The familiarisation process includes discussions with President Boris Tadic, ambassadors of the Contact Group member countries and the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Pavle.

He will also travel to Podgorica today to meet senior Montenegrin officials.

During yesterdays meetings with Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic, Ahtisaari was given the Serbian Parliaments Kosovo Resolution. The Finnish diplomat also met the thirteen-member Serbian negotiating team, which is to be headed by Tadic, Kostunica and Draskovic.

Meanwhile a proposal has been tabled in the parliament by the Serbian Radical Party and the Socialist Party of Serbia to review under urgent procedures Tadics proposal for the partitioning of Kosovo. The parties say the concept is in breach of the Constitution.

The Radicals and Socialists accuse Tadic of opposing decisions of the parliament by calling on Kosovo Serbs to vote in elections, of undermining the states negotiating position with the statement that the Albanian national majority has the right to self-determination and of making his partitioning proposal public without the agreement of the parliament.

B92 has learnt unofficially that the proposal will not appear on the parliaments agenda, but deputy Radical leader Tomislav Nikolic will be allowed to present the demand.

Capital Investments Minister Velimir Ilic has also come out against the presidents position.

You see every party on one side, the Democrats and the president on the other. We in the government wanted to wanted to bring a certain decision, accepted that the president and the prime minister would be co-chairmen for conducting negotiations and to enter negotiations with completely the same dedication, but we were exceptionally concerned that the presidents office hasnt gone along with the rest, which could men that we well be united on this issue, that the parliament will be united, and that all political structures dont debate this, said Ilic.

Slobodan Samardzic, advisor to the prime minister, says the Cabinet is not opposed to Tadics proposal.

He told media that the presidents statement is not out of line with the governments plan for a political resolution in Kosovo.

Given that in the negotiations on the future status of Kosovo, the position of Serbs and other non-Albanian minorities will be one of the main themes, this document confirms the corresponding part of our state platform for the discussions. It is also necessary for the Serbian entity, which appears in the document, although in different terms, is strengthened for the essential establishment of the autonomous status of Serbs and other non-Albanians in Kosovo, said Samardzic.

Tadics advisor, Leon Kojen, speaking to B92, said that the proposed Serb entity would included municipalities with a majority Serb population and the most important Orthodox churches and monasteries.

Kojen says that the Serbian municipalities would have to have broad local autonomy, with their own police, judiciary, education, cultural, political, health and social welfare policies.

Belgrade Divided Over Kosovo

Belgrade, Pristina, 23 Nov (B92)

Belgrades leaders continue to speak a different language on issues connected with the future of the country.

Despite the parliaments adoption of the Resolution on Kosovo, which provides a basis for negotiations on the provinces status, the real situation has become more complex.

Political divisions have appeared in the wake of President Boris Tadics expectation that state bodies respond to his proposal for the partitioning of Kosovo.

Slobodan Samardzic, advisor to Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, says that the Cabinet is not acquainted with Tadics plan and that the only two official documents which Serbia has for discussion are the parliaments resolution and the governments plan for decentralization.

Were urging Tadic to explain his position. First, does some plan exist and why is he referring to it in public when it hasnt been submitted to the government and it is not clear what the government should respond to. It needs a minimum of explanation for us to go any further, and this proposal must be seen as some kind of new initiative, with which the government is not directly acquainted, said Samardzic.

TADIC HAS ONLY CONCRETE PROPOSAL

Tadic said that he expects the appropriate bodies to take a position I the next few days on his proposal for the resolution of the status of Kosovo.

The president told media that, unlike the parliaments resolution, his proposal for establishing two entities in Kosovo is the one concrete plan in Serbia at the moment.

Its essentially important that everyone who speaks to Ahtisaari on the Serbia side during the negotiations is giving a political message, saying the same thing. In order to talk about the same thing we have to agree all the way on a platform for the negotiations. I have proposed this platform and at the moment we have no other platform for negotiations, we only have a framework of good will. I respect good will, but we have to conduct a realistic, feasible and supportable policy on Kosovo, said Tadic.

HIGH DEGREE OF UNDERSTANDING

The situation will become even more delicate with the arrival of the UNs special envoy for negotiations, Martti Ahtisaari in Belgrade this afternoon. Yesterday Ahtisaari spoke to Serbian Orthodox Church leaders in the Visoki Decani Monastery in Kosovo, with an advisor to Kosovo Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi present.

One of the church leaders, Sava Janjic, says that top of the agenda was the protection of church buildings in Kosovo.

Ahtisaari showed a high degree of understanding for our position. Of course he did not make any concrete statement, but we had the impression that this is a man who wants to understand all sides and address the issue constructively. Bishop Teodosije said in the end that he is especially pleased because Ahtisaari spent a full two hours here and came from Pristina, which is a significant indication of how much the protection of the Serbian nation and our spiritual and cultural legacy in Kosovo is a very important issue in the approaching negotiations and not something secondary which doesnt require attention, said Janjic.

SERBS INSIST ON DECENTRALIZATION

Ahtisaaris visit to Kosovo continues today with meetings with Kosovo Serb leaders. One of them, Oliver Ivanovic, says that this is the first meeting and that no one should expect too much from it.

I think that the will first explain his concept for the negotiations, and we will point out some things. The first thing is that our position is identical as far as the political and legal status goes, except that we cant accept any kind of independence. Our most significant role is to insist on decentralization, freedom of movement, on changes to the Constitutional Framework which will guarantee that we cant be outvoted on every important issues, especially those which are especially important, and that we insist on the right of refugees to return, said Ivanovic.

Serbian Government Sets Up Negotiating Team

Belgrade, 24 Nov (Tanjug)

The Serbian government on Thursday unanimously decided on the composition of the negotiating team for the talks on the future status of Kosovo and Metohija, the government office for cooperation with media stated on Thursday.

The team for talks on the future status of Kosovo and Metohija was set up on the basis of the Serbian parliament Resolution on the mandate for political negotiations on the future status of Kosovo and Metohija of November 21, as well as on the agreement of top state representatives reached at the meeting of November 2, 2005. The introductory provision reads that a team is common and includes representatives of the Republic of Serbia and the state union of Serbia and Montenegro, the statement said.

The team includes main negotiators, the operative part and a standing advisor. The main negotiators are Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, as co-chairman of the team and main negotiator by virtue of his office, Serbian President Boris Tadic, as co-chairman of the team and main negotiator by virtue of his office, and Serbia and Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic.

The operative part of the team includes Leon Kojen, Advisor to the Serbian President, directly responsible to team co-chairman Boris Tadic, appointed by the President of the Republic, Slobodan Samardzic, Advisor to the Prime Minister, directly responsible to team co-chairman Vojislav Kostunica, Dusan Batakovic, Advisor to the President of the Republic, appointed by the President of the Republic, Aleksandar Simic, Advisor to the Prime Minister. The operative team also includes Radomir Diklic, Cabinet of Serbia and Montenegro's President, Predrag Simic, Ambassador of Serbia and Montenegro, Serbia and Montenegro Foreign Ministry, Sanda Raskovic-Ivic, Head of Serbia and Montenegro and Serbia Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija, Marko Jaksic, president of the Community of Serb Municipalities in Kosovo and Metohija, and Goran Bogdanovic, member of the Serb List for Kosovo and Metohija, appointed by the President of the Republic.

Thomas Fleiner, Professor of the Law School Fribourg (Switzerland) and Director of the Institute of Federalism is the standing advisor of the team, it was said in the statement.

Serbia warns UN envoy against Kosovo independence

BELGRADE, Nov 24 (AFP)

Belgrade on Thursday warned the UN special envoy overseeing talks on the status of disputed Kosovo against allowing the province's ethnic Albanians to break away from Serbia, saying this would cause "tremors" elsewhere.

"By recognising the international independence of Kosovo, the UN charter and international law would be violated," Serbia-Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic told the UN mediator, Martti Ahtisaari.

"That would spark a chain of dramatic tremors in the Balkan region as well as throughout Europe and the world," a government statement quoted Draskovic as saying.

Ahtisaari also met with Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica after three days of talks with various parties in Kosovo, whose ethnic Albanian majority are seeking independence -- a demand firmly opposed by Belgrade.

The Serbian government has always insisted it will only offer Kosovo's Albanians "more than autonomy but less than independence" in the sensitive talks.

During the meeting, Kostunica handed Ahtisaari a resolution on Kosovo that was passed by Serbia's parliament earlier this week, his cabinet said in a separate statement.

The resolution spells out Belgrade's framework for the talks, asserting Kosovo must remain a part of Serbia and that any forced solution will be declared "illegitimate, illegal and void" by its parliament.

According to the statement, Ahtisaari told his host the status talks would adhere to the guiding principles set by the so-called Contact Group of foreign powers that have overseen peace efforts since the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

The 10 principles say the settlement of the Kosovo issue should comply with international standards of human rights, democracy and international standards. They also rule out any partition of the province.

The guidelines were agreed earlier this month by the Contact Group, which includes the United States, Russia, Britain and France -- four members of the UN Security Council that will have the ultimate say on Kosovo's status.

After Ahtisaari's arrival, Belgrade announced its 13-member team for the talks, which it said would be led by Kostunica and Serbian President Boris Tadic, and would include Draskovic.

Also appointed was Thomas Fleiner of the Institute of Federalism at the Swiss University of Fribourg, who will serve as a foreign adviser to help Serbia in the negotiations.

In Pristina on Wednesday, Ahtisaari ruled out a time limit for the process, saying it was "far too early" to say when the opposing parties could start negotiating face to face.

"I do not think you can force people to talk directly if they do not want to do so," the former Finnish president said Monday at his first press conference since beginning his mission.

On Tuesday, the team representing Kosovo's Albanians in the negotiations presented him with their plans for independence.

During Ahtisaari's two-day visit to Belgrade, he is also due to meet Tadic and the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Pavle.

The veteran UN trouble-shooter is then scheduled to visit Serbia's union partner Montenegro, the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia and neighbouring Albania.

By Fatmir Aliu, dpa

Pristina (dpa) - Kosovo independence is not on the agenda of status talks with Belgrade, only "branches" of the "trunk" process, Kosovo Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi said Thursday.

"The overall aim of the process has only one meaning, and that is to create an independent and sovereign state of Kosovo," Kosumi told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa in Pristina.

"Other important issues", including security for minorities, travel documents and protection of centuries' worth of Serbia's heritage, "we will negotiate with Belgrade".

Belgrade and Pristina this week embarked on United Nations-mediated talks on Kosovo's final status. The majority of Kosovo Albanians want independence, while Serbia wants to keep sovereignty.

However, Kosumi insisted that independence was not negotiable. "An independent Kosovo is the will and the democratic right of the people of Kosovo," he said.

Scene of a bloody war that was stopped by NATO in 1999, Kosovo remains volatile despite six years of a U.N. administration, now with Serbs at the receiving end of ethnic hostility.
Kosumi also flatly rejected a Serbian proposal to divide Kosovo along ethnic lines, in a concept that the international community applied in Bosnia to end the war, but is now trying to dismantle.

"There will be no partition of Kosovo. With decentralization we are not going to create mono-ethnic municipalities," he said.

U.N. mediator Martti Ahtisaari started his work on Monday in Kosovo by meeting Kosovo Albanian politicians, as well as political and spiritual leaders of the embattled Serb minority.
Before departing for Belgrade on Thursday, Ahtisaari said that he wanted to push the process as quickly as possible, but that there was no time limit.

Kosumi also wants swift progress. "It is in the interest of everyone involved that it does not go on for ever," he said.

Although it is still unclear even when direct contact between Belgrade and Pristina would occur, Kosumi said that Kosovo's negotiators believed talks "could and will" be over by June 2006.

Belgrade also says Kosovo's independence is not negotiable, and insists on sovereignty. It fears that the remaining Serbs would be driven out by a hostile environment.

Kosumi acknowledged that "some Kosovo Serbs may fear and doubt their future", but appealed to them to realize that "there is no better place for their future than Kosovo".
"Wherever else they go, to Serbia or somewhere else, they will not find and feel better then in Kosovo. They will be second-rate citizens in collective camps, as until now," he warned.

A long-term NATO presence would help create a "general security arrangement, not only in Kosovo but in the region", he said, also pledging for minorities institutional and legal protection of their cultural, language, religious and traditional rights.

At the end of the day, Kosovo - and particularly Serbia - needed to focus on economic reforms and prosperity, instead of spending all their energy on the question of the status.
"The largest part of the political energy in Kosovo and in Serbia is channelled toward resolving status," Kosumi said.

As result, Kosovo remained undeveloped and a burden to Serbia, he said - "This is another argument for a sovereign Kosovo, because Serbia will, in a way, be liberated from its biggest problem."

"In Kosovo itself, growth is a hostage of the status. No foreign company will invest in it without knowing its status, and without being an independent state, Kosovo cannot tap into international financial programmes," Kosumi said.

Kosovo Serbs warn UN envoy on independence, violence by Ismet Hajdari

RELIEF WEB (SWITZERLAND)
Source: Agence France-Presse (AFP)
Date: 23 Nov 2005

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro, Nov 23 - Visiting UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari insisted on an international resolution to the question of the future status of the Serbian province of Kosovo.

"Whatever the final outcome of this is going to be, it is widely recognised that there has to be involvement of the international community," Ahtisaari said, speaking to reporters for the first time since the start of his fact-finding mission that began Monday.

"The present situation (in Kosovo) cannot continue, and we have to look at the future status" of the UN-administered Serbian province, he said.

The talks are set to determine whether Kosovo, which has been run by the United Nations and NATO since the end of its conflict in 1999, can break away from Belgrade, as sought by its ethnic Albanian majority, or remain within the borders of Serbia, whose people see the province as the birthplace of their nation.

Ahtisaari, who arrived in the provincial capital Pristina on Monday along with his assistant Albert Rohan of Austria, said the future status of Kosovo was "not up to" him.

"It is not me who will decide the timing, (UN) Secretary General (Kofi

Annan) has an important role and, finally, it is up to the (UN) Security Council to decide how the future status will look like," Ahtisaari said.

He added that no timetable has been set for concluding the status talks, insisting simply that the "dialogue has started and it will be continuing."

"I do not think you can force people to talk directly if they do not want so," the former Finnish president said, adding that it was "far too early"

to speculate when direct talks between the two sides would start.

"The timing will depend on the parties, how they move forward, how they cooperate. There is no fixed time limit in this exercise," he said.

Earlier Wednesday, Ahtisaari met with Kosovo Serb politicians who had warned that the independence of Kosovo was "absolutely unacceptable" for their ethnic community.

"We are for compromise -- the highest level of autonomy for the province,"

Milan Ivanovic, a hardline Serb politician, told reporters after meeting the UN mediator.

The meeting came a day after the team representing Kosovo's Albanians in the negotiations presented Ahtisaari with their plans for independence from Serbia.

A moderate Kosovo Serb politician who also attended the meeting said he had urged that the international community guard against violence during the sensitive talks.

"We warned Ahtisaari (the talks) should be a process of a mature society whose leaders must realise that violence is not an option," said Oliver Ivanovic.

Ahtisaari also held initial talks Tuesday with Serbian Orthodox Church leaders, who demanded assurances for the protection of the province's minority Serbs and their centuries-old holy sites.

The initial negotiations -- to take the form of shuttle diplomacy between Pristina, Belgrade and other Balkan cities -- are expected to last at least a month.

After the first phase, Ahtisaari is expected to arrange a direct meeting between Kosovo Albanian and Belgrade leaders in Vienna early next year, according to Kosovo media.

Kosovo has been run by the United Nations and NATO since its 1998-99 war between forces of then Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic and Albanian separatist guerrillas.

The conflict was ended by a 78-day NATO bombing campaign against Serbian military positions and infrastructure.

Annan appointed Ahtisaari, 68, to head the Kosovo status talks on November 1. It is his second Kosovo mission since he helped to convince Milosevic to withdraw Serbian forces from the province in June 1999.

Serbian president proposes division of Kosovo as U.N. envoy arrives for talks

Associated Press: Nov 24, 2005 4:57 AM

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro-Serbia's president on Thursday formally proposed the division of Kosovo between its independence-seeking Albanian majority and a Serb minority as the chief U.N. mediator arrived in Belgrade for his first round of talks with government officials.

Martti Ahtisaari, a former Finnish president, has been appointed to mediate between Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, which seeks independence, and Serbia, which insists the province should remain within its borders.

Serbian President Boris Tadic formally proposed to the Serbian government Thursday that Kosovo should be divided along ethnic lines, but that it should formally remain within Serbia's borders with ethnic Albanians having virtual independence.

The proposal, which was unveiled by Tadic during his recent visit to Russia, has been rejected by ethnic Albanian leaders who are seeking nothing but full independence for the whole province.

It also drew angry reactions from Serbian ultranationalists who demanded that Tadic be impeached by the parliament for ceding part of "sovereign Serbian territory" to the Kosovo Albanians.

Aleksandar Simic, a political adviser to Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, said that the government on Thursday planned to name a negotiating team for the U.N.-mediated Kosovo talks that would be led by Kostunica, Tadic and Serbia-Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic.

Kosovo, which only formally remains part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia, has been under U.N. administration since mid-1999 when a campaign of aerial bombardment by NATO forced then-President Slobodan Milosevic to end the violent crackdown in the province.

Athisaari, who was appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan as the chief mediator in the Kosovo talks and who is on his initial fact-finding mission in the Balkans, said in Kosovo Wednesday that a negotiated solution for Kosovo will depend on how fast the two sides move forward to end the dispute over the province.

"Timing will depend on the parties, how they move forward, how they cooperate," Ahtisaari said.

The U.N.-sponsored process is aimed at settling one of the most intractable disputes left over from the ethnic and sectarian wars in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Thousands ethnic Albanians were killed and hundreds of thousands fled their homes during the Serb crackdown in the province in 1998-99.

About 150,000 Serbs, who consider Kosovo the cradle of their statehood and religion, fled the province after the 1999 war in the face of attacks and threats from ethnic Albanian extremists.

The postwar bloodshed in Kosovo also targeted Serbs' property and churches.

An estimated 100,000 Serbs live in virtual ghettos in Kosovo where about two million ethnic Albanians represent a vast majority.

Some 17,500 NATO-led peacekeepers patrol Kosovo.

What Will Tadics Plan For Kosovo And Metohija Contain

Belgrade, 24 Nov (Vecernje Novosti)

The strategy of Boris Tadic for talks on future status of Kosovo and Metohija, which his based on idea of two entities, in fact is the plan adopted a year ago on decentralization. A source of Novosti from presidents cabinet said that he and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica have the same goal for the southern province, which will be announced this week, when they are about to meet and prepare for meeting with Martti Ahtisaari.

Plan of Tadic itself is still in draft phase, although one version was presented already. The Presidents councilor Leon Kojen is working on this process, who is the author of present draft version. Russian president Putin is the first person who saw the draft version, this fact is neither accidental, nor unimportant, because as our counterpart says, Vladimir Putin fully supported the plan for reorganization of entities. That encouraged Tadic to go public with his plan before he even consulted the rest of the Serbian leaders.

The draft version of the plan about two entities, as explained by a close associate of the president, means:

- Full sovereignty of Serbia over the whole province territory.

- Entities will not be formally divided, because the Serbian entity would not have classic territorial compactness (enclaves will exist).

- Serbian entity will include Serbian majority municipalities, taking into consideration the situation before year 1999.

- Serbian entity will have right on special relations with Belgrade and substantial authority over areas of security, justice, education and health care.

Most complex issues security and justice would be resolved on parity basis. Municipal assemblies will elect chiefs of local police, and minister of the interior in the Kosovo interim government will have the right to veto municipal decisions. His right will be to prevent election of person for this position in case there are good reasons for his decision (elected person has criminal record, convicted, etc.) Police members will be chosen proportionally to the population of the municipalities.

Core of such approach to the issue of southern province, is when it comes to declaration of province status next year, Serbs to have right to their share.

Me Must Have Platform To Avoid Enforced Solution

25 Nov (Blic) - Serbia President Boris Tadic claims that resolutions passed by our Parliament and Kosovo Albanians cannot be negotiating platforms.

'They define what is not acceptable. We are going to negotiate what we want to accept. Our platform has to be made in the following three to four weeks so as to be ready for negotiations that are to begin in January and last nine months', President Tadic says.

Q: What exactly does your proposal understand?

Tadic: 'I suggested negotiating platform that understands Serbia's sovereignty over Kosovo and Metohija, and consequently the territorial integrity. The province should remain as a whole unit with Serbian entity defined within it. KiM institutions would be constituted of Serbian and Albanian institutions. Serbian entity should be institutionally connected with Belgrade directly. This is the only way for all principles to be satisfied: territorial integrity of Serbia, protection of our citizens in the province, interest of Albanian side for the real autonomy from Belgrade and respect of international law. I sent proposal of the platform to Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and the Government. I discussed it with SCG President Svetozar Marovic and some of KiM representatives. These days I shall do the same with other relevant political factors in the country. I shall especially talk with people working on our policy in KiM such as Nebojsa Covic'.

Q: Have you received any reply from the Prime Minister? Are there any indications that the Government is ready to start work on negotiating platform as suggested by you?

Tadic: 'The first reaction is positive'.
Q: Is there a danger that Serbia enters the first phase of negotiations with two different policies or that you and the Government split during negotiations?

Tadic: 'I want to believe that we are going to have mutual negotiating position. I am sure that the Government shall accept my proposal. I surely am not going to cause weakening of our negotiating position'.

Q: Why have you announced your plan after visit to Russia President Vladimir Putin? Would it not be more logical that you had presented it in the country first?

Tadic: 'So far I had 36 international visits and on all such occasions I was defending our stance regarding KiM. I was actually seeking the solution acceptable for the international community. The last talk that I had was the one with President Putin. I think it was very important that I had presented my plan to him before informing the public about it because visit to Russia closed the circle of important international visits. That is the only reason. On earlier occasions, in talks with Kostunica, I mentioned the possibility of setting up of two entities, Serbian and Albanian. He discussed that, too. That proposal is an integral part of the document on KiM analyzed as early as in 2001 when Zoran Djindjic was the premier and Kostunica president of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia'.

Q: Have you got support for setting up of two entities from President Putin and representatives of the Contact Group?

Tadic: 'We have to struggle for that support. Our success in negotiations over future Kosovo status depends directly on our initiative and concrete proposal for settlement of the problem. Serbia does not have a concrete solution. Should it be passive in negotiations the danger of an enforced solution increases. My proposal was met with understanding with President Putin. There were no negative reactions from EU, while EU remained with no comment regarding our and Albanian resolutions. We have to struggle for support of important members of the Contact Group'.

Q: If independence or conditional independence of KiM happens to be enforced as a solution, does Serbia have a plan what it is going to do next?

Tadic: 'Neither unconditional nor conditional independence is acceptable for our country. However, should negotiations come to a dead-end, that is danger of enforced solution. In that case new strategy of our country shall follow'.

UN negotiator meets Kosovo's Serb leaders

Associated Press: Nov 23, 2005 5:37 AM

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro-The U.N. envoy leading the effort to resolve Kosovo's future status met Wednesday with the local Serbs leaders as he wrapped up his inaugural visit to the deeply polarized province.

Martti Ahtisaari, a former Finnish president, is mediating between Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, which seeks independence, and Serbia, which insists the province should remain within its borders.

The U.N.-sponsored process is aimed at settling one of the most intractable disputes left over from the ethnic and sectarian wars in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Ethnic Albanian leaders outlined their position to Ahtisaari on Tuesday, setting independence for the region of 2 million people as their ultimate goal. The document they presented also spoke of securing guarantees for minority rights and giving them a greater say over their affairs.

Ahtisaari, who first arrived in Kosovo on Monday, also visited a 14th Century Serb Orthodox monastery in western Kosovo to meet Serb religious leaders who demanded the protection of religious sites as part of any future settlement.

Tens of thousands of Serbs fled the province after the 1999 war in the face of attacks and threats from ethnic Albanian extremists. These followed the deaths of up to 10,000 ethnic Albanians killed before NATO air bombings forced then-President Slobodan Milosevic to end the violent crackdown in the province.

The postwar bloodshed in Kosovo also targeted Serbs' property and churches.

An estimated 100,000 Serbs remain out of an original population of about 250,000.

Kosovo has been run by a United Nations mission since the end of the war and the talks to resolve its future status have been long-awaited.

Ahtisaari will set up an office in Vienna by January to administer the peace process, which will involve shuttle diplomacy between Pristina and Belgrade.

He has set no timeline has been set for the process.

Ahtisaari also plans to travel to the Serbian capital, Belgrade late Wednesday and neighboring Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro in the coming days.

No time limit for Kosovo talks: UN envoy

PRISTINA, Nov 23 (AFP)

The United Nations official overseeing talks on the future of ethnically divided Kosovo has ruled out a time limit for the process, saying it was too early to say when the opposing parties could start negotiating face to face.

Speaking to reporters for the first time since starting a fact-finding mission on Monday, special envoy Martti Ahtisaari said: "It is not me who will decide the timing, the Secretary-General (Kofi Annan) has an important role and, finally, it is up to the (UN) Security Council to decide how the future status will look like."

The talks are set to determine whether Kosovo, which has been run by the United Nations and NATO since the end of its conflict in 1999, can break away from Belgrade, as sought by its ethnic Albanian majority, or remain within the borders of Serbia, whose people see the province as the birthplace of their nation.

But there would be no time limit on the status negotiations, the envoy said, stressing that the "dialogue has started and it will be continuing."

"I do not think you can force people to talk directly if they do not want to do so," the former Finnish president said, adding it was "far too early" to speculate when direct talks between the two sides would start.

"The present situation (in Kosovo) cannot continue and we have to look at the future status" of the UN-administered territory, he said.

"Whatever the final outcome of this is going to be, it is widely recognised that there has to be involvement of the international community," said Ahtisaari, who is being accompanied by Austrian diplomat Albert Rohan.

The international envoys "have to be involved in bilateral talks running from one group to another and bringing the messages and find the certain moment when the parties are prepared to talk. You cannot force this process," the envoy said.

"The timing will depend on the parties, how they move forward, how they cooperate. There is no fixed time limit in this exercise. I have assured that we will move as far forward as we can," he said.

Earlier Wednesday, the envoy met Kosovo Serb politicians who warned that independence was "absolutely unacceptable."

"We are for compromise -- the highest level of autonomy for the province," Milan Ivanovic, a hardline Serb politician, told reporters after meeting the UN mediator.

The meeting came a day after the team representing Kosovo's Albanians in the negotiations presented Ahtisaari with their plans for independence.

A moderate Kosovo Serb politician who also attended the meeting said he warned Ahtisaari the international community should act to prevent violence during the sensitive negotiations.

"We warned Ahtisaari (the talks) should be a process of a mature society whose leaders must realise that violence is not an option," said Oliver Ivanovic.

The envoy on Tuesday listened to the demands of Serbian Orthodox Church leaders that minority Serbs and their centuries-old holy sites be protected.

The initial negotiations, involving shuttle diplomacy between Pristina, Belgrade and other Balkan cities, are expected to last at least a month.

Ahtisaari is expected to then arrange a direct meeting between Kosovo Albanian leaders and Belgrade in Vienna early next year, Kosovo media reported.

Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations and NATO since the military alliance intervened in the 1998-1999 war between Serbian and Yugoslav forces, and Albanian separatists.

Ahtisaari, 68, was appointed to oversee the Kosovo status talks on November 1.

Croatian PM: Kosovo future cannot be decided without Belgrade

Associated Press: Nov 23, 2005 9:00 AM

ZAGREB, Croatia-Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader insisted Wednesday the future of Kosovo, formally a part of Serbia, but with its majority ethnic Albanians seeking independence, cannot be decided without Serbia's consent.

"Kosovo status cannot be solved without Belgrade," Sanader, whose country was at war with Serbia in 1991 when it declared independence from ex-Yugoslavia, said after meeting his Serbian counterpart, Vojislav Kostunica, in Zagreb.

Kostunica, whose government insists on retaining at least formal authority over Kosovo, commended Sanader's view as "constructive."

Zagreb's support for Serbia's stand on Kosovo highlights the steady improvement in relations between the two former foes in the past several years.

Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombed Serb forces to stop their crackdown on the ethnic Albanians. The talks to resolve the province's future, on which Serbia and Kosovo ethnic Albanians have diametrically different views, are to be mediated by a U.N.

envoy.

Albanians make about 90 percent of Kosovo's 2 million people, but Serbia consider it a cradle of its history.

Serbia-Montenegro recently reacted angrily at Albanian president Alfred Moisiu's public support for independent Kosovo.

It also canceled the visit last month of Slovenia's President Janez Drnovsek, whose country also seceded from the ex-Yugoslavia in 1991, because he had said that Kosovo's independence is the only "realistic solution."

Belgrade's stand was not softened by Drnovsek's insistence that in an independent Kosovo, ethnic Serbs should be especially protected and the Serbian Orthodox monasteries there even given extraterritorial status.

In Kosovo, Two Peoples Look Across Bitter Divide

Talks Address Future Of U.N.-Run Region

THE WASHINGTON POST (USA)
By Daniel Williams
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, November 22, 2005; A22

PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro -- Six years after the end of warfare here, fear and suspicion still enforce a strict separation of Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo, but for the first time both sides are beginning to picture a future in which they might -- just might -- live together.

Talks began Monday in Pristina on the future legal status of an area that has been under the administration of the United Nations since U.S.-led bombing forced out Serbian forces in 1999. Anti-Serb riots in March 2004 stoked fear here and in foreign capitals of new violence between the two populations, and possibly even between Serbia and Kosovo, prompting the U.S.

and European governments to endorse the talks.

"This is about ending a dispute of more than a century," said Avni Arifi, an adviser to Kosovo Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi. "The only way to move forward is to talk. Otherwise anything can happen, mostly bad."

"It's time to show some political maturity and do something about this conflict," said Sanda Raskovic, an official in Belgrade who will be part of the Serbian negotiating team.

Martti Ahtisaari, a former Finnish president who was appointed by U.N.

Secretary General Kofi Annan to mediate the talks, arrived by air Monday in Pristina, Kosovo's capital, to open a round of shuttle diplomacy aimed at finding common ground. Officials in Pristina and Belgrade, the Serbian capital, say they will eventually sit down and speak directly.

NATO began its bombing campaign in 1999 in response to the killing of Albanian civilians during a Serb crackdown on Albanian separatist guerrillas. Despite six years of U.N. administration, Kosovo remains officially a province of Serbia.

The Albanian majority demands full independence. Serbia wants to keep Kosovo within its territorial bounds, albeit with substantial autonomy. "Kosovo is part of Serbia, and not only part of its history but also part of its present and future," Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica told parliament in Belgrade on Monday.

The United States and European governments will wield strong influence in the negotiations. Many analysts predict they will eventually pressure and cajole the two sides into accepting a status being called "conditional independence."

Under such a framework, Kosovo would formally separate from Serbia, but would remain for an extended period under some type of international supervision, with foreign peacekeeping troops continuing their patrols, as in nearby Bosnia, where a U.S.-brokered peace deal initialed 10 years ago ended another of the Balkans' ethnic wars.

The talks represent a dramatic shift in course for the outside powers. After 1999, they told the Albanians that talks on final status would begin only if they improved the rule of law and the protection of Serbs in Kosovo. But after the riots of 2004, in which Albanian mobs torched close to a thousand Serb houses, foreign officials concluded that the current framework was untenable. They authorized talks while continuing to pressure the Albanians to rein in lawlessness.

A visit to Kosovo shows how stagnant and yet volatile the situation is. The majority population of 2 million Albanians and the minority Serbs, now numbering about 100,000, live in separate, mutually hostile worlds. A bridge over a river that separates Serb and Albanian parts of the northern city of Kosovska Mitrovica carries little traffic. Sharp-eyed men on both sides warily look over anyone who crosses.

The Serb population of Pristina is down to 120 from about 40,000 in 1999.

Serbs' homes have been occupied by Albanians. The few Serbs who dare come into town complain of harassment.

In the countryside, a few Serb enclaves remain, surrounded by Albanian villages and subject to the whims of illegal Albanian militias. Few refugees have returned. Recently, a shadowy armed group called the Army for the Independence of Kosovo ordered Kosovo politicians to declare independence or face a "difficult situation," which people here took to mean death. Another group opposes talks altogether and has spray-painted the slogan "No negotiations. Self-determination" all across Pristina.

Still, the decision to talk has forced contemplation among Serbs and Albanians about what a new Kosovo would be like.

Nikola Bejovic, an artist and one of the few Serbs who still lives in Pristina, said, "They will talk and talk, but anyone who thinks this will be over in a year is dreaming."

Bejovic lives in a suburb and has not been downtown for a year. The last time he visited, he recalled, he spoke Serbian and someone clubbed him on the head. He ended up in a hospital.

People at the talks "will try to come up with something that will satisfy everyone," he predicted. "It will be like a magic trick. When the Albanians look at the solution, it will look like independence. When Serbia looks at it, it will seem like something else."

Bejovic, 56, moved to Pristina 33 years ago after meeting his future wife, Armi, now 51, an Albanian who was born in Pristina. She said Serbs and Albanians both consider her a freak: "When I am in Serbia, they call me names. When I am here, they call me names. This is a stupid place."

In downtown Pristina, Ehup Ahmeti, an 18-year-old Albanian, sells cigarettes out of a crate. He says independence is on the way and wonders where that will leave him. "These cigarettes are going to be the same whether we're free or not," he said. "The real reason we need independence is because we cannot live with the Serbs."

Ahmeti's family came to Pristina from central Kosovo after the war "because our house was burned down and there were plenty of Serb apartments here."

He had expected Kosovo to be independent long ago. "I thought that's what the war was about," he said. "There's no way there can be any other solution. Really, the Serbs ought to go back to Serbia. . . . A few can stay, but really, there was a lot of killing. They should not come back."

Independence is one topic that is not supposed to come up when Serbs and Albanians address each other directly during the talks, both sides say, though for entirely opposing reasons.

"This we only discuss with the international community," said Arifi, the adviser to Kosovo's prime minister. "We have trust that the solution is obvious."

The Kosovo negotiating team intends to talk about practical issues: war reparations, pensions to Albanians dating to before the war, land records held in Belgrade, border controls, rights to fly commercial planes through Serbian airspace and the treatment of the Serb minority within Kosovo. "We recognize they have an interest in Serbs living here, as we do for Albanians living there," Arifi said.

Arifi said Kosovo was prepared to offer compromises to smooth the way to independence. It would agree to international peacekeeping troops remaining within its borders and to foreign monitoring of human rights. It would pledge never to unify with either Albania or the Albanian communities in Macedonia to the south. "This is not something we wanted to do anyway," Arifi said.

Independence for Kosovo is also not on Serbia's agenda because in Belgrade's view, it would violate international law and roil the Balkans. At the war's end, the Serbs point out, U.N. Security Council Resolution 1422 said that Kosovo was legally part of the former Yugoslavia.

The Serbian government is willing to agree to "substantial autonomy" for Kosovo to run its own affairs and for Serbs there to have autonomy within the province. "The schools must be local, the sheriff must be local," said Sanda Raskovic, a member of the Serbian negotiating team.

Foreign governments that help oversee Kosovo have good reason to reject independence, she conjectures. Declaring Kosovo a sovereign state would set an example for other conflictive places, notably Bosnia, where the central government insists that the country's semi-autonomous Serb Republic eventually integrate fully into the Bosnian state.

"If Kosovo walks off, why will the Serb Republic stay put?" said Raskovic.

Serbian officials raise the specter of a domino effect worldwide: Chechnya, parts of Macedonia, Taiwan, all breaking their moorings.

There's yet another party to the talks, self-declared, the Serbs of Kosovo, who officially form part of the Belgrade delegation.

"It is our future they're talking about, yet somehow we are not quite at the center of things," said Oliver Ivanovic, a Serb leader in Mitrovica. "In any case, we do not just want to be puppets of Belgrade. . . . We don't really trust Belgrade. We think the Albanians want to get rid of us and the internationals don't care.

"We're the orphans here," he said. "But we have to participate."

Preparation For Conquest Of Northern Kosovo

Belgrade, 24 Nov (Vecernje Novosti) Awaiting the beginning of the talks on the future status of Kosovo, Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija, are not letting anything happen by coincidence. KFOR and UNMIK intelligence services are informing that Albanian politicians have raised alarm with their illegal intelligence services. They have been ordered that in parallel with the gathering of data on the movement of the KFOR forces in Kosovo, and the Serbian security forces on the border with Kosovo, they start intimidating the Serbian residents in the province, raise tensions and conquer the northern parts of Kosmet.

As part of the military wing which is preparing for the final liberation of Kosovo Greater-Albanian movement has formed an illegal intelligence service. Kosovo state intelligence service (KSHIK). The man behind the plan of this organization, who also deals with security issues, is Hashim Thaci.

In parallel with Thaci, forming of the KSHIK was also assisted by Xhavit Haliti, and Kadri Veseli, members of the Albanian intelligence service. Strength of this secret service comes from its ties with the organized crime that is with the political parties which actually control this type of crimes, above all Thacis PDK, Haradinajs Alliance for Kosovo Future, Peoples Movement for Kosovo, and Movement for Kosovo Liberation.

EAVES DROPPING ON EVERYONE

Kosovo state intelligence service is organized on territorial principals. Headquarter is in Prishtina. This is its central part which is being referred to as the Main Directorate. There are subordinate establishments in almost every place in Kosmet, and they have been marked as regional departments. Chief of the directorate is Kadri Veseli, from Kosovska Mitrovica, know under the nickname Ljulji. His deputy is Haljmi Recica, known as Petrit. Main directorate consists of three departments:

-Technical department and tapping mostly tapping mobile connections.
-Analyses and information.
-Internal security (controlling the work of the agents).

According to information coming from the UNMIK security service, key figure inside the KSHIK are Xhavit Haliti, Rexhep Selimi, Sabit Geci, and Latif Gashi. Brain of the KSHIK is Xhavit Haiti who is acting from the rear.

HEADQUARTER IN GRAND

KSHIK headquarters which has 60 people consists of three sectors: 1. Organized crime sector whose mission is to eliminate competition criminal clans, 2. Antiterrorist sector dealing with Serbian organizations and intelligence services in Kosmet, 3. Counter intelligence sector, which gathers information mostly from members of the international organizations in Kosmet.

After the forming of the first governing institutions in Kosmet, KSHIK concealed its operations and other activities by using the Kobra private security agency as its front. With a decision of the UN high representative this organization was closed down, after which KSHIK formed two new private agencies. Besa Security which has around 50 employees, and Bodyguard with around 90 employees, which deals with physical protection of people. Member of these organizations posses illegally owned short barrel weapons. Its primary goal is to pose as a special unit within KSHIK. Its main assignment is to apply pressure on the Serbs.

Headquarter of the KSHIK is based in Prishtina, in the hotel Grand, while in other cities it uses the offices of Thacis political party.

RUGOVAS AGENTS

Ibrahim Rugova also formed his own security agency. Kosovo Democratic Alliance, whose president is Rugova, has the Institute for Social Research which in certain occasion acts as security service. When it comes to organization-formation sense this service is very similar to the KSHIK, but dimension wise it is much smaller.

Leadership core of this service is mostly consisted of ex members of the Serbian state security agency. All operative and other activities of this service are conducted with the goal of supporting the needs of the Political leadership of the Kosovo Democratic Alliance that is Rugova.

Shqiptar intelligence services have a clear assignment. Priority is gaining control over Northern Kosovska Mitrovica.

According to information coming from the UNMIK security service, cornerstone of the planed conquering of Northern Mitrovica is the special terrorist group called Albanian National Army Celat. Action will be participated by the KSHIK department for Southern Mitrovica and the organized criminal groups from this part of the city. Organization of the plan has been placed into the hands of Bekim Shuti, leader of the Celat group, Ismet Hanxha, member of ANA, and chief of KSHIK in Kosovska Mitrovica, and Nexhat Cubrelji, a KSHIK cooperative.

CELAT GROUP IN ACTION

Who are the terrorists leading action of conquering Mitrovica?

Back in 1999, Ismet Hanxha was commander of the unit within the ex 138 KLA brigade on Koshara. On 13th of November of 2001, UN police found 100 kilograms of explosives in his car (Mercedes 190) which was parked in front of the bus station in the southern part of the town. Hanxha is the chief of the KSHIK in Southern Mitrovica, and is an international criminal which cooperates with a certain West European service, whose soldiers are situated in Kosmet. He owns couple of restaurants and stores in the southern part of the town. He is constantly accompanied by Bekim Shuti, Nexhat Cuberelji, and Kadri Veseli, who is the KSHIK chief. Nexhat Cuberelji, is a KSHIK cooperative, and is an explosives expert. He deals with organized crime and uses his legal dealing (pizzeria and firm Besa Petrol) as a front.

Bekim Shuti, is the leader of the special terrorist unit Albanian National Army Celat, which was revealed by the UNMIK informants. Shuti was commander of the 142 KLA brigade special unit. He is owner of the Besa restaurant in Southern Mitrovica, which is also base for the Celat group. Member of the group are with the mission of gathering information and conducting special diversion-terrorist actions directed against Serbian residence and international forces in Northern Kosovo.

Arguments against independent Kosovo

ON BEHALF OF ROMA VICTIMS AND FUTURE OF THEIR CHILDREN

Rajko Djuric

The author is president of the SCG Roma Foundation and of the Roma PEN Centre.

The Roma of Serbia and Montenegro, who like the Roma of many European and non European states, along with the Jews, were the biggest victims of wars and a "bargainign chip" in conflicts of majority peoples, are following with attention and apprehension the start of talks on Kosovo and Metohija.

The United Nations, whose Secretary General Kofi Annan had an opportunity to talk with the representative of the International Roma Organisation, have been informed about the facts and data regarding the overall position of 12 million Roma, of this largest national minority in Europe. Not unknown is the fact that the Roma until 1999, of this largest national minority in Kosovo and Metohija.

The society for oppressed peoples in Goettingen, Karitas and other nongovernmental organisations of European states have at their disposal very comprehensive data about the tragedy of Kosovo Roma, data that, since 1999 to date, have been published almost regularly in the magazine "Good Day" of the Catholic Church in Cologne.

This means that Europe and the international community have been informed that at first the KLA, and then UCCK besides crimes over the Roma, committed several radical "ethnic cleansings" of members o0f that national minority.

Of the some 260,000 Roma, living there until 1999, have remained only 29,656. Of 193 Roma settlements, there are now only 26 of them.

This practically means a total destruction of the Roma national minority, which has not happened in Kosovo and Metohija even during World War II, even though present there was the German SS, Italian fascists and their various associates. This is credible evidence of the formulation made by Hana Arendt "Totalitarianism destroys totally."

Following are some excerpts from some of the reports.

Roma T.T from Obilic and his wife, who were mistreated on July 5, 1999 made the statement that "the same ethnic Albanians who tortured them" after that killed the Krasnici family. In their home were burned alive Alija his wife Muljazima, Djulja, Fadilj, Cherim and one-year-old Nedzmedin."

Live Roma children were burned alive also in Pristina.

The KLA, which was characterized also by some Albanian intellectuals as "fascist," killed a large number of Roma in Pristina, Pec, Obilic, Djakovica, Lipljan, Prizren, Podujevo, Urosevac and Gnjilane. In Pristina, where 22,000 Roma used to live, according to the latest data there are 1,300 of them left, in Pec of about 20,000, have remained 1,100, in Obilic of about 7,000 there are only 500, in Gnjilane of the 7.000 Roman there are 250 left, in Vucitrn of 5,000 Roma inhabitants there are only 300... It is a long and agonizing list of mistreated, raped women and girls, of the missing, and some reports speak of mass, still undiscovered graves of Roma victims.

To the tragic fate of the Kosovo Roma has pointed German Nobel laureate Gunther Grass, whose speeches are contained in the book Without a Voice, which was published by the Steidl publishing house in Goettingen.

UNMIK knows as a fact what, today and there, Albanian extremists are doing with the Roma who are still living in Kosovo.

Despite of all this, The Roma and Serbia and Montenegro, along with the Kosovo Roma and 116,000 registered Roma refugees from the province - firmly believing that the truth is always on the side of those who are least privileged - have a great confidence in the international community, especially in the UN secretary general's special envoy for talks on Kosovo and Metohija Martti Ahtisaari. Ahtisaari earlier, as president of Finland, had showed great understanding for the Roma of his country. The current President Tarja Halonen continued the started work and opened the door to the Roma not only to Finland, but also to Europe, for what she received in 2003 the highest recognition of Europe's Roma.

The Roma of Serbia and Montenegro are openly say to what names they connect themselves with, as in that way they define their positions much more convincingly then by mentioning those whom they could fiercely attack.

Committed to peace and security, members of that national minority sincerely expect that the international community in the talks on Kosovo will uphold and defend only those viewpoints that are keeping with its defined principles and with the norms of international law.

An independent Kosovo, in whatever form, would mean a recognition and reward to those who committed a crimes over the Roma, a crime unrecorded up to now in the annals of European history after Auschwitz, a symbol of the Holocaust of Jews and the Roma, on the other hand, in the year that has been declared by the UN as the year for marking the 60th anniversary of the victory over fascism, the neglecting of the victims of Kosovo Roma and the depriving of the right of their children to future, would mean a silent agreement of the international community with a regime that is committing misdeeds over that people and ruthlessly trampling their national, civil and human rights, guaranteed by the UN, its bodies and major European institutions.

From the international community it is expected that those solutions bring
peace, security, stability and prosperity to all peoples and national minorities in Kosovo. At the same time it should be taken into account that ethics invokes justice, without which, there can be no lasting peace.

Justice must not in any way depend on the will of the perpetrators of crimes, and negotiations about the guilt of perpetrators of misdeeds must not be influenced by the will or threats of criminals.

On the wisdom and decision of the international community will depend whether in a millennium that has just started will spark a new hope and faith also for the people, inhabitants and peoples of Kosovo and of the Balkans, among whom even at the times of kings and sultans, of the black and of the red terror, there was nevertheless cooperation, mutual understanding and friendship. Kosovo was not even then divided, or independent.
These peoples, as many prominent writers and historians have explained, did not suffer from a lack of virtue, but, above all, from a lack of conditions to assert their rights and freedoms. Historical experience testifies to the distrust and poisonous hatred that grew uncontrollably on the borders of divided peoples and national minorities.

The words of Willy Brandt, which he said in another context, could today serve as a beacon for politicians and diplomats, from whom it is expected to shun the moment marking the impossibility of planning the future in Kosovo.

"Together can grow only what lives together!"

Belgrade Media Update, November 24

Kosovo Serbss warning to Ahtisaari: No Serbs in an independent Kosovo

Political representatives of the Kosovo Serbs, who met with UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari in Pristina yesterday, clearly told him that they do not want to live in an independent state of Kosovo. The leader of the Serb List for Kosovo & Metohija (SLKM) Oliver Ivanovic said to Beta news agency that they told the Special Envoy that independence was not an option for the Serbs and that it could not be discussed, adding that the past work of the international mission in the province resulted in the expulsion of over 200,000 Serbs. Stressing that the return of the displaced, decentralization and security must be worked on intensively, he added: We have warned Ahtisaari that in the event of the independence of Kosovo, there will be no more Serbs left in the Province. As for SLKM member Goran Bogdanovic, he commented that "we conveyed to Ahtisaari that the place of the political representatives of the Kosovo Serbs was on Belgrade's unified team for the talks on the future of Kosovo."

Addressing the press in Pristina upon completing his first round of talks in the province yesterday, Ahtisaari conveyed that, although he does not wish to speculate on the future status of Kosovo at the beginning of his mission, he opposes its division and does not believe that B&H should be viewed as an example for resolving the Kosovo status, but rather that the situation in the province should be reviewed with all its specifics. He stressed that the Contact Group principles would be the leading ideas in the negotiations, and that the UN Security Council would make the final decision on the status of the province in line with the general European standards. Announcing that there was no time limit on the talks about the province's status, Ahtisaari explained that "the time frame depends on the participants in the negotiations, but I can assure you that we will move as fast as possible." He underlined that his task is to define the future status, and we will see whether it will also be the final. I hope it will. The UN Special Envoy and his deputy Albert Rohan are expected to arrive in Belgrade today.

Mounting confusion surrounding Tadics proposal of two entities in Kosovo

Commenting on Serbian President Boris Tadic's plan for Kosovo by which he pleads for the creation of two entities, Serb and Albanian, in the province, the spokesman of the Serbian Premier Vojislav Kostunica led Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) Andreja Mladenovic stated yesterday that no one has seen the Presidents plan, and wondered whether it is appropriate to first carry this plan out of the country and show it to someone outside, while nobody here is familiar with it. Underlining the need for Belgrade to have one negotiating platform and one negotiating team, he said it was unacceptable to enter the negotiations with more than one plan, and pointed out that every other procedure or diversion from what has been determined in the documents, will not yield a good result, but will rather decrease our negotiating position. Reacting on the same issue, the caucus whip of the ruling coalition party G17 Plus Miroljub Albijanic said he was supportive of Tadics proposal, which, he recalled, had been suggested by his party about a year ago, and further commented: We have to see the details of this plan, and its true that we are talking about different things, but everything is moving towards bringing these standpoints together and achieving unity.

The leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and former President of the Coordination Centre for Kosovo (CCK) Nebojsa Covic expressed his support to Tadics entity approach for which he commented that it is the only chance to keep Kosovo within Serbia. He added that everything else that is being done by Vojislav Kostunica at this moment leads towards our losing of Kosovo and Metohija. We can compare argumentation, but lets not carry out a policy on Kosovo and Metohija that is based on deceiving the citizens. As for Aleksandar Vucic, the deputy caucus whip of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), the largest opposition party, he commented that Tadics proposal differs from the Serbian Governments plan and that it now seems as a proposal for granting conditional independence to the province. Stating that it is directly opposed to the Resolution adopted by Parliament, the Constitution which Tadic had sworn to honour when he became President of the Republic, he asked whose policy Tadic was conducting and why he remembered that proposal only after the resolution was adopted in the Parliament.

Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti reports today from a source within Tadic's office that the latters proposal of two entities is essentially the same as the Serbian Governments plan on decentralization and that he shares the same goal for Kosovo with Serbian Premier Vojislav Kostunica, which will be formalized during this week, when the two meet. Under Tadic's plan, which envisages Serbia's full sovereignty over the entire province, the two entities would not be divided formally, because the Serb entity, made of Serb-dominated municipalities based on population figures prior to 1999, would not be territorially compact and would include enclaves. The latter would have special ties with Belgrade and crucial authorities within the domains of security, legislation, education and health.

Multiplication of foreign proposals to solve Kosovos status

The Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek, who visited Kosovo lately, told the Czech daily Pravo yesterday that he sees no possibility for Serbs and ethnic Albanians to live together in the province and considers that "a possible solution could be to divide the territory of Kosovo according to ethnicity -- the northern part of the land would go to Serbia, while the larger southern part could have the status of an independent state." Explaining how he came to that conclusion, he stated: I met with Kosovo Serb officials and I must say that it was a very emotional meeting. It resulted in my current opinion that these ethnic groups will have a hard time living next to each other, much less together. A longer period of time would be needed, and a soldier or police officer would have to be standing around every corner. Building a multi-ethnic Kosovo would be difficult because the southern part of the region, besides several enclaves, is for the most part ethnically pure. Paroubek further stressed that the international community should seek a true compromise and that he could not see how any solution detrimental to Serbia could be reasonable.

Paroubeks position follows Romanias view on the resolution of the Kosovo issue revealed by Romanian President Trajan Basescu in Paris yesterday, and which foresees a broad autonomy for the province within the Serbian borders. As reported by the Romanian TVR state television, Basescu stressed that there were elements in this plan that would make some people explode, but that the plan was starting from the premise that borders are unchangeable and that nobody can play with a pencil on a map.

In an interview published in the Sarajevo-based daily Dnevni Avaz yesterday, US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns is quoted as saying that the USA believe that there are two options for Kosovo - independence or autonomy within Serbia & Montenegro (SCG). He pointed out that Washington would not be the one to decide on the status of the province as it would rather be a decision of the Albanians and Serbs from Kosovo and the authorities in Belgrade. Burns added that no side in the negotiations must leave the negotiations, or resort to violence, and should hope for the solution to be found in the following five to six months.

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