BRUSSELS (AP)--The U.N. envoy mediating talks on the status of Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo on Wednesday dismissed suggestions by European Union officials the process may continue beyond its scheduled conclusion at the end of this year.

"My plan hasn't changed," former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari said, " 2006 is still my target date."

On Tuesday, E.U. foreign policy chief Javier Solana said it was likely the process could be delayed because Serbia plans in the meantime to hold a referendum on a new constitution and to have parliamentary and presidential elections.

"I am not going to speculate on any elections," said Ahtisaari, who is due to submit his recommendations on Kosovo's future to the U.N. Security Council before the end of 2006.
The talks haven't yet produced results, with Serbia rejecting calls by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority for full independence.

"I am simply concentrating on my work, (the plans) are not yet ready," he said after meeting at NATO headquarters with representatives of countries participating in the international peacekeeping force in Kosovo. The Serbian province has been run by the U.N. and NATO since a 1999 war.

U.N. extends Kosovo envoy's contract

Associated Press: Thursday, October 19, 2006 12:40 PM

PRISTINA, Serbia-The chief United Nations envoy on the status of Kosovo has had his contract extended until next year, officials said Thursday.

Martti Ahtisaari, the Finnish diplomat who has been struggling to bring to an agreement between Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders and Serbian officials by the end of this year, will be in charge of the talks until June 2007, according to the terms of the new contract.

"Our contract has been extended to June 2007," Hua Jiang, spokeswoman for Ahtisaari's team, said. She said the measure was "purely for administrative purposes" and was not linked to the possibility of talks into the next year.

"That doesn't mean that the process itself will be prolonged," she said.
"The process will still end by the end of the year." "That's the only timeframe" the team has been given, she added.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana earlier said it was likely the process could be delayed because Serbia plans in the meantime to hold a referendum on a new constitution and to have parliamentary and presidential elections.

Ahtisaari denied a change of plans, saying he is still to submit his recommendations on Kosovo's future to the U.N. Security Council before the end of 2006.

Kosovo's majority Albanians want the province to become an independent state while the minority Serbs want it to remain part of Serbia.

The province's leaders, including Prime Minister Agim Ceku, have warned a delay in resolving the issue could trigger unrest in the volatile region.

Kosovo government spokeswoman Ulpiana Lama said the extension was part of the process that will see Ahtisaari making a proposal which will then be "closely scrutinized".

"We want a speedy conclusion to the process, but not a hasty one," Lama said.

Serbs to Vote on New Constitution That Says Kosovo is Integral Part of Serbia

VOICE OF AMERICA (USA)
By Barry Wood
Washington

18 October 2006

On October 28 and 29 Serbs will vote on a new constitution, their country's first in the post-Milosevic era. The constitution is controversial because its preamble declares the breakaway, ethnic- Albanian majority province of Kosovo an integral part of the Republic of Serbia.

Anti-referendum posters reading "Boycott", plastered on a garbage container in downtown Belgrade

Opposition lawmaker Zarko Korac says Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica is using the constitution and the referendum on it to consolidate power.

"I think Kostunica wants to consolidate himself as a nationalistic leader, to keep at least one of his promises when he was elected prime minister [in 2003], meaning, to give Serbia a new constitution, because on all other accounts he miserably failed," said Zarko Korac.

Former Belgrade diplomat Vladimir Matic, who is now a political scientist at America's Clemson University, says Mr. Kostunica has skillfully used the constitution to strengthen Serbia's position in the negotiations on Kosovo's future.

"It [discussion of the constitution] was remade into an issue about Kosovo,"
said Matic. "And a national consensus was formed on the platform of keeping sovereignty over Kosovo. And the constitution is just an instrument in attempting to achieve that or at least postpone for some time the decision on the final status of Kosovo."

United Nations envoy Martti Ahtisaari has said his plan for Kosovo's future should be ready by the end of this year. It is expected to call for some kind of independence for the province Serbs regard as their religious heartland. Kosovo has been run by the U.N. since 1999, when three months of NATO bombing forced the withdrawal of the Serbian forces from the province.
The Serb forces had been accused of brutality against the local population.

Balkans analyst Obrad Kesic calls the constitution a major victory for Prime Minister Kostunica. He says it sends an signal: that Serbs will not easily accede to the loss of Kosovo.

"I think this is another attempt to bring to the attention of the West, particularly Washington and Brussels, that Serbia is not prepared to simply lift up its hands and give up Kosovo without a struggle," said Kesic.

Political scientist Vladimir Matic says the constitution lacks legitimacy, in part because of the hasty manner in which it was presented to parliament, on September 30.

"The members of parliament didn't even have time to read it before they accepted it unanimously by acclimation," he said. "There was no vote, which adds to this lack of legitimacy."

The referendum is similarly controversial. Albanians in Kosovo will not be permitted to vote because Belgrade says there is no reliable voters roll. To be approved, the constitution must win the support of a majority of all registered voters. James Lyon, the Belgrade representative of the International Crisis Group, sees potential for fraud.

"I think the government will do everything it can to steal it," said James Lyon. "The government is also setting up all kinds of administrative barriers to prevent observers from observing the election. It is charging election observers five euros [$6.50] per head to monitor the election. I've monitored elections-you never charge election observers."

The new constitution declares Serbia to be the homeland of the Serbian people and all its citizens. It also says the official script is the Cyrillic alphabet, which is not used by Serbia's ethnic minorities. James Lyon says the new document is deeply flawed and would allow for abuses of power, for example in the judiciary.

"It says the judiciary is independent but in actuality when you read the document it is completely under the control of the governing parliamentary coalition," he said. "It opens up the way for a parliamentary dictatorship."

Before it was presented to parliament, the constitution was endorsed by the leaders of Serbia's four major parties: President Boris Tadic's Democrats, Mr. Kostunica's Serbian Democrats, the Socialists, and the nationalist Radicals.

Kosovo Lawmakers Condemn Serbia's Plan to Organize Referendum Within Province

By VOICE OF AMERICA (USA)
19 October 2006

People wait at Belgrade bus station by poster promoting vote on upcoming constitutional referendum

Kosovo lawmakers have adopted a declaration condemning Serbia's plans to hold a referendum in Kosovo on the country's draft constitution.

The draft constitution declares that the breakaway province is an integral part of Serbia. The vote is scheduled to take place on October 28 and 29.

The Kosovo lawmakers termed holding the referendum in the province "illegal."

Ethnic Albanians make up 90 percent of Kosovo's population of two million.

Kosovo Albanians are demanding complete independence from Serbia, while Belgrade wants to maintain some control over the province.

Kosovo has been under United Nations administration since 1999, when NATO bombing stopped Serbia's crackdown on the Albanian civilians.

Serbian and Kosovo Albanian representatives have been engaged in U.N.-mediated talks on the future of the province but they have made little progress.

Serbian legislators drafted the new constitution last month in the hope of preventing Kosovo's independence.

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