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April 22, 2007
KiM Info Newsletter 22-04-07 Russia says U.N. plan for Kosovo 'has failed', warns of imposed solution The stability in the region "can be jeopardized by attempts of unilateral recognition of the independence of Kosovo," Lavrov said, reacting to suggestions by U.S. officials that they may recognize Kosovo even without consent by the U.N. Security Council. Associated press: Thursday, April 19, 2007 12:25 PM  BELGRADE, Serbia-Russia's foreign minister said Thursday that a U.S.-backed plan granting independence to Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo "has failed," and warned that imposing the solution "would have most serious consequences."
Sergei Lavrov said that "just as the plan proposed (for Cyprus) by former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has failed, so has Mr. (Martti) Ahtisaari's plan" for Kosovo. Lavrov said that the independence plan for the southern Serbian province, drafted by the senior U.N. envoy, did not take into account the interests of one of the sides, Serbia. "I hope that those who will help continue the negotiations will consider this," Lavrov said after meeting Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica. "Any solution for Kosovo must be in accordance with the international law and what the two sides agree to," Lavrov said. "Imposing a solution would have most serious consequences," he added, without elaborating. The stability in the region "can be jeopardized by attempts of unilateral recognition of the independence of Kosovo," Lavrov said, reacting to suggestions by U.S. officials that they may recognize Kosovo even without consent by the U.N. Security Council. Lavrov's meetings in Belgrade are being held before a crucial session of the Security Council, expected next month, which will consider the U.N. plan that proposes international recognition for Kosovo. The plan envisages granting internationally supervised independence to Kosovo, which would remain under EU and U.S. supervision. Serbia staunchly opposes formally losing 15 percent of its territory. "Any form of an independent Kosovo is absolutely unacceptable for Serbia," Serbian President Boris Tadic said after meeting Lavrov. "Serbia rejects the Ahtisaari plan." Russia, which is a permanent member of the Security Council and holds veto power, opposes the U.N. plan. It says the proposal would set a dangerous precedent for separatists elsewhere by dismembering a sovereign U.N. member against its government's will. It wants the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo to continue negotiating to reach a compromise agreement, something that the U.S. and Ahtisaari say is impossible to achieve. Hashim Thaci, the leader of Kosovo's second largest party and a former rebel leader, said the Security Council is expected to vote on the U.S.-drafted resolution by the end of May or in early June. "Immediately after this, Kosovo's parliament will declare independence," Thaci told The Associated Press in Kosovo's capital, Pristina. Russia was prepared to take any action necessary to block a U.S.-drafted resolution that will be offered to council, Russia's U.N. envoy Vitaly Churkin said in Moscow Wednesday. Churkin stopped short, however, of saying Moscow would veto the proposal. Asked if Russia will veto the plan, Lavrov said: "For now, there is nothing to veto." "Once there is a draft resolution, we will make that decision," Lavrov said. Washington insists that the Security Council must act quickly in the next weeks to finish the job by helping to lead Kosovo to independence. U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said earlier this week the U.S. considers independence the only option for Kosovo and has suggested that Washington may recognize Kosovo's split from Serbia, even if Russia vetoes the U.N. plan when it comes to a vote at the Security Council. Kosovo, a province of Serbia, has been under U.N. and NATO administration since a 78-day NATO-led air war that halted a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999. Ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of Kosovo's 2 million people, are seeking independence from Belgrade. But Serbia and Kosovo's Serb minority say the province is the heart of Serbia's ancient homeland and should remain within its borders. 
Lavrov - Tadic talks in Belgrade
Serbia, Russia agree UN Charter, Resolution 1244 must be respected in Kosovo status settlement process Belgrade, April 20, 2007, Serbian Government Site – Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said today that the visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirms Serbia and Russia’s joint principled policy and adamant stance that while resolving the Kosovo issue, UN Charter and the effectual Resolution 1244, guaranteeing sovereignty and territorial integrity of all UN members, must be respected. In a statement to the Tanjug news agency, Kostunica said that Martti Ahtisaari made a cardinal mistake when he came out with a proposal directly breaching the UN Charter and all effectual norms of international law on which the entire world order is based, and added that it was clear the proposal was doomed to fail. The Serbian Prime Minister said that Serbia must now look to the arrival of the Security Council mission, initiated by Russia. He also added that the issue of the return of the displaced must be given priority in the mission’s goals. We fully agree with the stand exposed by Lavrov that arrival of the Security Council’s mission would be a good move for starting new negotiations, Kostunica said and noted that Serbia strongly supports the idea of preparing a new negotiations cycle in the best possible way. He underlined that all member states of the UN Security Council should unreservedly reject as classical blackmail the threats of Albanian terrorists that they will cause mass violence should they fail to get independence and that such threats cannot be a reason for not starting new and real negotiations.
Contact Group splintered over Kosovo
21 April 2007 | 13:47 | Source: B92, Beta
MOSCOW -- There are grave differences of opinion among Contact Group members regarding Kosovo, says an unnamed Russian diplomat. Following Friday’s Moscow session of the Contact Group, ITAR-tass news agency quoted an unnamed Russian diplomat as saying that Contact Group member states displayed "grave differences" in regards to Kosovo. The meeting was held in light of the UN Security Council’s discussion of Kosovo and its decision to send a UN fact-finding mission to Belgrade and Priština next week. “Russia is working towards maximizing the efficiency of the UN mission’s inspection of Kosovo’s state of affairs,” the same source said, adding it was important to create a detailed timetable for the mission so that Contact Group members could gain objective insight into the genuine situation in the region. The same source said "a visit to Serb enclaves in Kosovo was an imperative." In the meantime, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying "the Contact Group discussed top priority tasks regarding Kosovo’s future status settlement in the UN Security Council." "The tasks in question include sending the UN mission to Belgrade and Priština and making sure that the mission attains objective information about the situation in the Serb province and the position of Serb ethnic minority," the statement said. The next Contact Group meeting of policy chiefs from Germany, the U.S., Russia, France, Great Britain and Italy is expected to take place in Berlin on April 25.
Russia wants more talks, less 'blackmail' on Kosovo By Beti Bilandzic  BELGRADE, April 19 (Reuters) - Russia on Thursday called for more talks on the future of Serbia's breakaway Kosovo province, saying it would reject a United Nations-imposed decision to give the Albanian majority independence.
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed that threats "from Albanian terrorists or foreign officials that violence will erupt unless Kosovo is proclaimed independent are blackmail". Kosovo has been under U.N. administration since 1999 when NATO bombs drove out Serb forces to stop them attacking ethnic Albanian civilians while fighting a separatist insurgency. About 10,000 Albanians were killed and nearly one million temporarily driven out of the country until the West intervened. U.N. special envoy Martti Ahtisaari spent a year mediating talks between Serbia and Kosovo Albanians without finding a hint of compromise between their diametrically opposed positions. The Albanians are impatient for independence, which Serbia rejects. The West fears there could be violence if a decision is put off further and European Union states have told Russia Kosovo is going to be an EU problem if it is not resolved. "Any unilaterally imposed solution is absolutely unacceptable," Lavrov said after talks with Serbian President Boris Tadic. "We are starting from the position that it is necessary to continue negotiations and we are coordinating with our Serb partners." Tadic rejected the West's contention that Kosovo is a unique case. He said countries with restive minorities demanding their own states were closely watching how the U.N. Security Council would solve the Kosovo issue. "It would set a dangerous precedent and would have serious consequences for the stability of the entire Balkan region but also in other regions in the world," Tadic said. Ahtisaari's plan, now under review by the Security Council, proposes EU-supervised independence. Belgrade hopes Russia, its Orthodox ally and a veto holder in the Security Council, can help it buy time or even impose its veto. Lavrov said the Ahtisaari plan had already "failed", but did not say whether Russia would use its veto if the essence of the plan was presented in a resolution. The United States and EU support the plan and want a quick Council endorsement. "We are interested in the stabilisation of the situation in the Balkans in general and Serbia in particular," Lavrov said. "Stability can be shattered by any attempt to unilaterally recognise the independence of Kosovo." In deference to Russia, the United Nations will send a fact-finding mission to Kosovo on April 25-27, although the world body has received quarterly reports from its own mission in Kosovo since 2003, in addition to Ahtisaari's assessment. Lavrov said Council members "absolutely must" visit the Serb enclaves to see conditions there. The United Nations in Kosovo says it will be happy to take the fact-finders anywhere they want to go but so far has received no request or programme. Most of the 100,000 Serbs in Kosovo live in the isolated settlements and often complain of harassment and attacks.
US-Russia showdown over Kosovo, trouble for the Balkans DUSAN STOJANOVIC, Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia_The United States and Russia are heading for a clash in the U.N. Security Council over a U.S.-backed plan that would grant independence to Serbia's breakaway province Kosovo _ a diplomatic standoff that could unleash renewed violence.
Washington is pushing a Security Council resolution which it hopes would lead to Kosovo's quick split from Serbia. Russia, a traditional Serb ally, is threatening to block the plan.
The impasse is the latest irritant in relations between the United States and Russia, which is reasserting itself on the international stage largely through its influence as an energy giant. Other high-profile disagreements include U.S. plans to station elements of an anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, and Russia's support for breakaway regions in Georgia and Moldova.
The European Union is seeking to break the deadlock by offering Serbia the prospect of quick membership in the 27-nation bloc if it drops its opposition to the U.N. draft. EU foreign ministers are meeting with their Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Monday in Luxembourg to try to reconcile differences.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said this week that the United States considers independence the only option for the predominantly Muslim region, and has suggested that Washington may recognize Kosovo's split even if Russia vetoes the U.N. plan in the Security Council.
But Lavrov responded in Belgrade on Thursday by noting that unilateral recognition would "endanger the stability" of the Balkans _ scene in the 1990s the worst carnage in Europe since World War II _ and would be "absolutely unacceptable."
Kosovo has been under U.N. and NATO administration since a 78-day NATO-led air war that halted a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999 that killed 10,000 people and left nearly a million displaced.
Ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of Kosovo's 2 million people, have for decades been seeking independence from Belgrade. But Serbia and Kosovo's Serb minority say the province is the heart of their medieval homeland and must remain within its borders.
Moscow's position is that the U.N. proposal on Kosovo would set a dangerous precedent for separatists elsewhere in the world by dismembering a sovereign U.N. member against its government's will.
Russia supports Serbia's stand to continue negotiating with rival Kosovo Albanians to reach a compromise, something Washington says is impossible after more than a year of deadlock.
Burns said that delaying Kosovo's independence "would lead to more violence, rather than less" _ an assertion Lavrov dismissed as "blackmail."
Burns also hinted that the U.S. would support a declaration of independence by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian-dominated parliament.
"We expect that Kosovo's leaders will subsequently declare their independence," Burns said. "The U.S. and other countries will then recognize the new state."
Belgrade officials, who demanded anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Russia is suggesting to the Serbian officials to move some 200 of its police and military staff into the Serb-populated northern Kosovo regions in case the province's independence is recognized without the U.N. Council's consent, an apparent move to keep at least a part of Kosovo under its control.
"You know what that would trigger?" said a ranking Western diplomat, indicating that NATO and EU troops stationed in Kosovo would have to respond with force against the Serbian incursion.
Displaced Serbs to rally for UN Kosovo visit BELGRADE, April 20 (Reuters) - Displaced Kosovo Serbs plan to gather on the border of breakaway Kosovo province during next week's visit by a U.N. fact-finding mission, to display their inability to return home in safety.
"There will be a large number of women and children there to summon the members of the Security Council to come and see the people who want to return," said Goran Savovic, deputy chair of the association of displaced and expelled Serbs.
Kosovo has been under U.N. rule since 1999 when NATO drove out Serb forces to stop them committing atrocities against the majority ethnic Albanian population during a counter-insurgency.
Over 100,000 Serbs fled revenge attacks by Albanians when the U.N. entered the province in 1999. The actual figure is disputed. Some 100,000 remain in the province, half concentrated in the north and the rest in enclaves throughout the province.
The U.N. is considering proposals by envoy Martti Ahtisaari to give Kosovo independence under European Union supervision, after a year of fruitless talks between Serbs and Albanians.
Serbia rejects the plan and wants further talks.
Serbia's Orthodox Christian ally Russia persuaded the U.N. to send a fact-finding mission to Kosovo next week to see the situation before it starts addressing Ahtisaari's Kosovo plan.
The mission will visit Belgrade and Kosovo from April 25 to 28, and be headed by Belgium, currently one of the 15 members of the Security Council.
Its aim is to obtain first-hand information on progress made in Kosovo towards democratic standards, and "receive information directly" from Serb and Kosovo leaders as well as representatives of Kosovo's ethnic minorities communities.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, visiting Serbia on Thursday, insisted the mission must go to the isolated Serb enclaves and not just hold talks in office capitals.
Serbia insists U.N. resolution 1244 of 1999 was never fully implemented, especially concerning standards for the minority Serbs in the province.
"We will show them that the situation is not as rosy as the U.N. mission in charge of Kosovo wants to portray," said Milan Ivanovic, a Kosovo Serb leader. "Not even one percent of the expelled Serbs have returned to Kosovo."
He predicted 10,000 would turn up. But previous calls for Kosovo Serbs to rally have yielded disappointing results for organisers, and the U.N. has accused Serbia of dissuading would-be returnees in order to bolster its case.
Ivanovic feared the U.N. mission might not be given the chance to visit enclaves and to meet Serbs who would be able to give them a true picture of how things stood.
"We are inviting the mission to visit the enclaves where it will see with its own eyes the difficult life and lack of security of these people," he said.
U.N. Security Council sending mission next week to assess Kosovo's future Associated Press: Friday, April 20, 2007 12:28 AM UNITED NATIONS-The U.N. Security Council is sending a mission to Kosovo and Serbia next week for a firsthand assessment before tackling the future status of the Serbian province. Last month, U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari recommended that Kosovo be granted internationally supervised independence, a proposal welcomed by its Albanian majority but vehemently rejected by its Serb minority and Serbia. Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said Thursday the council mission, led by Belgium's U.N. Ambassador Johan Verbeke, will first stop in Brussels for briefings by the European Union and NATO on their current involvement in Kosovo and what they would be prepared to do if Kosovo gains internationally supervised independence. Kosovo has been under U.N. and NATO administration since a 78-day NATO-led air war that halted a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999. Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, whose country has close cultural links with the Serbs, proposed the council mission and asked the council to conduct "a comprehensive review" of progress since the U.N. took charge of running Kosovo in 1999 so the council has all the information it needs before considering the Ahtisaari recommendation. Jones Parry, the current council president, said he expects the mission to be in Brussels on Wednesday, Belgrade on Thursday and Kosovo's capital, Pristina, on Friday, April 27. Council diplomats said the mission may leave via Vienna to see Ahtisaari before members return to New York. While the U.S. and key European nations strongly support eventual independence for Kosovo, Russia, South Africa and other council members are sympathetic to keeping the province part of Serbia. The division among the veto-wielding permanent members, which include the U.S. and Russia, signaled an uphill struggle to reach agreement in the council. International officials had conditioned talks on the province's future status with progress on eight standards, including establishing functioning democratic institutions, protecting minorities, promoting economic development and ensuring rule of law, freedom of movement and property rights. In October 2005, the Security Council endorsed starting talks on Kosovo's status after U.N. special envoy Kai Eide of Norway said negotiations must go ahead even though Kosovo still had grave problems, including deep ethnic divisions, a struggling economy and widespread corruption. The Security Council is scheduled to receive a briefing Monday from the U.N. Secretariat on implementation of Resolution 1244, which authorized the U.N. takeover of Kosovo.
Parliament to declare independence following UN resolution on province's future
GARENTINA KRAJA, Associated Press, April 20
PRISTINA, _Kosovo's parliament will declare independence following the approval of a U.N. Security Council resolution on the province's future by early June, a key ethnic Albanian leader said Thursday.
Hashim Thaci, the leader of Kosovo's second largest party and a former rebel leader, said members of the U.N. Security Council are expected to vote on the resolution at the end of May or in early June, despite continued resistance towards the province's independence by Russia and China, both permanent members of the council with veto power.
"Immediately after this, Kosovo's parliament will declare independence," Thaci told the Associated Press in his office in downtown of Kosovo's capital, Pristina.
Following the independence declaration, Thaci said the United States, European Union and the neighboring countries will give formal recognition to Kosovo's statehood.
Thaci is part of a five-member ethnic Albanian negotiating team that has led the process of resolving the province's political status. He heads the Democratic Party of Kosovo, the main opposition group in the province.
His remarks came ahead of a crucial session of the Security Council _ expected next month _ which will consider the independence plan prepared by U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari, expected to be the basis of a U.N. resolution that could pave the way to the province's independence. The council has the final say over Kosovo's fate.
The plan envisages granting internationally supervised independence to Kosovo, which would remain under EU and U.S. supervision.
Serbia staunchly opposes losing 15 percent of its territory.
Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated his country's opposition to a U.S.-backed plan granting independence to the breakaway province of Kosovo, warning Thursday that imposing a solution is "absolutely unacceptable."
Washington insists that the Security Council must act quickly in the next weeks to finish the job by helping to lead Kosovo to independence.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said earlier this week the U.S. considers independence the only option for Kosovo and has suggested that Washington may recognize Kosovo's split from Serbia, even if Russia vetoes the U.N. plan when it comes to a vote at the Security Council.
Thaci said he did not believe that Russia would veto the plan, but added that "even in the case of a Russian veto Kosovo's independence will be recognized internationally." He did not rule out that Kosovo's parliament might declare independence even if the Security Council fails to endorse a joint resolution on the province's future.
Kosovo, a province of Serbia, has been under U.N. and NATO administration since a 78-day NATO-led air war that halted a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999.
Ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of Kosovo's 2 million people, are seeking independence from Belgrade. But Serbia and Kosovo's Serb minority say the province is the heart of Serbia's ancient homeland and should remain within its borders.
"With or without a resolution Kosovo will become independent," Thaci insisted.
“Russia ready to use veto”
21 April 2007 | 09:11 | Source: B92
LJUBLJANA -- Russia is ready to use its veto if the Kosovo solution is not acceptable to both sides, a Russian historian says. Elena Guskova, who is also head of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Center for Modern Balkans Crisis Study, told B92 there were “Plan B” scenarios for the settlement of Kosovo’s status. “The proclamation of independence circumventing the UN Security Council followed by unilateral recognition of Kosovo’s statehood by some countries is one possible option,” she said, adding that “the recognition of new states after the SFRY’s break-up followed the exact same pattern.” Guskova criticized negotiations held between Belgrade and Priština so far, deeming them “difficult and poorly organized, which is why the Kosovo talks’ formula needed a change, with the cancellation of all deadlines.” “It is better to have a hundred years of talks instead of one day of war,” Guskova said. “The negotiations were handled as if the province was already independent, with only the issues of independent Kosovo’s internal structure left to be settled,” Guskova opined. “That is why Ahtisaari’s plan does not mention the word, its content already indicated the concept of independence,” she explained. “International organizations should not base their policy on the fear of new terrorist attacks in Kosovo, but rather focus on curbing terrorism,” Guskova said, adding that a UN fact-finding mission should make a fair and just assessment of the state of the province’s affairs. In her opinion Russia voiced its genuine viewpoint regarding Kosovo for the first time in many years. “Russia opposes any imposed measures and deadlines when it comes to defining Kosovo’s future status,” she said. “Russia wishes to bring international organizations back on the track of genuine respect for international law that saw numerous violations in the 1990s,” she said. She concluded that Russia was “set to prevent a precedent that might endanger its own territorial integrity.”
Russia Supports Belgrade Over Kosovo, says Lavrov Belgrade, 19 April (AKI) - After meeting the Serbian president Boris Tadic on Thursday Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow supported Serbia's position on UN Resolution 1244. "We completely support Belgrade's stance on the necessity to fully apply the UN Resolution 1244, which has so far not been implemented at all", said Lavrov who came to Belgrade on Wednesday evening. Resolution 1244, passed in June 1999, placed Kosovo under transitional UN administration, reaffirmed the "sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" and called for the "substantial autonomy and meaningful self-administration for Kosovo". "Before the UN Security Council starts deliberating any aspect of the Kosovo problem solution, it will be very important for the Council members to witness the situation in the province for themselves. That is why we proposed to send a fact-finding mission to Kosovo", Lavrov said. "Russia's position is that the mission should visit the Serb enclaves in Kosovo, verify the implementation of the UN Resolution 1244, and then open a discussion on the subject in the Security Council", the Russian foreign minister pointed out. "I would also like to emphasize that any imposed solution is absolutely unacceptable", Lavrov said, adding his country believed Kosovo status talks need to be continued. "We are willing to take out part of responsibility for safety in Balkans, but we expect this issue to be treated fair by UN Security Council", Tadic stated at the press conference, stressing once again that for Serbia "any form of Kosovo independence is absolutely unacceptable". "That kind of solution would be extremely dangerous precedent and it could resolve into serious consequences in Balkans, but other crises regions as well", the Serbian president said. Lavrovs' talks in Belgrade come one day after Chinese vice premier Hui Liangyu and Austria's foreign minister Ursula Plassnik expressed opposing views in regards to possible ways of solving Kosovo's future status. Russia stressed several times in the past only a Kosovo solution acceptable both to Belgrade and Pristina will be supported by Russia.
Ceku: No further Kosovo talks
20 April 2007 | 16:22 | Source: B92, Beta, Reuters
PRIŠTINA -- There will be no renewed Kosovo talks, despite Serbia and Russia’s insistence, Kosovo prime minister Agim Ceku says. Following the meeting with UNMIK Chief Joachim Ruecker, Ceku said UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s plan remained groundwork for Kosovo’s final status settlement. Speaking about a UN fact-finding mission due to arrive in Kosovo on April 26-28, Ceku said “Priština would present the new reality created in Kosovo”. The mission will be headed by Belgium, currently one of the 15 members of the Security Council. “I expect the UN fact-finding mission to acknowledge achievements in Kosovo and encourage the Council to prompt the adoption of new Kosovo resolution,” Ceku said. Kosovo’s prime minister argued that “Kosovo was not ready for new rounds of talks,” stressing that “all other states, apart from Serbia and Russia, shared the same opinion.” “I believe that following this visit some members of the Security Council will take the right decision and endorse a resolution for Kosovo," he argued. “Russia may ask for continued negotiations, but no one will show readiness for it to happen. Ahtisaari’s proposal has already reached the UN and gained backing of the UN Secretary-General,” Ceku said. “I believe the majority will support the plan. Some states may abstain from voting, but I am positive the end of May will see the adoption of a new UN resolution and an independent Kosovo,” he insisted. UNMIK Chief Joachim Ruecker said he did not yet receive an exact timetable of the mission’s planned activities in the province. “I believe the mission has been tasked with gathering information, rather than facts pertaining to Kosovo,” Ruecker opined.
"Priština prepares for independence" Priština’s negotiating team for Kosovo’s the future status has started drafting the constitution, election and state emblems bills, “in order to make them ready for an immediate adoption in the Kosovo Parliament after the UN Security Council passed the new Kosovo resolution”. Kosovo deputy prime minister Lutfi Haziri said that the UN fact-finding mission would be presented with the arguments that “spoke in favor of the international standards’ implementation”. “We must show that Kosovo has made progress not only in the field of sustainable return of refugees, but in the rule of law and economy as well,” Haziri said. Opposition leader Hashim Tachi told journalists that Kosovo’s parliament would “proclaim independence immediately after the UN Security Council passed the status-defining resolution at the beginning of June 2007.” Tachi did not rule out the possibility that the parliament would proclaim independence even if the Security Council failed to pass a new resolution.
“Kosovo talks likely to resume”
21 April 2007 | 10:59 | Source: B92
BELGRADE -- Kosovo talks will likely resume in an altered form, Belgrade negotiating team member Dušan Bataković says. Dušan Bataković, who is also president Boris Tadić’s advisor, said Friday on the TV B92’s talk show Poligraf that fresh talks between Belgrade and Priština were very likely to take place. He said they would probably change their form and combine shuttle diplomacy with a direct Belgrade-Priština dialogue. When asked whether Kosovo Albanians would, in his opinion, agree to the direct talks they so far rejected insisting instead on the international community’s mediation, Bataković replied that Serbia’s stance proved to carry certain weight: “Several months ago Kosovo Albanians believed that nothing depended on Serbia and the Serbs and acted as Kosovo’s conquerors, which did not reflect the genuine state of affairs,” Bataković said. He also revealed certain fresh details from the meeting between president Boris Tadić and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. “It is very encouraging that Lavrov said the negotiating process for Kosovo would be halted in case of threats or an outbreak of violence,” Bataković said adding that “threats of possible violent outbursts in Kosovo would thus not be tolerated nor used to pressure Serbia.” “Serbia now pursues a peaceful policy, respecting its international obligations and urging others to do the same, without setting precedents which could lead to grave consequences,” he said.
Unilateral decision on Kosovo status unacceptable - FM Lavrov 19/04/2007 13:29 BELGRADE, April 19 (RIA Novosti) - Imposing a unilateral decision on the status of Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo is unacceptable and talks on the issue should be continued, the Russian foreign minister said Thursday. Sergei Lavrov is currently on an April 18-19 visit to Serbia, Russia's traditional ally, to discuss a plan proposed by Martti Ahtisaari, the UN envoy for Kosovo who is advocating internationally supervised sovereignty for the province. "We speak for the continuation of the negotiating process to find a mutually acceptable decision," Sergei Lavrov said following his meeting with Serbian President Boris Tadic. Lavrov said Moscow completely backs Belgrade's position on the need to observe UN Security Council Resolution 1244. "Any decision on the Kosovo issue should be acceptable for both Belgrade and Pristina," the minister said. Adopted in 1999, the resolution determined to resolve the grave humanitarian situation in Kosovo and to provide for the safe and free return of all refugees and displaced persons to their homes. The Serbian president said in turn that, "Any form of independence for Kosovo is unacceptable for Serbia, and in this regard Serbia opposes Ahtisaari's plan, which stipulates gradual independence for Kosovo." Ahtisaari proposed that the province be granted internationally supervised sovereignty, but Serbian authorities have strongly opposed the plan as threatening Serbia's national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Serbia is strongly opposed to independence for the province, which is dominated by ethnic Albanians, but the United States and the European Union have expressed support for its sovereignty. However, only four out of 15 member-states at the UN Security Council voted for Ahtisaari's plan during the first round of consultations April 3. Veto-wielding Russia has opposed the internationally backed plan, insisting that a decision on Kosovo should satisfy both Kosovar and Serbian authorities and that it must be reached through negotiations. Tadic also said that "Serbia believes granting independence to Kosovo will set a most dangerous precedent and will have serious consequences for the Balkans region and other conflict zones." Moscow repeatedly expressed its concern that Kosovo's independence could set a precedent for other breakaway republics, including in the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Moldova. Kosovo, which has a population of two million, has been a UN protectorate since NATO's 78-day bombing campaign against the former Yugoslavia ended a war between Serb forces and Albanian separatists in 1999.
Serbia says it has China's supports in its opposition to U.N. Kosovo plan The Associated Press
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 BELGRADE, Serbia: The Serbian government said Wednesday it had received support from a senior Chinese official for its opposition to a U.N. plan that would give independence to Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo. Russia has already expressed support for the Serb position on Kosovo, which has been a U.N. protectorate since 1999. The province's majority ethnic Albanians have been seeking independence, but Belgrade wants to retain at least formal control over the area. The Serbian government said in a statement that Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu said during a meeting with Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica that China "is against imposed solutions and deadlines" that would quickly determine the province's future status. Hui Liangyu urged more talks between Belgrade and Kosovo "so a negotiated solution, acceptable to both sides, is found that would maintain peace and stability in the region," the government statement said. China had no immediate comment on the Serbian statement, a duty officer at the Chinese Foreign Ministry press section said Wednesday. There were no notices or statements about this issue on the Foreign Ministry's Web site. U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns has said the U.S. considers independence the only option for Kosovo and has suggested that the U.S. may recognize Kosovo's split from Serbia, even if Russia carries out its threat to veto the U.N. plan when it comes to a vote at the Security Council. Kostunica reiterated Belgrade's stand that Kosovo, its historic heartland, must remain within Serbia. He said Serbia "greatly appreciates" the Chinese view on Kosovo. Serbia's pro-Western President Boris Tadic also met Hui, thanking him in a statement for China's "principal stand in regards to Kosovo's future status." "Serbia will use all available diplomatic and legal means to protect its territorial integrity and sovereignty," Tadic said after the meeting. Serbia has been seeking support from Russia and China in its bid to keep Kosovo within its borders. Belgrade has suggested it relies on Russian and Chinese veto at the U.N. Security Council, which will have the final say on the U.N. plan that proposes internationally supervised statehood for the province. The Chinese call for more negotiations reflects Serbian and Russian demands, despite U.S. calls for a quick acceptance of the U.N. plan in the Security Council. U.N. special envoy Martti Ahtisaari, who has presented his proposal to the council, said that there was no point to more negotiations because the Serbs and Kosovo Albanians are very much apart on Kosovo's future status. Amid a flurry of diplomatic activity regarding Kosovo, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is to arrive in Belgrade later Wednesday for a two-day visit. Kosovo has been run by a U.N. administration and patrolled by NATO peacekeepers since the end of a NATO air war to halt a crackdown by Serb government troops against ethnic Albanian rebels seeking independence.
US official denies his Kosovo statement April 18, 2007, Serbianna -- US Under-Secretary of State Nicholas Burns told Serbian television that his statement in which he expresses Washington's readiness to unilaterally recognize Kosovo's independence regardless of the UN Security Council resolution is an incorrectly interpreted statement. "I regret that I was incorrectly quoted and you can help be undo this in Serbia," said Burns. US Ambassador in Belgrade Michael Polt also reiterated that Washington will not unilaterally recognize Kosovo's independence and emphasized that Burns clearly stated the US policy on Kosovo which is that the US is working within the Security Council to achieve supervised independence for the province. Polt reminded of the US position that independence of Kosovo is the only option available. Reacting to the Burns' statement, Serbian Government again strongly warned that UN Resolution 1244 explicitly affirms the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia in Kosovo. Serbian Government emphasized that the UN Resolution 1244 is binding for the governments of all the UN member states, and that no country must breach this resolution and unilaterally assume a stance on the future status of the province. Serbian President Boris Tadic reiterated that any unilateral decision on the future Kosovo status, made out of the UN Security Council, would represent violation of international law. Regarding the Burns statement, Tadic said that Serbia will fight with all diplomatic and legal means for its state and national interests and preservation of territorial integrity and sovereignty. Officials in Moscow expressed surprise with the statement of Nicholas Burns, reports Interfax news agency. Quoting an unnamed diplomatic source, Interfax said that Washington knows very well Russia's position that the legal and sustainable solution of the Kosovo issue cannot be reached without and agreement of both the Serbian and Albanian side. An Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa to the UN, Dumisani Kumalo said that his government's hesitation to recognize independence of Kosovo reflects Pretoria's concern that the Security Council is straying from its mission. Speaking to Washington Post, Kumalo said that that South Africa was trying to respond to the imbalance of the global power in the Security Council, and that the latter should be resolving international conflicts, and not abusing its role to frighten small countries. South Africa is a member of the Security Council. In his visit to Pristina and Belgrade, Political Director of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry Kai Eide said that the progress in standard implementation in Kosovo is not satisfactory, particularly in implementing some key standards, such as the rule of law, relations among ethnic communities and return of the displaced persons.
Diplomats to Increase Pressure on Serbia to Accept Kosovo Plan New York Times, 18 April 2007
By JUDY DEMPSEY Serbia will be the focus of intense diplomatic attention this week as senior Russian and Chinese officials visit Belgrade and Europe's top diplomats travel to Moscow. The flurry of activity signals the beginning of the countdown to independence for Kosovo, according to analysts, despite Serbia's strong opposition to ceding the province that has been governed as a United Nations protectorate since 1999. "Maybe this activity is the beginning of the first of the last round of such maneuverings," said Ivan Vejvoda, director of the Belgrade office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. "The U.S. and Britain want closure." The European Union, which will replace the United Nations in Kosovo once the province's status has been agreed to by the Security Council, is also seeking a quick resolution. But the two stumbling blocks are Serbia's staunch opposition to the recommendations made by the United Nation's special envoy to Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, and Russia. Serbia's leaders have rejected the Ahtisaari plan, which envisages an interim period of international supervision and would grant Kosovo its own army, flag, anthem and constitution before achieving full statehood. Instead, they have proposed a status that would grant Kosovo "more than autonomy but less than independence" without specifying how that would work in practice. So far, Serbia has received support from Russia. Moscow, however, has not yet spelled out any concrete options or indicated if it intended to use Kosovo as a bargaining chip on other negotiations. Those include the terms of a new trade and political accord between Moscow and Europe. "We simply do not know what Russia's real intentions are," said a senior European Union diplomat involved in the Kosovo negotiations. Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, will arrive in Belgrade on Wednesday for two days of talks with President Boris Tadic, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic. "Lavrov is coming to discuss Kosovo," a Russian diplomat in Belgrade said. Asked if the foreign minister was bringing any new ideas that might persuade Serbia to accept the United Nations plan, the diplomat said that Moscow wanted to hear what the Serb leadership had to say. Until recently, Russia had suggested that if Kosovo achieved independence, other breakaway regions - in Georgia and Moldova, for example - could make similar claims. Moscow, however, has refrained from making such comparisons in recent weeks. Instead, Russia has requested more time for negotiations before the Security Council debates the issue. As a permanent member of the council, Russia has veto power. American and European diplomats have resisted further delays, largely because they fear that the fragile unity among the three main ethnic Albanian parties in Kosovo - in which the groups pledged not to resort to violence to press their claim for independence - would unravel. "There is every reason to believe that that solution put forward by Russia, put forward by the Serb government itself, would lead to more violence, rather than less," said R. Nicholas Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, during a speech on Monday at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. Serbia is also hoping to win support from China, which holds veto power at the Security Council. Hui Liangyu, the Chinese deputy premier, was set to arrive in Belgrade on Tuesday. The European Union, which is already making arrangements to take over from the United Nations mission in Kosovo, will attend talks in Moscow on Friday along with other members of the so-called Contact Group on the Balkans. The group includes Germany, the United States, Russia, France, Britain and Italy. It is scheduled to meet again next week in Berlin. Germany, the current holder of the Union presidency, said it still hoped to break the impasse between Kosovo and Serbia before the G-8 summit meeting in June. According to German officials, Chancellor Angela Merkel does not want the issue to dominate a meeting at which she will make climate change a top priority. In a sign of just how brittle the atmosphere is between Belgrade and some of the Contact Group members, the German ambassador to Serbia, Andreas Zobel, apologized for comments he made last week at a forum in the Serbian capital. Mr. Zobel had questioned whether Kosovo had always been a part of Serbia and warned that if the solution for Kosovo fell short of independence, it could lead to a flare-up in other areas of Serbia.
"Kosovo's independence worst solution" 18 April 2007 | 10:55 | Source: Beta PRAGUE -- Kosovo's independence would be the worst solution for the Balkans, a former UN rapporteur for Human Rights in Bosnia says. "Since there are no good solutions, we should opt for respecting the international law," Jiri Dienstbier, former Czechoslovakian foreign minister, told Czech weekly MF Plus. He mentioned the existence of the Helsinki Charter which still applied, according to which any alteration of state borders could be applicable only if all concerned parties gave consent. "Let's take the Czechs and the Slovakians for an example, or the Russians and the Ukrainians. What is more, prudent politicians know that the recognition of Kosovo can have immense consequences elsewhere. The Republic of Srpska may then seek partition, or Hungarians in Slovakia, or maybe Catalonians and the Basque in Spain," he argued. The former Czechoslovakian foreign minister added that "all these years the issues in Kosovo remained unsolved, with the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) still in power, regardless of what they call them nowadays." The U.S. and the EU's insistence on granting the province independence is, according to Dienstbier, "a senseless continuation of their politics from the 1990s." "There are no good solutions for Kosovo, and independence is surely the worst," Dienstbier said, adding that the goal of the Albanian politicians in Kosovo was "to unite all Albanians under one flag." "It would entail the break-up of the entire Balkans and Europe, for that matter," he said. "Should we send our troops there like we did in Iraq," he asked, reiterating his previously stated position that "the international law should be respected in case a good solution was not available."
U.S. To Co-Sponsor Kosovo Resolution in U.N. Security Council Independence best option for Kosovo, State Department's Burns says By Vince Crawley USINFO Staff Writer Washington -- Following an April 23-24 visit by the U.N. Security Council to Brussels, Belgium; Belgrade, Serbia; and Kosovo's capital, Pristina, the United States plans to co-sponsor a U.N. resolution that would allow Kosovo's provisional government to declare independence, U.S. Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns says. "We must now act quickly in the next weeks and months to finish the job by helping to lead Kosovo to independence," Burns said April 17 in testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Burns is under secretary of state for political affairs, the third-ranking official at the State Department. Following 18 months of negotiations, U.N. Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari on April 3 formally proposed to the Security Council that Kosovo be granted independence while temporarily remaining under international supervision. Kosovo, a province of Serbia, is administered by the United Nations under U.N. Resolution 1244, passed in June 1999 when a NATO campaign drove Yugoslav Serbs out of Kosovo, halting years of violence and human rights abuses. Under the Ahtisaari plan, "Kosovo will become independent but will continue a period of international tutelage for a number of years," Burns told lawmakers. "NATO, for example, will continue to police Kosovo's borders and maintain internal peace until Kosovo is ready to form its own armed forces. The European Union will lead the major international civilian effort to ensure that the settlement of the Ahtisaari plan is fully implemented." Several lawmakers expressed concerns that granting independence to Kosovo would set a dangerous precedent for other breakaway regions. Independence is strongly opposed by Serbia and by Kosovo Serbs. Russia, which holds veto power on the Security Council, has expressed concerns. "A solution that's imposed from the outside, unless the parties both agree, is going to lead to a real military problem, in my opinion, down the road," Representative Howard Berman, a California Democrat, warned Burns. Burns stressed that the United States and its European allies consider Kosovo's history of oppression under now-deceased Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to be a unique situation that does not set a precedent for other separatist movements. Burns also said Ahtisaari spent 18 months trying to achieve a compromise, but the government in Belgrade "made a political decision not to participate" meaningfully in the negotiation. Belgrade also pressured Kosovo Serbs to stay away from negotiations, he said. The U.N. Security Council has five permanent members and 10 elected members. A Security Council decision requires approval by nine of the 15 members. However, the five permanent members -- China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States -- can veto a decision. U.S. and European diplomatic efforts in the weeks ahead are focused on persuading Russia not to veto a Kosovo resolution. The current 10 elected members of the Security Council are Belgium, the Republic of Congo, Ghana, Indonesia, Italy, Panama, Peru, Qatar, Slovakia and South Africa. At the suggestion of Russia, all 15 ambassadors on the Security Council plan to visit Belgrade and Pristina, as well as Brussels, during the week of April 23. "We felt it would be to the advantage of those countries to be able to meet the Serb leadership in Belgrade and the Albanian and Serb leadership in Pristina," Burns said. Security Council ambassadors also will meet in Brussels with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and with the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana of Spain. In the weeks following the visit to the region, the United States plans to co-sponsor a resolution that would replace U.N. Resolution 1244, which currently governs Kosovo, Burns said. "This resolution will not actually confer independence on Kosovo," Burns said, adding that the United States does not believe the United Nations has the right under international law to create an independent state. Instead, the proposed resolution "will remove political and legal impediments to independence," Burns said. The proposed resolution also would mandate continued international supervision by the European Union and NATO. "Once the resolution is passed, we would think that . the Kosovar leaders would declare their own independence," Burns said. "And then the United States and other countries would recognize that independence." The U.S. goal, Burns said, "is to bring the Kosovo status process to a timely and successful conclusion by the end of this spring." House Foreign Affairs Chairman Tom Lantos, a Democrat from California, said the Kosovo proposal appears to have been "shaped with wisdom and patience" by Ahtisaari. "Clearly, this is not a perfect solution," Lantos said. "I would have preferred something different. But there is no better settlement in sight.There is no more time to wait."
UN SC resolution 1244 confirms territorial integrity, sovereignty of Serbia in Kosovo-Metohija Source: Government of Serbia
Date: 17 Apr 2007 Belgrade, April 17, 2007 - In a response to the stand conveyed by US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns that the US will support declaration of independence by the province of Kosovo-Metohija, unless a new resolution is adopted in the UN Security Council, the Serbian government once again gives a clear warning that the UN Security Council Resolution 1244 explicitly establishes and confirms the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia in Kosovo-Metohija. The Serbian government particularly stresses that the UN SC Resolution 1244 has binding power over all UN member countries and not a single of these countries may violate this resolution and unilaterally take a stand regarding the future status of the province. The Serbian government has repeatedly stated that any such recognition of the independence of Kosovo-Metohija will be in brutal violation of the UN norms, the UN Charter and the valid Resolution 1244. The Serbian government is giving a timely warning that Belgrade will reject any recognition of the independence of Kosovo-Metohija as invalid, since it will be nothing but direct interference in Serbia's internal affairs. In that case Serbia will insist that the UN Security Council, respecting its own Resolution 1244, protect and confirm the inviolability of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia and its internationally recognised borders.
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