http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2973548.ece
Independence for Kosovo is off the agenda, envoy reveals
By Anne Penketh, Diplomatic Editor
Published: 18 September 2007
The international community is backing away from a clear endorsement
of independence for Kosovo. According to the top European negotiator,
Kosovo is no longer being offered internationally-supervised
independence from Serbia, in an apparent concession to Belgrade and
Moscow that is likely to infuriate the disputed province's ethnic
Albanian majority.
The envoy, Wolfgang Ischinger, who is the German ambassador to the UK
and will be involved in separate talks in London today and tomorrow
with a Serbian and a Kosovo delegation, said that it was time to get
away from "labels" in order to achieve a "realistic" solution for
Kosovo which has been administered by the UN for the past eight years
since Nato's bombing campaign forced Serbia's withdrawal from the
province in 1999. The Kosovo delegation, whose leaders are threatening
to unilaterally declare independence, wants the London talks to focus
on "technical issues between two independent states," the Kosovo Prime
Minister, Agim Ceku, said yesterday before leaving Pristina.
But Mr Ischinger said: "The label is worth nothing. Where are they
going to get their income from? They would continue to rely on foreign
aid."
Asked whether the ultimate outcome of the latest negotiations could be
internationally-supervised independence, Mr Ischinger replied: "I
would say that we will try to reach a status solution which will
provide for an internationally-supervised status for Kosovo. I would
leave open independence. I would rather talk about a strong supervised
status."
However he added that talks so far with Serbia - which strongly
rejects an outcome of self rule for Kosovo - and the ethnic Albanian
delegation had "made some progress, drawing both parties away from the
label. Independence versus autonomy is a gap which cannot be bridged
if you look at the fine print. International supervision is accepted."
Mr Ischinger also indicated that his "troika" of negotiators,
including a US and a Russian diplomat, had given further ground by
agreeing to a Serbian demand that the plan drawn up by former Finnish
president Marti Ahtisaari would not form the basis for the talks. "I
would not insist on the Ahtisaari package, but it's not off the
table," he said.
Russia stymied US and European attempts to endorse Mr Ahtisaari's
plan, providing for de facto independence for Kosovo under EU
supervision but guaranteeing the rights of the Serb minority, by
threatening to veto the settlement at the UN and demanding further
negotiations. The UN Security Council has set a deadline of 10
December for the "troika" to submit a final status report to the UN
secretary general, Ban Ki-moon. The incentive for both sides to reach
an agreement would be future membership of the European Union. Serbia
is close to signing a stabilisation and association agreement with the
EU marking its first step towards membership, but the move is
conditional on Belgrade handing over the indicted suspect General
Ratko Mladic to the UN war crimes tribunal.
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