Envoy: Security Council won't rush Kosovo status solution

30/04/2007

A UN Security Council delegation completed its two-day fact-finding mission to Kosovo on Saturday and said that the 15-nation body would need more time to make a decision on the province's future.

(AP, AFP, International Herald Tribune, Beta, B92 - 29/04/07; Reuters, DPA, RFE/RL, UN News Centre, Government of Serbia - 28/04/07; Balkan Investigative Reporting Network - 27/04/07)

Kosovo Unity Team leaders (right), met with the 15-member delegation from the UN Security Council in Pristina on Friday (April 27th). [Laura Hasani]

A UN Security Council delegation left Kosovo on Saturday (April 28th), after a two-day fact-finding mission. The delegation's head, Belgian Ambassador Johan Verbeke, said the process to decide the province's future status cannot be rushed.

"Deciding on important issues should never be hostage to deadlines," he told reporters at a news conference in Pristina on Saturday.

The 15 UN ambassadors arrived in Kosovo after talks Thursday with officials in Belgrade.

The trip to the region was suggested by Russia, one of the Security Council's five permanent members. Moscow backs Serbia in its opposition to the Kosovo status proposal put forward by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, which calls for "supervised independence".

Belgrade opposes independence and insists on retaining some sovereignty over the province. On Saturday, the Serbian government issued a statement advocating "supervised autonomy" as a compromise solution.

The Kosovo Albanians -- 90% of the province's population of 2 million -- have accepted Ahtisaari's plan. Representatives of the community, who met with the UN ambassadors, voiced hope that they would support his proposals.

Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu told reporters that the province's independence would guarantee the stability of the entire region.

"We elaborated why Kosovo has to be independent and why there cannot be other solutions," reports Friday quoted Sejdiu as saying. "After this visit, it is the time for Kosovo's status to be decided," he added.

The UN ambassadors' tour of the province included visits to the divided city of Mitrovica, the Serb village of Svinjare and the Serb quarter in the town of Orahovac. They also visited Mala Krusa, where 116 Albanian men were killed by Serbian troops in 1999.

Arsim Shehu, a Kosovo Albanian who lost 40 members of his extended family said, "We hope they will verify what the Serbs did here... We can't live with them any more."

An International Herald Tribune report on Sunday quoted Prime Minister Agim Ceku as saying he expected Kosovo to be able to declare its independence "by the end of May".

"Our friends who are realistic and countries that have invested soldiers, money and eight years of engagement here, and who are planning to be present, want an end to this unresolved status," Ceku said.

US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried appeared to share Ceku's expectations. Speaking at a conference in Brussels on Saturday, the US official said that the drafting of a new resolution on Kosovo would begin shortly after the Security Council delegation's return from its Balkan trip. He also voiced hope that Russia would approach the issue constructively.

"We hope that Russia understands that Kosovo is going to be independent one way or another," Fried said. "It will either be done in a controlled, supervised way that provides for the well-being of the Serbian people, or it will take place in an uncontrolled way and the Kosovo Serbs will suffer the most, which would be terrible."