Reuters AlertNet Lite - Serbs and Albanians wind up Kosovo talks

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Serbs and Albanians wind up Kosovo talks

02 Mar 2007 10:10:19 GMT
Source: Reuters

VIENNA, March 2 (Reuters) - Serb and ethnic Albanian officials were ending eight days of clause-by-clause talks on Friday on a Western-backed blueprint for Kosovo independence, with no sign of substantial changes to the plan.

"We are winding up our work," U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari, the plan's author, said on arrival at the meeting in Vienna.

The former Finnish president plans to bring the leaders of the two sides together on March 10. He wants to submit the blueprint to the U.N. Security Council by the end of this month.

It offers the 90-percent Albanian majority a path to independence under the supervision of the European Union, eight years since NATO wrested control of the province from Serbia.

Western powers see no alternative, but Russia continues to at least publicly back Serbia, which says the amputation of its cherished southern province would violate international law.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov repeated on Thursday in Belgrade that Moscow would only support a solution accepted by both sides, according to a statement from the office of Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.

Ahtisaari says this is impossible. He mediated months of fruitless Serb-Albanian talks last year before unveiling his report on Feb 2. Serbia has proposed a raft of amendments over the past two weeks, which the Albanians have rejected.

Ahtisaari said he would open to "adjustments" to the plan should the two sides agree. But the essence will not change.

He will submit his plan to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon on March 15, the Kosovo daily Koha Ditore reported on Friday, and address the Security Council in late April.

The province of 2 million people has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombs drove out Serb forces accused of killing 10,000 Albanian civilians in a two-year war with separatist guerrillas.

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Last updated:Fri Mar 2 10:10:48 2007