No proposals on Kosovo's status to be included in report to UN: troika
Xinhua General News Service - December 4, 2007 Tuesday 10:25 PM EST

BELGRADE - No proposals on Kosovo's future status will be included in the report to the United Nations presented by envoys from the troika of the European Union (EU), the United States and Russia, they said here Monday.

The troika's envoys briefed Serbia and Kosovo's ethnic Albanians about their report concerning the four-month talks on Kosovo's future status.

U.S. envoy Frank Wisner and his two colleagues, EU's Wolfgang Ischinger and Russia's Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, told Serbian leaders here the contents of the report they must deliver to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Dec. 10.

"This report will conclude that the two sides have not been able to reach agreement," Ischinger told a press conference.

"We are not making any proposals that could surprise anyone," he said, noting the troika's mandate will end with the presentation of this report.

"We have a commitment from both sides to avoid the use of violence," said the German diplomat, hailing that it is "very important for the road ahead."

The troika have thoroughly examined and explored all available and all reasonable options and all proposals made by both sides, but the two sides were not able to agree on a settlement on Kosovo's status.

He said that the negotiations had been useful in several aspects.

Meanwhile, Wisner said the report will be "very clear that the two sides have participated actively and fully during the process of negotiations."

The issue of "the final status of Kosovo does not end with our report, it is in the hands of the governments," said Wisner.

Russian envoy Botsan-Kharchenko said the four-month talks have been serious and should continue.

"The Security Council began considering this question and this question will be finally resolved in the Security Council," said the Russian diplomat.

The UN Security Council is expected to discuss the report on Dec. 19.

The talks on Kosovo's future ended in a stalemate last week as Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders insisted on full independence while Serbia refused to offer anything beyond broad autonomy.

Serbia, which does not consider the negotiation path exhausted, insisted the status-defining process should end in the UN Security Council.

"We expect the dialogue on the status to be continued," Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic told reporters after the meeting with the troika.

After Belgrade, the three envoys traveled to Pristina, Kosovo, where they met the leaders of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians, who said they will proclaim independence soon after the final report is delivered to the UN council.

In Pristina, after the meeting with the troika, Kosovo leader Fatmir Sejdiu said the province's ethnic Albanian leadership believed "there is no room for additional negotiations" over the future status of Kosovo.

Also in Pristina, Botsan-Kharchenko said, without elaborating, that there "is room for additional negotiations."

Kosovo, the southern Serbian province, has been run by the United Nations since 1999. Ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of the province's population of 2 million, are demanding independence, while Serbia and ethnic Serbs in Kosovo want it to remain within Serbia.

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