Envoys begin talks over Kosovo future

Talks on the future of Kosovo resumed today in Vienna, where international mediators were presenting rival Serbs and ethnic Albanians with a new list of proposals.

The 14-point document does not explicitly mention independence, but it assures Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority that Serbia “will not re-establish a physical presence in Kosovo.”

The breakaway province has been administered by the UN and Nato since 1999, when former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic sent in troops to crush a pro-independence rebellion.

It also says the international community will retain a civilian and military presence in Kosovo even after its status is worked out. About 16,000 Nato-led peacekeepers still patrol the province, which formally remains a part of Serbia.

Ethnic Albanians demand full independence, while Serbia offers only broad autonomy while insisting the province remain within its borders.

Representatives of the so-called troika – the US, Russia and the European Union - have been mediating talks seen as a final attempt at brokering a compromise.

EU representative Wolfgang Ischinger told reporters today that the new document was an attempt to shift “away from slogans and into the substance.”

“We’ve entered a new phase in our effort towards a possible status solution,” he said, but added: “I would be very surprised if it were going to be easy.”

Ethnic Albanians have said that if there is no agreement by December 10 – the envoys’ deadline to report back to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon – they will unilaterally declare independence for Kosovo.

Although the US strongly supports independence and has signalled it would recognise such a declaration, its European allies have expressed serious misgivings about recognising any new state if the UN Security Council has not done so.

A previous attempt to negotiate Kosovo’s final status collapsed earlier this year, when Serbia and Russia rejected a UN-brokered plan to grant Kosovo internationally supervised independence.

The 14-point plan to be discussed today bears a close resemblance to the UN plan drafted by special envoy Martti Ahtisaari.

In Kosovo’s capital, Pristina, senior ethnic Albanian negotiator Vetyon Surroi said the document “is about raising the quality of the discussion.”

“It will certainly be an interesting debate,” he said.

Serbian officials did not immediately comment on the document, which includes the blunt provision: “Belgrade will not govern Kosovo.”