U.S. Envoy Calls Meeting of Serb and Kosovo Leaders "Historic"
02 August 2006
Next round of Kosovo future-status talks set for August in Vienna, Austria
Washington -- A senior U.S. negotiator says the July 24 meeting between the elected leaders of Kosovo and Serbia was an “historic occasion” that will help advance ongoing negotiations aimed at settling the province’s legal status by the end of 2006.
The one-day meeting in Vienna, Austria, was the first time since 1999 that the top leaders of both former warring parties met to discuss Kosovo’s future.
“It was an historic occasion,” Ambassador Frank G. Wisner, U.S. special representative to the Kosovo status talks, said July 27.
“A moment in history has been passed,” Wisner said, “and the Albanian side was frank, respectful and restrained.” The Serbian leaders also “conducted these talks in a dignified manner,” he added. “Now the busy time lies ahead.”
The meeting included Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu, Serbian President Boris Tadic, Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku and Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica. Each delegation delivered speeches stating its position. (See related article.)
News reports described the meeting as tense, with Kosovar Albanians demanding full independence and Serbia willing to grant anything but independence.
The meeting was part of ongoing U.N.-sponsored talks aimed at deciding whether Kosovo will become an independent country or retain its status as an autonomous province of Serbia. Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since 1999, when U.S. and NATO-led military forces fought and expelled Yugoslav Serb troops and police following human-rights abuses against the predominantly ethnic Albanian population. Before the fighting, about 90 percent of Kosovo’s 2 million inhabitants were ethnic Albanians. But as many as half of Kosovo’s ethnic Serbs are believed to have fled, and NATO forces today protect minority-Serb communities and religious sites. Kosovo is home to historic sites and shrines central to Serbia’s culture. (See related article.)
Negotiating teams from Serbia and Albania were scheduled to meet again August 7 in Vienna, but a U.N. spokesman confirmed in press reports August 2 that Serbia has asked for a one-week postponement.
“It is evident that positions of the parties remain far apart,” Martti Ahtisaari of Finland, the U.N. special envoy to Kosovo’s status process, said July 24 in Vienna. “Belgrade would agree to almost anything but independence, whereas Pristina would accept nothing but full independence.” Belgrade is the capital of Serbia, and Pristina is the seat of government for Kosovo.
Despite their differences, the meeting between the two high-level delegations “is a result of a clear wish on the part of the parties to move to direct talks on the future status,” Ahtisaari said a statement quoted by the United Nations News Service. (See related article.)
Wisner, the U.S. envoy to the talks, met with reporters in Kosovo three days after the meeting, when he stressed that the United States and other members of the international community are unwilling to see Kosovo divided or partitioned as part of the status talks. Wisner said the United States and its international partners are guided by “the principle of Kosovo as an integral community and area, the principle of no partition of Kosovo, no change in the properly understood borders.”
He said this view is shared by all members of the Contact Group – the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Russia – who have coordinated international action in the Balkans since 1994.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said the Kosovo settlement could result either in independence or in some type of autonomy that falls short of independence.
In his July 27 news conference, Wisner was asked if a U.N.-imposed decision would be the best way to settle the Kosovo peace process.
“I don’t want to jump to a conclusion that is premature,” he answered. To date, the talks have focused on coordinating municipal and community issues between the two ethnic groups, and Wisner said these negotiations should continue before deciding the larger issue of Kosovo’s future status.
“I believe that it is important to reach agreement on municipalities, on churches, on minority rights, before we leap to conclusions that would answer your question,” Wisner told the reporter. “There are only weeks ahead of intensified negotiations. Reaching realistic solutions to those negotiations should be all of our top priority. … Good solid negotiations go step-by-step. Let’s get the next step accomplished.”
The transcript of Wisner’s news conference is posted on the State Department Web site.
For more information on U.S. policies in the region, see Southeast Europe.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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