Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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March 11, 2007

Kosovo Talks End Without Breakthrough
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=169A40B:A6F02AD83191E160E8A8718FEA6241FC9574F7DCC14957C0 UN mediator says he
will present proposed plan to Security Council later this month A year
of talks on the future of Kosovo has ended without agreement between
Serbia's government and Kosovo's independence-seeking ethnic Albanian
leadership. The U.N. mediator in the talks said he would present the
proposed plan for Kosovo to the U.N. Security Council later this
month. From Budapest, Stefan Bos has this VOA report.







United Nations special envoy Martti Ahtisaari attends a meeting with
Serbian and Kosovo Albanian leaders about Kosovo's future in
ViennaU.N. Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari said the two sides failed to
narrow their differences on the future of Kosovo province, which has
been administered by the United Nations since 1999.

Under the U.N.-drafted proposal, the territory would become autonomous
with its own flag and the right to join international organizations.

The ethnic Albanian delegation has accepted the plan, although it
falls short of demands for full independence from Serbia for the
Albanian-majority province.

But Serbs rejected the proposal. Belgrade has made clear that Serbia
cannot accept an independent Kosovo because it considers the province
the cradle of Serbian culture and religion.

U.N. Special Envoy Ahtisaari expressed his disappointment that, after
14 months of talks, no agreement was reached on the future status of
Kosovo. "With all these efforts, I had hoped, and very much preferred,
that this process would lead to a negotiated agreement. But it has
left me with no doubt that the parties' respective positions on
Kosovo's status do not contain any common ground to achieve such an
agreement," he said.

The envoy said he would present his draft plan for approval to the
U.N. Security Council later this month. Serbia hopes veto-wielding
Russia will stick to its long-held view that it will not accept a deal
on Kosovo's status, unless both sides agree.

There are Western fears however that if Ahtisaari's proposal is not
adopted by the U.N. Security Council, Kosovo's ethnic Albanians will
declare independence from Serbia anyway, perhaps as early as this
year.