AP, March 15, 2007
Kosovo Premier: Independence Recommended
By GARENTINA KRAJA
The Associated Press
Wednesday, March 14, 2007; 5:59 PM
PRISTINA, Serbia -- Kosovo's prime minister said Wednesday that the U.N. envoy leading talks on the Serbian province's future would recommend giving it independence when he presents his proposal to the U.N. Security Council, although the plan itself calls for supervised statehood.
Prime Minister Agim Ceku's comments differed from what U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari has said so far about his proposal, and Ahtisaari's office said Wednesday it could not comment on the plan.
"Ahtisaari has always said that he will be perfectly clear when he gives his rationale of the proposal and his own interpretation of the document to the Security Council," his spokesman, Remi Dourlot, said in Vienna, Austria.
Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO airstrikes ended a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. The U.N. plan is an attempt to resolve the final major dispute remaining after Yugoslavia's bloody 1990s breakup.
The proposal, according to released excerpts, sets the stage for Kosovo's internationally supervised statehood, with provisions for its own constitution, flag, anthem and army, while granting local-governance rights to minority Serbs.
The plan has triggered protests from both sides of the dispute. Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders accepted it, although some argued it did not go far enough in promising independence, while Serbia rejected it outright, insisting Kosovo should remain within its territory.
On Wednesday, Ceku suggested to Kosovo's 120-seat parliament that Ahtisaari would go further in supporting independence for Kosovo than he has acknowledged publicly.
"We have not seen it, but he told us directly that he will propose independence for Kosovo without hesitation," Ceku told lawmakers. "The formula of his proposal will be independence for Kosovo, initially supervised by the international community."
Ahtisaari's spokesman refused to comment on Ceku's remarks, saying the envoy did not want to disclose the contents of the proposal before it is handed to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. He had been expected to present the plan to the Security Council by the end of the month.
The council has the final say on the province's future status.
The council is split on the issue, however, with Russia supporting Serbia and the United States backing the U.N. plan. Diplomats did not expect significant progress until the G-8 summit in Germany in June, when Western leaders likely will discuss the situation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. No date has been set for a final resolution of the issue.
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