The Guardian (London)
November 10, 2006
UN DELAYS FINAL REPORT ON KOSOVO'S FUTURE
Ian Traynor in Zagreb
The international community today put off deciding to impose independence on
Kosovo in an attempt to forestall extreme nationalists coming to power in
Serbia.
Serbia today announced early elections for January 21, with the extreme
nationalist Radical party tipped to emerge as the strongest party.
Simultaneously in Vienna, the UN envoy for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari of
Finland, and diplomats from the US, Europe and Russia went back on earlier
pledges to resolve Kosovo's status this year. They said they would wait
until after the Serbian ballot before making public their recommendations.
The Albanian-majority province is formally part of Serbia, but won an
independence war in 1999 when the Serbian authorities were driven out by
Nato. Since then the province has been under UN control.
Mr Ahtisaari has been conducting fruitless negotiations between the Serbs
and the Albanians since February in a vain attempt to find a settlement.
Since there is no prospect of agreement, he is to propose to the UN security
council that the international community impose his recommendations. "I have
decided to present my proposal for the settlement of Kosovo's status to the
parties without delay after parliamentary elections in Serbia," Mr Ahtisaari
said in Vienna.
The Serbian authorities have been trying to delay any decision on Kosovo and
are waging a ferocious campaign warning of the dangers to international
security and stability of an independent Kosovo.
Last month the prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, rushed through a new
Serbian constitution proclaiming Kosovo forever part of Serbia. The Kosovo
issue will utterly dominate the election campaign in Serbia.
In a study of the new constitution this week, the International Crisis Group
thinktank said that Serbia was turning its back on mainstream liberal
democracy in Europe and reverting to a role as a nationalist, authoritarian
seat of instability in the Balkans.
Mr Ahtisaari, strongly backed by the US and Britain, is certain to recommend
that Serbia lose Kosovo, although the province's independence will be hedged
with conditions that fall short of full sovereignty for some time to come.
Tensions are rising as the deadline for a decision nears. Any further
postponement of a decision on Kosovo's fate risks a violent explosion of
frustration among the province's two million Albanians.
