UN: No agreement on Kosovo draft

UN: No agreement on Kosovo draft

The new text, sponsored by EU nations and the U.S., would give Belgrade and Priština four months to reach an agreement.

It states that the resolution's provisions based on Martti Ahtisaari’s status recommendations, will take effect after 120 days "unless the Security Council expressly decides otherwise after conducting an evaluation."

The 15 Security Council members discussed the draft behind closed doors for the first time since it was introduced Wednesday.  It was clear afterwards that Russia's adamant opposition remains a stumbling block to its adoption.

Russia’s main objections to the draft, according to Churkin, were in relation to an automatic adoption of Ahtisaari’s plan in case the new talks between Belgrade and Priština failed.

"The current draft text is not bringing us closer to an acceptable outcome of this process," he said, adding that the Russian view has support in the council.

"If things are going to go into effect automatically four months from now, what's the point in talking, especially in a situation where one side is satisfied with what is going to go into effect automatically," Churkin said.

"The most likely outcome is going to be four months of going through the motions, and then the plan which has not been agreed by the two sides going into effect," he explained.

But if there is a period of negotiations "after which the Security Council will again be able to seriously take up the problem and see where things are... then we think the process has a very good chance of being successful," Churkin said.

Belgian UN Ambassador Johan Verbeke did not agree with Russia’s objections, claiming that 120 days of talks would be followed by their evaluation to determine whether the results represented improvement in comparison to solutions proposed by Ahtisaari.

Announcing expert consultations due to take place on Monday, he said that “numerous observations” of certain states in relation to the U.S., European-sponsored draft would be formulated at the meeting.

U.S. Deputy UN Ambassador Alejandro Wolf confirmed this by saying that the draft could be subjected to changes in order to address the concerns.

None of the ambassadors wished to comment the pace at which Kosovo’s status settlement process would continue in the UN, nor whether any progress on the issue should be expected from the upcoming meeting between U.S. and Russian presidents, George Bush and Vladimir Putin.

Churkin said he expects Kosovo to be on the agenda when the two presidents meet next month.

The issue of Kosovo was also discussed Friday at the European Union Ministerial Council, where the EU states agreed to postpone a final decision on Kosovo’s status, and urged talks to continue.

Lavrov: Claims of potential violence in Kosovo irresponsible

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says claims that violence would flare up in Kosovo if it was denied independence were “irresponsible.”
Speaking of the latest draft resolution sponsored by the U.S. and the EU, Lavrov said that “new ideas suggested by the Europeans and the Americans showed they acknowledge the need to avoid violence in the province.”

“They accepted that continuation of talks was necessary and stated they would last for 120 days or longer,” he said.

He reiterated that Moscow could not consent to the notion that Ahtisaari’s plan would be automatically implemented if the two sides failed to reach an agreement over the future of Kosovo within the set timeframe, stressing that the plan as such would de jure create an independent Kosovo.

Lavrov underlined that, in Russia’s opinion, claims according to which Kosovo’s independence was unavoidable were “not convincing.”

Commenting assertions that violence could flare up in the province unless independence was granted, Lavrov said such arguments were irresponsible given that KFOR’s mandate in Kosovo was still valid.

“One of the arguments is that Kosovo Albanian cannot coexist with Serbia. I could provide you with numerous examples of territories where the same principle can be applied,” he said.