Kouchner urges patience in Kosovo

Kouchner urges patience in Kosovo

Kouchner, who served as Kosovo's UN administrator after the 1999 conflict, said that the international community would go back to the Ahtisaari plan should the new round of negotiations between Belgrade and Priština fail to yield results.

He also appealed to Albanian leaders in Priština to engage in new talks over the future status of Kosovo.

Kouchner added that the goal of the new phase of negotiations was to see whether Russia would be “a part of the finalization of Kosovo’s status,“ stressing that if no agreement was reached, and Russia still objected, the independence of Kosovo "would have precedence over one country’s consent."

He also said earlier Friday after meeting with United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) chief Joachim Ruecker and NATO-Led Kosovo Force (KFOR) commander Lieutenant General Roland Kather that his country does not support the partition of Kosovo.

“West should bypass Russia’s opposition”

Veton Surroi, head of Reformist Party ORA and member of the Priština negotiating team for the province’s future status, called on Western powers Saturday to “curb Russia's say over Europe's affairs and bypass its opposition to Kosovo's independence from Serbia.”

In an interview with The Associated Press, he said that “Vladimir Putin's Russia should not be allowed to influence the unification of the free nations and states in Europe."

"Russia cannot have a veto over historic processes in Europe. It cannot veto Europe's unification."

Surroi, who on Friday cast doubt on the strategy over the future of Kosovo, warned that renewed negotiations as suggested by the West with Serbia could impose partition along ethnic lines.

"We have wasted all our possible concessions," he said, referring to yearlong negotiations with Belgrade under Ahtisaari’s mediation.

"Any future negotiating process would make Kosovo dysfunctional or lead it toward partition," Surroi stressed

He also warned the province's leaders have lost credibility with their electorate as the process has dragged on.

Surroi said Kosovo's ethnic Albanians have lived up to their promises by engaging in talks with Serbia, but were being failed by Western powers' reluctance to act.

He argued that the plan to achieve Kosovo's independence through a UN resolution has failed and the West needs to provide a new framework.

"We have delivered on our obligations. We are now waiting for the West to fulfill its obligations," Surroi said, hinting the province's leaders were intent on reaching their goal.

"It's not as if we will sit by and wait until the West delivers," he warned.