Troika presents Kosovo report to Ban

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon received Friday the Kosovo report from the Contact Group Troika of mediators. The report on the negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina held over the past four months concludes that neither party was willing to abandon its original stand on the future status of Kosovo. Troika presents Kosovo report to Ban "This is regrettable, as a negotiated solution would have been in the best interest of both parties," the document says. The report states that a wide spectrum of options was examined during the talks, including full independence for Kosovo, supervised independence, partition, considerable autonomy, confederation or a tacit agreement to differ. The Troika, consisting of Wolfgang Ischinger, Aleksandr Botsan-Kharchenko and Frank Wisner, has not recommend any further steps, leaving it to the international community to make the decisions on how to proceed, Reuters reported. B92 has learned from the UN sources that the report will be presented to the UN Security Council ambassadors on Sunday evening. Earlier today, in an interview with Associated Press, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said that he expected the report to state that the four-month negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina had failed to reach an agreement on the province’s future status. “The report will more than likely state that no agreement was reached,” Ban said. U.S. envoy to the Troika, Frank Wisner, told Associated Press today that the conclusion was “obvious,” and that it was clear that the talks had not been successful. The report was expected to indicate that Belgrade and Pristina had completely opposing stances on the issue during the talks. Serbia offered high-level autonomy while maintaining sovereignty and territorial integrity, while the Kosovo Albanians demanded nothing short of independence. According to AP, the U.S. and several other European nations are planning to implement the plan presented earlier in the year by UN Kosovo envoy Martti Ahtisaari for “supervised independence”, thus bypassing the Security Council, and the likely Russia veto. Wisner confirmed that implementation of the Ahtisaari plan should begin. However, there is still not complete agreement on recognizing Kosovo independence within the EU. According to AP, Slovakia, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Romania fear that a unilateral proclamation of Kosovo independence by the province’s Albanian majority would set a dangerous precedent and encourage other separatist movements around the globe.

Troika presents Kosovo report to Ban

"This is regrettable, as a negotiated solution would have been in the best interest of both parties," the document says.

The report states that a wide spectrum of options was examined during the talks, including full independence for Kosovo, supervised independence, partition, considerable autonomy, confederation or a tacit agreement to differ.

The Troika, consisting of Wolfgang Ischinger, Aleksandr Botsan-Kharchenko and Frank Wisner, has not recommend any further steps, leaving it to the international community to make the decisions on how to proceed, Reuters reported.

B92 has learned from the UN sources that the report will be presented to the UN Security Council ambassadors on Sunday evening.

Earlier today, in an interview with Associated Press, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said that he expected the report to state that the four-month negotiations between Belgrade and Priština had failed to reach an agreement on the province’s future status.

“The report will more than likely state that no agreement was reached,” Ban said.

U.S. envoy to the Troika, Frank Wisner, told Associated Press today that the conclusion was “obvious,” and that it was clear that the talks had not been successful.

The report was expected to indicate that Belgrade and Priština had completely opposing stances on the issue during the talks. Serbia offered high-level autonomy while maintaining sovereignty and territorial integrity, while the Kosovo Albanians demanded nothing short of independence.

According to AP, the U.S. and several other European nations are planning to implement the plan presented earlier in the year by UN Kosovo envoy Martti Ahtisaari for “supervised independence”, thus bypassing the Security Council, and the likely Russia veto.

Wisner confirmed that implementation of the Ahtisaari plan should begin. However, there is still not complete agreement on recognizing Kosovo independence within the EU.

According to AP, Slovakia, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Romania fear that a unilateral proclamation of Kosovo independence by the province’s Albanian majority would set a dangerous precedent and encourage other separatist movements around the globe.