"U.S. strongly supports independence"

"U.S. strongly supports independence"

Burns "will hold a series of meetings on Kosovo with European leaders in which he will communicate strong U.S. support for U.N. special envoy Martti Ahtisaari's plan for the future of Kosovo," according to the office of department spokesman Sean McCormack.

As Reuters reports, the United States and EU have set an unofficial deadline of June, when Germany's EU presidency ends, to adopt a new U.N. Security Council resolution endorsing Ahtisaari's plan and mandating the EU to take over from the U.N. mission.

On Monday, Burns is to speak to the Centre for European Policy Studies and on Tuesday will meet senior NATO officials to discuss military operations in Kosovo and Afghanistan.

He will have separate talks with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

Ahtisaari’s plan to be revealed Monday

Ahtisaari’s finalized plan for Kosovo will be revealed on Monday and submitted to UN SC members, Remi Dourlot says.

“Ahtisaari’s plan for Kosovo status settlement will be officially given to all members of the UN Security Council on Monday, March 26, and revealed to the public the same day,” Ahtisaari’s spokesperson Remi Dourlot told B92 Friday.

He added that the date of the UN SC session dedicated to the UN special envoy’s finalized  proposal  for the future status of Kosovo was not officially set.

Dourlot reminded that Great Britain which would preside over the Council in April would was likely to schedule the session April 3 by .

“The presiding country usually adopts the agenda of the Council’s sessions a week ahead it takes over the rotating presidency,” Dourlot explained.

He also confirmed that Martti Ahtisaari had no plans of meeting with the Contact Group beforehand.