Kosovo stakes its claim to independence on Monday at top-level
talks between Serbs and ethnic Albanians, the first since NATO's
1999 air war wrested control of the province from Serbia.
The one-day meeting in Vienna formally puts the international
status of the majority Albanian province - independence or autonomy
- on the agenda of a UN-led mediation process that began in
February.
The presidents and prime ministers of both sides will talk
face-to-face for the first time since the West intervened to drive
out Serb forces accused of ethnic cleansing and the United Nations
took control.
Concrete results are unlikely, given what diplomats say is an
unbridgeable chasm between the two sides. Ninety percent of
Kosovo's 2 million people are Albanians who reject any return to
Serb rule, while Serbia sees Kosovo as for ever its
"Jerusalem".
UN chief mediator Martti Ahtisaari has played down hopes of a
breakthrough on Monday. He is working to a year-end deadline set by
the West for proposing a settlement, but six months of lower-level
direct talks on the rights of the 100,000 Serbs still in Kosovo
have produced few signs of compromise.
Ahtisaari's spokeswoman, Hua Jiang, said the meeting would give
both sides the chance to "formally present and clarify their
positions."
"We all know what the positions are, and they are far, far
apart," said Jiang. A second round at this level is uncertain.
Diplomats say the major powers see little alternative to
independence, supervised for years by the European Union.
The United States is pushing hard for a deal in 2006, concerned
that delay could spark fresh violence in a territory patrolled by
17,000 NATO soldiers. Russia, a veto holder in the UN Security
Council and traditional ally of Serbia, has cautioned against any
"artificial timetable".
NATO bombed the Serbs for 78 days in 1999 to halt civilian
killings and ethnic cleansing by forces under late Serb strongman
Slobodan Milosevic in a two-year war with separatist guerrillas.
Some 10,000 Albanians died, 800,000 were expelled.
But Serbs consider Kosovo the cradle of Serbdom, home to scores
of centuries-old Orthodox churches. Belgrade is offering autonomy.
"The sooner the dangerous idea of creating a new state on Serbian
territory is forgotten the better for all," Serbian Prime Minister
Vojislav Kostunica said on Saturday.
Half of Kosovo's Serb population fled a wave of revenge attacks
after the war and many of those who stayed live on the margins of
society, targeted by sporadic violence.
The mainly Serb north of Kosovo has threatened partition, but
the West fears this would revive territorial ambitions among
Albanians in neighboring southern Serbia and Macedonia.
(Chinadaily.com via agencies July 24, 2006)
