Serbs and Kosovo Albanians sat down at the same table in Vienna
Monday for the first round of talks on the fate of Serbia's
disputed southern province, with the Albanians confident of winning
independence.
"Today we are focused on the agenda and looking forward to the
results," Kosovo Albanian delegation chief Lutfi Haziri told
reporters. "We want the status resolved as soon as possible.
Independence is coming and we are playing a positive role."
Diplomats say independence is almost certain, closing a chapter
on one of Europe's most pressing diplomatic conundrums.
The two eight-member delegations of mid-level politicians and
advisers sat at a horseshoe-shaped table in the imposing 18th
century Palais Daun-Kinsky under the chairmanship of Austria's
Albert Rohan, deputy to United Nations envoy Martti Ahtisaari.
Former Finnish President Ahtisaari held separate breakfast
meetings with each side prior to the start of negotiations, due to
run into today. The sitting delegations posed stony-faced for
photographers. There were no handshakes.
The encounter, delayed a month by the death of President Ibrahim
Rugova, is the first since Ahtisaari was appointed in November to
broker a deal on the territory, sacred to Serbs but 90-per cent
populated by Albanians who demand independence.
The province of 2 million people has been run by the United
Nations since 1999, when NATO bombing drove out Serb forces accused
of atrocities against ethnic Albanian civilians in a 2-year war
with separatist rebels.
Status of Kosovo Serbs a key issue
Trying to break the ice, the meeting will skirt the hot issue of
status and focus on how to devolve power to the 100,000 remaining
Serbs, ghettoized and targeted for revenge since 1999. Western
diplomats have stressed independence hinges on Albanians offering
Kosovo's minorities a viable future.
"The majority population here in Kosovo has a right to expect
that their aspirations will be met when status is decided,"
Kosovo's UN governor, Soren Jessen-Petersen, said on Sunday. "But
it is equally important that the majority is seen to be committed
... on minority issues."
British analyst and author Tim Judah told Belgrade's
Danas daily Monday that "it is now completely clear the
talks are not about the status of Kosovo, but about the status of
the Kosovo Serbs."
Serbia wants the creation of an autonomous Serb entity with
strong ties to Belgrade. Albanians say this is code for ethnic
partition, a concept ruled out by the West. Pristina is offering
more modest devolution.
The Contact Group of major powers setting policy on Kosovo wants
a deal on "final status" within the year.
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Belgrade insists independence is unthinkable. Rich in Orthodox
religious heritage, Kosovo holds almost mythic status for Serbs,
central to their identity for 1,000 years. But self-governing since
1999, Albanians say independence is non-negotiable.
The Contact Group has urged Belgrade "to bear in mind that the
settlement needs to be acceptable to the people of Kosovo."
Western diplomats say this means independence, conditional on
major concessions to Serbs and guaranteed by an EU-led supervisory
body and extended NATO peacekeeping mandate.
Analysts warn of a nationalist backlash in Serbia, which also
faces divorce from Montenegro when the tiny Adriatic republic holds
a promised referendum due in April on dissolving their lop-sided
union - the last remnant of Yugoslavia.
(China Daily February 21, 2006)
