VIENNA: The presidents and prime ministers from Belgrade and Pristina plan to congregate in Vienna today for the first direct talks on the future status of the Serbian province of Kosovo, which has been under UN administration since 1999. By invitation of UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari, those taking part include Serbian President Boris Tadic, Premier Vojislav Kostunica and Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic. On the Pristina side, President Fatmir Sejdiu, Prime Minister Agim Ceku and Speaker of Parliament Kole Berisha plan to attend. Each side is expected to have a total of about 15 delegates.



Attending on Pristina’s side are politicians who already took part in the failed Rambouillet Kosovo peace negotiations more than seven years ago, including then delegation chief and present opposition politician Hashim Thaci and leader of the Ora movement Veton Surroi. The opposing views are still far apart. On Saturday, Kostunica said: “The sooner the dangerous idea is forgotten of setting up a new state on the territory of Serbia, the better for us all, and certainly also for the lasting stability of the region as a whole.” But the Pristina side continues to say that full independence is the only acceptable


solution. A major breakthrough is not expected in Vienna. Belgrade sources already term Ahtisaari’s task of reconciling two diametrically opposed views as “mission impossible.” The Belgrade newspaper Blic said on Friday that the US had drafted a plan for Serbia’s future international status. It included “conditional independence” for Kosovo by autumn 2007, and Serbia’s European Union accession by 2014. On Saturday, Foreign Minister of the summit’s host-nation Austria Ursula Plassnik appealed to the two sides to use the opportunity. “Belgrade and Pristina have the chance now, with the help of the international community, to reach a negotiated solution. There must be more realism and commitment,” she said.

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G8 ministers favor direct talks on Kosovo between Pristina, Belgrade
MOSCOW. June 29 (Interfax) - G8 foreign ministers have called for direct negotiations between Pristina and Belgrade on the Kosovo problem, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.

"We have discussed the situation on the western Balkans and called for further direct negotiations between Pristina and Belgrade, and the involvement of Kosovo Serbs in the negotiations," he said.

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With another session of negotiations scheduled for 11 July, the Kosovo Albanian delegation says it is unwilling to accept new demands for protection zones. Meanwhile, a group of Catholic and Orthodox bishops has called on both sides to negotiate in good faith.

By Blerta Foniqi for Southeast European Times in Pristina - 04/07/06

The Kosovo Albanian side disputes calls for a protection zone around the Gracanica monastery. [Getty Images]

Kosovo's negotiating team has agreed to participate in another session of direct talks with Belgrade on cultural heritage in Kosovo, to be held on 11 July in Vienna. Yet the Kosovo side says it will not accept new demands regarding protection zones around Serb Orthodox cultural and religious sites.

"We are against compromise on this issue," said a spokesperson for the negotiating team, Skender Hyseni. He said the team would examine new proposals from a UN-sponsored working group, but that no more room exists for concessions.

UN Deputy Special Envoy Albert Rohan's office has assembled a group consisting of representatives from Serbia and Kosovo -- as well as from international institutions such as UNESCO and the Council of Europe -- to tackle the issue on a case by case basis. On Thursday (6 July), Rohan will arrive in Pristina to discuss the upcoming session. He will bring with him 12 maps illustrating possible religious protection zones around various sites.

But the Kosovo negotiators have already indicated they regard some of these as untenable.

"For example, the Gracanica monastery. How can it have a protection zone, while one of the main roads crosses near the important religious building?" Hyseni added.

Envoy for status talks Martti Ahtisaari's office denied on Monday that Belgrade has put in any official request to adjourn the next round of talks. The co-ordinator for the Serbian negotiating team, Slobodan Samardzic, had earlier said the Serbian government wanted to postpone the meeting, since both he and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica will be on a visit to the United States at the time.

Meanwhile, a group of Catholic and Orthodox bishops has asked Serbian and Kosovo Albanian leaders to negotiate in "good faith" over the political future of Kosovo, which is currently under UN administration.

The bishops also called for the safe return of 200,000 Serbs and other minorities who have left Kosovo as a result of violence there.

"Only through a real dialogue of mutual respect and good-faith negotiations can justice become a reality in Kosovo," said a statement issued by the Joint Commission of Orthodox and Catholic Bishops, meeting in Washington.

The commission is composed of US Catholic bishops and Orthodox bishops from Canada and the United States. It deals with ways in which the two churches can co-operate on practical issues.

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