Serbian and ethnic Albanian leaders met face-to-face yesterday in unprecedented talks aimed at resolving the dispute over the breakaway province of Kosovo. But chances of a breakthrough are slim.

 

At issue is whether Kosovo will become independent, as demanded by its ethnic Albanian majority, or gain broad autonomy but remain within Serbia's borders, as the Serb leadership insists.

 

The Serbian delegation is led by President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, while the ethnic Albanian delegation includes the province's President Fatmir Sejdiu and Prime Minister Agim Ceku, as well as two opposition leaders.

 

Both 15-member delegations presented their positions behind closed doors, but extracts were presented to the media. The mediators, led by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari, were then expected to push both sides into a discussion.

 

Tadic stressed that in order to reach a compromise, agreement must be reached on decentralization and religious sites, according to remarks made available to the media.

 

"Decentralization is not jut a technical issue, but a moral and a political matter of the utmost importance," he said.

 

Tadic said the Albanians had not provided any specifics and only stressed the need for independence.

 

Kostunica said Serbia would not accept another state to be created on 15 percent of its territory, adding that "the essential autonomy for Kosovo must be guaranteed and substantiated by a constitutional solution, which would be the result of a genuine constitutional agreement."

 

Sejdiu said the will of the ethnic Albanian majority "cannot be ignored, or negotiated away in talks," although he pledged to improve and protect the rights of the Serbs and other minorities living in the province.

 

"Independence is the alpha and omega, the beginning and end of our position," he said.

 

While Tadic participated in a lunch, Kostunica left for "consultations," according to a Serbian negotiator who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to talk to the media.

 

Veton Surroi, an ethnic Albanian leader, said the Serb delegation's presentation was "very far from reality" and "not even an initial basis for talks."

 

Austria's Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel and Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik also were present at the meeting and at the lunch. Western diplomats of the six-nation so-called Contact Group the US, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Russia were present at the start of the meeting.

 

With both groups so far apart, UN brokers for the talks set the expectations low, warning at the outset that no breakthrough was expected in yesterday's encounter.

 

Serbia claims Kosovo is the heart of its kingdom, while Kosovo's ethnic Albanians argue Serbia has lost the right to govern it.

 

Kosovo's status was last formally discussed in 1999 at the height of the war that pitted Serbian troops loyal to former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic against ethnic Albanian separatists.

 

Those talks, held in France, ended with no results and then NATO launched a 78-day aerial bombardment that forced an end to the Serb crackdown and left Serbia no choice but to relinquish control over Kosovo. For the past seven years, the province has been a UN protectorate, patrolled by NATO troops.

 

The UN-brokered talks are aimed at steering both sides towards a negotiated solution by year's end.

 

(China Daily July 25, 2006)