UN special envoy on Kosovo future status talks, Martti
Ahtisaari, will present his package of proposals to Kosovo's
Albanian authorities in February, UN top envoy in Kosovo said in
the provincial capital Pristina on Thursday.
"I believe that there is one more step to be made, after which
the package will be forwarded to the UN Security Council," UN
mission chief in Kosovo Joachim Rucker told reporters in
Pristina.
He said the process of the resolution of the status of Kosovo is
progressing step by step and the UN mission has been preparing the
ground for transition and the transfer of responsibilities to local
institutions.
Kosovo negotiating team spokesman Skender Hiseni said that "the
negotiators will not agree to a single specific dimension of the
package, until it explicitly underscores the independence of
Kosovo."
Kosovo is formally part of Serbia but has been administered by
the UN mission since 1999, after US-led NATO forces intervened to
halt a Serb crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, who represent some 90 percent
of the 2 million people, hopes the Ahtisaari's package will lead to
the province's independence from Serbia -- a move opposed by the
Serb minority in Kosovo and the government in Belgrade.
Over the past few days, Ahtisaari's associates have announced
that the package of proposals for Kosovo is in its final stage and
that the package would be revealed to the Contact Group of six
major countries immediately after the Jan. 21 parliamentary
elections in Serbia.
European diplomats have said EU administrators are set to
replace the UN mission after the UN Security council approves the
solution to Kosovo's future status in March or April.
(Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2007)
