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Contact Group representatives open Kosovo talks

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  • Contact Group representatives open Kosovo talks

    PanARMENIAN.Net

    Contact Group representatives open Kosovo talks
    10.08.2007 15:25 GMT+04:00

    /PanARMENIAN.Net/ A new effort is due to begin to find a solution to
    the long-term political status of Kosovo.

    Envoys from the United States, the European Union and Russia will
    arrive in Belgrade for talks with Serbian political leaders.

    They will then travel to Kosovo for talks with ethnic Albanian
    leaders.

    The UN Security Council failed last month to find consensus on the
    Serbian province's future. Its majority ethnic Albanian population
    wants independence.

    The troika will visit Belgrade and hold talks with political leaders,
    including Serbia's president and prime minister.

    The EU representative of the troika, the German diplomat Wolfgang
    Ischinger, said they would not be making any new proposals, but would
    be seeing whether the Serbian and Kosovo-Albanian sides had any chance
    of finding agreement over the long-term status of Kosovo.

    `I think, at this stage, let's get through this 120 days. The position
    of the United States is clear. President Bush announced it in Tirana,
    as you've noted. That position is not going to change, we stand firmly
    beside it. But the task immediately ahead is to get the two parties to
    lay out their final ideas, proposals, suggestions, and bring this
    matter to a conclusion before December 10,' said U.S. envoy Frank
    Wisner. Nations can become independent without permission of the UN
    Security Council, he noted.

    Ethnic Albanians want Kosovo to become independent. Serbs want the
    province to remain a part of Serbia.

    A UN proposal to provide a form of supervised independence was blocked
    at the UN Security Council last month by Russia, which is a close ally
    of Serbia.

    The current round of talks is due to end in December, but Serbia and
    Russia have said there should be no time limit.

    International officials in Kosovo have expressed concern that if the
    issue is not resolved in the near future, the security situation in
    the province could deteriorate.

    Many believe the talks chaired by the troika could be the last
    opportunity to find an agreement between the two sides.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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