US envoy says Kosovo talks to end in 2006
Pristina, April 15 (AP): A U.S. envoy in talks on Kosovo's future said on Friday that the province's disputed status should be resolved in 2006.
U.N.-mediated talks began in February in Vienna, Austria, toward deciding whether Kosovo should become independent or remain part of Serbia.
``It remains the firm view of the United States that the final status of Kosovo must be achieved, and achieved this year,'' said Frank Wisner, a U.S. diplomat assigned to help U.N. envoys in negotiations.
``And when it's achieved, to leave the region more stable, more prosperous and a region that will be integrated into Europe,'' he said.
The negotiations _ also involving Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership and Serb officials from Belgrade _ aim to resolve Kosovo's status while protecting the rights of its Serb minority and preventing its internal territorial division.
The next round of U.N.-mediated talks is scheduled for May 4.
While praising the work of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian negotiators, Wisner said he would push them on the subject of protecting minority rights, as well as cultural and religious sites. On Saturday he planned to visit the 14th-century Decani Monastery, a Serb Orthodox site.
Kosovo's Serbs have refused to participate in local institutions since a brief period of ethnic violence targeting them and their property in March 2004. A key aim of U.N. negotiators is to give Serbs a voice in Kosovo and reinvigorate its decrepit economy before any possible independence.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanians, who comprise about 90 percent of the population, want independence for the tiny province, formally part of Serbia-Montenegro. Serb leaders insist on maintaining at least some control over Kosovo, and want the province's minority Serb communities to have more autonomy.
Kosovo has been a U.N. protectorate since 1999, when a NATO air bombardment stopped a crackdown by Serb forces on ethnic-Albanian separatists.
Wisner on Thursday visited neighboring Macedonia in an attempt to build ``support for final status of Kosovo'' in the region.
U.N.-mediated talks began in February in Vienna, Austria, toward deciding whether Kosovo should become independent or remain part of Serbia.
``It remains the firm view of the United States that the final status of Kosovo must be achieved, and achieved this year,'' said Frank Wisner, a U.S. diplomat assigned to help U.N. envoys in negotiations.
``And when it's achieved, to leave the region more stable, more prosperous and a region that will be integrated into Europe,'' he said.
The negotiations _ also involving Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership and Serb officials from Belgrade _ aim to resolve Kosovo's status while protecting the rights of its Serb minority and preventing its internal territorial division.
The next round of U.N.-mediated talks is scheduled for May 4.
While praising the work of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian negotiators, Wisner said he would push them on the subject of protecting minority rights, as well as cultural and religious sites. On Saturday he planned to visit the 14th-century Decani Monastery, a Serb Orthodox site.
Kosovo's Serbs have refused to participate in local institutions since a brief period of ethnic violence targeting them and their property in March 2004. A key aim of U.N. negotiators is to give Serbs a voice in Kosovo and reinvigorate its decrepit economy before any possible independence.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanians, who comprise about 90 percent of the population, want independence for the tiny province, formally part of Serbia-Montenegro. Serb leaders insist on maintaining at least some control over Kosovo, and want the province's minority Serb communities to have more autonomy.
Kosovo has been a U.N. protectorate since 1999, when a NATO air bombardment stopped a crackdown by Serb forces on ethnic-Albanian separatists.
Wisner on Thursday visited neighboring Macedonia in an attempt to build ``support for final status of Kosovo'' in the region.
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