Agence France-Presse,
The United States said Thursday that most UN Security Council members back giving Kosovo independence from Serbia, while veto-wielding Russia urged more time for agreement on an alternative solution.
“The majority of council members support the plan” for Kosovo's supervised independence put forward by UN mediator Martti Ahtisaari, US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters.
Khalilzad, who presides over the council this month, spoke after attending consultations to review a report on last month's fact-finding mission to Belgrade and Pristina by Security Council envoys.
“I believe the votes are there for supporting the Ahtisaari plan assuming there's no Russian veto,” the US envoy said.
The 15-member council is set to begin debate soon on two competing texts — one Western and one Russian — that will form the basis of a draft resolution on Kosovo's future status.
To be adopted, a resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no veto from any of the five veto-wielding council members: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.
Serbia and Russia strongly oppose Kosovo independence, while the United States, the European Union and the leaders of ethnic Albanians, who comprise around 90 percent of Kosovo's two million inhabitants, support it.
Moscow has threatened to wield its veto to block the plan, while Serbia has proposed “monitored autonomy” instead of independence for a province it views as its historic heartland.
But Khalilzad played down the prospect for a Russian veto.
“I don't think we are there at this point,” he said, noting that his Russian colleague Vitaly Churkin had not made that threat to him.
“We are going to talk with each other and see that we can get the broadest possible support for a resolution to move forward,” the US ambassador said. “We very much look forward to working with my colleagues on the security council on a resolution in the coming days.”
The United States and its European allies have put forward some ideas for a draft resolution that would endorse Ahtisaari's recommendations for Kosovo's supervised independence and reaffirm “the commitment to a multi-ethnic and democratic Kosovo, which must reinforce regional stability.”
A rival Russian text meanwhile makes no mention of the Ahtisaari proposals and instead calls for implementation of Security Council resolution 1244 “without further delay.”
Resolution 1244, adopted in 1999, set UN democracy standards in areas such as creating a multi-ethnic democracy, respecting human rights and ensuring the security of minority Serbs.
Khalilzad said Western council members were open to strengthening some parts of the text dealing with the issue of Kosovo's ethnic Serb internally displaced persons as sought by Churkin.
“Serbs do want to return (to their homes in Kosovo),” Churkin told reporters. “More work needs to be done in that area.”
“We very much support and applaud the European leadership on this issue,” Khalilzad said, pointing to the European Union's willingness to integrate both Serbia and a future independent Kosovo.
Churkin said he also welcomed the fact that “the European Union is very actively involved and is prepared to take over the main political role in Kosovo from the United Nations.”
But on the other hand, he noted that an independent Kosovo would have “very broad international significance.”
“Never before has it been proposed that an autonomous region which is part of a country be given independence. This is a threshold situation … It requires very serious consideration,” Churkin said.
He described as “interesting” a proposal by Panama to give Belgrade and Pristina “a six-month period . . . to continue their negotiations” for a mutually acceptable solution.
But his French counterpart Jean-Marc de La Sabliere dismissed the idea.
“Unfortunately we find that the stances of the parties are irreconcilable,” he said. “This was clearly evident during the visit (to the region by the Council mission). Time cannot change what is unfortunately an inescapable fact.”
Kosovo has been under UN administration since mid-1999, after NATO bombing helped to drive out Serbian forces who were waging a brutal crackdown against Albanians.
