PRISTINA, June 15 – Frank Wisner, the U.S. envoy, said Friday while on a visit to Pristina that very likely more time is needed to finalize Kosova’s independence status.
At the same time Wisner, who met with Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu, a negotiating team, and Prime Minister Agim Ceku “to discuss tactics how to achieve (independence)”, urged people in Kosovo to maintain calm and discipline as the status of their disputed province was being resolved, though the process was taking longer than expected.
International negotiations over the province’s status were complex and time consuming, he said.
Wisner said further negotiations were not “necessarily bad” for ethnic Albanians, suggesting they could help “open the door to that broad welcome that you as Kosovars want.”
“It is very important to maintain the calm and discipline that have defined Kosovo and its leaders over the past months,” Wisner said at a news conference after meeting with Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu and a negotiating team “to discuss tactics on how to achieve (independence).”
He suggested more time may be needed for negotiations, but said the point would be “to prove that every effort has been exhausted … to make it clear to the world that every avenue is pursuedŠWe need to find a consensus.”
Wisner urged Kosovo’s authorities to continue work on the constitution, election law, decentralization and cultural heritage, and to finish the process of choosing state symbols.
He said the U.S. would push hard for “a prompt outcome,” but could not be specific about a date.
“The process to achieve independence is taking longer than you or we Americans would have liked,” Wisner said. “But it is important that your independence be achieved as a result of a U.N. Security Council resolution that will set the stage for recognition, and will open the door for your acceptance into NATO and the EU.”
Sejdiu did not comment on the possibility of extending negotiations, but said “Kosovo cannot remain a hostage continuously.”
The United States and European Union have strongly supported a U.N. proposal for granting Kosovo internationally supervised independence. But Serbia has refused to consider any solution that removes Kosovo from its borders, and Russia has threatened to block approval of the plan in the U.N. Security Council.
In Belgrade, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica rejected a similar suggestion made by Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema. “Serbia will not negotiate independence of its province because any form of independence would represent a breach of the U.N. Charter,” he said after talks with D’Alema.
Kosovo, a province of 2 million, of whom 90 percent are ethnic Albanians, has been run by the U.N. since mid-1999 when a NATO air war halted a crackdown by Serb forces on independence-seeking ethnic Albanian rebels.
Last month U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari recommended Kosovo be granted internationally supervised independence _ a proposal welcomed by its ethnic Albanian majority, but vehemently rejected by its Serb minority, Serbia and Russia. Moscow contends independence would set a dangerous precedent for the world’s other breakaway regions.
