Serbia Rejects Framework for ´Independent´ Kosovo

The mediating trio from the United States, Russia and the European Union insist the points do not prejudice the outcome of talks.

Serbia on Monday rejected a framework offered by international mediators for the future of its breakaway province of Kosovo, saying it defined a relationship between two countries and as such was unacceptable.

"The 14 points as they stand now mean a relationship between two independent states," Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said, referring to the 14 points of potential agreement drafted by envoys from the United States, Russia and the European Union.

"That is completely unacceptable," he told a news conference after negotiations in Vienna with leaders of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority.

Kostunica's comments mark a setback for envoys from the "troika" who have barely a month left to bridge the chasm between Serbia's offer of autonomy and Kosovo's demands for independence.

The 14 points state that Belgrade "will not govern Kosovo" nor "re-establish a physical presence" in a province wrested from Serb control by NATO bombers in 1999. Kostunica said the way the points were formulated "made clear they were about two independent states".

He insisted the document mention current U.N. Resolution 1244, adopted in June 1999 after a NATO air war to stop Serb atrocities against Albanians. The document affirms Serbian sovereignty over the province, now run by the United Nations.

Serbian negotiators offered Hong Kong as a possible model for the territory, where 90 percent of the population is Albanian. The Albanians rejected it as "totally inappropriate" and said the talks had again got nowhere.

Nearing a Nov. 17 parliamentary election, Kosovo is threatening to declare independence and seek recognition from the West after the deadline for talks to end expires on Dec. 10.

Monday's meeting was the fourth since August, when the envoys took on the job after Russia blocked U.N. adoption of a plan for Kosovan independence under EU supervision.

Russian envoy Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko said he still believed a deal was possible, but chances were "very slim".

German diplomat Wolfgang Ischinger, the EU's envoy, told a news conference the 14 points would remain the basis for further dialogue, which resumes on Nov. 20 in Brussels.

"It is not easy for the troika to define and find common ground," he said. "But we will continue to search."

Before the talks, Ischinger insisted the troika principles "do not prejudice the outcome," but describe a future relationship if the two parties could agree on Kosovo's status.

Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO drove out Serb forces to halt the killing and expulsion of Albanians in a two-year war with separatist guerrillas.

Albanians reject any form of Serb rule, and NATO's 16,000-strong peace force is braced for possible unrest.

Russia shows no sign of withdrawing its support for Serbia. With veto power at the United Nations, Moscow's consent is key to the adoption of a new U.N. resolution.

But diplomats say the West is working on a way around resolution 1244, to allow the EU to deploy a 1,800-strong police mission and for individual countries -- led by the United States, Britain and France -- to recognise the new state.