Kosovo close to boiling point, warns UN chief

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, has warned that the disappointment of Kosovo's hopes for imminent independence could provoke fresh violence in the province and elsewhere in the Balkans. "Any further delay will have a very negative impact on peace and security, not only in Kosovo," he said.

The Serbian province with an overwhelmingly Albanian population had been promised "supervised" independence under a UN plan that was drafted by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari after lengthy consultations with leaders in Serbia and Kosovo.

Related articles

• Leading article: No compromise on independence
• Search the news archive for more stories

Last month, during his visit to the Albanian capital, Tirana, President George Bush gave independence a ringing endorsement. "Sooner rather than later you've got to say enough is enough - Kosovo is independent," he declared.

But this week it became clear that for Kosovo it will be later rather than sooner. Serbia refuses to accept the independence of what it claims to be the nation's spiritual heartland. And Russia, a Belgrade ally, is threatening to use its veto to kill a UN Security Council resolution on the issue.

The Ahtisaari plan would now appear to be dead in the water. Dan Fried, the US Assistant Secretary of State, acknowledged as much on Monday when he said: "A limited period of negotiations is the best way ahead, and it will result in the best outcome for all the people of this country."

Veterans of the Kosovo Liberation Army warned of a return to war if Kosovo's status remains unresolved. Faik Fazliu, head of the war veterans' organisation, said: "We will be obliged to act as KLA soldiers and to realise the last will of our nation's martyrs."

Kosovo has been largely peaceful since the end of the Nato war eight years ago, and Mr Fazliu's was an isolated threat. But Berat Buzhala, editor of the daily Express newspaper, voiced the widely held view that the Kosovans' docility was their undoing.

Further negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina, rather than independence, he said, "will prove that Kosovo is an unimportant issue for the international community, and that the international community does not react towards a problem if there is no blood or violence in the matter. If Kosovo is quiet for another 10 years, then even these 10 years won't be enough to get a resolution of Kosovo's status."

While the disputed province's eight years as a UN protectorate have seen the threat of a new war recede, the weakness of the provisional government and the legal system and the segregation of Serb-populated areas has resulted in some serious problems.

Unemployment among Kosovo's two million people is about 70 per cent, the highest in south-east Europe, organised crime is a pervading menace, corruption and defiance of the law is widespread. None of these problems can be tackled until the final status of the province is decided.

And with growing impatience and a sense of disillusionment with the international community, law and order could go into a tailspin. Bujar Bukoshi, leader of the New Party of Kosovo, warned: "The loss of credibility of the political leaders could result in destabilisation, with strikes in the education, health and economic sectors which could, in turn, lead Kosovo into a grave crisis."