UN: independence is future for Kosovo

The United Nations' envoy to Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, risked the wrath of Serbia by including the word "independence" in his proposals for the breakaway province's future, presented to the UN Security Council in New York yesterday.

But he tried to sweeten the pill by recommending that Kosovo's path to independence be supervised by the same sort of viceroy figure who has had the job of reconciling the warring ethnic factions in Bosnia-Herzegovina since the end of that state's civil war.

"Independence is the only option for a politically stable and economically viable Kosovo," the former Finnish president wrote in his long-awaited report. "I propose the exercise of Kosovo's independence and its fulfilment of the obligations set forth in my settlement proposal be supervised and supported for an initial period by international civilian and military presences."

As foreseen by Mr Ahtisaari, independent Kosovo will have its own 2,500-strong defence force and a constitution intended to stimulate the rebuilding of a multi-ethnic and prosperous society for its two million people. The Serbian minority, meanwhile, will enjoy a large degree of self-government.

The report came after a year of negotiations between the two sides failed to yield an accord. The independence of the province, whose population is 90 per cent Albanian, would mark the last act in the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

The Kosovo government in Pristina welcomed the plan, despite its hopes for quick and unconditional independence. But the Serbian government rejected it, saying the UN has no right to carve out a piece of Serbian territory to create a new sovereign state.

The new UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, and the American under-secretary of state Nicholas Burns both welcomed the proposal. Mr Burns said: "After a year of effort and a year of conversation, it's time the Kosovars received their just due."

The US and the EU hope that weeks of consultations with Kosovan leaders, the Serbian government and members of the Security Council will lead to a Security Council resolution within two or three months.

The so-called final Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status Settlement foresees the transfer of monitoring power from the 3,000-strong UN authority to the 75-member EU team, supported by 200 local staff. Kosovo has been run by the UN since Serbia withdrew its troops in 1999 after a bombing campaign by Nato.

The EU administration will not run the province, but will oversee the implementation of the settlement in areas such as the rule of law, and assist Kosovo in developing "efficient, fair and representative police, judicial, customs and penal institutions".

"Within nine months of the entry into force of the Settlement, general and local elections are to be held," the document says.

The EU mission to Kosovo will be headed by the International Civilian Representative, appointed by an International Steering Group. He "will have ultimate supervisory authority over the implementation of the Settlement." Well- informed diplomatic sources in Belgrade say the EU operation will cost at least €17m (£11.5m) in the first year. The UN plan calls for Nato's 16,500 peacekeepers to remain in Kosovo and leave once security is assured. It also provides for complete protection of medieval Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries in what was the cradle of the Serbian state centuries ago.

Russia is hostile to Kosovo's independence, and Serbia clings to the hope that Russia will exercise its veto to prevent the agreement passing the Security Council. But others in Serbia doubt that the "traditional friendship" between Serbia and Russia will be of much help, as Russia has not acted on Serbia's behalf at crucial junctures in the past.