UN expected to declare start of Kosovo status talks

ADN KRONOS INTERNATIONAL (ITALY) 24-Oct-05 11:16

New York/Belgrade, 24 Oct. (AKI) - The United Nations Security Council is expected to declare the beginning of talks on the final status of Kosovo at Monday's session, scheduled for 10 o'clock in New York, or 4.p.m. central European time. The long-awaited session will be addressed by the chief UN representative in Kosovo, Soren Jessen Petersen, and special envoy Kai Eide, who will report on the situation in the province, while the Serbian case will be presented by Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.

Before departing for New York, Kostunica said he would defend the thesis that Kosovo is "an integral part of Serbia and must remain so". He said that the issue of Kosovo, whose majority ethnic Albanians demand independence, should be solved through a model of broad autonomy, without changing state borders.

Ethnic Albanians, who comprise a 1.7 million majority alongside an estimated 100.000 remaining Serbs in the province, have repeatedly warned they would settle for nothing short of independence. None of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders will address today's Security Council session, because of Belgrade's objections, said an aide to Kosovo premier Bajram Kosumi. But their position is well known and is expected to be elaborated by Petersen.

Kostunica said he was confident that the Security Council would guarantee by its authority "the respect of the international law, first of all the inviolability of the main principle of preserving sovereignty and territorial integrity and the respect for the internationally recognised borders of our country".

Kostunica's aid Slobodan Samardzic added that the Security Council was expected only to officially declare the beginning of talks today, while other details would be worked out at a later session.