International contact group discusses Kosovo's future

Associated Press, Jan 16, 2006 7:07 AM

 

VIENNA, Austria-Senior diplomats from the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and Italy met on Monday to discuss the future of the contested province of Kosovo.

 

Matti Ahtisaari, the U.N. envoy appointed to oversee talks on Kosovo's future, and Kosovo's top U.N. official, Soren Jessen-Petersen, attended also the closed-door meeting.

 

Serb and ethnic Albanian representatives will meet for a first round on Jan. 25 in Vienna.

 

The U.N.-mediated talks on Kosovo's future status are set to formally begin Jan. 25 in Vienna. The agenda will include talks on decentralization of Kosovo's administration and the protection of minorities and cultural objects.

 

Although still officially a province of Serbia-Montenegro, the United Nations has administered Kosovo since a 1999 NATO bombing campaign halted the Serbian crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.

 

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority insists on independence, while Serbia and the Serb minority living here want to retain at least formal control over the region.