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Serbia lines up wholesale rejection of Kosovo plan
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BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia will reject every element of a U.N. plan for Kosovo that points to the creation of "another Albanian state" during final talks beginning on Wednesday in Vienna, a senior Serbian official said.
Aleksandar Simic, a member of the Serbian delegation to the talks, said he expected U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari to hold real negotiations, rather than "pull the wool over the eyes" of the public in order to rush his plan to the U.N. Security Council.
"Our delegation, in accordance with the mandate received from the Serbian parliament, will take a stand on every element that undermines the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Serbian state," Simic told Serb state television late on Monday.
"In other words, elements which imply the creation of another Albanian state in the Balkans, on Serbian territory."
Ahtisaari opened talks exactly one year ago, but they yielded little but disagreement. On February 2 he unveiled his plan for the independence of Kosovo, eight years since NATO bombs drove out Serb forces.
The former Finnish president has said he is open to "adjustments" but does not believe in "miracles". The two sides will have until March 10 to lodge complaints before he sends the final version to the United Nations Security Council.
Simic, an adviser to Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, said Ahtisaari appeared to be in a rush.
"What is key is whether we will really have room to negotiate, or will it just be a performance to pull the wool over the eyes of the ... public and for Ahtisaari to say compromise is impossible so he can go to the U.N. Security Council as soon as possible?"
Kostunica insists the Security Council will throw out a plan amounting to the amputation of 15 percent of Serbian territory.
Belgrade is banking on a Russian veto, which Moscow has hinted at in the event a solution is imposed on its Balkan ally.
Ninety percent of Kosovo's 2 million people are ethnic Albanians. They have been under U.N. administration since 1999, after a Serb counter-insurgency war that killed 10,000 and drove out almost one million.
Serbia has offered broad autonomy for the province that is the cradle of the nation, but the West sees no prospect of re-imposing Serb rule.
Simic said Serbia would reject recommendations that Kosovo control its own borders, have its own army, join international bodies and assume its share of Serbian assets.
"Everything that is not related to substantial autonomy will be disputed by our side," he said.
(Additional reporting by Beti Bilandzic)
