Troika submits its report to Ban Ki-Moon
The Contact Group Troika submitted its report on the Kosovo talks to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Friday, in which it expressed regret that Belgrade and Pristina were unable to reach an agreement on the status of Kosovo.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Friday, December 07, 2007
"In the course of our work, the parties discussed a wide range of options, such as full independence, supervised independence, territorial partition, substantial autonomy, confederal arrangements and even a status silent ‘agreement to disagree'.
"The Troika was able to facilitate high-level, intense and substantive discussions between Belgrade and Pristina. Nonetheless, the parties were unable to reach an agreement on the final status of Kosovo. Neither party was willing to cede its position on the fundamental question of sovereignty of Kosovo. This is regrettable, as a negotiated settlement is in the best interest of both parties", the report said.
The Troika, composed of EU envoy Wolfgang Ischinger, Russian envoy Alexandr Botzan-Harchenko and US envoy Frank Wisner, sent the report to Ban Ki-Moon by electronic mail.
The report will be forwarded to the UN Security Council, where it will be discussed on December 19.
Meanwhile, Ischinger will present the report to the EU foreign ministers on Monday in Brussels.
Russia and Serbia are calling for the pursuit of new talks, while Washington and Brussels consider these new talks would not bring any solution.
Ban Ki-Moon reiterated on Thursday the hope that Serbia and Kosovo Albanians might still reach a compromise solution to the Kosovo future status.
"The Secretary General reiterated his hope that the parties will arrive at a compromise solution", a statement from Ban's office said following a meeting with Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic. "He listened carefully to Serbia's position on the status negotiations...and assured Foreign Minister that the report of the Contact Group will be referred to the Security Council for their consideration".
Jeremic, who launched a 36-hours-long diplomatic "blitz" in New York earlier Thursday, said that Serbia urged UN for a support in its struggle to preserve the territorial integrity and sovereignty, underlining Belgrade's utmost readiness to continue the status-related negotiations.
"We're facing the threats of unilateral violations of our territorial integrity and I have asked Secretary General for support in our struggle to preserve territorial integrity and sovereignty", said Jeremic.
Serbian Foreign Minister said that Belgrade regrets the fact that 120 days of negotiations with Pristina failed to produce a compromise solution, blaming Kosovo Albanians for lack of willingness to take part in diplomatic process.
However, Jeremic warned that possible changes to a form or mandate of the international presence in Kosovo could be only a result of decisions taken by the UN Security Council.
