Gap between Serbs, Albanians in Kosovo still unbridged (Roundup)

Vienna - The gap between the positions of Serbs and ethnic Albanians on the question of the future status of Kosovo remained unbridged at a UN-brokered summit in Vienna on Monday.

Sources in Vienna described the task by United Nations chief envoy Martti Ahtisaari of reconciling the two sides' diametrically-opposed views as 'mission impossible.'

Serbia's Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica stressed that Belgrade would not accept 'that 15 per cent of its territory would be used to form a second state,' while Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku called for 'complete independence' for the Kosovo, a province formally a part of Serbia but under UN administration since 1999 Kosovo War.

Taking part in the first direct top-level talks since 1999 were, in addition to Kostunica and Ceku, Serbian President Boris Tadic and Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu. Each side had about 15 delegates.

Ahtisaari, who called the summit, said he stuck to the plan to find a political solution by the end of this year as set by the six- nation Contact Group on Kosovo (Britain, the United States, Russia, Germany, Italy and France).

According to Ahtisaari, there would be intensive negotiations starting in the first week of August dealing with 'technical questions' that could be discussed without the need for a prior solution to the status issue.

These would include the questions of decentralization, minority rights, economic issues and protection of cultural sites. He said he wanted to press ahead with them quickly, as results in these areas could have a positive effect on the status question because mutual trust would be strengthened.

Ahtisaari called on Serbia to take part in efforts to improve living conditions in Kosovo. Creating a multiethnic society in the south Serbian province was not possible if Belgrade refused to cooperate, he warned.

Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, who also was present, pressed both sides for 'more realism and commitment' and urged them to take the present opportunity 'in the interests of the Kosovo people and stability in the region.'

It was clear that there was little prospect of a breakthrough even before talks began. Kostunica said at the weekend: 'The sooner the dangerous idea is forgotten of setting up a new state on the territory of Serbia, the better for us all, and certainly also for the lasting stability of the region as a whole.'