Envoy unveils Kosovo road map towards independence

SERBIA:United Nations envoy Martii Ahtisaari finally unveiled his plan for Kosovo yesterday, angering Serbia and broadly pleasing Kosovan Albanians with a "road map" towards independence.

Washington and EU nations welcomed the proposals, amid fierce criticism from Serb leaders who vowed not to relinquish control of a region that they see as the religious and historical heartland of their nation.

Mr Ahtisaari's plan envisages a Kosovo with its own constitution, anthem, flag and security force, and with the right to join international bodies such as the World Bank, but does not explicitly declare the region of two million independent from Serbia.

That concession was not enough to satisfy Belgrade, however, while in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, it was dismissed as little more than a technicality by leaders who are keen to satisfy demands for sovereignty from the province's 90 per cent ethnic-Albanian population.

"Kosovo shall be a multiethnic society, governing itself democratically and with full respect for the rule of law," Mr Ahtisaari's proposal said, emphasising the need to protect the rights of minority Serbs, whose enclaves would be granted a broad degree of autonomy.

"The settlement provides for an international representative to supervise the implementation of the settlement. And K-For will continue to provide a safe and secure environment by supporting Kosovo institutions as long as necessary," the former Finnish president added, referring to the Nato-led international peacekeeping force that comprises about 17,000 men.

Serb president Boris Tadic, who met Mr Ahtisaari yesterday, immediately rejected the idea of Kosovo's independence - as has every major Serb politician, knowing such a move would be political suicide in a country where ultra-nationalists won last month's general election.

The prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, refused to meet the UN envoy, but was scathing about his plan.

"Martti Ahtisaari has had no mandate to deal with the state status of Serbia and to encroach on its sovereignty and territorial integrity," Mr Kostunica said in a statement.

"His proposal violates the UN charter and principles of international law on which peace and stability in the world is based. That means Ahtisaari's proposal is illegitimate." Belgrade lost control of Kosovo in 1999, when Nato bombing ended a crackdown on separatist rebels by Serb forces who are also accused of killing thousands of Albanian civilians.

A UN administration has run Kosovo ever since, but local leaders said the UN plan puts it well on the road to full independence from Serbia.

"What Ahtisaari described is a sovereign state, an independent state.

However, this document does not entail all our expectations, all our demands, what belongs to us," said the province's prime minister, Agim Ceku.

Mr Ahtisaari said Kosovo's final status would be more clearly defined in a document that is expected to go before the UN Security Council next month.

He urged Kosovan and Serb leaders to use the intervening period to engage in constructive talks, but admitted that both sides' positions were "extremely fixed", and that an imposed settlement might be the only solution.

Of the prospect for a negotiated solution, Mr Ahtisaari (69) remarked: "I think that might require so much time that I don't think I have years in my life to achieve ."