<http://www.iht.com/> International Herald Tribune
U.S., EU, Russian envoys in Kosovo to nudge ethnic Albanians into new round of status talks The Associated Press Saturday, August 11, 2007 PRISTINA, Serbia: Diplomats from the United States, the European Union and Russia aimed Saturday to convince independence-seeking ethnic Albanians in Kosovo to search for common ground with Serbia, though both sides doubt the talks will result in agreement. The diplomats — known as the "troika" — are in the region to reopen talks on the future of the province after Russia threatened to block the Western-backed plan to grant Kosovo internationally supervised independence in the U.N. Security Council. American diplomat Frank Wisner, the EU's Wolfgang Ischinger and Russia's Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko will meet with NATO and U.N. officials before a set of meetings with top ethnic Albanian leaders. They were in Serbia on Friday. The talks, slated to last 120 days, are to result with a report back to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon by Dec. 10. But, as the latest effort — the second in as many years — got under way, negotiators on both sides remained adamant they would not fall back from their positions. The ethnic Albanian majority demands independence from Belgrade, while Serbia wants to keep the province under its control. Kosovo formally remains part of Serbia, although it has been under U.N. and NATO administration since the end of the 1998-99 war between ethnic Albanian separatists and Serb forces. Albanian leaders issued a stark warning ahead of the talks that they would walk out if their quest for independence was put in doubt. In Belgrade, the diplomats pledged to "leave no stone unturned" in their efforts to find a compromise solution, despite Serbian President Boris Tadic's insistence Kosovo not be allowed to secede. Yearlong talks led by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari failed to produce an agreement. The U.S. and EU member states are now trying new negotiations through the so-called Contact Group — an advisory body comprised of the United States, Britain, Russia, Germany, France and Italy. There is concern in the West and the region that Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders, increasingly frustrated by setbacks and delays, might unilaterally declare independence, throwing the Balkans into new turmoil http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/11/europe/EU-GEN-Kosovo-Talks.php
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