VIENNA (AP)--Ethnic Albanian and Serbian officials ended the first day of their fourth meeting on the future of Kosovo on Thursday without results.
The two delegations apparently cemented their positions about the number of Serb and other non-ethnic Albanian communities that would be given a degree of autonomy under a new roadmap for the disputed province.
"The differences are big," Kosovo's deputy Prime Minister Lutfi Haziri said after the talks.
Three previous rounds of U.N.-mediated talks aimed at reconciling demands by the ethnic Albanian and Serb sides have also failed to yield results.
The negotiation process is being mediated by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari and the Vienna talks by Austrian diplomat Albert Rohan. Rohan declined comment after the talks.
Slobodan Samardzic, a Serbian negotiator, said his team suggested the creation of 16 "communities" run by Serbs and other non-Albanians - including Gypsies, Turks and Muslims of Slavic origin.
The ethnic Albanian delegation said it wants only five minority-run municipalities.
The ethnic Albanian delegation also wants a unified system of local government that would be more or less ethnically neutral.
Another Serb negotiator Leon Kojen said Kosovo Serbs should be allowed to run their own communities, maintain special ties to Belgrade, control their own local police and receive guarantees for the security, freedom of movement and right of return of Serb refugees who fled the province during and after the 1998-99 war.
Ethnic Albanians, who comprise about 90% of Kosovo's population of 2 million, want full independence for the province. But Serbia insists Belgrade must retain some control over the province.
A key stumbling point - the fate of Kosovska Mitrovica, Kosovo's only ethnically divided town, will be discussed on Friday.
Kosovo, formally still part of Serbia, has been under U.N. administrative control since mid-1999. [ 04-05-06 1755GMT ]
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2 comments:
What kind of "communities" are we talking about here for the Roma (Gypsy is rather racist for an organization like AP), gated like in America? Yeah, go ahead create Serb neighbhorhood-municipalities. I hope University of Prishtina starts opening micro-management courses soon because otherwise it will be hard to run things at that level.
P.S. Notice how Serbs want to offer the same rights to all "communities" in Kosova? They did the same thing in Rambuillet when they got "minority representatives" with their delegation. Poor kind souls, they always sacrifice for others.
to NYoutlawyer
Why do u think hes not in jail?
all albanians function like that.
They dont look at whos the smartest they just look at who killed the most serbs.
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