By Daisy Ayliffe - 3rd May 2006
The fourth round of talks on the future of Kosovo gets underway in Vienna at a difficult time for the region.
The UN-mediated talks between Belgrade and Pristina are overshadowed by Wednesday’s EU decision to halt talks with Serbia.
Brussels froze talks with Serbia over the country’s failure to transfer war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic to the war crimes tribunal in the Hague.
And with a referendum over Montengrin independence looming on May 21, Serbia’s fragile make-up hangs in the balance.
Talks on Thursday will for the first time deal with the thorny issue of status for Kosovo.
Still legally part of Serbia, Kosovo has been run by the UN since 1999 when NATO drove out Yugoslav forces accused of atrocities against Albanian civilians.
The northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica will be under the spotlight as the two sides aim to reconcile fundamentally different visions.
Pristina is advocating the establishment of two municipal units in Kosovo, both answerable to an executive council that would be overseen by an international administrator.
But the Serb negotiators want to see two entirely separate municipalities, with northern Mitrovica forming part of a proposed grouping of Serb municipalities with close ties to Belgrade.
Albert Rohan, deputy UN envoy to Kosovo who is chairing the talks, described the impasse as “disturbing”.
Later rounds of talks will move on to examine the explosive issue of minority rights.
The UN special representatives will report to the security council on the whole package of issues in June this year.
“After the report to the security council, I will need to discuss how to proceed. Whatever Kosovo’s status might be, we have to find a safe and secure future – including for the minority Serbs,” UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari told reporters in Brussels last month.
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