Kosovo Albanians appealed to the West on Sunday to "urgently" back their bid for independence from Serbia as a December 10 deadline for a negotiated deal passes in failure "After eight years of uncertainty, the people of Kosovo urgently need clarity about their future," government and opposition leaders of the breakaway province said in a joint statement.
They repeated their commitment to a Western-backed plan for "supervised independence", including its offer of autonomy for the Serb minority, as "a solid basis to lead Kosovo and the region towards a brighter Euro-Atantic future." Russia, using the threat of its UN veto, has blocked adoption of the plan at the UN Security Council. But four more months of negotiations between Serbs and Albanians failed to produce agreement by a December 10 deadline, and Kosovo is now expected to declare independence early in 2008 with Western backing. The statement said the Kosovo leadership and parliament "intend to work in close coordination with our international partners to settle Kosovo's status."
US, Russian and European mediators had until Monday to broker a deal, but submitted a report to the United Nations on Friday saying neither side had given ground on sovereignty.
EU envoy Wolfgang Ischinger is to brief EU foreign ministers on Monday. Leaders of the 27-nation bloc are expected this week to declare negotiations at an end, and express readiness to take over supervision of Kosovo from the United Nations. The United States and almost all EU member states support statehood for Kosovo. Serbia, backed by Russia, warns it would unleash chaos in the fragile Balkans.
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