By Vesna Peric Zimonjic
BELGRADE, Jul 25 2007 (IPS)

Serbia has expressed particular satisfaction after the United Nations failed to agree a new Security Council resolution aimed at supervised independence for Kosovo.

“This was a significant victory for Serbia and Russia and their policy of principle,” Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica commented. “This is also a victory of law against attempts to deprive Serbia of a large part of its territory.”

The statement came in the early hours of Saturday, as the United States and the European Union (EU) withdrew the resolution that would practically have provided independence for Kosovo.

The decision came after Russia threatened to veto the new resolution, on the grounds that it might create a dangerous international precedent for many regions to secede.

Kosovo is the southern province of Serbia; about 90 percent of its population is ethnic Albanian. It has been run by the UN administration since 1999 after the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) ended its bombing campaign against Serbia due to Serb repression of Kosovo non-Serbs.

Independence for Kosovo is a highly emotional issue in Serbia; the Kosovo region was home to the first Serbian medieval state, and many view it as the heartland of Serb identity. But no more than 90,000 Serbs live in the province now.

In place of the new resolution, Western allies decided to refer the issue to the Contact Group for the Balkans. The Contact Group created by the UN in the 1990s comprises Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the U.S.

The Contact Group would aim to persuade Kosovo and Serbian leaders to continue negotiations, although the UN sponsored 13 months of talks through Finnish intermediary Marti Ahtisaari have not brought the two sides any closer.

The Group offers advice and suggests solutions. No one has the power of veto in this body, which usually meets at the level of political directors of foreign ministries.

“It is an important group that prepares solutions,” analyst Dusan Janjic told IPS. “Relaying responsibility (by the UN) to the Contact Group represents an opportunity to rectify problems which were not regulated through Ahtisaari’s mediation. Its suggestions can be the last opportunity for all to agree a compromise resolution.”

But no analyst or leader has an idea how exactly to bring the two sides closer. Kosovo capital Pristina and Serb capital Belgrade remain divided, with ethnic Albanians wanting nothing but independence, and Serbia insisting that its territory cannot be carved out.

Serbian President Boris Tadic warned last weekend that despite transfer of the Kosovo issue to the Contact Group “a decision on the future status of Kosovo can come only through the UN Security Council, as that would confirm its compliance with international law.”

Like Kostunica or other Serb politicians, Tadic refrained from defining what exactly Serbia wants from negotiations, except independence for Kosovo. No negotiator on the Serbian side ever speaks in clear terms of a common future with ethnic Albanians, their participation in power, or even economic cooperation.

Much like in the era of former leader Slobodan Milosevic, whose repression against Kosovars led to the 1999 bombing of Serbia, Serbian leaders of today forget to mention the people of Kosovo, and speak only about territory.

On the other hand, Kosovo Albanians are becoming impatient after eight years of waiting. Their Prime Minister Agim Ceku told reporters after meeting UN Kosovo administrator Joachim Ruecker that “the UN has failed to act.” Ceku suggested that the Kosovo parliament should adopt a resolution to proclaim independence Nov. 28.

Such a move would be welcomed by the U.S., but clearly not by the EU, which has repeatedly said it planned not to engage in Kosovo without a firm mandate provided by a UN Security Council Resolution.

Pristina daily Zeri wrote over the weekend that an international conference on Kosovo could be expected in September under a French initiative. It would be coordinated by the Contact Group that would try to find common grounds, and enable creation of a compromise draft resolution to be adopted by the Security Council.

In the meantime, there have been suggestions for partition of Kosovo into a smaller, northern part populated by Serbs, and a southern area for ethnic Albanians. International diplomatic sources and sources in the Serbian government confirmed to IPS that this has been discussed.

“The problem is who will propose it, as officially, everybody refrains from suggesting it,” a Western diplomat told IPS.

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