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24 April 2007   Belgrade and Pristina both insist that the UN visit to Kosovo will bolster their own - mutually exclusive - causes.

By Krenar Gashi in Pristina

Kosovo and Serbia are taking radically different approaches to the fact-finding mission that the UN Security Council is sending to the region on April 26 and 27.

While Kosovo Albanians insist the mission will further the UN proposal for "supervised" independence, Serbian politicians maintain it will stop the process and bolster their calls for fresh negotiations.

The visit, made at the prompting of Serbia's ally, Russia, will involve the delegation spending three days in Kosovo and Serbia, gathering first-hand information, followed by a day of consultations with NATO and EU representatives in Brussels,

Vojislav Kostunica, Serbia's prime minister, on April 23 predicted the visit would start "a totally new round on the resolution of province's status".

He said it would result in the abandonment of the plan for Kosovo's final status drawn up by the UN envoy, Martti Ahtisaari, which Serbia strongly opposes.

According to Kostunica, "the Russian initiative for a comprehensive evaluation of the 'standards for Kosovo' is a real basis for a new negotiating process".

The Serbian leader was referring to an eight-point policy drawn up by the UN administration in Kosovo, UNMIK, to evaluate Kosovo's progress towards self-government. Its main points concern progress in the rule of law, economic development and the return of the refugees.

While Serbian leaders have hailed the three-day visit as the first step towards revision of the UN plan for Kosovo, local leaders moved to quash talk of new negotiations.

"There will not be any new negotiations on Kosovo's status," said
Agim Ceku, Kosovo's Prime Minister, last week.

Ulpiana Lama, spokeswoman for the Kosovo government, told Balkan Insight the visit would confirm that the ongoing process was the right one and that "the status quo in Kosovo cannot hold any longer".

Kosovo Serb refugees now living in Serbia have announced they will stage a protest during the visit near the Jarine crossing point between Kosovo and Serbia to make the point that they cannot return safely to Kosovo.

Many Serbs fled the province in 1999 when NATO's air war forced the Serbian authorities withdraw.

Negotiations on Kosovo's final status in Vienna failed to reach any agreement, after which the UN asked Ahtisaari to draw up his own proposal. This has recommended "independence supervised by the international community".

The proposal has the support of the US, Britain and most European Union countries but Russia has consistently opposed it. As Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, it can veto the UN plan.

Serb representatives have said the announced protests by refugees will show the UN's eight "standards" in Kosovo have not been fulfilled, especially those concerning refugee returns.

But Avni Arifi, of the Kosovo prime minister's office, who coordinates implementation of the standards, said the real aim was to create dramatic-looking propaganda concerning the allegedly slow rate of returns.

"The truth is that Kosovo's government has spent a lot of effort and money in the returns process," he told Balkan Insight. "This truth will be revealed to the UN delegation."

Oliver Ivanovic, a moderate Serbian leader in Kosovo, also sounded a doubtful note about the value of protests.

"We don't need protests; we need a real return," he said. "The protests will draw attention but this is not the right way to waste our energy. Such energy should be used for people to return to Kosovo."

Sources have indicated that besides Pristina, the delegation will visit the divided town of Mitrovica, Novobrda, Brestovik and the Serbian Orthodox monastery at Decani.

They will meet Albanian and Serbian politicians, Serbian church leaders and representatives of foreign liaison offices in Kosovo.

Krenar Gashi is BIRN's Kosovo Editor. Balkan Insight is BIRN's online publication.