Post by Fender on Feb 10, 2008 18:02:41 GMT -5
"Declaration prepared with foreign diplomats"
10 February 2008 | 12:05 | Source: B92, Beta, Tanjug
PRIŠTINA -- Kosovo Albanian leaders will meet at the start of next week, Koha Ditore says.
The Albanian language daily published in Priština adds in its article today that their meeting will be in order to "prepare the text" of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence.
The meeting is to be attended by the province's president and prime minister, Fatmir Sejdiu, Hashim Thaci, and other officials.
Koha Ditore also quotes its sources with the Priština authorities who revealed that the text was prepared "in coordination with foreign diplomats in Kosovo," but did not provide any details.
Other that declaring the province's independence, which Serbia says will be considered null and void, the document will also reportedly contain an invitation for an EU mission to replace UNMIK, and obligation to implement Martti Ahtisaari's Kosovo status plan.
The Finnish diplomat, the UN special envoy for Kosovo, came up with the blueprint last spring, but it was rejected on several occasions by the UN Security Council.
The media in Priština yesterday said that their diplomatic sources told them Kosovo's assembly planned to declare the province's unilateral secession from Serbia on Feb. 17.
Radio Television Kosovo (RTK) announced that it was "confirmed at the European Union headquarters that the provincial assembly will adopt, on Sunday, Feb. 17, a statement of intent to proclaim independence and that the proclamation itself will take effect in early March."
Sources at the Office of the EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana yesterday declined to comment on the reports.
"That is one of the options that they heard mentioned," the sources in Brussels told Tanjug news agency, but pointed out that "they know of other options as well."
In the same report, RTK specified that, during the period from Feb. 17 until early March, the Kosovo assembly will adopt a package of laws envisaged within the proposals made by Ahtisaari, and the constitution.
The state insignia of Kosovo, the flag and the seal, should also be determined, the provincial public broadcaster said.
"A number of EU member-states will announce their intent to recognize Kosovo before independence is actually proclaimed, while it will be recognized by 20 EU member-states once it is proclaimed," RTK said.
Radio Deutsche Welle today carried a report by the German daily Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ), which said, quoting diplomats from several European countries, that Kosovo will proclaim independence at an emergency session of assembly on Feb. 17, and that most states of the EU, including Germany, will recognize it on March 10.
10 February 2008 | 12:05 | Source: B92, Beta, Tanjug
PRIŠTINA -- Kosovo Albanian leaders will meet at the start of next week, Koha Ditore says.
The Albanian language daily published in Priština adds in its article today that their meeting will be in order to "prepare the text" of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence.
The meeting is to be attended by the province's president and prime minister, Fatmir Sejdiu, Hashim Thaci, and other officials.
Koha Ditore also quotes its sources with the Priština authorities who revealed that the text was prepared "in coordination with foreign diplomats in Kosovo," but did not provide any details.
Other that declaring the province's independence, which Serbia says will be considered null and void, the document will also reportedly contain an invitation for an EU mission to replace UNMIK, and obligation to implement Martti Ahtisaari's Kosovo status plan.
The Finnish diplomat, the UN special envoy for Kosovo, came up with the blueprint last spring, but it was rejected on several occasions by the UN Security Council.
The media in Priština yesterday said that their diplomatic sources told them Kosovo's assembly planned to declare the province's unilateral secession from Serbia on Feb. 17.
Radio Television Kosovo (RTK) announced that it was "confirmed at the European Union headquarters that the provincial assembly will adopt, on Sunday, Feb. 17, a statement of intent to proclaim independence and that the proclamation itself will take effect in early March."
Sources at the Office of the EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana yesterday declined to comment on the reports.
"That is one of the options that they heard mentioned," the sources in Brussels told Tanjug news agency, but pointed out that "they know of other options as well."
In the same report, RTK specified that, during the period from Feb. 17 until early March, the Kosovo assembly will adopt a package of laws envisaged within the proposals made by Ahtisaari, and the constitution.
The state insignia of Kosovo, the flag and the seal, should also be determined, the provincial public broadcaster said.
"A number of EU member-states will announce their intent to recognize Kosovo before independence is actually proclaimed, while it will be recognized by 20 EU member-states once it is proclaimed," RTK said.
Radio Deutsche Welle today carried a report by the German daily Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ), which said, quoting diplomats from several European countries, that Kosovo will proclaim independence at an emergency session of assembly on Feb. 17, and that most states of the EU, including Germany, will recognize it on March 10.