Kosovo talks fail

PanARMENIAN.Net - Serbs and ethnic Albanians have failed to resolve the future status of Kosovo at a final round of internationally-brokered talks. Both sides stuck to their long-standing positions.



"There has been no agreement with Serbia," Kosovo's ethnic Albanian President Fatmir Sejdiu said in Vienna.



The UN had set a deadline for a negotiated settlement on Kosovo for 10 December, when "troika" of international mediators - Russia, EU and U.S. - is to submit their report to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.



The province's ethnic Albanians demand independence from Serbia but Belgrade has rejected this. The UN is eager to avoid fresh conflict in the region.



Though technically part of Serbia, Kosovo has been administered by the UN for the last eight years. Belgrade's security forces were driven out of Kosovo by a NATO invasion in 1999, after being accused of the repression of the majority ethnic Albanian population. Thousands of UN troops have been deployed in the province to prevent a return to violence. Kosovo's ethnic Albanians want the province to become independent but its Serb minority and the government in Belgrade have opposed this.



Attempts to decide the final status of Kosovo through negotiations have failed. Speaking after the breakdown of talks on Wednesday, Serbian President Boris Tadic said Belgrade would "annul" any unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo.



Ethnic Albanian leaders had said they would declare independence unilaterally if the UN's 10 December deadline for negotiations passed without agreement, BBC reports.