Kosovo and Serbia to Square Off at U.N.

UNITED NATIONS — Serbia and Kosovo square off at the U.N. Security Council today, with the Kosovars demanding quick independence and the Serbs demanding that the province remain part of its territory.

Both sides have supporters in the U.N.’s most powerful body — the U.S. and key European Union nations backing Kosovo’s call for independence and Russia supporting its close ally Serbia and calling for further negotiations.

The council meeting will focus on a report by U.S., European Union and Russian mediators in two-year talks between Belgrade and Kosovo on resolving the status of the Serbian province. The talks ended in November without an agreement. Hashim Thaci, Kosovo’s prime minister-elect, said Tuesday that Kosovo is “ready for independence.”

“We have no time to lose, to waste,” he said. “We need a decision … for independence and qualitative recognition of (the) democratic world. … We wasted a hundred years. We fight for our independence. We deserve our freedom.”

But Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin is pressing for further negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina and has appealed to the international community to “encourage them to reach a mutually acceptable solution to this problem.” Churkin has introduced elements for a council statement that would back additional negotiations, but Britain, France, the U.S. and others have said it’s time to resolve Kosovo’s status.

Originally published by Associated Press.

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