Kosovo’s leaders have warned the international community not to delay the final resolution of its status. “I appeal to the international community to adopt a new resolution very quickly, or to leave Kosovo to go its own way”, said Agim Ceku, Kosovo’s prime minister, after a meeting with other political leaders.

Ceku said Kosovo could not wait any longer and that every lost day increased popular frustration. He was responding to a suggestion by French President Nicolas Sarkozy that the resolution of Kosovo’s status by delayed for six months.

Kosovo is currently a UN protectorate but legally part of Serbia, which pulled out its forces after a Nato bombing campaign in 1999.

Under a plan being discussed in the Security Council, Kosovo would receive independence with international supervision. However, the Group of Eight (G8) powers failed to agree on the plan at a meeting in Germany because of Russian opposition.

Sarkozy’s proposal confused and angered Kosovo’s Albanians. The Unity Team, a group of five politicians charged with resolving the region’s status, held an urgent meeting on Friday, to discuss the G8 summit’s outcome. “Kosovo cannot continue to remain hostage to Russia’s veto, nor to issues that are to do with bilateral relations between the Great Powers. Kosovo… needs its own solution”, the Unity Team said.

“We will respect the partnership, but we stand by our people and we don’t want this process to be delayed endlessly”, said Veton Surroi, a member of the Unity Team. On the other hand, Joachim Ruecker, head of the UN Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, told Kosovo’s leadership not to draw hasty conclusions from Sarkozy’s proposal. “I recommend you treat this proposal very carefully. My opinion is that several declarations have been interpreted / understood out of context.”

An anonymous organisation invited Kosovo Albanians to protest on Sunday, 10 June, against any delays for Kosovo’s final status resolution. The message was sent via email to numerous Kosovo media organisations. The group invitation for a peaceful protest under slogan “Qohu Popull” (People Rise) came as a response to the proposal of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, to delay the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution on Kosovo’s final status for a period of six months.

Sarkozy stated his proposal on Thursday evening, during the G8 summit that was held in Heiligendamm/ Germany. “We have to seriously discuss the situation that we have in the Security Council in order to avoid Russia’s veto”, Sarkozy told the reporters.

The statement caused confusion in Kosovo where most of the people were expecting for the voting on the new resolution for Kosovo to take place any time soon. Agim Ceku, Kosovo’s prime minister, said on Friday that he was waiting for the details of what was agreed at the summit in Germany and that he still hoped that Russia and the other countries could agree “a practical and realistic deal on Kosovo quickly.”

“I want to say this to the international community: we have trusted you to bring clarity to Kosovo. We have committed to the UN path and we have been very patient,” Ceku said. “I urge you, do not betray this trust,” he added.

Meanwhile, the US and the German Liaison Offices in Kosovo stated today that Germany, the European Union and the United States will continue high-level discussions with Russia and after the summit work will go on with Security Council members about the need for the Security Council to make a decision soon.

G8 leaders “did not reach any agreement on President Sarkozy’s proposal or another way forward for Kosovo, and reports of an agreement on a six-month delay are incorrect”, the US liaison office in Kosovo said in a statement.

“We are convinced that the best way forward is the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution based on Martti Ahtisaari’s recommendations”, said the Head of the German Office in Kosovo, Eugen Wollfarth in a media declaration.

Kosovo, a UN protectorate since 1999, is about to become independent under international community supervision, according to a UN plan drafted by Martti Ahtisaari. Ahtisaari’s plan has been with the UN Security Council since March. US and EU members of the council are strongly supporting Ahtisaari’s plan, while Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council is opposing it, threatening to use its veto power to make any resolution that will endorse the plan fail.
Reporting by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN