UN Mediator Says Negotiated Settlement on Kosovo Nearly Impossible

2006-10-10 00:13:08 Xinhua

The UN's Kosovo mediator, former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, said on Monday that a negotiated settlement on the future status of Kosovo was nearly impossible to achieve.

"We could sit for the rest of the days, but I don't see the parties are moving on the status issue," Ahtisaari said of talks on the matter.

The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan named Ahtisaari as the UN special envoy to mediate in negotiations on the status of Kosovo in November last year.

Ahtisaari's mission was seen to be a challenge, because the sides in the conflict were in such sharp disagreement over the future status of the province, which has been under UN interim administration since 1999.

Seven months of negotiations in the Austrian capital of Vienna have failed to bridge the gap between the Serbs and the Kosovan Albanians. Serbia has completely rejected demands by Kosovo's ethnic Albanians for full independence.

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