UN chief to meet with top UN officials on future status of Kosovo

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon will meet on Thursday with his top lieutenants for Kosovo for talks on the future status of the Albanian-majority Serbian province.

Ban will confer at the UN Headquarters in New York with his Special Representative for Kosovo Joachim Rucker and his Special Envoy for the future status process Martti Ahtisaari.

Ahtisaari unveiled last week his own proposals, which would grant the province the right to govern itself and conclude international agreements, including membership in international bodies.

Kosovo has been run by the UN mission since 1999 when NATO bombings forced the late Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw his forces, who was accused of killing 10,000 ethnic Albanians during a counter-insurgency war. Serbia offers "substantial autonomy" to the ethnic Albanian majority, who accept only outright independence.

Source: Xinhua