U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said here Friday the four-month negotiating process mediated by the so-called international troika on Kosovo "is at the end" and people "should move on the next step."
"We hope there will be a constructive approach solution that will unite all the sides of responsibilities on Kosovo, including the United States and Russia. But we have to face reality ... that the (troika) process is at the end," Rice told a press conference after the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) meeting.
The troika of the United States, the European Union (EU) and Russia had been working very hard and had succeeded in bringing Belgrade and Pristina to the negotiating table for the first time in a very long time, but produce no breakthrough, she added.
Russia and Serbia have proposed that the troika-sponsored talks between Belgrade and Pristina would continue even after the Dec. 10 deadline for the troika to report to U.N. Secretary-General BanKi-moon.
Rice said that the international community would not be able to produce stability to the Balkans if it ignored the reality of the situation between Belgrade and Pristina.
Kosovo is seeking full independence from Serbia and has threatened to declare independence if no deal was reached on the final status of the province before Dec. 10.
Rice said there is still a lot of work to do before any decisions can be taken on Kosovo to embody the principles under the plan drawn up by U.N. special envoy Martti Ahtisaari that proposed internationally supervised statehood.
During the foreign ministers' meeting of NATO prior to the NRC session, the military bloc affirmed its unity on Kosovo to continue to keep its 16,000 Kosovo Force or KFOR peacekeepers in Kosovo without any reduction in size under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244, and the commitment to a peaceful and stable Balkans, according to Rice.
Source: Xinhua
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