Doing nothing on Kosovo "not an option"-Ahtisaari

PRISTINA, Serbia, Aug 27 (Reuters) The European Union must not allow Kosovo to become another ''frozen conflict'' but should act on a UN blueprint for its independence from Serbia before the year is out, the plan's author, Martti Ahtisaari, said.

''It is high time to move from the conflict management phase to the endgame,'' UN envoy Ahtisaari told a forum in Bled, Slovenia, late yesterday.

''Otherwise the stalemate will persist, but the EU cannot afford Kosovo to become just another frozen conflict,'' the former Finnish president said. ''Doing nothing is not an option.'' Ahead of fresh talks this week in Vienna, Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku said independence was ''non-negotiable'', and that it was time the Balkans adopted an alternative language to the ''crackle of gunfire''.

Ahtisaari mediated 13 months of sterile Serb-Albanian talks until March this year, but his plan to grant independence to the province, where 90 percent of the people are ethnic Albanians, under EU supervision was rejected by Russia at the UN Security Council.

Moscow has forced more talks, this time led by a troika of envoys from the United States, the EU and Russia. They are due to report to the United Nations by Dec 10, when the West says the talks should end and a decision be taken.

Few observers hold out hope of a Security Council resolution, and say the United States and EU will have to decide whether to back a unilateral declaration of independence by 2 million Kosovo Albanians who reject a return to Serb rule.

''Kosovo is and should be primarily an European issue,'' Ahtisaari told the Slovenian Strategic Forum, urging a ''strong and consistent united European position in the coming months''.

The 27-member EU is so far split on the idea of recognising a new European state without a UN resolution.

But Ahtisaari said chances of a Serb-Albanian deal were nil and a solution should be implemented as soon as the troika reports back to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The last mediation process, he said, ''has left me with no doubt that the parties' respective positions on Kosovo's status do not contain any common ground to achieve such an agreement.'' NATO allies leading 16,000 troops in Kosovo fear violence, and possibly a messy exit by the United Nations, if Kosovo Albanians see the West's promise of independence evaporate.

The territory has been run by the United Nations since NATO bombs drove out Serb forces in 1999, halting the killing and expulsion of Albanians in a two-year Serb counter-insurgency war.

Belgrade has offered broad autonomy but no integration strategy. The two sides return to Vienna on Aug 30 for separate meetings with the troika before what diplomats say could be a make-or-break conference in the autumn.

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