Serbian leader calls for compromise in Kosovo settlement

Sep 27, 2007, 14:54 GMT

New York - Serbian President Boris Tadic called Thursday for a compromise solution to the sovereignty dispute over the Serb province of Kosovo, warning that a unilateral declaration of independence from Pristina would lead to great instability.

'We therefore call on the legitimate representatives of Kosovo Albanians to proceed to the resumed negotiations without prejudicing the outcome so that a compromise solution, acceptable to both parties, could be achieved, a solution that would lead to long-term Serbian/Albanian reconciliation,' Tadic said in an address to the UN General Assembly.

'The international legal order would never be the same' if Pristina were to declare independence, as it rumoured to plan to do on December 11, Tadic said.

He said separatist movements elsewhere would used the precedent in Kosovo and many regions in the world would be destabilized.

Serbia, backed by Russia, is opposed to an independent Kosovo, but has proposed autonomy in the territory now administered by the UN and protected by NATO and the European Union.

The six-nation contact group on Kosovo plans to meet later Thursday in New York to discuss the process of meeting demands from both Kosovo, which demands independence, and Serbia, which opposes it.

United Nations diplomats said the meeting at UN headquarters will involve high-ranking government officials of the contact group, composed of the US, Russia, Germany, Britain, Italy and France.

On Friday, direct talks between envoys from Belgrade and Pristina are planned for the first time in New York to be hosted by the Liaison Office of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union to the UN.