Islamic Extremist Still At Large In Kosovo as Status Proposal Looms

Macedonia Warns On Kosovo Albanian Extremists, Criminals
Macedonia Seeks Resolution of Land Dispute Before Status Proposal is Revealed
SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP)--Macedonia's president warned Tuesday that stability in neighboring Kosovo is still at risk as the U.N. prepares to unveil its plans for the future of the disputed province, with extremists still at large.
"The capacity of Kosovo institutions is weak. We must not underestimate the risks and our institutions will remain vigilant and will closely monitor the developments in the region," said President Branko Crvenkovski.
Many extremists and criminals were still at large in Kosovo, he said.
Crvenkovski was speaking after a National Security Council meeting, convened ahead of a report by U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari on the future of Kosovo. The province of 2 million people has been under U.N. administration since 1999.
The proposals, due to be unveiled early next week, are widely expected to propose conditional independence for Kosovo. Serbia wants to keep Kosovo as part of its territory and has offered broad autonomy to its citizens, 90% of whom are ethnic Albanian and want independence.
Macedonia wants to settle an ongoing border dispute before Kosovo's final status is determined. Kosovo claims more than 2,000 hectares (4,900 acres) of land in Macedonia.
January 23, 2007 11:13 ET (16:13 GMT

From The United Nations:

KOSOVO STATUS PROPOSAL TO GO TO CONTACT GROUP ON FRIDAY
The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Kosovo Martti Ahtisaari’s status proposal will be presented to the general public very soon.

As a first step, Ahtisaari will share his proposal this Friday with the Kosovo Contact Group in Vienna. The Contact Group includes representatives from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Russia.

Asked whether the Secretary-General still intends to meet Ahtisaari, the Spokeswoman said that he intends to meet with Ahtisaari while both are in Paris this week.

Asked further about Ahtisaari’s plans, the Spokeswoman said that, at this point, Ahtisaari plans to travel on 2 February to Belgrade and Pristina to officially present his proposal to both parties.

He will then wait for feedback from the parties before sending the proposal on to the Secretary-General.

The Secretary-General will then transmit it to the Security Council, and it will be up to the Security Council to decide when it wants to consider Kosovo, Montas added.


Errata:

In some posts past I tried to correct myself about China role on the United Nations Security Council. Actually, China is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, but is has not been consistently listed as a part of the Contact Group which overseeing affairs of the Kosovo Status question . I apologise for the confusion.