Serbs and Kosovo Albanians were unable to agree today on the future of the breakaway province of Kosovo, an EU envoy said today.
"Regrettably the parties were unable to reach agreement on status," EU envoy Wolfgang Ischinger told a news conference in Vienna after the talks. Negotiations have been going on since Monday without any sign of a breakthrough.
US envoy Frank Wisner said the peace of the region was "very much at stake" and urged both sides to keep their pledge to preserve peace and dialogue beyond the end of formal negotiations.
The mediators, from the EU, the US and Russia, will make final visits to Serbia and Kosovo next Monday before submitting a report to the United Nations, due by December 10th.
The three-day meeting between Serbs and Albanians in Baden was the sixth and last since late August.
The US and EU say the mediation ends with the report to the United Nations. But Serbia's ally Russia has already blocked independence in the Security Council and says it will "insist" on further negotiation.
After eight years under UN control and Nato protection, and with no compromise in sight, the West sees independence under EU supervision as the only viable solution to the dispute.
