Timing for Kosovo status resolution depends on progress in negotiations

The United Nations envoy said Wednesday the time needed to resolve Kosovo's status would depend on how the two sides moved forward and cooperated to bring to an end the dispute over the province.

"Timing will depend on the parties, how they move forward, how they cooperate," said Martti Ahtisaari, the chief U.N. negotiator tasked with the process of talks.

"There are no fixed time limits on this exercise, but I have assured that we will move as fast forward as we can," he said.

Ahtisaari, a former Finnish president, is mediating between Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, which seeks independence, and Serbia, which insists the U.N.-run province should remain officially within its borders.

"It's not me ... who will decide the timing," he said. "The (U.N.) secretary-general has an important role, and finally it is up to the Security Council to decide how the future status will look," the AP quoted Ahtisaari as saying.

V.Y.