PRISTINA (AFP)--Kosovo leaders Monday rejected a deal between the U.N. and Serbia on the future presence of international agencies in the Serb areas of the disputed territory that would pave a way to deployment of a European Union mission.
"Institutions of the Republic of Kosovo consider that the substantial elements of the...(deal) are unacceptable for Kosovo," President Fatmir Sejdiu told reporters.
"We are an independent country and have the constitution," Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said, rejecting also the deal after two days of intensive talks with Western diplomats.
The U.N. Security Council, scheduled to debate the issue on Tuesday, postponed its session, according to Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, Tanjug news agency reported in Belgrade.
The most disputed part of the deal reportedly is related to police control in Serb-dominated areas and customs control at the northern Kosovo border with Serbia, which would be an international one and not of the government in Pristina.
The ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February despite staunch opposition from Belgrade and Moscow, which consider it a breach of international law.
Following the proclamation of independence the E.U. has planned to deploy a 2,000-strong police and justice mission, called EULEX, to help Kosovo's transition.
But EULEX's deployment has been slowed down as Serbia insists it must be neutral regarding Kosovo's independence and approved by the Security Council.
EULEX was planned to replace a U.N. mission that had administered Kosovo since the end of conflict between Serb forces and pro-independence Albanian rebels in 1999.
On Monday E.U. foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he expected ongoing discussions between Serbia, Kosovo and the U.N. to bring about a deal on the EULEX mission by the end of the week.
"We are continuing to negotiate. I hope that before the end of the week we will be ready" for the deployment of European troops, Solana said.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 10, 2008 16:51 ET (21:51 GMT)

Publié le 10 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones