UNITED NATIONS, July 20, 2007 (AFP) - The US and its European allies Friday abandoned a bid to secure independence for Kosovo through the Security Council in face of a Russian veto threat and said they would seek an alternative route.
Western nations have been trying to push a draft resolution in the UN Security Council to implement key provisions of UN mediator Martti Ahtissari's plan to grant "supervised independence" to the breakaway Albanian-majority Serbian province.
But they have hurtled into opposition from Moscow, Belgrade's key ally, which has said it would use its power of veto to block the move.
Friday, Washington and its European allies agreed to drop their efforts in the Security Council and turn the matter over to the six-nation Contact Group instead.
"We regret that it has been impossible to secure such a resolution in the UN Security Council," France's UN Ambassador to the UN Jean-Marc de la Sabliere told reporters on behalf of Western sponsors.
"We will therefore put on hold discussions of a new resolution."
"We have decided to renew discussions within the Contact Group and with the parties along these lines," de La Sabliere said in a statement.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters after council consultations on the issue that he had been prepared to use his right of veto had the text been put to a vote.
The draft would have endorsed new talks between Belgrade and Kosovo's Albanian separatists over a 120-day period under the aegis of the Contact Group on Kosovo -- Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the United States -- and the European Union "to determine whether common ground can be found."
"During consultations this morning, I made quite clear again what our objections were and I made clear that Russia was not prepared to support this latest draft and was not prepared to abstain if this draft went to a vote," Churkin quipped.
He called for a "pause for continued active consultations on the way talks could be organized between the parties so that those talks lead to a negotiated solution".
He appeared to welcome the Contact Group process saying Russia would attend a meeting of the grouping scheduled in Vienna for next Wednesday.
"We are very glad our partners did accept the possibility and the need for further negotiations between the parties. We will continue to participate actively in the process," Churkin said.
His US counterpart Zalmay Khalilzad however noted that although Russia was also a member of the Contact Group, it had no right of veto in the process.
"The people of Kosovo should be given the opportunity to realize their political and economic development. We are determined to assist them in that aim in the period ahead," de La Sabliere said.
"A timely resolving of Kosovo's status will also enable Serbia to move beyond the conflicts of the 1990s and toward a brighter European and Euro-Atlantic future," he said in his statement. "We believe that resolving Kosovo's status must be achieved as soon as possible."
The French envoy also said European Union foreign ministers would discuss Kosovo at a meeting on Monday.
Kosovo has been run by the UN since 1999, after a NATO bombing campaign helped drive out Serb forces carrying out a brutal crackdown on ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of the population in the province.
Ahtisaari had put forward a plan for "supervised independence" for Kosovo, after conducting talks from all sides involved.
The Western compromise draft would have turned over administration of the province from the United Nations to the EU while maintaining a NATO presence.
But after days of hard bargaining, Russia made it clear it would veto the latest compromise draft introduced to the UN Security Council by Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States.
And Churkin warned Monday that "the chances of (the resolution being adopted as is) are zero" because "almost the entire text ... is permeated with the concept of independence of Kosovo.
On Tuesday, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Serbia and Kosovo were likely to hold new talks on the province's future even without a UN Security Council resolution, probably under the aegis of the Contact Group.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Thursday that Washington was fully committed to achieving independence for Kosovo, despite Russia's opposition.
"We will get there one way or another," she told journalists on a flight to Lisbon, but she did not say whether Washington was prepared to unilaterally recognize an independent Kosovo.
Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku however reportedly proposed to declare the breakaway province's unilateral independence on November 28, Albanian's National Day.
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