Kosovo Albanians Give Independence Plans To UN

(RFE/RL) 22 November 2005 -- Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders today handed their plans for an independent Kosovo to the UN envoy tasked with negotiating the disputed province's future status.
UN Envoy Martti Ahtisaari was handed the plans during talks in Pristina with ethnic Albanian leaders, including the province's president, Ibrahim Rugova.

Ahtisaari was also scheduled to meet today with leaders of Kosovo's Serbian Orthodox Church.

The UN-brokered talks are expected to decide Kosovo's final status.

Serbs consider the province their historic heartland. But ethnic Albanians, who now make up 90 percent of Kosovo's population, want independence.

Kosovo has been under UN administration since 1999, when Serbia lost control of the province after a NATO military campaign.

(AP/AFP)