Western nations are drafting a new resolution calling for negotiations, but exclude the automatic process of acquiring independence if negotiations fail.

Below are extracts of an article written by the Associated Press and published by the International Herald Tribune:

Western nations are working on a compromise U.N. resolution on Kosovo that would give ethnic Albanians and Serbs four months to reach agreement on the province's future status — but it would not automatically trigger a route to independence if talks fail, U.N. diplomats said Tuesday [10 July 2007].

The new text would address one of Russia's major objections to the current draft resolution before the U.N. Security Council, but it would almost certainly anger Kosovo's ethnic Albanians, who comprise 90 percent of the province's 2 million population and have been clamoring for independence.

The current text calls for four months of negotiations between the two sides with an automatic road to independence if there is no agreement, unless the Security Council decided otherwise.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin called that draft "unacceptable" for a number of reasons including that with the carrot of independence dangling after four months, the Kosovo Albanians would not engage in serious negotiations.

With Russia refusing to even discuss the current text, and hinting strongly at a veto if it is put to a vote, the resolution's Western sponsors have been working on a new text that could win Security Council approval.

"We have to make every effort to get ... to an acceptable compromise solution," Italy's U.N. Ambassador Marcello Spatafora told reporters.

He said the sponsors of the resolution — the council's European Union members including Italy and the United States — want serious negotiations between Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanians and minority Serbs with "no pre-set result."

[...]

Speaking in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Monday [9 July 2007], Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, "Any solution is possible on the basis of agreement by both sides involved. Any other decision cannot make it through the Security Council."

Spatafora hinted — but would not confirm — that the new EU-U.S. text being drafted would drop the current draft's automatic acceptance of the Ahtisaari plan if new negotiations between Kosovo's ethnic Albanians and Serbs fail.

But other council diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because the discussions on a new text have not been finalized, said the automatic reversion to the Ahtisaari plan would likely be eliminated.

[…]

A revised Kosovo resolution is expected to be circulated later this week.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters Monday [9 July 2007] that "the next week, 10 days, is a decisive period with regard to the Security Council's role in making a decision on this issue."

Khalilzad and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried, who is touring the region, have said the United States supports a limited period for further negotiations.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner will also be visiting Pristina and Belgrade on Thursday and Friday to urge both sides to seriously discuss Kosovo's future status.

But Khalilzad warned Monday [9 July 2007] that "not dealing with this issue can worsen the situation — and a problem of Kosovo, if unattended, is a potential threat to peace and security of Europe."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who supports the Ahtisaari plan, warned Tuesday [10 July 2007] in Brussels that further delays in resolving Kosovo's future could lead to violence in the Serbian province and elsewhere in the region. He appealed to the parties not to "take any unilateral moves."

There is widespread concern in the Security Council and the region that the province's ethnic Albanian leaders could declare independence unilaterally if the council does not approve a path to independence.

Russia and China are also concerned that having the Security Council grant independence to a province of a sovereign country would set a dangerous precedent. The Americans and Europeans insist Kosovo is "a special case" because of Yugoslavia's violent breakup.