Date:29/11/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/29/stories/2007112956421400.htm

International

Kosovo talks fail

VIENNA: A desperate attempt by international mediators to negotiate a settlement on Kosovo’s future status ended in a stalemate on Wednesday, with neither Serbia nor the breakaway province’s ethnic Albanian leaders willing to budge.

But the rival sides both pledged to refrain from using force.

The stalemate raised the stakes before December 10 — the envoys’ deadline to report back to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon — and Kosovo’s repeated vow to declare statehood sometime in the coming months. — AP