UNITED NATIONS - Mediators on Kosovo's future dumped the problem on a divided international community on Friday, saying that rigid positions on sovereignty over the Serbian province had foiled agreement in four months of talks.
Their report to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made no recommendations on a way forward, making it almost certain the ethnic Albanian majority in breakaway Kosovo will go ahead with plans to declare independence early next year.
Key Western countries are expected to accept that move, but it is vigorously opposed by Serbia and by its ally Russia, which holds a veto in the Security Council. The council will discuss the mediators' report on December 19.
In their report, made available to Reuters by diplomats, the so-called "troika" of mediators from the United States, Russia and the European Union said the talks between the Kosovo Albanians and Serbia's government had been useful. Both sides had pledged to refrain from violence, threats or intimidation.
"Both parties must be reminded that their failure to live up to these commitments will affect the achievement of the European future that they both seek," it said.
But, it said: "The parties were unable to reach agreement on the final status of Kosovo. Neither party was willing to cede its position on the fundamental question of sovereignty over Kosovo."
The mediators -- Frank Wisner of the United States, Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko of Russia and Wolfgang Ischinger of Germany -- had already made no secret of the failure of the talks to cut a deal, an outcome widely predicted in the West.
The four months of talks were held at Russian insistence after Moscow blocked a Security Council resolution that would have cleared the way for independence. They had been up against a December 10 deadline but, given the deadlock, ended last week.
Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since a 1999 NATO bombing campaign to halt killings and ethnic cleansing by Serb forces against the 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority in the province.
In Brussels, NATO nations pledged on Friday to provide enough troops to put down any violence as Kosovo heads toward a declaration of independence. In a minor incident reported on Friday, Kosovo Serbs angry at Western support for independence, scuffled with NATO security officers at a village meeting.
