The most senior United Nations official in Kosovo, Joachim Rücker, has said the international community and in particular the EU has to be prepared for "all scenarios" in the region.
As talks aimed at achieving agreement on a plan put forward by former Finnish prime minister Martti Ahtisaari continue, Mr Rücker, who is the special representative of the UN Secretary General, told journalists here yesterday that "obviously, we would all like to see an agreement".
"We'd all be very happy if that were the case. If not, I think the international community has also to prepare for other scenarios," he said. "I obviously don't want to speculate on what happens . . . what I am saying is one has to be prepared, we should not fall into a hole."
Mr Rücker was speaking after meeting Minister of State for Defence Tom Kitt, who began a three-day visit to the region yesterday. The province of Kosovo is part of Serbia, but has a majority ethnic Albanian population.
It has been run by the UN and Nato for the past eight years. Kosovo Albanians want full independence, but Serbia has opposed such a move. The Ahtisaari plan, which was previously blocked by Russia at the UN, would allow for supervised autonomy for Kosovo with specific protections for the minority Serbian population. Russia is a key ally of Serbia.
Negotiators from Troika of the US, the EU and Russia are due to report to the UN Security Council on the outcome of ongoing discussions aimed at securing agreement around the plan by December 10th. There have been fears that failure to reach agreement could provoke unrest within the province.
After his meeting with Mr Rücker, Mr Kitt said he had been provided with a "very realistic" assessment of the current situation in the area. "There are very challenging times ahead . . . we are aware of the seriousness of the situation, the need for all of us to focus and in particular for Ireland not alone to do its work here, to keep its commitment to Kfor but also to be a very active player at EU level."
"I think the Ahtisaari plan is obviously the one that we all strongly support. I made the point to Mr Rücker that we in Ireland have ourselves moved from a violent situation to peaceful resolution in Northern Ireland. That happened by a pretty lengthy process so the process is very important. There is a process of dialogue here between Belgrade and Pristina, it is important we give this a chance."
Mr Kitt also visited Irish troops based in the province yesterday, where he announced €50,000 funding through Irish aid for two schools located in an area of Kosovo for which the Irish Defence Forces have responsibility. This will support the construction of outdoor soccer and basketball courts and refurbishment works at one of the schools.
Ireland assumed the role of lead nation in the multinational task force centre based around Pristina, the capital of Kosovo last month.
Brig Gen Gerry Hegarty has overall command of the 1,500 strong taskforce, having assumed his role last month. Mr Kitt's visit to the region continues today.