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SEECP agree to promote Kosovo reconciliation

Athens_(dpa) _ United Nations mediators and countries of the South East European Cooperation Process (SEEP) agreed Wednesday to promote reconciliation among Kosovo's ethnic communities, and the protection of minority rights.
Senior officials and diplomats of the six-nation Contact Group -Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the US - along with countries in SEEP, the UN, NATO, the European Union and the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OSCE), discussed the future status of Kosovo at an hotel in Vouliagmeni, near Athens.

Officials agreed to work together towards promoting reconciliation among Kosovo's ethnic communities, protecting and promoting minority rights, beginning institution-building, decentralization, restorating religious sites, and European integration.

The province of Kosovo is still legally part of Serbia and Montenegro, but it has been under UN protection since NATO air airstrikes forced Serbian troops out in 1999.

Kosovo Albanians, who make up the majority, want independence, while Kosovo Serbs want wide-ranging self-government for the Serb-inhabited enclaves, which make up five per cent of the population.

There are about 1.5 million ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, while about 100,000 Serbs remain following a post-war exodus of non-Albanians.

Officials said a viable solution and settlement for Kosovo "must provide peace and stability - not only to the parties directly involved but to the region as a whole."

In an opening speech, Greek Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Yannis Valinakis said: "It is our common understanding that a solution mutually acceptable to the negotiating parties, and ensuring a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural Kosovo, would greatly contribute to promoting regional stability and security.

"We must transform the Balkans into what it once was - into a European neighbourhood. This means, however, that a settlement must be reached in Kosovo." dpa cp sc

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