Kosovo has made too little progress in setting up democratic institutions and reaching other goals for the international community to be able to assess its long-term status, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Wednesday. "Progress in many areas remained insufficient," Annan said in his latest quarterly report to the Security Council on the U.N.-administered Serbian province of 2 million people. The United Nations has set out a list of standards -- on law and order, functioning democratic institutions, security and human rights -- that must be met before the question of Kosovo's eventual status is taken up. He did note that some parts of the Kosovo plan had been implemented and work has intensified on the standards. Kosovo's 90-percent Albanian majority demands independence while Belgrade insists the province remain a part of Serbia. U.N. officials envisage an in-depth review in mid-2005 of the progress made on the standards, with an eye to proceeding to the final status question if the results are favorable. But they acknowledge the review could slip later in the year. Momentum toward a determination of status depends on Kosovo's local government institutions, political leaders and people of all ethnicities including Serbs all "delivering real progress on the standards," Annan said.
