A U.N. Security Council fact-finding mission was holding talks with top Serbian officials Thursday ahead of a key debate on whether to back eventual independence for Kosovo. The 15-member council was meeting conservative Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and later was to talk to pro-Western President Boris Tadic in an effort to gather firsthand information on Kosovo before the U.N. body decides on the Serbian province's future status. Belgium's U.N. Ambassador Johan Verbeke, who is leading the mission, said the trip will provide an opportunity «to bridge that gap between written statements and real realities on the ground.» The mission, sought by Serbia's ally Russia, arrived in Belgrade from Brussels where NATO and European Union officials urged the U.N. on Wednesday to endorse a controversial U.N. plan that would give Kosovo internationally supervised independence. The Security Council ambassadors will be meeting Kosovo Albanian and rival Kosovo Serb officials in the southern province on Friday, the Associated Press reported. The U.S. and European Union nations support plans to give Kosovo eventual independence, however veto-wielding Russia leads a group of nations that strongly oppose such a move, fearing it could set an international precedent for other regions or provinces aiming to declare independence.
