(4 Apr 2007)
AP Television News
1. Wide shot of exterior of United Nations (UN) building
2. Mid shot of Fatmir Sejdiu, president of Kosovo, walking through the UN building
3. SOUNDBITE (Albanian) Fatmir Sejdiu, President of Kosovo:
"It's time to conclude what has been a long mission, has been a great investment that was initially started to save the people from the genocide committed by Serbia. And now the point is to open up the way forward for the development of Kosovo."
4. Wide shot cutaway of reporters
5. SOUNDBITE (Albanian) Fatmir Sejdiu, President of Kosovo:
"This is why it is important for all members of the security council get together and end this process conclude this process."
6. Tight shot of reporters
UNTV
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Vitaly Churkin, Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations:
"Our first problem with Mr. Ahtisaari's proposal is that it has not been accepted by both sides and as we look at the entire body of international documents, Security Council resolutions and contact group meetings. Clearly, what is the goal of the international community is to find and negotiate a outcome."
8. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon shaking hands with Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica
UNTV
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Vojislav Kostunica, Serbian Prime Minister:
"What Mr. Ahtisaari proposed was in accordance with the position of one side, the Kosovo Albanians and not an effort to reach compromise between the two sides. That is why it has been rejected by Serbia, it has not accepted today by security council. What is important in this case one should keep going on, one should be optimistic. We need further new renewed negotiations and we need a new person to negotiate than Mister Ahtisaari for sure, that was clear."
10. Wide tilt up of UN exterior
STORYLINE:
Kosovo's president on Tuesday urged the United Nations (UN) Security Council to endorse a plan recommending internationally supervised independence for the breakaway province of Serbia.
Speaking to the Associated Press before going into a closed-door Security Council meeting, Fatmir Sejdiu called his people's drive for independence "a long mission" and said it is rooted in the long struggle between Serbia and Kosovo.
"It's time to conclude what has been a long mission, has been a great investment that was initially started to save the people from the genocide committed by Serbia," he said. "And now the point is to open up the way forward for the development of Kosovo."
The U.N. Special Envoy on Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, mediated year-long talks between ethnic Albanians and Serbs over the contested territory, recently presented the U.N. with a proposal that recommends a kind of independence for Kosovo which the Security Council is discussing.
The plan calls for the province's near-independence - a kind of independence that gives the province a constitution and representation at the U.N., but does not call it a "country."
Kosovo would initially supervised by the international community, and offers broad rights to the province's Serb minority to run their daily affairs and preserve their identity and culture.
Sejdiu said he hoped the Council would finish with the process so that his people could move forward.
"This is why it is important for all members of the security council get together and end this process conclude this process," said Sejdiu.
Serbia, which is supported by Russia, has openly rejected an independent Kosovo state and wants the province to remain within Serbian borders.
Russia has implied it could use its veto power if Belgrade's interests are not addressed.
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