No unrest in Kosovo expected

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana expects no violence in Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo after the deadline for mediated talks between federal and provincial officials expires Monday, a German newspaper reported.

"I don't expect unrest after Dec. 10," Solana was quoted today as saying in an interview with Welt am Sonntag newspaper. "I expect that the Serbs and Kosovo Albanians will be prudent and won't risk stability in the Balkans."

Mediators on the future of Kosovo said in a report made available Friday that four months of mediated talks between Belgrade and Pristina had failed to reach a deal because neither side would yield on the key question of Kosovo's sovereignty.

With no deal agreed, the ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo is widely expected to declare independence early next year.