Kosovo will be a key issue on the agenda of a summit of leaders from central and southeastern Europe that begins Friday. But it will also be notably absent, according to AP. Organizers of the gathering at a lakeside resort in Macedonia did not invite President Fatimir Sejdiu of Kosovo, whose ethnic Albanian leaders enraged Serbia by declaring independence on Feb. 17. Serbia, one of the summit participants, has refused to recognize the territory's declared separation. Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski, host of the two-day summit at the Ohrid resort, said a decision to invite neighboring Kosovo would have required consensus from all participants from the 18 nations that make up the Central European Initiative, formed in 1989 to pursue regional cooperation. Kosovo's leaders reacted with annoyance and insisted an independent Kosovo was a reality that had to be recognized.
