The International Civilian Office (ICO) in Kosovo will exist until the end of 2012 and Pieter Feith will stay on as its head until then, Pristina daily Koha Ditore reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed international sources.

Early next year, the International Steering Group for Kosovo (ISG) will meet again to assess the work of the ICO and its future. This is when it will formally decide that the office will close toward the end of 2012, an unnamed high-ranking official told the paper.

The agreement to keep the ICO open until the end of 2012 was reached at the July 13 meeting of the ISG in Pristina, when Feith was instructed to start planning, in cooperation with the Kosovo authorities, a definitive end to the ICO's mandate, depending on a further assessment of the implementation of the group's plan.

The ISG is an informal organization which monitors the implementation of Finnish diplomat Martti Ahtisaari's plan for supervised independence, and is made up of the United States and the EU countries which have recognized Kosovo's unilaterally declared independence.

Representatives of ISG countries have agreed that Faith will remain the only supervisor of Kosovo's independence, writes the Pristina daily, adding the control of Kosovo's independence will end with the closing of the ICO.

According to Koha Ditore's sources, it was agreed to give full support to Feith and the ICO until the end of next year to implement the remainder of Ahtisaari's plan, namely the segments related to northern Kosovska Mitrovica, the creation of protected zones around religious and cultural heritage sites and some details related to the rights of minority communities.