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POLITICS: U.N. Deadlocked Over Kosovo Independence

Nergui Manalsuren

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 12 2007 (IPS) - After several closed door meetings over the last few weeks, the 15-member U.N. Security Council has failed to reach agreement on a Western proposal for the creation of a new independent nation state of Kosovo.

Security Council delegation assesses situation in Kosovo, April 2007 Credit: KFOR

Security Council delegation assesses situation in Kosovo, April 2007 Credit: KFOR

Serbia wants Kosovo be highly autonomous but to remain a part of the country, while officials in Pristina argue that Kosovo should become independent since the trauma inflicted on the province under the Yugoslav regime of Slobodan Milosevic has made continued union between Kosovo and Serbia impossible.

Europeans and the United States have reportedly drafted a new resolution that calls for 120 days of negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority but no longer automatically calls for independence.

The stalemate in the Council has been triggered by opposition from two veto-wielding members of the Security Council, namely Russia and China.

After Monday’s meeting, Russia’s Ambassador to the U.N. Vitaly Churkin refused to comment. His country has said it would not endorse any proposal that was not acceptable to both sides.

However, Chinese Ambassador to the U.N. Wang Guangya told reporters: “We want more time to bridge the differences in the Council and also to bridge the differences in the region.”


“China has no problem in Kosovo’s independence as long as Serbia and Kosovo will come to an agreement,” he said.

Once part of the former Yugoslavia, Kosovo is a province in southern Serbia with about two million people, predominantly ethnic Albanians.

Due to an ongoing political, cultural and territorial dispute between Serbia and Kosovo, it has been under U.N. administration since 1999, after the NATO-led air campaign forced an end to a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. Clearly disappointed with the Security Council’s indecision, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters Tuesday in Brussels: “Any further delay or prolongation on this very important issue will have a very negative impact on all peace and security, not only in Kosovo, not only in Balkans but all European situations. Ban said that a fourth draft of the resolution “has been tabled for debate on this issue.”

According to the secretary-general’s spokesperson, the draft is being discussed now by different members of the Security Council, but it has not been formally circulated yet.

Joachim Rucker, the U.N.’s special representative to Kosovo, told Monday’s closed session of the Council that the time had come to provide “roadmap, a timetable, to assure Kosovo’s two million inhabitants of where they are headed.”

“The people deserve clarity on status,” he told delegates.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad is hoping for results next week. “Within a week, there has to be a decision; this is our judgment. We are working with our colleagues to come up with a resolution that can be brought to the Council in the next few days,” he told reporters Monday.

He added that one way or the other, there will be a change in status in Kosovo towards greater independence.

“We heard today from the U.N. Special Representative from NATO, who said not dealing with this issue can worsen the situation,” Khalilzad added. “And the problem with Kosovo, if unattended, it is the potential threat to peace and security of Europe.

“It is the Europeans who are ready to take on additional responsibilities; the Russians are merely commenting,” Khalilzad said. “The Europeans are the ones with the resources and people, including ourselves, at risk there. They are ready to play an appropriate role there and of course we support them. I believe this week, or the next 10 days, is a decisive period to the Security Council’s role in making a decision on this issue.”

The latest draft proposal reportedly follows a plan created by Martti Ahtisaari, the U.N. special envoy, which would replace the current U.N. mission in Kosovo with a European overseer and European Union-led police force. NATO troops would remain.

On Monday, Ban told reporters in Lisbon, Portugal that he would strongly urge Kosovo not to take any premature unilateral action toward independence.

“The European Union should provide leadership with strategic ideas of providing necessary incentives and visions to Serbians so that their concerns will also be addressed at the same time,” Ban said.

Referring to the latest report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, he noted that: “While Kosovo’s overall progress is encouraging, if its future status remains undefined there is a real risk that the progress achieved by the United Nations and the Provisional Institutions in Kosovo can begin to unravel.”

Some had hoped that a compromise on this issue would be reached when U.S. President George W. Bush met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last week at Bush’s retreat in the U.S. state of Maine. However, no announcements were made.

According to Voice of America, the two leaders have passed the Kosovo question to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

 
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