BELGRADE, NEW YORK — The United Nations Security Council will hold a closed session to discuss the Kosovo crisis today.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is also scheduled to participate. The meeting is expected to last three hours.
Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica will address the Security Council, as will Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu, who will be speaking as a private individual, since Kosovo is not an internationally recognized state.
Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić and Kosovo Minister Slobodan Samardžić, as well as Kosovo’s prime minister-elect Hashim Thaci will also attend.
UNMIK Chief Joachim Ruecker, the only official who can legally speak before the Security Council on Kosovo’s behalf, will not attend the meeting.
EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana has said he wants to see constructive dialogue on Kosovo at the meeting.
Solana, who is on a two-day visit to Slovenia, added that he did not expect a unilateral declaration of independence by the Kosovo Albanians to result in a crisis in the months to come.
Speaking to reporters following a meeting with Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, Solana said that EU unity on the issue was key.
Rupel remarked that he and Solana had discussed the situation in the western Balkans, primarily Kosovo, as well as events that were likely to follow in Serbia. He added that both he and Solana had welcomed last week’s Council of Europe decision regarding the deployment of an EU mission to Kosovo.
“We are content with the decisions reached by the Council of Europe last week. We now have decisions that guarantee the unity and determination of the EU to tackle Kosovo as a European problem and European challenge,” he said, adding that the EU would address this challenge properly.
Samardžić: No conclusions, no decisions
Kosovo Minister Slobodan Samardžić said in New York that there would be no conclusions or decisions made in connection with Kosovo at the United Nations (UN) Security Council session today, and that Belgrade would advocate the resumption of negotiations on the province’s status.
“Serbia will defend its interests and international law. There will be no conclusions or decisions, and, in the event of a unilateral declaration of Kosovo independence, those who violate the law will bear responsibility for further developments,” Samardžić told reporters after a series of meetings held by the Serbian delegation at UN headquarters, ahead of the Security Council session.
Samardžić, Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica and Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić will take part at the session, where the Contact Group mediating Troika’s report on the 120-day negotiations between Belgrade and Priština will be reviewed.
The Kosovo minister explained that, in the event of a unilateral declaration of independence, a parallelism would ensue that would once again lead to negotiations on status. This reinforces Serbia’s view that dialogue between Belgrade and Priština should continue, a position supported during the day by not only Russia and China, but also Indonesia and South Africa.
THE FORTHCOMING DISCUSSION OF THE KOSOVO PROBLEM AT THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL INSTILS LITTLE OPTIMISM, Voice of Russia
Tomorrow the UN Security Council is due to take up Kosovo’s future status.
The forthcoming discussion instils little, if any, optimism for the positions of the sides are words apart. The Kosovo authorities continue to insist on the province’s independence, while Serbia is dead against this. Belgrade instead offers Kosovo a broad autonomy status within a single Serbian state.
On the 8th of this month the troika of international mediators in a Kosovo settlement, namely Russia, the Untied States and the European Union handed over to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon a report to point out the obvious failure in the attempts to reach agreement following the four months of painstaking efforts.
Meanwhile Brussels played host, a few days ago, to a European Union summit where the four major EU counties, namely the UK, France, Germany and Italy came out for the proclamation of Kosovo’s independence under European control without any UN mandate. It was also suggested that a civilian mission of 1,800 should be sent to Kosovo to implement the Martti Ahtisaari plan for proclaiming Kosovo’s independence. The mission should replace the UN peacekeeping force. But the parties to the Brussels summit failed to reach a consensus, with 11 out of the 27 EU countries voicing their doubts and objections.
Now, the position of Russia on the issue seems quite specific and definite. This country will, during the forthcoming discussion of the problem of Kosovo at the UN Security Council, point out the predictable negative consequences of a unilateral proclamation of the province’s independence. Moscow feels that action on that scenario will inevitably trigger the aggravation of interethnic contradictions in Kosovo and a resumption of violence. Yet another important point is that the problem of Kosovo is by no means a unique one. If unilaterally settled, it will inevitably get eventually reflected on other similar situations. That is why the Russian Foreign Minister voiced hope a few days ago that the West would manage to make the right choice and the problem of Kosovo would remain under the international community’s joint control. To resolve it, one needs more talks, including in the framework of the UN Security Council.
Unfortunately the United States has already warned it will veto Russia’s proposal for more talks on Kosovo. This came in a statement by the US ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad, who feels the talks have already run their course. Meanwhile the British ambassador to the UN John Sawers voiced doubt that the UN Security Council could clinch an agreement and said that, given the circumstances, it is other organizations that should come to shoulder responsibility.
Edward Sorokin
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