MOSCOW — UN Security Council Resolution 1244 remains in force, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Moscow daily Vreme Novosti.
He added that UNMIK considered the resolution the basis for its mandate in Kosovo.
“Resolution 1244 remains in force. The UN civil mission in Kosovo received its assignment from the Security Council and considers the resolution as the legal basis for its mandate, and will apply it according to how events unfold,” said Ban.
Ban declared that his main goal as UN secretary-general remained to ensure the safety of Kosovo’s citizens, especially national minorities, to maintain peace and security as well as the general stability in Kosovo and in the region, to ensure the safety of UN staff, and monitor the achievements of the UN in Kosovo and the Balkans as a whole.
Asked if international recognition of the independence of other regions was possible, Ban replied that Kosovo was “a very specific case.”
“I wouldn’t like to say whether this could happen in other regions of the world… We have to approach every situation by taking its particularities into consideration. Without commenting on Kosovo’s independence, I would like to underline that it is a very specific case,” said the UN general secretary.
He said that Kosovo was different from other cases because, since 1999, the international community had been “intervening in the implementation of Serbian sovereignty in the province.”
“I also want to point out that recognition of states is the individual affair of UN member states and not of the UN secretary-general and secretariat,” Ban concluded.
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Ban is obviously concerned not to have Kosovo seen as a precedent. In which case he should uphold the activity of the UN and oppose the activity of NATO and the EU. He will in fact do nothing but utter
platitudes. In this universe what ever is comprehensible is repeatable. If NATO succeeds
in detaching Kosovo from Serbia other regions will be detached from other states. We will enter another era when law is at a discount power at a premium. I doubt that Europe will survive a third time.
Comment by chris — March 11, 2008 #