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7891st Security Council Meeting: Kosovo
Heightened tensions between Serbia and Kosovo had reduced the space for political dialogue, a process that was as fragile as it was essential, the senior United Nations official in the Balkans region told the Security Council today.
Pressing authorities in Belgrade and Pristina to maintain their commitment to implementing agreements already reached, Zahir Tanin, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), said each side had different perceptions of the reduced quality of communications between them. While Pristina viewed Belgrade’s actions as calculated to undermine Kosovo’s outreach to northern Serb-majority municipalities, Belgrade perceived those of Pristina as attempts to side-step processes based in the dialogue facilitated by the European Union.
“Any tension or potential crisis between Belgrade and Pristina cannot be seen in isolation from the challenges that the region already faces,” he said, emphasizing that the threat of violent extremism and terrorism remained real. There was need for good-neighbourly relations, dedication to a common future within a unified European space, and a commitment to human rights and the rule of law.
He said UNMIK had brought a newly calibrated focus to its work, providing support where it was most suited and ensuring that parties, the European Union-centred political processes and international partners all benefited from partnership on the ground. “I hope this Council will help to hold leaders to their words,” he asserted.
For its own part, Serbia was committed to resolving all outstanding issues through dialogue and within a status-neutral framework, President Tomislav Nikolić told the Council. However, the possible formation of the Kosovo Security Force into the “Kosovo Armed Forces” would be in violation of Council resolution 1244 (1999), he said, adding that it would threaten efforts to stabilize Kosovo and Metohija, as well as the wider western Balkans region. Serbia’s efforts for compromise had not been reciprocated, which often stalled implementation of its commitments, he said.
Almost four years had elapsed since the signing of the First Agreement of Principles Governing the Normalization of Relations, a key segment of which dealt with the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities, he noted. Demanding that Kosovo honour its own commitments in that regard, and that the international community offer a powerful voice on the matter, he said the Association/Community had been created as a precondition for the survival of ethnic Serbs in Kosovo. However, Serbia would never recognize Kosovo, he stressed, calling upon like-minded States to resist the “shameless pressures of the mighty and powerful”.
Vlora Çitaku of Kosovo noted that Kosovars had celebrated their ninth anniversary of independence 10 days ago, adding that they had persevered through years of discrimination, exclusion, mass killings, rape and deportation. Today, Kosovo was a free, independent and sovereign State, recognized by an overwhelming majority of free nations, she said. Serbia’s refusal to accept that reality only kept it hostage to its own neocolonial past.
She went on to say that Kosovars faced one-sided provocations by Serbia on a daily basis, she said, citing a January incident in which a train from Serbia had arrived covered in slogans saying “Kosovo is Serbia” in 21 different languages. Kosovo’s institutions had gone to great lengths to accommodate the needs of ethnic Serbs living in the area, through legislative and constitutional measures to guarantee their rights. It would implement all agreements reached in Brussels, but would not allow Serbia to hold it back, she emphasized. “We want peace, dialogue and reconciliation, but never, never submission,” she insisted. The time had come to move on, she added, describing the expenditure of millions to maintain UNMIK, which no longer had a function or a purpose, as unjustified spending of United Nations resources.
Some speakers in the ensuing dialogue agreed, with the representative of the United States saying UNMIK was over-resourced and overstaffed. Rather than drawing down, the Mission was installing permanent solar panels on its rental building, he noted. Urging the Mission to return unspent resources to Headquarters, he said it was time to downsize its structure, size and tasks.
In similar vein, the United Kingdom’s representative said the Council should stop holding incendiary briefings marked by lengthy and unproductive statements. Efficiencies should be found within UNMIK and the Secretariat should offer proposals for restructuring the Mission.
Japan’s representative suggested that a meeting and report on Kosovo every six months was sufficient, because the risk and intensity of the violence there were considerably less than in other regions.
Others took a different view, with the Russian Federation’s representative emphasizing that there were no grounds for reducing the United Nations presence or the frequency of Security Council consideration of the issue. He warned that any presence of “Kosovo Armed Forces” in areas under the United Nations mandate would be in contravention of resolution 1244 (1999).
More broadly, speakers called upon both sides to set aside political ambitions in a spirit of restraint and responsibility, emphasizing that normalizing relations would be crucial for creating stability in the Balkans.
Also speaking today were representatives of Uruguay, Italy, Kazakhstan, Bolivia, Egypt, France, Ethiopia, Sweden, Senegal, China and Ukraine.
The meeting began at 10:05 a.m. and ended at 12:25 p.m.
