----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, June 25, 2000 8:11 AM Subject: [STOPNATO] UN Special Envoy Bildt supports Montenegrin and Kosovo independence STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.COM UN envoy backs Montenegro in scrap with Serbia Posted Friday, June 23, 2000 by Montenegro.com by Robert Holloway UNITED NATIONS, June 23 (AFP) - The UN special envoy for the Balkans, Carl Bildt, backed Montenegro, the junior partner in what remains of the Yugoslav federation, in its fight against Serbia on Friday. In a document distributed by the United Nations, Montenegro had accused Serbia of using military force to destabilise it. It also rejected Serbia's right to represent it diplomatically, and called on the international community to support opposition movements in Serbia. Speaking in a debate in the UN Security Council, Bildt said "the present structures of this present Yugoslavia are unsustainable." Montenegro and Serbia were "on a slow but steady course towards collision," he said, and it was important "that we all give support to the elected authorities in Montenegro in their efforts to pave the way for the new deal they seek." Bildt also said peace was impossible without "a clear constitutional separation" between Serbia and its province of Kosovo. But he told reporters he had not advocated independence for Kosovo. He said that before the future of Kosovo could be determined, it was necessary to build up political institutions in the province, and to develop an international consensus on its status. The present lack of consensus was sharply underlined when the council voted 7-4 with four abstentions to exclude the Yugoslav charge d'affaires, Vladislav Jovanovic, from its debate. Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Sergei Lavrov, walked out saying that "to discuss the Balkans without Yugoslavia is a nonsense." The US ambassador, Richard Holbrooke, had asked for the vote, saying Jovanovic "represents a government whose leadership has been indicted for war crimes." Yugoslavia's membership of the United Nations has been in dispute since 1992, when four of its six constituent republics declared their independence. Jovanovic asked to take part in the debate as an individual. One former republic, Slovenia, recalled that the Security Council had asked the federation of Serbia and Montenegro in 1992 to re-apply for UN membership because Yugoslavia no longer existed. In an echo of that opinion, Montenegro said it no longer agreed that Serbia's political leaders and diplomats could represent its policies and interests. Its views were set out in a document circulated by the president of the council, French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte, at the request of the Slovenian ambassador, Ernest Petric. "Montenegro will independently express, represent and protect its policy and interest and inform other countries and international organsations thereon," it said in the document, officially described as "a non-paper." The document accused the leadership in Belgrade of using the Yugoslav army to "destabilise Montenegro and undermine its choice." It warned of the "dangerous possibility of a new crisis breaking out," and urged the international community to "offer even stronger support to broad democratic forces in Serbia." Slovenia was invited to take part in the debate under rules of procedure which allow non-members to address the council. The foreign minister of Montenegro, Branko Lukovac, was in the council chamber but was not invited to speak. ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb
