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Euro-Atlantic region.
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11 March 2005
UN Kosovo mission head may soon depart
ISN SECURITY WATCH (11/03/05) - The Danish government has nominated Soren Jessen-Petersen, the head of the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), to be the next UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), meaning a changeover in UNMIK�s leadership could come as the Kosovo status issue reaches a critical point.
The Danish Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday that Petersen would be its choice to succeed former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers, who resigned as UNHCR head last month after details emerged from an internal enquiry into sexual harassment allegations.
Kosovo media speculated that the timing may be just right for Petersen, saying that a number of Western diplomats had criticized the UNMIK head for his public statements regarding former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj. Haradinaj resigned from his position earlier this week and flew off to The Hague to face charges that he committed numerous war crimes during the 1989-1999 Kosovo conflict.
According to a report on Albanian-language TV Koha on Thursday, some fellow diplomats in Kosovo were particularly angry that Petersen had called the alleged war criminal a �friend�.
But several sources also told ISN Security Watch that Petersen had clashed with EU officials over their different interpretations of the fate of the current Kosovo government, which remains in an institutional vacuum after Haradinaj�s departure.
On Tuesday, the EU called for a new, more representative government that would include more political parties, regardless of last year�s election results. The EU presidency, currently held by Luxembourg, urged all political parties to �urgently� negotiate the formation of a new government to continue the implementation of the so-called set of standards. These are conditions - dealing mainly with law and order, security, and human rights for the Serb minority - that the international community has demanded must improve before any discussion of Kosovo�s status.
Diplomatic sources in Brussels told ISN Security Watch that Petersen had the best chance of getting the UNHCR job because of his strong relationship with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan - supposedly a main reason why he received the UNMIK position last June. Former Italian EU commissioner Emma Bonino is apparently another leading candidate for the top refugees post.
At the moment, no names are circulating for a candidate to replace Petersen should he leave for the job in New York. Any decision would have to be made fairly quickly, because it is expected that Petersen might depart as early as May or June. That would be a sensitive time - just before the UN plans to evaluate the standards' implementation, which, if deemed successful, could lead to talks on Kosovo�s future status.
Petersen would leave with a mixed reputation. While the majority Albanians have appreciated his praise for the amount of progress made towards fulfilling the standards, local Serbs and much of the international community believe that he overstated those advances.
