http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080717/wl_nm/kosovo_un_dc_1
Reuters
July 17, 2008
U.N.'s Ban pushing ahead with Kosovo handoff to EU By
Patrick Worsnip
-Russia strongly opposes an EU takeover. President
Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview published this
month that Ban had overstepped his authority by
scaling back the U.N. mission.
-Ban's report said new realities in Kosovo - including
the entry into force of a constitution on June 15 -
had "fundamentally challenged" the U.N. mission....
[The fact that the European Union's EULEX deployment
flies in the face of the United Nation's own
Resolution 1244, which uneqivocally recognizes
Serbia's sovereignty over Kosovo, and that 149 of the
UN's 192 members have refused to acknowledge Kosovo
'independence' five months to the day after it was
declared evidently means nothing to Ban, a consistent
successor to former UN Envoy To NATO and Madeleine
Albright's handpicked stooge Kofi Annan.]
UNITED NATIONS - Despite Russian objections,
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report made
public on Thursday he was pushing ahead with a plan to
hand over policing functions in Kosovo to the European
Union.
The United Nations has run the former Serbian province
since 1999, when NATO bombing drove out Serb
forces....
But a declaration of independence in February by
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority left the U.N.
mission in limbo. The Security Council has been split
on how to proceed because Western states have
recognized Kosovo while veto-holding Russia follows
its ally Serbia in opposing independence.
Ban said last month he intended to "reconfigure" the
mission and in his latest report to the Security
Council said because the council was "unable to
provide guidance" he had told his Kosovo envoy,
Lamberto Zannier of Italy, to go ahead.
"I have instructed UNMIK (the U.N. mission) to
cooperate with the European Union, in order for it to
assume an enhanced operational role in Kosovo in the
area of rule of law under the overall authority of the
United Nations," he said.
A 2,200-member EU police mission is waiting to deploy
in Kosovo.
Russia strongly opposes an EU takeover. President
Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview published this
month that Ban had overstepped his authority by
scaling back the U.N. mission. Moscow says the issue
can be resolved through talks with Belgrade.
Ban's report said new realities in Kosovo - including
the entry into force of a constitution on June 15 -
had "fundamentally challenged" the U.N. mission, which
could no longer perform most of its tasks as
effectively as before.
He cited cases where Kosovo authorities had openly
challenged the mission over applying property and
traffic law.
Another problem has been a growing boycott of Kosovo's
institutions by the Belgrade-backed Serb minority.
Serbian President Boris Tadic told the Security
Council last month Belgrade could not endorse Ban's
plan.
The European Union, however, has been encouraged by
this month's installation of a new pro-Western Serbian
government and will call on Belgrade next week to play
a constructive role in the bloc's efforts to stabilize
Kosovo.
(Editing by Patricia Zengerle)
Serbian News Network - SNN
[email protected]
http://www.antic.org/
