White House-unsc-kosovo sked
2008-02-15 10:37 (New York)
STATEMENT BY AMBASSADOR ALEJANDRO D. WOLFF, U.S. CHARGE D'AFFAIRES,
IN A UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL CLOSED MEETING
(AS RELEASED BY THE U.S. MISSION TO THE U.N.)
SUBJECT: KOSOVO
LOCATION: U.N. HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
DATE: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2008
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THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT.
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AMB. WOLFF: For over two years Belgrade and Pristina have been
negotiating to resolve the status of Kosovo. UN Special Envoy Martii
Ahtisaari led negotiations for over 15 months. When the parties could
not reach agreement, President Ahtisaari submitted a comprehensive
proposal that enjoyed broad international support, including from the
EU, NATO, the UN Secretary General, and an overwhelming majority of
Security Council members. That proposal included broad provisions to
protect all communities in Kosovo.
President Ahtisaari recommended that Kosovo be independent
subject to a period of international supervision. Much to our regret,
the Council did not adopt a resolution endorsing that plan and the
Council is clearly blocked on this. The EU-Russia-US troika continued
negotiations for four months last fall. Despite the fact that
negotiators worked intensively, these negotiations also did not
produce an agreement because of the irreconcilable positions of the
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two sides. And we heard today again confirmation that Serbia will
never yield on this issue.
As we stated to the Council on December 19, in describing the
recent history of this issue, the status quo in Kosovo is
unsustainable. Ignoring that history doesn't do anyone any service.
The fact is that the policies of ethnic cleansing that the Milosevic
government pursued against the Kosovar people forever ensured that
Kosovo would never again return to rule by Belgrade. This is an
unavoidable fact and the direct consequence of these barbaric
policies. In the absence of an agreement between the parties, the
United States and many countries in Europe believe that the Ahtisaari
Plan remains the best way forward to promote long-term stability in
the Balkan region. We need to implement the Ahtisaari plan now if we
want to accelerate the integration of the entire region, including
Serbia, into Euro-Atlantic institutions.
I welcome Foreign Minister Jeremic to the Council and take this
opportunity to again acknowledge the historically close cooperation
between our two countries, including as allies during two world wars.
This is a history we cherish. We agree with Minister Jeremic's
observation that the Serbian people have suffered long enough. We
sincerely believe that Serbia has a future of great promise within the
European community, integrated into its rightful place in Euro-
Atlantic institutions. We look forward to deepening our relationship
and helping Serbia fulfill that promise.
Let us look at the situation on the ground in Kosovo. As we
heard from SRSG Ruecker last month, Kosovo's authorities have in
recent months made considerable progress on the implementation of UN-
endorsed standards, especially those that pertain to minority rights.
They carried out a fair and free election and formed a government that
includes all of Kosovo's communities. They have also behaved
responsibly in negotiations on Kosovo's status and demonstrated
patience in response to the international community's inability to
resolve the status issue.
We want to express our concern regarding the government of
Serbia's actions which increase tensions in the region. First,
Belgrade's call for ethnic Serbs in Kosovo to boycott the November 17,
2007, parliamentary and municipal elections only served to isolate
Kosovo's Serbs, disenfranchising them, particularly at the local level
where they have the most opportunity to work with ethnic Albanian
neighbors in building a functioning multi-ethnic society. Second,
Belgrade's opening of a Serbian Ministry office in Mitrovica on
December 10 was contrary to the spirit of commitments the Government
of Serbia made to the Troika negotiators. Third, there is clear
evidence that Serbian officials have been engaged in intimidating
ethnic Serbs in Kosovo, forbidding them from cooperation with Kosovo
and international authorities and threatening their livelihoods.
To our Serbian and Russian friends: as we stated before, my
government profoundly regrets that Kosovo and Serbia could not reach
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an agreement on the final status of Kosovo. But we must not let an
indefinite stalemate threaten to undo all of the other progress we
have made in overcoming the dissolution of the Former Yugoslavia and
hold hostage the future of Serbia and Kosovo. We call on you again to
join us in ending this stalemate and to support the immediate
implementation of the Ahtisaari plan as the only viable way forward to
ensure the rights of and respect for all Kosovars and their religious
and cultural heritage.
Let me be clear about concerns about this unique case becoming a
'precedent.' Kosovo is a special case and the UN has been treating it
as such since 1999. The violent and non-consensual breakup of
Yugoslavia, Milosevic's policies of oppression and ethnic cleansing
that led the international community to act, UNSCR 1244 that set up a
UN administration in Kosovo, severing Serbia's governance over Kosovo
and envisioning a political process to determine Kosovo's status, are
factors that make Kosovo different from all other conflicts. As we
have repeatedly stressed, the situation in Kosovo is sui generis and
provides no precedent for any other part of the world. It hasn't ever
been, it isn't, and it shall not be a precedent. There is no purpose
served in pretending otherwise, and the United States will act
consistently with this fact in how it looks at other conflicts.
UN Resolution 1244 was specifically intended to facilitate a
political process designed to determine Kosovo's future status; it
aimed for an agreement between the parties but did not and could not
require one. Throughout the process that Mr. Ahtisaari led, and in
the troika process that then followed, every feasible effort was made
to reach an agreement between the parties. Regrettably, all of those
efforts were frustrated. Today's meeting is itself demonstrative of
the continued lack of agreement; more talk will not stabilize the
situation. In such a situation, it is clear that implementation of
the Ahtisaari plan would further the purposes of 1244 far better than
working to maintain a status quo that is clearly unsustainable.
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