Kosovo spurns Russian plan to send UN mission
to province
RIA Novosti - April 10, 2007 19:40
BELGRADE, April 10 (RIA Novosti) - Kosovo authorities see no need to send a
special UN Security Council delegation to the province to study the situation on
the ground, a spokesman for the autonomy's interim government said Tuesday.
Russia proposed last week sending an international mission to the region as a
way of forging a compromise between the Albanian majority and ethnic Serbian
minority in the troubled province. The proposal was put forward as an
alternative to a plan by UN Special Envoy Marti Ahtisaari to grant Kosovo
internationally supervised sovereignty.
"A UN Security Council mission can only corroborate the obvious progress that
has been made in Kosovo in the past eight years," Ulpiana Liama said.
Serbia's prime minister said last week the Russian initiative will serve as a
good basis for further negotiations on the status of the breakaway province.
"We have demonstrated that Ahtisaari's proposals on Kosovo presuppose illegal
actions - namely, depriving the country [Serbia] of 15% of its territory,"
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said, adding that the plan
contradicted the UN Charter and had therefore failed to secure any substantial
support at the UN.
Only four of the 15 members on the UN Security Council voted Tuesday in favor of
Ahtisaari's plan during the first round of consultations on the issue.
Conversely, Kosovar President Fatmir Sejdiu said previously that Ahtisaari's
plan was receiving increasing support. He also said the UN Security Council
remained convinced that Kosovo's independence was unlikely to set a precedent
for other countries.
Russia, which wields a veto power on the council and has been a traditional
Serbian ally, has opposed the proposals, pushing instead for negotiations and a
decision that would satisfy both Kosovar and Serbian authorities.
Moscow has also expressed its concern that Kosovo's independence could set a
precedent for other breakaway republics, including in the former Soviet
republics of Georgia and Moldova.
Kosovo, which has a population of two million, has been a UN protectorate since
NATO's 78-day bombing campaign against the former Yugoslavia ended a war between
Serb forces and Albanian separatists in 1999.
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