UN Kosovo resolution fulfillment
unsatisfactory - ministry
RIA Novosti - April 29, 2007
MOSCOW, April 29 (RIA Novosti) - The fulfillment of the UN resolution on
Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo is dissatisfactory, the Russian Foreign
Ministry said Sunday referring to the results of the UN Security Council
mission's work.
Adopted in 1999, the resolution determined to resolve the grave humanitarian
situation in Kosovo and to provide for the safe and free return of all refugees
and displaced persons to their homes. On Moscow's proposal, a UN mission was
sent to Kosovo and Belgrade before continuing talks on the status of Kosovo. The
Security Council backed the initiative April 13.
"The mission has found many blind spots and confirmed the conclusion that
despite relative progress in the social and administrative sphere, the situation
with the fulfillment of the key provisions of Resolution No. 1244 and
international standards in Kosovo cannot be recognized as satisfactory," the
ministry said in a statement.
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 Muslim Albanian separatists in 1999.
The plan proposed by UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari, which would eventually
grant Kosovo the independence sought by its Albanian majority, has been rejected
by Serbia and veto-wielding Russia but the United States and the European Union
have expressed support for sovereignty.
Copyright 2007 RIA Novosti
Posted for Fair Use only.