March 29, 2007

KiM Info Newsletter 29-03-07

“It is of great importance for the Serbian state and national interests that the plan presented by the UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari for breaking up Serbia meets with failure,” Beta quoted Koštunica.

“We have been informed that the U.S., EU and NATO have given support to Ahtisaari’s proposal to seize 15 percent of Serbia’s territory. At present we will refrain from commenting their explanation that the territory is being taken in a friendly move towards Serbia,” the government web-site reported.

Koštunica also said that NATO called itself “Merciful Angel” when it bombarded Serbia, while today, when “it is trying to seize a significant part of our territory, it is calling itself Serbia’s friend.”

Koštunica added that Serbia’s determined and strong answer was that “Kosovo-Metohija is an integral and unalienable part of Serbia, that it is so according to law, and it will remain so according to law.”

“Today, the world is not the same as it was in 1999 when Serbia was bombarded. The UN Security Council does have instruments to stop the use of force and legal aggression against Serbia. Ahtisaari’s plan will fail despite the loud support it has received, and this failure will lead to new negotiations on the future of the province,” KoĹĄtunica said. 

Explosion in Kosovska Mitrovica

28 March 2007 | 09:36 | Source: B92 
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- New explosion rocked the Bošnjačka Mahala neighborhood of northern Kosovska Mitrovica last night.

The blast that caused no injuries occurred around 7:40 p.m. Tuesday, in front of Petar Bojić’s house, and close to the building housing Kosovo Coordinating Center.

UNMIK police spokesman Larry Miller said three vehicles and a store nearby were damaged in the blast.

KFOR and UNMIK sealed off the scene after the incident.

The explosion is the second in the past four days occurring in the ethnically mixed neighborhood.

Last Friday, unknown perpetrators threw two bombs in the yard of the house owned by Branislav Lekić and Srećko Antić. 

Security Council on Kosovo in early April

28 March 2007 
NEW YORK, LONDON, BRUSSELS -- The Contact Group meets today; UN Security Council session on Ahtisaari’s plan expected in April.

The Contact Group meeting in London today represents the start of consultations that should lead to the scheduling of a UN Security Council meeting that will discuss the UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s plan unveiled Monday, which proposes internationally supervised independence for Kosovo.

Sources have confirmed that the session will likely be scheduled as soon as the UK takes over the Security Council presidency in April.

While Serbian prime minister Vojislav Koštunica said Russia’s veto on the controversial plan would have “the deepest historic meaning for Serbia and the Serbian nation”, Russian diplomacy chief Sergei Lavrov said yesterday it was “premature” to talk about the Kosovo resolution vote at the UN.

Ahead of a Security Council session, Russian ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin Tuesday proposed sending a fact-finding mission to Kosovo.

Churkin said he looked forward to discussing the UN plan with Ahtisaari, RFE reported.

"I don't want to criticize Mr. Ahtisaari's proposal behind the back of Mr. Ahtisaari, with whom Russia has had all sorts of very close relationships in the past, and we've been supporting his negotiating efforts in the past 18 months in this capacity," Churkin said.

"We do have some issues and I am looking forward to discussing them in the presence of Martti Ahtisaari when he comes here to Security Council."

Churkin also said he proposed that the Security Council send a mission to Kosovo and Serbia so it has "all the information it can possibly get on the situation there before considering this proposal."

He also called on the council to request "a comprehensive review" of the implementation of Resolution 1244, adopted on June 10, 1999, that ended a 78-day NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.

U.S. under secretary for political affairs Nicholas Burns that his country would “work with Russia, an important Security Council permanent member, in the hope that Russia will support the UN plan.”

Burns described announcements of possible unilateral recognition of Kosovo’s independence as “very hypothetical”, stressing that “the best solution would be for a resolution to pass the UN Security Council.”

Kosovo to top EU agenda once again

28 March 2007, b92, Belgrade

BRUSSELS -- EU foreign ministers meet in Bremen later this week for discussions on an enhanced role in Kosovo. The agenda will also be dominated with efforts to ease nuclear tensions with Iran and prospects for an end to Israeli-Palestinian hostilities, EU diplomats said Tuesday. The March 30-31 meeting, chaired by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, will review EU plans to play a key role in Kosovo under the United Nations plan for supervised independence for the province. Kosovo will take centre stage on the first day of talks, with EU chief diplomat Javier Solana expected to give details of the bloc's ambitions to take on "executive" police tasks in the territory. The 27-nation bloc's police operation in Kosovo is expected to include up to 600 officers, with a robust mandate to deal with possible unrest and violence. The overall EU operation, however, will total 1,500 members, including police trainers and magistrates who will work on improving the rule of law in Kosovo. NATO's current 16,000-strong force in Kosovo will also remain in the territory to ensure security. EU governments and the U.S. have voiced strong support for the UN plan for Kosovo's supervised independence. Officials in Brussels and Washington want a UN Security Council resolution allowing for such independence to be adopted by April or May. Both the EU and the US will try over the coming weeks to bring Russia and China - which oppose Kosovo's independence - on board.

EU foreign ministers to refine massive Kosovo mission

BRUSSELS, March 28, 2007 (AFP) - European Union foreign ministers meet Friday to work out how best to help Kosovo achieve supervised independence, in line with recommendations made to the United Nations.

The ministers, holding two-days of informal talks in Bremen, northern Germany, will study a new paper by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn on plans for a massive EU civilian mission.

The EU deployment is "the biggest civilian crisis management operation ever", according to the joint paper, outlined to AFP Wednesday by an EU official.

The mission "will be fully operational after a transitional period of 120 days, and for a minimum period of two years," said paper said.

It is expected to cost the 27-country bloc 120 million euros (160 million dollars) each year, plus 90 million euros for "initial investment".

The total cost to the whole international community of supervising the move to independence is estimated at between 1.3-1.5 billion euros in the three years from 2008-2010.

After a year of fruitless talks between Serbian and Kosovar authorities, UN envoy to Kosovo Martti Ahtisaari recommended Monday that the Serbian province be awarded "independence, supervised by the international community".

Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since 1999, when a NATO bombing campaign ended a brutal crackdown, including ethnic cleansing, by Serb forces against the large separatist minded ethnic-Albanian majority.

The Security Council is set to debate Ahtisaari's plan next month, and tensions are high in the Balkans region, with the ethnic-Albanians impatient for independence and Belgrade determined to hold onto part of its territory.

On Tuesday -- the day after the EU envoy unveiled his recommendations -- two cars were damaged and several nearby windows smashed when a hand-grenade was thrown by unknown attackers on a passing vehicle in northern Kosovo.

Most of the responsibility for ensuring the smooth transfer of power from the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to the province's nascent institutions will fall to the EU, with NATO playing the key security role.

The future presence from the EU's point of view would involve some 1,300-1,500 international police, judges, prosecutors, and customs officials based in Pristina, an EU document said.

That number includes some 450 riot police.

An as-yet unnamed "EU special representative" would "oversee the implementation of the settlement, and have some clearly defined and reviewable executive powers".

Rehn said last week that he would ask in Bremen for EU member countries and others to help fund the mission.

"Member states and other partners must put in their contributions to this effort," he said, but added: "I will insist that resources cannot come from the EU budget alone."
An EU diplomat said that a donor conference could be organised.

The Rehn-Solana document underlines that it is important to underline "the EU perspective for the whole Balkans, Kosovo as part of the western Balkans, is very important," the EU official said.

Meanwhile Russia's UN envoy has suggested that the Security Council send a mission to Belgrade and Kosovo's main city of Pristina before the independence plan is debated.
Russia, a key Serbian ally, has threatened to use its veto on any move to impose independence, arguing that it would set a dangerous precedent for other separatist minded regions around the world. 

Analysis: Kosovo independence?

UNITED NATIONS, March 27 (UPI) -- Russia is calling for a complete review of how the situation in Serbia's province of Kosovo has been handled, including a mission by U.N. Security Council members to visit Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, and Pristina, Kosovo's capital.

The initiative Tuesday has the practical effect of at least delaying implementation of a recommendation by U.N. Special Envoy for the Kosovo Future Status Process Martti Ahtisaari. He called for the province's independence, a move already endorsed by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon but not approved by the council.

Ambassador Valery Churkin of Russia, emerging from closed-door consultations with other council members, told reporters Tuesday he made the call for "a comprehensive review of implementation of (council) Resolution 1244, from 1999, which has been and still is the foundation of all our efforts in Kosovo."

"To us it is logical, and, in fact, imperative, to see where the international community stands on implementation of Resolution 1244 before we can, with all the responsibility invested in us by the international community, consider Dr. Ahtisaari's proposal," the Moscow envoy said.

He suggested members of the council could visit Serbia late next week after Ahtisaari briefs the panel April 3.

Monday, Ban sent Ahtisaari's report to the council, expressing his support for it and the former Finnish president's settlement proposal, saying it meant the province's future was in a decisive phase that the proposal contains "all of the right elements for a fair and sustainable solution to Kosovo's future status."

The only viable option for Kosovo is independence, with an initial period of supervision by the international community, Ahtisaari concluded in the report.

Apparently Russia, long a supporter of its Slavic brothers, the Serbs, does not agree, although you would not get Churkin to say that. He has repeatedly remained non-committal.

Ahtisaari said independence is the only way to ensure the province becomes politically stable and economically viable. He also said delay would pose a threat to the province, where ethnic Albanians outnumber Serbs and other minorities by nine to one.

Serbs consider Kosovo their cultural and historic homeland.

Kosovo's government and Serbia have been unable to reach any agreement either over the future or on current practical issues, the special envoy said in the report, despite his efforts over the past year to broker a compromise.

"Such uncertainty only leads to further stagnation, polarizing its communities and resulting in social and political unrest," Ahtisaari said. "Pretending otherwise and denying or delaying resolution of Kosovo's status risks challenging not only its own stability but the peace and stability of the region as a whole."

Calling Kosovo "a unique case that demands a unique solution," Ahtisaari said an international civilian and military presence is necessary as part of the settlement, focused on such areas as minority community rights, the rule of law, decentralization and the protection of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Under his Comprehensive Proposal, once the council endorses his settlement plan and it is entered into force, there would be a 120-day transition period during which the U.N. Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo would remain in charge. UNMIK has run the province since mid-1999, when Western forces drove out Yugoslav troops amid fierce fighting and human-rights abuses.

An international civilian representative who would be appointed by an international steering group and act also as the European Union Special Representative would have no direct role in Kosovo's administration but would hold ultimate supervisory power over the implementation of the settlement, said the proposal.

The civilian representative would have the power to annul laws or decisions by Kosovo authorities and the right to punish or remove officials whose actions were deemed inconsistent with the settlement and would work until the steering group determined Kosovo had implemented the terms of the settlement.

The Kosovo Assembly, working with the civilian representative, would approve a new constitution and any legislation necessary under the settlement, said the proposal. These would take effect at the end of the transition period, when UNMIK's powers would expire and be transferred to Kosovo's authorities.

Within nine months of the settlement entering into force, Kosovo would also be required to hold general and local elections.

A series of constitutional and legislative provisions would be introduced to ensure minority rights are protected and other interests upheld. Albanian and Serbian would both be official languages.

The Serbian Orthodox Church would be recognized formally by Kosovo's authorities and enjoy tax and customs duty privileges. Protective zones would be created around more than 40 key cultural and religious sites.

An international military presence would remain, with a mission led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization continuing the current work of the Kosovo Force until Kosovo's institutions are deemed capable of assuming complete responsibility for security.