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Serbs and Albanians Compete for UN Mission's Favour
24 April 2007 Belgrade and Pristina both insist that
the UN visit to Kosovo will bolster their own - mutually exclusive -
causes.
By Krenar Gashi in Pristina
Kosovo and Serbia are taking radically
different approaches to the fact-finding mission that the UN Security
Council is sending to the region on April 26 and 27.
While
Kosovo Albanians insist the mission will further the UN proposal for
"supervised" independence, Serbian politicians maintain it
will stop the process and bolster their calls for fresh
negotiations.
The visit, made at the prompting of Serbia's
ally, Russia, will involve the delegation spending three days in
Kosovo and Serbia, gathering first-hand information, followed by a
day of consultations with NATO and EU representatives in Brussels,
Vojislav Kostunica, Serbia's prime minister, on April 23
predicted the visit would start "a totally new round on the
resolution of province's status".
He said it would result
in the abandonment of the plan for Kosovo's final status drawn up by
the UN envoy, Martti Ahtisaari, which Serbia strongly opposes.
According to Kostunica, "the Russian initiative for a
comprehensive evaluation of the 'standards for Kosovo' is a real
basis for a new negotiating process".
The Serbian leader
was referring to an eight-point policy drawn up by the UN
administration in Kosovo, UNMIK, to evaluate Kosovo's progress
towards self-government. Its main points concern progress in the rule
of law, economic development and the return of the refugees.
While
Serbian leaders have hailed the three-day visit as the first step
towards revision of the UN plan for Kosovo, local leaders moved to
quash talk of new negotiations.
"There will not be any
new negotiations on Kosovo's status," said
Agim Ceku,
Kosovo's Prime Minister, last week.
Ulpiana Lama, spokeswoman
for the Kosovo government, told Balkan Insight the visit would
confirm that the ongoing process was the right one and that "the
status quo in Kosovo cannot hold any longer".
Kosovo Serb
refugees now living in Serbia have announced they will stage a
protest during the visit near the Jarine crossing point between
Kosovo and Serbia to make the point that they cannot return safely to
Kosovo.
Many Serbs fled the province in 1999 when NATO's air
war forced the Serbian authorities withdraw.
Negotiations on
Kosovo's final status in Vienna failed to reach any agreement, after
which the UN asked Ahtisaari to draw up his own proposal. This has
recommended "independence supervised by the international
community".
The proposal has the support of the US,
Britain and most European Union countries but Russia has consistently
opposed it. As Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security
Council, it can veto the UN plan.
Serb representatives have
said the announced protests by refugees will show the UN's eight
"standards" in Kosovo have not been fulfilled, especially
those concerning refugee returns.
But Avni Arifi, of the
Kosovo prime minister's office, who coordinates implementation of the
standards, said the real aim was to create dramatic-looking
propaganda concerning the allegedly slow rate of returns.
"The
truth is that Kosovo's government has spent a lot of effort and money
in the returns process," he told Balkan Insight. "This
truth will be revealed to the UN delegation."
Oliver
Ivanovic, a moderate Serbian leader in Kosovo, also sounded a
doubtful note about the value of protests.
"We don't
need protests; we need a real return," he said. "The
protests will draw attention but this is not the right way to waste
our energy. Such energy should be used for people to return to
Kosovo."
Sources have indicated that besides Pristina,
the delegation will visit the divided town of Mitrovica, Novobrda,
Brestovik and the Serbian Orthodox monastery at Decani.
They
will meet Albanian and Serbian politicians, Serbian church leaders
and representatives of foreign liaison offices in Kosovo.
Krenar
Gashi is BIRN's Kosovo Editor. Balkan Insight is BIRN's online
publication.
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The opinions expressed in Balkan Insight are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.
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