Croatia wins UN Security Council seat

23/10/2007

Croats are celebrating their country's "biggest achievement since our independence".

By Natasa Radic for Southeast European Times in Zagreb – 23/10/07

The election was an "exceptional recognition of Croatia and its foreign policy", Croatia President Stipe Mesic said. [Getty Images]

Croatia won a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council for 2008-2009 during the General Assembly vote last week. The country's biggest rival for the position, the Czech Republic, withdrew its candidacy in the second round, allowing Croatia to easily win the two-thirds majority necessary.

Costa Rica, Libya, Vietnam and Burkina Faso also won non-permanent seats in the Council. The 15-member body has only five permanent members and the two-year term for the newly elected non-permanent members begins on January 1st.

"After the international recognition of the Republic of Croatia and ending of the Homeland War, this is the biggest achievement since our independence," Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said, returning from New York after the October 16th vote.

President Stipe Mesic played a vital part in the lobbying process, renewing Croatia’s relations with African and Asian states and members of the non-aligned movement, established with the former Yugoslavia. The election was an "exceptional recognition of Croatia and its foreign policy", the president said.

For the first time since independence, Croatia now has the opportunity to take on a key role in global decision-making processes. For a country that not long ago was struggling to emerge from isolation and war, the Security Council seat is another welcome sign of the dramatic progress made in recent years.

As the celebrations died down, Croatian officials began planning their agenda in New York. Some issues are of direct national concern -- for example, the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague will be a regular topic on the Security Council's agenda for the next two years. An exit strategy for wrapping up the court's work must be finalised.

Croatia is strongly against closing down the tribunal before the two top war crime fugitives -- Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic -- are brought to justice. "We shall seek justice for all the victims," Sanader said.

Meanwhile, he stressed that Croatia will not use its position to put pressure on Slovenia over the two countries' rival territorial claims in the Adriatic. The prime minister said the main mission of Council membership for Croatia will be to promote political stability in Southeast Europe -- with a focus on Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina.