Fierce debate over Kosovo plan

25/01/2010

Serbia's president and Kosovo's foreign minister clashed before the UN Security Council over Belgrade-run parallel structures and a strategy that would limit their influence.

By Linda Karadaku for Southeast European Times in Pristina -- 25/01/10

UNMIK chief Lamberto Zannier (right) briefed the UN Security Council on Friday (January 22nd). [UN]

The UN Security Council met on Friday (January 22nd) to discuss the current situation in Kosovo. It heard from the chief of the UN mission in Kosovo, Lamberto Zannier, who said the situation is largely peaceful, but pointed to a risk of destabilisation.

He said ethnic tensions and problems with the electricity supply are complicating life north of the Ibar River, where ethnic Serbs have set up parallel government structures with Belgrade's blessing. A lack of agreement between Kosovo and Serbian electricity companies has led to blackouts, fuelling anger among local residents.

UNMIK "must continue to shepherd the reconstruction process and monitor the situation closely to ensure stability", Zannier said.

The Security Council also heard from Serbian President Boris Tadic and Kosovo Foreign Minister Skynder Hyseni, who sparred over the parallel structures. Hyseni attacked Serbia's decision to nominate its own prosecutors and judges for Kosovo courts, saying Belgrade had demonstrated its clear aim of "undermining the ongoing decentralisation process".

"This is also an attempt to obstruct and undermine joint efforts of EULEX and Kosovo authorities to restore law and order across Kosovo through the establishment of multiethnic institutions," Hyseni said, adding that the parallel structures are "unacceptable" and "must end".

Tadic, however, said that the institutions are legitimate and that the only "parallel institutions" were the ones set up as a result of Kosovo's 2008 unilateral declaration of independence, which Serbia refuses to recognise.

He blasted a plan, drawn up by the International Civilian Office in Kosovo with input from the Kosovo government, to create a Northern Mitrovica municipality by mid-year. Kosovo's leaders have expressed hope that it will isolate the Belgrade-sanctioned institutions and help Pristina extend its authority.

"This strategy can only be advanced by the enforcement of a draconian, undemocratic set of measures on the Serbian community in North Kosovo," Tadic said. "Those who announced it -- they and they alone - should bear responsibility for the destabilising atmosphere such conflict-inciting designs can only be meant to produce."

The Serbian president reiterated his country's opposition to Kosovo's independence, and insisted on the need for new negotiations on status -- an idea which Pristina says is out of the question.

Any plan to bring about "integration of northern Kosovo into the so-called state of Kosovo is unacceptable for Serbia ... [and will] never become a reality," Tadic said.