UN Security Council Accepts Russian Proposal
Let’s look at facts: The most brutal torment of the remaining Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija province began with NATO occupation, in June 1999, after a 78-day bombardment of Serbia which dared defend its territory against armed, violent separatists.
UN Backs Russian Plan for a Fact-Finding Mission
UN, March 30 (RIA Novosti) — Most UN Security Council members support Russia’s proposal to send an international Contact Group to the Serbian province on a fact-finding mission before considering Ahtisaari’s draft, a UN Security Council representative said Thursday.
Russia proposed a plan Tuesday to send UN Security Council observers to the region believing that it would help establish facts regarding the actual situation in southern Serbian province.
Council to Carry Out Review of the Implementation of Resolution 1244
“Many UN Security Council members believe Russia’s proposal to send an international contact group to Kosovo province and Belgrade would be very useful,” South Africa’s representative to the UN Security Council Dumisani Kumalo said.
He also said that Russia’s plan to send a mission to the Serbian province could help those new UN Security Council members who may be unfamiliar with the Kosovo-Metohija issue to analyze the situation on the ground.
Kumalo said that the mission trip to the region required careful planning before a date could be announced. He approved of Moscow’s initiative to carry out a review of the implementation of previous resolution (UN Security Council Resolution 1244) and check the security levels in the region.
Comprehensive Review Only Logical, Since We’re Told the Process is Being Completed
Regarding the proposal of the Russian Ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, AP reported that in October 2005, the Security Council endorsed starting talks on the status of Serbian province after U.N. special envoy Kai Eide of Norway said negotiations must go ahead even though Kosovo still had grave problems, including deep ethnic divisions, a struggling economy and widespread corruption.
Churkin said Eide’s report “only emphasizes the need to do a comprehensive review of the resolution now.”
“Since a kind of review of the standards was there at the launch of the process, it would seem to be only logical to revisit the issue as we’re told the process is being completed,” he said.
The U.N. Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) has been reporting regularly on implementation of the standards, so Churkin said it should not take very look to write a comprehensive report.
Rewarding Violent Separatist Tendencies a Very Sensitive Issue
South Africa’s U.N. Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, the current council president, said the Council would benefit from a trip to the region. He said South Africa has not come to a decision on backing eventual independence for Kosovo.
“We believe that the decision on Kosovo will be a very significant decision because of the possible implication that it has in terms of other parties that may want to separate and gain their independence from their countries,” he said. “In Africa, that’s one issue that is very, very real to us.”