Byzantine Blog

British and U.S. Shameful Attempts to Manipulate Outcome of the Security Council Session

Following the first UN Security Council session where ambassadors of member states were to discuss Martti Ahtisaari’s proposal advocating dismemberment of Serbian state by severing part of its integral territory as “the only viable solution” that would satisfy Albanian Muslim separatists, RIA Novosti correspondent in New York Dmitry Gornostaev has revealed some of the most interesting details from the closed session for the Russian online daily Kommersant.

Gornostaev’s report opens with the revelation of the cunningness and shameful manipulation Western powers reach for all too often in order to achieve their objectives.

Openly bewildered, the author reports about a procedural problem “that turned out to be more serious even than any political question and that required almost three hours of consultations to be resolved.”

It turns out that current British Chair to the Security Council, Emyr Jones Perry and the U.S. representative have planned to signal the recognition of southern Serbian province as an independent state by placing the leader of Albanian separatists, Fatmir Sejdiu, at the same table with Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, “which would have symbolically raised Kosovo [province] to the same status as Serbia. Kosovo would have thus become an independent nation, if only for the duration of the Security Council meeting,” says Russian New York correspondent.

Majority Council Members Refused to Allow Albanian Separatist to Address Them Officially

The Russian delegation immediately declared that this arrangement was unsatisfactory because it violated the procedural rules of the Security Council. According to these rules, only representatives of the member nations of the United Nations are permitted to take the floor for an official address, and Kosovo is obviously not a member of the UN. Theoretically the Security Council can invite anyone it likes to its sessions, but only in a personal capacity and, naturally, only if the invitation is approved by a majority in the Council. In the very first minutes of the discussion, it became clear that the majority was in fact not pleased with the idea at all.

Not content to let the matter go, the experienced English ambassador happened as if by chance to again bring up the question of a speech by Mr. Sejdiu, but this time in a more veiled manner. Incidentally, he did so at the precise moment when his Russian colleague Vitaly Churkin left the room to speak on his mobile phone. Mr. Perry’s crafty plan was exposed, however, before the chairman could achieve a consensus on the exact nature of the Kosovar [...] attendance. Mr. Churkin soon returned and objected that he was supported by several African ambassadors and the representative from Indonesia, which has been fighting a struggle similar to Serbia’s over the rebellious Aceh province.

In the end, the British and their American allies failed to garner a majority of votes (the five permanent members do not wield veto power of procedural questions) and began to search instead for a compromise. From the very beginning, Russia maintained that it did not object to hearing a speech from the Kosovar leader, but only at an unofficial meeting of the Security Council’s members outside the sessions chamber. The British, Americans, and French, however, insisted that Pristina’s voice should be heard in the Security Council itself, and they suggested that [...] Sejdiu’s speech be read by UN mission to Kosovo head Joachim Ruecker. On that, a compromise was finally reached.

What’s Good for Albanian Goose Must be Good for the Abkhazian Gander

Allowing Albanian separatist leader to speak to UN Security Council ambassadors, even if only at an informal gathering during the session break, even if only in the basement, and even if only for few minutes, has created for Russian ambassador (who, by the way, did not attend that informal conversation but has sent his representative instead), an opportunity to score another important point — to have the Abkhazian Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba be afforded the same luxury as Albanian Sejdiu and address the UN SC ambassadors regarding the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict. According to Gornostaev, “Mr. Churkin reported that he had received a promise from the British ambassador that he will use his capacity as Security Council chairman to ‘speak with the US government about ceasing to make difficulties’ for Mr. Shamba and granting him a visa.”

After both Martti Ahtisaari and Serbian Prime Minister Kostunica spoke about the problems regarding Kosovo-Metohija province, after UNMIK chief Joachim Ruecker read parts of the speech Albanian separatist representative prepared for the occasion, and after the break, the second official session of the Security Council dedicated to the discussion of Ahtisaari’s proposal started, and lasted almost five hours.

It Became Clear Ahtisaari Never Allowed Discussion About Alternatives to Independence

The Council’s members argued less fiercely over the plan than over the procedural question, since the positions of the participants were already well known. As Vitaly Churkin noted, “only three or four members of the Security Council immediately declared unconditional support” for the plan.

These “three or four” turned out to be the representatives of the US, Great Britain, France, and Belgium, which became clear later thanks to their comments to the media. The other ambassadors expressed various qualms about the accuracy of several points in the report, and several temporary members posed some tricky questions to Mr. Ahtisaari. For instance, the UN general secretary’s special representative to Kosovo could not answer a question about how much time during the negotiations was devoted to a discussion of the most important question, the status of Kosovo, and what alternatives had been proposed. It became clear that no alternatives to independence had been discussed.

That fact, as well as Serbia’s rejection of the plan, is the main reason that Moscow is against it. Beijing, another member that wields veto power on the Council, agrees, as do several temporary members.

[...] The Russian ambassador’s subsequent remarks were less optimistic about Mr. Ahtisaari’s future as a mediator in Balkan affairs. Mr. Churkin noted that in 1993 two no less experienced diplomats, Cyrus Vance and David Owen, worked out a plan to resolve the situation in Bosnia. “But it was not accepted by the conflicting sides. In the end a new round of negotiations had to be opened, which led to the Dayton Accord, a plan that was very different from the Vance-Owen plan,” said Mr. Churkin, who at that time was the special representative of the Russian president to the Balkans. Given that the Dayton Accord was not adopted until two years after the Vance-Owen plan was discarded, Mr. Churkin may have been hinting that finding a solution to the Kosovo question could take an equally long time.

French ambassador to the UN Jean-Marc de la Sabliere [...] accused Russia of dragging its feet on deciding Kosovo’s status. However, he also said that he sees no deadline in the process, and he agreed with Russia’s idea to send a mission from the Security Council to Belgrade and Pristina to give the Council’s members an idea of the situation in the region. According to Mr. Sabliere, all of the members of the Security Council agreed to the idea of sending a delegation to the Balkans, and Mr. Churkin even said that he is ready to fly there “tomorrow, if you like.”

Ahtisaari and Albanian Separatists Against the UN Fact-Finding Mission Visiting Serbian Province

But even though French ambassador in the UN has confirmed that “all of the members of the Security Council agreed“ to send a fact-finding mission to the southern Serbian province based on Russian proposal, and even though Serbian representatives and government officials have welcomed the proposal as the only way to fully understand the issues at stake and have a first-hand knowledge necessary to be able to discuss the problem in a responsible manner, both Martti Ahtisaari and Kosovo-Metohija separatist representatives are against the planned visit of the UN Security Council delegation.

Apparently expecting the UN member states to trust one man on his word before deciding to sever part of Serbian territory for good, Ahtisaari insists that Joachim Ruecker’s rosy reports are more than sufficient knowledge on Kosovo-Metohija province and on implementation of the existing UN Resolution 1244 Security Council ambassadors will ever need to figure it all out in the shortest timespan.

Taking their cue from Ahtisaari — Albanian separatists’ advocate in the UN — secessionists occupying Serbian province have started pounding the same drum:

“United Nations have already had a report regarding the progress in Kosovo, and this report was realistic, and prepared by the internationals [e.g. Joachim Ruecker] in Kosovo, therefore we believe that there is no reason that would justify such a request,” war criminal Agim Ceku’s spokeswoman Lama told Koha Ditore.

If the report was as realistic and as thorough as Ahtisaari and his Albanians claim, they have nothing to fear — the United Nations’ fact-finding mission will merely confirm that Ruecker’s sermons were not an ode to independence as charged, but objective, unbiased, impartial reflection of Kosovo Albanian democracy, multi-ethnicity and highly advanced desire for peaceful coexistence, inter-ethnic love and mutual prosperity. Ruecker, Ahtisaari and a number of U.S. and British diplomats have repeated numerous times already that Albanian separatists in Serbian province “are ready for independence” and ought to be awarded the chunk of Serbian state. Now they need to allow the UN Security Council to see that for itself.

India Joins the Countries Supporting Serbia’s Territorial Integrity

Radio Serbia reports that India joins Russia, China and some EU member states in supporting “territorial integrity of Serbia and preservation of its internationally recognized borders.” According to the report, India’s ambassador Aji Swarupa reminded that authorities in New Delhi always supported UN Resolution 1244, according to which Kosovo-Metohija province is an integral part of the Republic of Serbia.

Russian Duma: Security Council Confused by the Fact Ahtisaari’s Draft Adopted Only Albanian Separatists’ Requests

President of the Foreign policy Committee with the Russian Duma Konstantin Kosachov stated on April 5 that Russia has “neither moral nor political right to allow adoption of a resolution on Kosovo-Metohija status in the UN Security Council if the Serbian and Albanian side did not achieve compromise or agree that possibilities for further negotiations are exhausted.” He underlined that it is not only Russia’s approach but that it is supported by most Security Council members except for the US, Britain, France, and Belgium. There is no reason for urgent adoption of the resolution on Kosovo-Metohija province, said Kosachov, reminding of the great similarity with the situation in Cyprus that has been legally and politically undefined for over three decades. The Russian official said that a large number of Security Council members was confused with the fact that Ahtisaari’s report adopted almost all requests of the Albanian separatists and nearly none of proposals by the Serbian side. Belgrade filed as many as 500 amendments to Ahtisaari’s draft and the UN Envoy adopted only one, which is the fact that speaks for itself, pointed Kosachov.

Kosovo-Metohija Serbs: International Officials Threatening Serbs With More Violence Endorse Crime, Persecution and Murder

The Association of Serbian Municipalities and Settlements in Kosovo-Metohija province assessed that the fact-based presentation of Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica before the UN Security Council has rendered Ahtisaari’s proposal meaningless. Kosovo-Metohija Serbs have been encouraged by this, hoping that the space has been created for new negotiations on the status of their Province. The most important thing is that Serbia is no longer alone and that there is a growing opinion that seizing part of the territory of an independent state is against the international principles on which world order is based, said the Association. According to its representatives, threats of violence against Serbs from numerous Albanian lobbyists and international officials in case Kosovo province is not given independence is a method of affirming crime, persecution and murder as a legitimate means of attaining political goals.

Photo: AFP/Dmitar Dilkoff