It's a shame that the internet is a virtual medium, because there are a lot of people out there that I'd like to express my deep feelings of friendship to, and having spent the last two years here in Serbia, I'd like to do it in a truly Serbian way.
Kosovo Leader: UN 'Out By Autumn'
| 11 June 2008 |
Sejdiu told the Associated Press agency that the current mission led by Untied Nations Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK will not and should not retain the same role that it has now.
“That period has been surpassed,” Sejdiu said adding that “UNMIK’s presence should be time-limited and leave by early autumn of this year.”
Kosovo has been administered by UN since the end of the war between Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority and Serb military forces in 1999, whereas UNMIK’s mission has been regulated under the Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council, which foresaw Kosovo as a part of the former Yugoslavia, namely Serbia.
Based on the proposal for Kosovo’s ‘supervised independence’ devised by former United Nations envoy, Martti Ahtisaari, a European Union-led mission must be established in Kosovo to supervise the rule of law, as a successor to the current UN mission, whereas the UN’s responsibilities must be transferred to the Kosovo government.
But Serbia and Russia are against the deployment of EULEX, calling for the continuation of UNMIK’s mandate arguing EULEX seeks to formalise Kosovo’s independence. The majority of Kosovo Serbs are also opposed to the mission.
This has seen the UN reluctant to leave Kosovo and EULEX delay the full deployment of its mission as the transitional period, which was envisaged to have lasted four months since February 17 when independence of Kosovo was declared, is over.
The newly-adopted constitution of Kosovo will enter into force on June 15, three months after the declaration of independence from Serbia.
However, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is expected to address a letter to the leaders of Kosovo, Serbia and to the European Union later on Wednesday where he will talk of UNMIK's continuing 'symbolic presence' in Kosovo despite the entry of the EU mission. Read more: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/10867/
“UNMIK will be able to stay after the constitution comes into effect, but it will not have a final say over Kosovo’s affairs”, Sejdiu said.
