Solana warns Kosovo leaders over slow fulfillment of UN standards
KiM-Info Newsletter 22-07-05
Solana warns Kosovo leaders over slow fulfillment of UN standards (AFP)
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro, July 20 (AFP) - EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana warned Kosovo leaders on Wednesday not to lose momentum in meeting UN-set democratic standards, key for opening talks on the province's final status. "I was a bit surprised to see a slowdown of the process of the standards and the process of decentralization," Solana said after his brief visit to the province.
The UN began last month to review whether Kosovo authorities have met a set of democratic standards, a precondition for the opening of talks on the territory's final status. Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since a NATO-led bombing campaign ousted Serbian troops from the mainly ethnic Albanian province in 1999 to end a Serbian crackdown on rebels. Kosovo's ethnic Albanian authorities are keen for talks to open to push for independence, while Belgrade wants the territory to remain part of Serbia and Montenegro. Progress "cannot be slowed down at the moment in which a new page of the history of Kosovo is probably beginning to be written," said Solana. "This is a moment in which leaders of Kosovo, the government should move faster, should prove that really the process of standards and decentralization is something in which they believe full-heartily."
One key issue is reform of local administrations, notably in areas populated by minority Serbs, which could improve the return of refugees and provide full freedom of movement. Solana said he had "made it clear" to all Kosovo leaders that the European Union would "like to see more final projects of decentralization being operational, in particular more final projects for Kosovo Serbs." "We have only one. At this point, there should be at least at two operational" projects for the return of Serbs to their homes in Kosovo, Solana said.
So far only about 12,500 of some 200,000 Serbs who Belgrade says have left the province since 1999 have returned to their villages, fearing revenge attacks from Albanians for years of Serbian oppression. Kosovo's UN administrator Soren Jessen-Petersen said that Belgrade was partly to blame for the delays. "Kosovo Serbs are not given the right by Belgrade to participate in Kosovo institutions. As long as Belgrade denies Kosovo Serbs the opportunity to be a part of the process there would be limits to how much progress we can make on the returns and freedom of movement," he said.
Kosovo's push toward democracy has suffered setback (AP)
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) _ Kosovo's drive toward a future political solution has slowed down just at the time it needs to be speeding up, the European Union's foreign policy chief said Wednesday. In Kosovo for a fact-finding visit, Javier Solana said there had been setbacks in ushering in international standards on democracy and minority rights.
''I've been really surprised to see what is to my mind a slow down on the process,'' Solana said. ''I think that is a mistake.''
''This is the moment in which the leaders of Kosovo, the government, should do the opposite, should move faster,'' he added.
Solana's criticism focused on local government reform, which has become a contentious issue between the government, the Serbs and U.N. overseers.
The process is aimed at giving minorities more power in running their affairs, a key condition Kosovo must meet before talks on its future can commence later this year.
However, the process has been plagued with delays following disputes over new municipal boundaries and criticism by the province's opposition parties, who argue that the way the government is carrying out the reforms might lead to the division of Kosovo along ethnic lines.
Kosovo officially remains a province of Serbia-Montenegro and has been administered by the United Nations over the last six years following NATO's air war aimed at stopping the crackdown of Serb troops on separatist ethnic Albanians.
Since then, the province remains split between ethnic Albanians who want it to be independent and Serbia, which opposes the province's independence.
Talks to determine the province's future are expected later this year, but only if Kosovo reaches internationally set standards.
Solana to Kosovo Albanians: We're watching your democratic progress (dpa)
Pristina (dpa) - European Union foreign policy and security chief Javier Solana urged Kosovo Albanians Wednesday to speed up the process of achieving democratic standards as main precondition for the start of final status talks loosely scheduled for October. ``You are going to be watched, analyzed. You have to prove that you want to move in right direction,'' Solana said after meeting with local and international officials in Pristina. Solana's visit was aimed at defusing growing tension as Albanian extremists threatened tough action if final status talks fell short of their expectations of full independence.
''You have to prove that decentralization is something you really believe in,'' Solana said, referring to the international community's ambitious plan to defuse dangerous ethnic tensions by investing more power with local authorities.
In Pristina, Solana held a series of discussions with UNMIK chief Soren Jessen-Petersen, President Ibrahim Rugova, Premier Bajram Kosumi, opposition leaders Hashim Thaci and Veton Surroi, and representatives of Serb community. Solana also urged the Albanian majority to pay special attention to the needs of Serbs and other non-Albanian minorities in the province in order to meet a set of democratic standards defined by the E.U. and United States as a cornerstone of future status.
However, Solana failed to convince local Serb politicians to join provincial institutions, and to end the boycott which started after last year's elections, owing to lack of security, freedom of movement and general poor protection of human rights for minorities. Earlier Wednesday, NATO-led peacekeepers defused a bomb planted in one of the Pristina's main streets ''by two underaged boys'' just hours ahead of Solana's visit. In mid-March, Rugova escaped an assassination attempt unharmed, as a powerful explosion seriously damaged his car on the way to a meeting with Solana.
Kosovo, formally part of Serbia, has been run by a United Nations mission since 1999, when NATO bombing ended a Serb crackdown on Kosovo's separatist ethnic Albanians. The status of the province remains unresolved, with Kosovan Albanians demanding full independence and Serbia offering ``wide autonomy''.
UN administrator reports slowdown in political process in Kosovo (UN News)
20 July 2005 – There has recently been a slowdown in the political process of moving ethnically-divided Kosovo along the road towards determining its final status, the United Nations administrator of the province said today. "We have recently seen a slowdown in the implementation of some of the standards," Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative Søren Jessen-Petersen told a news briefing of the eight goals in areas such as democratic institutions, minority rights and an impartial legal system, seen as crucial steps in moving towards final status talks.
The UN has run the province since the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) drove out Yugoslav troops amid grave human rights abuses in fighting between majority Albanians and Serbs in 1999.
Speaking to reporters after conferring in Pristina, Kosovo's capital, with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Mr. Jessen-Petersen gave three reasons for the slowdown.
"One is that we need to see stronger commitment on the Kosovo Albanian leadership, the PISG (Provisional Institutions of Self Government), they need to show even stronger commitment to push forward on returns, on freedom of movement, and also on decentralization," he said.
The return of Serbs who fled their homes in the province is a significant issue.
"The second reason for the slowdown is, as long as Belgrade (Serbia's capital) denies the Kosovo Serbs the opportunity to be part of the process, there will be limits to how much progress we can make on returns, on freedom of movement," he added. Mr. Jessen-Petersen has repeatedly urged Serbian leaders in Belgrade to encourage Kosovo Serbs to participate in the political process in the province where Albanians outnumber Serbs and other minorities 9 to 1.
The third reason is that, more and more, issues are now being seen through the prism of status discussions, he said, as in the case of discussions on decentralisation. "Clearly, there is a slowdown and as I say, there is a responsibility on the side of all, including us, to make sure that progress continues," he added. Mr. Jessen-Petersen has previously said the process to decide Kosovo's final status could begin this year.
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