German national named head of Kosovo UN mission

Deutsche Presse Agentur, Aug 14, 2006, 19:00 GMT

 

New York - A German national was appointed Monday to take over the leadership of the UN mission in Kosovo in September amid critical UN-led negotiations to decide the political future of the Serb province.

 

Joachim Ruecker was appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to replace Danish diplomat Soren Jessen-Petersen, who stepped down in June for personal reasons, a spokesman said. Ruecker, already working in Kosovo, will assume his new post on September 1.

 

Ruecker was in charge of reconstruction and economic development in Kosovo under Jessen-Petersen, and previously worked as deputy high representative of the international community in Bosnia from May 2001 to July 2002.

 

He was the mayor of the city of Sindelfingen in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg from 1993 to 2001 before joining the international team in Bosnia-Herzegovina to restore peace and security there.

 

He held various posts in the German federal foreign office from 1979 to 1991 before becoming mayor of Sindelfingen.

 

As head of the UN mission, which is known as UNMIK, Ruecker will direct the implementations of a programme to democratize legal institutions in Kosovo and train the Kosovo police force that now has close to 7,000 members, including a majority of Kosovo Albanians, Kosovo Serbs and other ethnic minorities.

 

UNMIK is composed of an international force of more than 2,100 police trainers from more than 40 countries in addition to a civilian staff. During Jessen-Petersen's term, Kosovo moved closer to becoming a full-fledged state through the transfer of authority from the UN mission in Kosovo, known as UNMIK, to local institutions.

 

UNMIK has been administering Kosovo since 1999, following NATO intervention that ousted Belgrade's security forces from the province and ended repression of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority.

 

The province has since been in diplomatic limbo, as Serbia insists on retaining sovereignty over Kosovo, while the dominant Albanian population has impatiently been expecting full independence.

 

The resolution of Kosovo's future political status has drawn nearer this year, with the launch of UN-brokered direct talks between Belgrade and Pristina.

 

The talks, led by UN mediator Marrti Ahtisaari, produced no progress yet toward a compromise after eight rounds. Both sides remain riveted to their original positions, raising the prospect of an imposed solution.