President Filip Vujanovic (2nd L) and Foreign Minister Miodrag Vlahovic (2nd R) applaud as Montenegro is recognized as the 192nd member nation of the United Nations in New York, June 28, 2006. (Chip East/Reuters)
Posted on 06/28/2006 12:29:40 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Montenegro on Wednesday became the 192nd member of the United Nations, a month after it ended its 88-year partnership with Serbia that completed the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
"I declare the Republic of Montenegro admitted to membership in the United Nations," U.N. General Assembly President Jan Eliasson announced after calling for approval by acclamation in the 191-nation body.
General Assembly members then broke into applause as the Balkan country's president, Filip Vujanovic, Foreign Minister Miodrag Vlahovic and U.N. envoy Nebojsa Kaludjerovic were escorted to their new seats, next to the Mongolian delegation.
"I am confident that Montenegro will strive for good neighborly relations and strong regional cooperation in the western Balkans, thus promoting stability in an area struck by conflict in the recent past," Eliasson said.
The resolution accepting Montenegro as a member was introduced by Austria's U.N. ambassador, Gerhard Pfanzelter, whose country currently heads the 25-member European Union.
Montenegro has about 650,000 people, compared to Serbia's population of 7.5 million, with a landscape of forested mountains and a sparkling Adriatic coast destined for a tourism boom.
It declared independence from Serbia on June 3, after a referendum passed by a slim margin on May 21.
The U.N. seat previously assigned to Serbia and Montenegro is now in Serbia's hands. The last country to join the United Nations was East Timor, in September 2002.
Montenegro is the last of former Yugoslavia's constituent republics to leave the orbit of Serbia, after Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia and Bosnia split during the bloody Balkan wars of the 1990s.
After Serbia's U.N. envoy wished Montenegro well, Vujanovic said he particularly wanted to develop close cooperation with Belgrade "in all spheres of common interest reflecting our social and historic ties."
"Montenegro has been very proud of its multiethnic and multireligious harmony, as one of its fundamental values, recognizable both in a regional and broader international context," Vujanovic said.
Jackie Sanders, a U.S. deputy ambassador, told the assembly, "We join our colleagues in extending our congratulations to the Republic of Montenegro on this momentous occasion in its history."
Shortly after the General Assembly plenary, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Eliasson and the Montenegro delegation went to the front lawn of the U.N. complex to raise Montenegro's red flag bearing a gold coat of arms.
"The people of Montenegro demonstrated that adherence to democratic values and the rule of law offer the most effective way to achieve political goals," Annan said. "These are especially important messages given the recent violent past in the Balkan region."
(Additional reporting by Ljubinka Cagorovic in Podgorica)
President Filip Vujanovic (2nd L) and Foreign Minister Miodrag Vlahovic (2nd R) applaud as Montenegro is recognized as the 192nd member nation of the United Nations in New York, June 28, 2006. (Chip East/Reuters)
U.S. Recognizes Montenegro as Independent State ^
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1652560/posts
Posted by mark502inf
On News/Activism ^ 06/20/2006 11:09:06 AM PDT · 8 replies · 206+ views
U.S. State Department ^ | June 13, 2006 | Condoleeza Rice
Secretary Condoleezza Rice Washington, DC June 13, 2006 The United States has formally recognized the Republic of Montenegro as a sovereign and independent state, following the request of its government and consistent with the provisions of the Constitutional Charter which established the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. This Charter explicitly provided means by which the people of Montenegro could express their will with respect to independence. We congratulate the people of Montenegro for the peaceful and democratic manner in which they conducted their May 21 vote on independence. The honor of being counted among the free and independent states...
Ah, to be in Montenegro now that summer is here!
Today a new country joined the UN.
A country that has the population of Louisville, Kentucky.
(Montenegro has about 650,000 people).
A country destined to be.....That could be......What the heck will they be and why would anyone that small want to be their own country?
Good. Now, the country of 750000 could have only a small diplomatic service - say, 300-500 or even less. At several people per embassy, they might need to combine the embassies, with the same small staff covering several countries.
This is the only nice part of our participation in that 'effort': being on the security council, we get to basically tell the entire load of two-bit 'nations' to go pound sand.
I say this because my first reaction was like some others here: hey, if Montenegro gets a seat, how about Raleigh? But then I realized it: all that seat buys them is the chance to address an empty chamber once every several months and allow a couple of rich contributors to have NYC addresses for a while.
Not a real gain, all in all.
I've never been there, sounds like it has some real potential. Maybe in a few years, a visit.. Monte Carlo is too steep for me. ;-)
Now that we have recognized the legitimacy of a small group of people that wants to break away from their country, when will the Basque Separatists get their own country, when will North Tirol be given back to Austria, when will we recognize Chechnya and demand that the "illegitimate" Russian invasions ends, and when will Taiwan be recognized. Are we going to start recognizing the legitimacy of every group of people that want and vote for their own little country. This seems like a very bad precedent.
Judging from the photo they now applaud losers!
Unlike the Basque separatists, Montenegro had been its own country prior to 1918, ruled by its Prince-Bishops/Vladikas/Kings. Many Montenegrans believe that in 1918 their country was shoehorned into Yugoslavia against the wishes of the people of Montenegro. In a sense, this action doesn't create a new country, it merely restores the independence of a pre-exisitng country. A country that is bigger than many countries already in the U.N.
Next Thursday.
The Bay of Kotor (seen in the photo) is very beautiful, but was only added to Montenegro after WWII when Tito & Co. made some alterations to the historic boundaries. I think the rationale was that the Orthodox outnumbered the Catholics in this area. Historically it was part of Dalmatia.
Understood , but the view of the bay from Black Mountain has been Monte Negro's for centuries ,Eh?
I don't have a map that shows where the original Black Mountain is--if it's near Cetinje maybe the Bay of Kotor can be seen from its upper reaches. The original area that maintained its freedom from the Ottoman Empire was quite a bit smaller than the Montenegro of 1918--new areas were annexed in 1878 and after the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913.
I had the good fortune to spend some time in Dubrovnik. With a decent car and several days you can see Kotor Bay, and Monte Negro and still sleep in a nice Croat hotel.The people of the Black Mountain are an inspiration to all westerners. They had no choice when , all the South Slavs were given to serbia for assasinating the European civil war into being. Yesterday was one of those truly illuminating dates. Serds assasinate Franz Joseph 1914 and france and Britian impose the treay of versaille on the middle Europeans in 1919. An imfamous day and America is still living with the consequences.
Montenegro - The Rhode Island of countries.
Russian presents on these territories is in fact illegitimate. They could still also occupy Ukraine and Baltic states. Think about it, if Quebec would be Muslim, would you like them join US? Rather bad idea in my opinion…
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.