Posted on 06/14/2008 10:13:52 AM PDT by kronos77
BELGRADE, June 13 (Reuters) - Serbia on Friday rejected a proposed European Union police mission for Kosovo and accused U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of overreaching his powers in its former province.
Days before Kosovo's constitution comes into effect, Ban put forward a proposal to "reconfigure" the activities of the U.N. Mission in Kosovo, or UNMIK, and allow the EU to pursue a police mission there.
"Ban Ki-moon overstepped his powers. The Security Council is the only relevant authority to decide whether the UNMIK mission should be reconfigured," Slobodan Samardzic, Serbia's minister for Kosovo, told reporters.
The United Nations has administered Kosovo since a 1999 NATO bombing campaign to drive out Serb forces from the majority ethnic Albanian territory, but the EU wants to take on more tasks after Kosovo's disputed Feb. 17 claim of independence.
Ban proposed the 2,200-strong EU police mission, known as EULEX and months delayed because of Russian objections in the United Nations, be deployed under a U.N. legal "umbrella." The mission will operate alongside NATO's 16,500 peacekeepers.
The U.N. chief stressed such arrangements would apply "without prejudice to the status of Kosovo," whose independence has been recognized by 43 U.N. members.
"I'm aware this package may not fully satisfy all sides, yet it is my honest belief ... that what I have proposed will prove to be the least objectionable course to all and can offer us a way forward," Ban told a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London.
... Nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said the proposal violated Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, while pro-Western President Boris Tadic told Ban in a letter his proposal required Security Council approval.
(Excerpt) Read more at uk.reuters.com ...
Ping!
We're hurtling toward a confrontation with the Russkies in the Balkans, and the two main contenders for the Presidency are a metro-sexual black man and a psychotic fart. Lord, help us.
Nobody asked Serbia’s permission.
And Serbia dosent give a F about you. Neither does your family, but it never bothered you.
My family are the US soldiers occupying Serb territory. I’m on their side. America’s side. I’m proud to be on America’s side, and I support our troops, and if that bothers some people in far off Elbonia, Serbia, wherever, that don’t bother me none.
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