WHY NO COMPLIANCE WITH UN DECISION TO RETURN SERBIAN TROOPS TO KOSOVO
The Serbian Prime Minister, Zoran Djindjic, has demanded that Nato's commander for southeastern Europe, Admiral Gregory Johnson, provide the conditions for the immediate return to Kosovo of at least one thousand Yugoslav and Serbian security forces. More from our observer Yuri Solton.
The demand complies with Resolution 12-44 adopted by the United Nations Security Council on July 10th 1999. The Resolution details the functions of the international civil and military missions in Kosovo, following the withdrawal of the Yugoslav army. It states that Yugoslav and Serb troops are to be allowed to return to Kosovo to clear fields of mines, protect Serbian holy sites and safeguard key checkpoints on the border. The Yugoslav army has formed a special unit with appropriate personnel and equipment as required in the Resolution.
But now in response to the demand of the Serbian Prime Minister, the head of the UN mission in Kosovo, Michael Steiner, says no. The UN civil mission and the international peacekeeping force, he says, bear full responsibility for security in the province. The refusal comes as no surprise. The international peacekeeping force is made up of NATO troops, and its leaders along with the leaders of the civil mission consider it their duty to support the extremist ethnic Albanians. As a result, about a quarter of a million Serbs have fled Kosovo and ethnic Albanians hold all the governing posts at all levels. And now there are plans for a drastic reduction of the international military presence in Kosovo and hand over of security functions to the ethnic Albanian authorities.
The resolution of the UN Security Council demands preservation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the former Yugoslavia. If a Serbian contingent is allowed to return to Kosovo, this will confirm Serbia's sovereignty over Kosovo. The refusal by a UN official to allow this is a direct violation of the UN resolution.