Continued Security Council support for Kosovo 'crucial' - UN official

Concerned by the mounting tensions and insecurity in Kosovo, a senior United Nations official today descried a number of violent attacks in the province during the past two months, primarily targeting Serbs, and said the continued support of the Security Council would be "crucial" to maintaining the rule of law.

In an open briefing on the situation in Kosovo, Hédi Annabi, Assistant-Secretary-General for UN Peacekeeping Operations, said the recent attacks had not only been directed at the Kosovo Serb community but at law enforcement authorities attached to the UN Mission in the province (UNMIK). Property used by the police and the judiciary, including an UNMIK police station, had been damaged in explosions and other attacks, he added.

No one had claimed responsibility for any of the attacks, Mr. Annabi noted, and the situation had prompted UNMIK and the international security force (KFOR) to reassess and enhance security measures. Some of the attacks had come after the conviction on 16 July of four former Kosovo Liberation Army members for war crimes committed primarily against fellow Kosovo Albanians during 1998 and 1999.

Regarding political developments, Mr. Annabi said that the Kosovo Assembly had reconvened last Thursday. Since July, the government had focused on legislative development and the security situation, but it had not taken up the initiation of direct dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

The Serbian Parliament, for its part, had endorsed a "Declaration on Kosovo and Metohija" at the end of August and adopted a resolution on the matter on 5 September, Mr. Annabi said, noting that Kosovo Albanian leaders had been critical of those documents, particularly the references to Kosovo's status. On 3 September, the Kosovo government had publicly expressed concern over the decision to adopt the Serbian declaration and stated its intention to build an independent state.

Mr. Annabi also pointed out that the new head of UNMIK, Harri Holkeri had reaffirmed the "standards before status" principle and its focus on progress towards achieving concrete benchmarks. Currently, Mr. Holkeri was overseeing the development of an operational plan for the implementation of the benchmarks, which was being drawn up jointly by UNMIK and the Kosovo Provisional Institutions. He was also planning to propose modalities for the dialogue between the provisional institutions and Belgrade, which should focus on concrete issues for the benefit of the people.

UNMIK would remain committed fully implementing Council resolution 1244 of 1999 - which called for the setting up of provisional self-government institutions in the war-ravaged province, and was working with all interlocutors to achieve progress on the benchmarks within the "standards before status" policy framework, Mr. Annabi said.