Kosovo

Joachim Rücker

Envoy confident about efforts to determine final status of UN-run Kosovo

28 December 2006
The top United Nations envoy in Kosovo today voiced confidence on reaching a decision on the final status of the Albanian-majority Serbian province that the world body has run since Western forces drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 amid ethnic fighting.
Security Council

UN envoy to Kosovo urges swift resolution of province’s permanent status

13 December 2006
Resolving Kosovo’s future status as soon as possible would bring benefits to the entire Balkan region, while any further delays would only raise tensions and help the cause of extremists, the senior United Nations envoy to the province told the Security Council today.

Over half Kosovo’s missing accounted for, mostly through body identification –UN

6 December 2006
Over half of the more than 5,200 people reported missing in Kosovo after the 1998-99 conflict have been accounted for, mostly through identification of their remains, but concerns for those still missing is one of the most pressing issues in the ethnic Albanian-majority Serbian province, the United Nations mission there said today.

Kosovo Albanians, Serbia still ‘diametrically opposed’ on province’s future – Annan

30 November 2006
Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian Government and Serbia remain “diametrically opposed” in their views of the future status of the Serbian province, which that the United Nations has run ever since Western forces drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 amid ethnic fighting, according to Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s latest report on the issue released today.

Kosovo: pro-independence protesters attack UN headquarters; no injuries

29 November 2006
Some 2,000 members of a pro-independence ethnic Albanian group in Kosovo attacked United Nations personnel yesterday in the Serbian province’s capital, Pristina, pulling down a 4-metre tall concrete barricade outside UN headquarters and hurling concrete blocks and an incendiary device at police officers inside.

Kosovo: UN envoy urges leaders to avoid ‘unilateral actions’ after delay on final status

13 November 2006
Just days after a United Nations proposal for the future of Kosovo was postponed, the top UN envoy there warned its leaders against talk of “unilateral actions” in the Albanian-majority Serbian province that the world body has run since Western forces drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 amid ethnic fighting.

Kosovo: UN envoy puts off presenting final status proposal till after Serb poll in January

10 November 2006
A United Nations proposal for the future status of the Albanian-majority Serbian province of Kosovo, which the world body has run Western forces drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 amid ethnic fighting, will not be presented until after Serbia’s parliamentary elections on 21 January.

Kosovo: UN Goodwill Ambassador Kidman hears chronicles of violence against women

16 October 2006
Visiting Kosovo on her inaugural trip as a Goodwill Ambassador with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Nicole Kidman heard first-hand about the impact of gender-based violence and war, and said today that women must be central to any decisions reached during the current talks over the province’s final status.
Security Council

Security Council holds closed meeting on Kosovo status talks

22 September 2006
The Security Council today held a closed meeting on Kosovo at a time when fresh violent incidents have shaken the Albanian-majority Serbian province which the United Nations has run since 1999, and talks to determine its final status – hoped to have been completed by the end of this year – are still at the technical phase.

Kosovo: UN official voices ‘outrage’ at attack on Serb family

20 September 2006
A senior United Nations official today expressed outrage at an attack on a Kosovo Serb family in which four people were wounded in an explosion at their home in the Albanian-majority Serbian province administered by the world body ever since Western forces drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 amid grave rights abuses in ethnic fighting.