Kosovo is Heating up Again
19 November 2005 | 16:17 | Axis Information and Analysis
The United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) warned the Kosovan
Assembly not to undertake any initiative contrary to the negotiation
process for the future of the region. Turkish Cumhuriyet analyses the
situation and possible consequences of drastic moves by the local
authorities in Kosovo. AIA brings a translation of the article.
"According to the news published in Kosovan press, the Assembly, which
prepares to adopt the "resolution of independence" this Thursday,
was warned by the UNMIK. The warning said that the Contact Group and
the Special Representative of the United Nations General Secretary,
Martti Ahtisaari, the special UN envoy for Kosovo and a former Finnish
President, will oppose to the Kosovan Assembly's resolution of
independence, and that also the UNMIK administration will cancel such a
resolution. As to the Vetevendosje ("The Real Decision") Movement,
which opposes to the determination of the final status of Kosovo
through negotiations imposed by the United Nations, it keeps organising
demonstrations against the UNMIK administration.
According to the information coming from Brussels, the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly, in its new resolution, asked for respect for
the United Nations Security Council's resolution 1244 before the
negotiations for the final status of Kosovo will start. This resolution
of the United Nations Security Council, which had been adopted after
the military operation led by the NATO in Kosovo in 1999, qualifies
Kosovo as part of Yugoslavia.
In that resolution, there are also requests from other member states of
NATO and their governments to apply the standards for Kosovo, to
continue with the decentralisation process, to protect rights of the
Serbians and other minorities and to help the Serbian refugees to
return.
After the United Nations declared that negotiations would start in
order to determine the final status of Kosovo, the Kosovan Assembly
declared in turn its firm determination for independence, and then it
postponed the approval of the "sovereignty and independence
declaration of Kosovan state" until Thursday, the 17th of November.
Nevertheless, the United Nations proposes to maintain the unity of
Kosovo, to grant to Serbians of the region some autonomy and to permit
to the NATO Peace Forces to stay for an undetermined term in the
region. Kosovo, which is administrated by the United Nations for six
years, is still judicially part of Serbia-Montenegro. Of 2 million of
Kosovan population, 90 per cent of which are the Albanians and the rest
is consists of Serbs and other minorities. While the Serbians are
demanding for Kosovo to be attached to Serbia-Montenegro, the Albanians
are pleading for independence.
The United States Foreign Affairs Undersecretary, Nicholas Burns, who
declared in mid-October about the beginning of negotiation for the
final status of Kosovo, also stated that the independence of Kosovo is
an option as well.
The Vetevendosje Movement, which has become very active recently in
Kosovo, intensified its activities against the UNMIK. Recently, the
members of the Movement set fire to the inscription with the name of
the UNMIK on it waving over the castle in Prizren. They also put up
three huge banners with inscriptions like "UNMIKolonialism" meaning
"UNMIK the colonist" and signed "Vetevendosje". And before
that, they changed the "UN" inscription upon the UNMIK vehicles as
adding an "F" before the "U" and a "D" after "N". That
modification, which gave "FUND", means the "end" in Albanian
language. Furthermore, the increasing number of student joining in the
movement is highly significant".
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