The Serbian foreign minister will travel to Pretoria to present the country's position regarding Kosovo’s future status to South African officials, whose country is one of the ten non-permanent UN Security Council members.

Other nine members include Belgium, Congo, Ghana, Indonesia, Italy, Panama, Peru, Qatar and Slovakia.

The visit comes at a time when it is insufficiently clear either how well-acquainted with Kosovo the non-permanent council members are, or how they might choose to vote should a new Kosovo resolution be put up at the UN.

The foreign ministry said in a press release Drašković will ask his hosts to reject UN special Kosovo envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s plan that would destroy Serbia’s territorial integrity.

The press release also said Drašković will emphasize the potential damage to nearly all African countries’ territorial integrity should the UN adopt a resolution in breach of its own Charter.

Indonesia, Kosovo, Ahtisaari

In a recent article published in the Balkan Insight, Tim Judah, one of the leading Balkan commentators, says that while the European and Russian diplomats “stand to learn nothing new about the province,” from the announced UN fact-finding mission to Kosovo, “that is not the case with the diplomats representing the non-permanent members of the Security Council, whose votes are needed to pass or block any resolution.”

“Indonesia is another non-permanent member of the Security Council with pronounced views about secessionists,” Judah writes.

“Its diplomats may not know much about Kosovo but they are very well acquainted with Ahtisaari. In what was widely regarded as a diplomatic triumph in 2005, the former Finnish president brokered an end to the 30-year rebellion in Indonesia’s secessionist Aceh province.”

“There, the Aceh rebels were persuaded to end their struggle for independence in exchange for broad autonomy. Indonesia, which remains wary about secessionist regions in general, is deeply skeptical about the Ahtisaari plan for Kosovo,” Judah continues.

“In an interesting twist, the Ahtisaari plan for Aceh was monitored by an EU-led body headed by the Dutch diplomat Pieter Feith. He is now tipped to lead the proposed EU-dominated International Civilian Office, ICO, which would play a major role in running any post-resolution Kosovo.”

“Clearly, Ahtisaari has a lot of explaining to do if he is to persuade countries like Indonesia and Congo to back his plan for Kosovo,” Tim Judah concludes.