UN Security Council on Kosovo and Metohija

UN Security Council will consider today the regular six-month report of the UN Secretary General on the work of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

Source: Tanjug
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Foto: Tanjug/AP Photo/Bojan Slavkovic
Foto: Tanjug/AP Photo/Bojan Slavkovic

Serbia will be represented at the session by Foreign Minister Nikola Selaković, while Vjosa Osmani, President of the interim Kosovo institutions, will represent Kosovo.

The report will be presented by the head of UNMIK and the special representative of the UN Secretary General, Zahir Tanin, who said that the new report focuses on government reform, the rule of law, security issues and the situation with the coronavirus pandemic.

On the eve of the session, as part of regular consultations, Tanin talked separately with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, and the Prime Minister of the so-called Kosovo, Albin Kurti. The session starts at 4 p.m. CET.

The previous session of the UN Security Council, at which the six-month report on the work of UNMIK was discussed, was held on April 13 in an online format, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Selakovic will have the opportunity to speak at the United Nations in New York today about the operation in the north of Kosovo and Metohija in which Pristina used firearms, at the Security Council session at which the regular six-month report of the UN Secretary General on UNMIK's work will be discussed.

Serbian foreign minister will also be able to talk about a number of unilateral moves by Pristina, such as on Wednesday, when under the false pretext of responding to smuggling, Kosovo's armed special forces used shock bombs and firearms, injuring one Serb seriously, with a dozen of people sustaining light injuries.

At this session, the first one which has not been held in video format since the outbreak of the pandemic, Serbian head of diplomacy will be able to warn of Pristina's unilateral actions as the worst way to resolve disagreements, because that produces problems, not solutions.

3.100 days without progress

That is why before leaving for New York, the Minister, speaking about the importance of regular consideration of Kosovo and Metohija in the UN Security Council and the upcoming session dedicated to the work of UNMIK, expressed the expectation that the latest events in the north of the province will be adequately and objectively presented in the UN Secretary General's Report, given that such reckless moves by Pristina could lead to severe consequences and destabilization.

Today, Selaković will repeat on the East River that Belgrade continued to insist on the protection of the Serbian population in Kosovo and Metohija and the preservation of peace and stability. The session will be an opportunity for the minister to express concern that the number of attacks targeting Serbs and their property, as well as the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church, has increased in the past period, bearing in mind that 106 such ethnically motivated incidents have been recorded since the start of the year.

In light of all these developments, the Minister will emphasize once again that it is of key importance for Serbia to continue UNMIK's engagement in an undiminished scope and with an unchanged mandate, although the United States is committed to bringing the mission's mandate to an end.

The session of the UN Security Council is an opportunity to reiterate once again that Belgrade is approaching the talks constructively and is committed to finding compromise solutions, and to emphasize that eight years have passed since the signing of the Brussels Agreement, and that in exactly 3.100 days there has been no progress on the commitments taken over by Pristina, primarily in connection with the establishment of the Community of Serbian Municipalities.

Previous session of the UN Security Council, which discussed the report on the work of UNMIK and the situation in Kosovo in April, was remembered for being interrupted soon after it began, because during the speech of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Donika Gërvalla, the symbols of Kosovo were visible, so Russia reacted, demanding that the flag be removed.

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