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Disarmament DocumentationBack to Disarmament Documentation Calls for an end to the violence in Kosovo, March 2004
UN Security Council, Presidential Statement, March 18Excerpt from UN Press Release SC/8030, March 18, 2004. The Council President, Mr. DE LA SABLIÈRE (France), then read out the following presidential statement, which will be issued as S/PRST/2004/5: "The Security Council strongly condemns the large-scale inter-ethnic violence in Kosovo (Serbia and Montenegro) that began yesterday and in which many people have been killed and hundreds injured. It also strongly condemns the attacks on the troops of the Kosovo Force (KFOR) and the personnel and sites of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Such violence is unacceptable and must stop immediately. Those responsible must be brought to justice. The perpetrators must understand that an attack on the international presence is an attack on the international community as a whole and that extremism has no role in Kosovo's future. "The Security Council calls on all communities in Kosovo, taking into account their respective responsibilities, to stop all acts of violence, to avoid further escalation and restore calm. The Council urges the parties to refrain from irresponsible and inflammatory statements and accusations. The Council reiterates that the population in Kosovo must employ peaceful, democratic means and work through the recognized and legitimate channels, including the UN and the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG) structures, to address their grievances. It stresses that legal investigations, in particular into the incidents involving the shooting of a Kosovo Serb teenager in Pristina and the deaths of three Kosovo Albanian children in Mitrovica, are under way by the authorities in Kosovo, and calls for thorough investigations of all other incidents. "The Security Council deplores the reported deaths and injuries among the population of Kosovo, as well as casualties among the Kosovo Police Service, UNMIK international civilian police, and KFOR troops. The Council extends its condolences to the families of all the victims. "The Security Council reiterates the urgent need for the authorities in Kosovo to take effective steps to enforce the rule of law, ensure proper security for all ethnic communities and bring to justice all the perpetrators of criminal acts. The establishment of a multi-ethnic, tolerant, democratic society in a stable Kosovo remains the fundamental objective of the international community in implementing Security Council resolution 1244 (1999). The Security Council will closely monitor the implementation by the parties of their obligations according to the 'Standards for Kosovo' document. "The Security Council expresses its full support for the efforts of the Special Representative of the Secretary General, UNMIK and KFOR, and welcomes that the international security presence is continuing to undertake additional measures as deemed necessary to stabilize the situation throughout Kosovo. It calls on the PISG, the authorities in Belgrade and all concerned to cooperate fully. The Council takes note of the joint statement of the Special Representative, PISG, political leaders and others of March 17, 2004." Source: UN Security Council, http://www.un.org. NATO Council on the situation in Kosovo, March 19'NATO resolved to help bring Kosovo violence under control', March 19, 2004. The NATO Council has met again today to assess the security situation in Kosovo. NATO is resolved to help bring this violence under control as quickly as possible. The Alliance is deploying additional troops from the previously designated operational and strategic reserve to ensure that KFOR has all the resources necessary. These deployments include, to date:
KFOR is taking robust action to restore stability, and to protect all citizens of Kosovo regardless of their ethnic identity. KFOR troops are protecting Kosovar Serbs and other minorities from attack, as well as ethnic Albanians where necessary. As additional resources are made available to him, ComKFOR is also now deploying troops to help protect designated sites in Kosovo. KFOR is also working in close co-operation with the UN Mission in Kosovo. KFOR is carrying out its mission in a determined and effective manner. At the same time, political leaders in Kosovo must take effective, concrete action to stop the violence and restore calm. Kosovar Albanian leaders bear a heavy responsibility in this regard and the Secretary General has conveyed that message to the Prime Minister of Kosovo. He has also spoken to the Prime Minister of Serbia, and the Foreign and Defence Ministers of Serbia and Montenegro urging them to refrain from statements and actions that would further heighten tensions. The Secretary General is also consulting closely with UN Secretary General Annan, as well the High Representative in Kosovo, Mr. Holkeri. There should be no doubt: this kind of ethnic conflict does nothing for Kosovo. It is squandering the progress Kosovo has made in meeting the standards set by the international community. It is undermining any rapprochement by Kosovo to Euro-Atlantic institutions. It is a tragic and misguided return to the kind of violence which has no place in Europe. Allies are firmly resolved to help bring this violence to an end. Source: NATO, http://www.nato.int. An inadequate response from 'the United Nations Mission in Kosovo and the NATO-led Forces for Kosovo', Russia Foriegn Ministry Statement, March 20Statement by the Minstry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, March 20, 2004. The leadership of the Russian Federation is deeply concerned over the developments in the situation in Kosovo (Serbia and Montenegro). Provoked by extremists, the sharp flare-up of violence in this province has laid bare the policy deliberately being pursued by them of ethnic cleansing of the non-Albanian population of Kosovo, in the first place - Kosovo Serbs. Russia has repeatedly drawn attention to the danger of such a development of events. However the alarming tendencies that have been ripening in the last few years did not receive an adequate response from the international presences in the province - the United Nations Mission in Kosovo and the NATO-led Forces for Kosovo. Today it has become definitively clear that the attempts at indulging the extremists from among the Kosovo Albanians have failed and created serious risks of destabilization of the entire region. New refugees are joining the tens of thousands of members of the non-Albanian population of Kosovo earlier driven from this province and living in the conditions not conforming to elementary norms. The hundreds of thousands of Serbs who were forced to leave other Balkan countries at the period of disintegration of the former Yugoslavia are also practically forgotten. These flagrant violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms occurred and are occurring in plain view of "civilized Europe." The Serbs remaining in Kosovo are seeking protection behind the walls of the churches and monasteries not yet destroyed in the province, but there too they do not feel protected from the extremists bent on new outrages. Under these conditions a simple numerical increase of NATO troops within the Forces for Kosovo is not enough. These Forces are duty-bound to take the toughest action to suppress the hotbeds of violence, protect the civilian population reliably and together with the UN Mission in Kosovo make the Kosovo Albanian leaders fulfill undeviatingly the demands of the United Nations Security Council regarding the principles for Kosovo settlement. Until such action is taken, until the extremists are curbed, it is pointless to talk about the determination of the political status of Kosovo. The tragic events in Kosovo directly influence the situation in all of Serbia and Montenegro as well. The large numbers within its territory of people torn away from their homes, and the big protest demonstrations in major cities are seriously destabilizing the social and political situation, and distracting attention and resources from the solution of the immediate problems facing that country. Particular responsibility lies on the European Union, which took a direct part in the elaboration of the principles on which the state of Serbia and Montenegro was established. The UN Security Council must also have its weighty say and insist on the implementation of its resolutions. Streamlined formulas are no longer suitable for that. It is necessary to call things by their correct names. Russia, rendering at this stage additional help to the civilian population driven out of Kosovo, is ready for the closest active cooperation with its partners in the Contact Group and the UN Security Council and with the European Union in the interests of speedily ending the tragedy in the Balkans and placing the situation on the lines specified in the UN decisions. We expect our partners in the Western capitals involved in Kosovo settlement to draw serious conclusions from what has happened and to focus attention on a just solution of this key problem for Europe, avoiding double standards in assessments of the state of affairs in different regions of our continent. Source: Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, http://www.russianembassy.org. Statement by Alexander Yakovenko, the Spokesman of Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regarding the Anniversary of the Start of NATO's Bombing of FRYFive years have passed since the start of the bombing by NATO forces of the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, carried out in violation of the United Nations Charter, in circumvention of the Security Council. It was with enormous difficulty, largely thanks to Russia's efforts, that the military action was brought to an end, transferring the situation to the legal field of the United Nations, where UNSC resolution 1244 was unanimously adopted laying down the principles for Kosovo settlement. Unfortunately, Kosovo still remains an unhealing wound of the now new state community of Serbia and Montenegro and indeed all the Balkans. Today the possibility of arriving at a long-term Kosovo solution, presupposing observance of the rights of all the province's residents in the first place, regardless of their ethnic identity, is not even discernible. Worse, ethnic cleansings of non-Albanian population, primarily Serbs, are being carried out in the province. We're witnessing another exodus of Serbs from Kosovo, who have found themselves, like the tens of thousands of previous Serb refugees, without elementary human living conditions. And as in the previous times, Russian Emergency Situations Ministry planes are delivering to residents of the province the necessary tents, food and medicine. The NATO-led multinational force, having assumed responsibility for the maintenance of security and law and order in Kosovo, has been giving assurances that life in Kosovo is returning to normal, and that the province will be transformed in accordance with European democratic standards. In practice we see the manifestations of flagrant medieval barbarism instead - dozens of people killed these days and hundreds of homes burned down and plundered, along with dozens of Orthodox churches and monasteries which were under the protection of UNESCO. The profound crisis in Kosovo settlement, which has turned out to be near an impasse, also complicates the other processes of settlement in the former Yugoslavia, in particular in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Russia insists that the still remaining possibilities be used now in order to launch the settlement process in Kosovo on a normal political track. For this to be accomplished the world community and the international presences in Kosovo should concentrate efforts on the full implementation of UNSCR 1244, which remains the sole legal basis for settlement, and implement it impartially and consistently at that. The previous methods of indulging extremists won't do. Drastic action is necessary to prevent ethnic cleansings. Only after this will it be possible to make arrangements as to how to move settlement further so that it brings us nearer to the aims set in UN Security Council resolution 1244, not lead us away from them. Source: Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, http://www.russianembassy.org. © 2003 The Acronym Institute. |