UN Security Council to review UNMIK report on July 25

The UNSC members are expected to review the first three-month report on the work of UNMIK since Italian diplomat Lamberto Zannier came to its helm on June 20.

UNMIK spokesman Alexander Ivanko announced that that Zannier would visit Belgrade most likely next week with the intention of discussing plans for the reconfiguration of UNMIK.

Some political representatives of the Kosovo Serbs assess that his insisting on contacting the Serbian leadership should be taken seriously, since it represents a sign that the international community has realised that the situation on the terrain cannot be improved without Belgrade.

"Zannier's insisting on visiting Belgrade should be viewed as their becoming aware of the reality that nothing can be changed for the better in Kosovo and Metohija without Serbia's taking part in it," G17 Plus representative in Kosovo Oliver Ivanovic said.

He evaluated that Zannier was a pragmatic politician, which was why "he will first knock on the right door."

"During his term of office, former UNMIK chief Joachim Ruecker did not have any meetings in Belgrade. I think that Zannier's first meeting could be that of exchange of views as regards mutual obligations, since Serbia, of course, requires from the UN secretary general that Resolution 1244 be observed and that the territorial integrity be not additionally threatened by any move whatsoever by the special representative", he added.

Meanwhile, Pristina's Albanian-language daily Zeri reported on Saturday that there was every indication that the prevailing position at the UN Headquarters in New York was that ways should be found so as to ensure coexistence with the local bodies of authority in Serbs municipalities, which were the result of the May 11 elections.

There are a number of arguments that support the conclusion that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Department of Peace Keeping Operations back the policy of giving legality to the results of the Serbs' local elections held in Kosovo on May 11, which UNMIK chief Joachim Ruecker had proclaimed as invalid, the daily reported referring to international officials.

According to the Western diplomats and the writing of this paper, such a conclusion is also supported by the fact that official New York has never given official or public support to the UNMIK chief's position.

It seems that the logic which is prevailing in New York now is that the new reality that has presented itself in Kosovo after the May elections cannot be changed, and that, in one way or another, ways should be found for coexistence with the new representatives of Serb authority at the local level, the daily concluded.

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