UN Security Council to debate Kosovo on April 21
The United Nations Security Council will continue the debate of the Kosovo issue on April 21 amid Washington’s ongoing diplomatic initiative aimed at bringing all Western countries behind the province’s independence and Russian renewed warnings that Moscow will never allow the territory to become a member of UN.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Thursday, April 03, 2008
The UN's 15-member body will start the debate with a security review by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his special representative in Kosovo Joachim Ruecker, but the discussion is, once again, likely to result with fresh diplomatic dispute between Russia and the United States over Pristina's unilateral declaration of independence.
In 23-pages-long report, the UN chief warned that the security situation in Kosovo remains tense, despite the relative calm that followed province's unilateral declaration.
"Following Kosovo's declaration of independence, UNMIK continues to operate on understanding that resolution 1244 remains in force, unless Security Council decides otherwise...It is evident that Kosovo's declaration of independence has had a profound impact on situation in Kosovo," Ban said in a regular quarterly report.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned the West that Moscow will use its position in UN Security Council to block Kosovo's bid for UN membership, calling the Washington's policy towards this problem "irresponsible and short-sighted."
"Increased tensions in Serbian areas of Kosovo and general dissatisfaction in Serbia is the direct result of what he called irresponsible and short-sighted policies aimed at the unilateral declaration on Kosovo's independence," Lavrov told lawmakers in Moscow.
