U.N. envoy arrives in Kosovo to begin review of province's progress on key reforms
By Finik Abrashi
13 June 2005
Associated Press
A U.N. envoy dispatched to Kosovo Monday began a review of Kosovo's progress in strengthening democracy and guaranteeing minority rights -- key requirements before talks on the province's future status.
Kai Eide, a senior Norwegian diplomat who was recently appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to initiate a wide-ranging review, said looking at the implementation of reforms is only one component of the task he has undertaken.
"I will look at this in a much broader way, which is a task given to me" by Annan, Eide said after landing at Kosovo's airport. "(We will) try to get the feeling as to what is going on on the ground as well as we can."
He said a key element to his venture would be to see and talk to people across Kosovo and hear what they have to say.
Eide will review implementation of a set of U.N.-sponsored standards that include establishing functioning democratic institutions, protecting minorities, promoting economic development and ensuring rule of law, freedom of movement and property rights in Kosovo.
He is expected to present the report to the United Nations by September. A positive review will pave the way for possible negotiations between ethnic Albanians and Serbs on whether Kosovo becomes independent as demanded by the provinces ethnic Albanian majority or remains part of Serbia-Montenegro.
A negative outcome of the review would slow down the political process of finding a solution for the disputed status of Kosovo and that might result in violence, warned Nicholas Whyte, the Europe Program Director for the Brussels based International Crisis Group.
"I am not sure that Kosovo's political scene can take that," Whyte said. "But that is not to say that Eide should not do fair reporting."
The U.N. Security Council on May 27 endorsed Annan's recommendation for a special envoy to review Kosovo's compliance with the standards. In a report to the council, the secretary-general stressed that none of the standards has been achieved and warned that the outcome of the review "is not a foregone conclusion."
Kosovo officially remains part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia. It has been under U.N. and NATO administration since a 78-day NATO-led air war that halted a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999.
One attempt to bridge the ethnic divide proved elusive Monday when a key Kosovo bridge symbolizing the division in the northern town of Kosovska Mitrovica was shut after a Serb protest on the day it opened for civilian traffic.
Over the past six years, the bridge has been the scene of periodic violent clashes between members of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, who live south of the river, and the Serb minority living north of it. Last week, NATO peacekeepers handed over control of the bridge to the U.N. police.
The bridge had been closed to traffic since March 2004, when mobs of ethnic Albanians attacked Serbs and their property in violence that killed 19 people and left some 900 injured.
13 June 2005
Associated Press
A U.N. envoy dispatched to Kosovo Monday began a review of Kosovo's progress in strengthening democracy and guaranteeing minority rights -- key requirements before talks on the province's future status.
Kai Eide, a senior Norwegian diplomat who was recently appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to initiate a wide-ranging review, said looking at the implementation of reforms is only one component of the task he has undertaken.
"I will look at this in a much broader way, which is a task given to me" by Annan, Eide said after landing at Kosovo's airport. "(We will) try to get the feeling as to what is going on on the ground as well as we can."
He said a key element to his venture would be to see and talk to people across Kosovo and hear what they have to say.
Eide will review implementation of a set of U.N.-sponsored standards that include establishing functioning democratic institutions, protecting minorities, promoting economic development and ensuring rule of law, freedom of movement and property rights in Kosovo.
He is expected to present the report to the United Nations by September. A positive review will pave the way for possible negotiations between ethnic Albanians and Serbs on whether Kosovo becomes independent as demanded by the provinces ethnic Albanian majority or remains part of Serbia-Montenegro.
A negative outcome of the review would slow down the political process of finding a solution for the disputed status of Kosovo and that might result in violence, warned Nicholas Whyte, the Europe Program Director for the Brussels based International Crisis Group.
"I am not sure that Kosovo's political scene can take that," Whyte said. "But that is not to say that Eide should not do fair reporting."
The U.N. Security Council on May 27 endorsed Annan's recommendation for a special envoy to review Kosovo's compliance with the standards. In a report to the council, the secretary-general stressed that none of the standards has been achieved and warned that the outcome of the review "is not a foregone conclusion."
Kosovo officially remains part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia. It has been under U.N. and NATO administration since a 78-day NATO-led air war that halted a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999.
One attempt to bridge the ethnic divide proved elusive Monday when a key Kosovo bridge symbolizing the division in the northern town of Kosovska Mitrovica was shut after a Serb protest on the day it opened for civilian traffic.
Over the past six years, the bridge has been the scene of periodic violent clashes between members of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, who live south of the river, and the Serb minority living north of it. Last week, NATO peacekeepers handed over control of the bridge to the U.N. police.
The bridge had been closed to traffic since March 2004, when mobs of ethnic Albanians attacked Serbs and their property in violence that killed 19 people and left some 900 injured.