Kosovo Albanians accuse UNMIK over north
A Kosovo Albanian government office in Pristina says UN mission, UNMIK, "has turned into a real obstacle for improvement of the situation" in Kosovska Mitrovica.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Thursday, September 23, 2010
The office that produced the report is in charge of implementing the so-called strategy for northern Kosovo.
Kosovska Mitrovica is ethnically divided into its southern, ethnic Albanian, and northern, mostly Serb part. Serbs there do not accept the authority of the government in Pristina.
Now the report, put together by Ilber Hisa, and reported in yesterday's Albanian language daily Koha Ditore, says that "by breaching its mandate and non-transparent acting, UNMIK de facto helped dividing the Serb community and other communities in the north of (Kosovska) Mitrovica".
According to the report, the Kosovo government budget intended for the north has been finding its way to the so-called parallel structures formed by the Serbian government via UNMIK.
"The UNMIK administration in northern Mitrovica became an obstacle for integrating the city and helps the survival of the Serb parallel structures in this part of Kosovo," the report says.
The report recalls that the UNMIK administration in the northern part of the town was created with the aim to replace the "Serb parallel structures in northern Kosovo and to ensure that all the communities are granted equal authority", but points out that during its existence, "the administration turned into something quite opposite to its primary purpose".
United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) Chief Lamberto Zannier reacted to the report by saying that the document contains a number of inaccuracies.
"The report on the UNMIK Administration in Mitrovica (UAM) includes many factual inaccuracies and makes a number of unsubstantiated claims. I regret that the authors of the report did not consult us during the preparation of this paper, as in doing so they would have had an opportunity to issue an accurate report," Zannier stated for the media.
Zanier said that the UAM was established in 2002 as an interim solution until such time as a compromise is reached on the municipal administration in northern Mitrovica that is acceptable to all communities.
"Given that such an agreement has not been reached yet, the UAM still performs its functions," he said.
