UN secretariat “dazed and confused” on Kosovo

The U.S. and Russian pressure, divided between support for Kosovo's independence and preservation of Serbia's territorial integrity, caused the rather visible unease on the top of the United Nations administration, including the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Deep divisions in UN main structures transferred, unavoidably, to the world organization's membership, as 37 out of 192 states decided to back Kosovo's independence, including 18 out of 27 members of the European Union, which sets the stage for heated debate during September's session of UN General Assembly.

Washington and Brussels stood firmly behind the plan to complete the transfer the authority from UN Kosovo mission, UNMIK, to the future 2,000-strong EU's undertaking - the roadmap which gained a significant support within the UN's peacekeeping department, DPKO, that considers UNMIK's role completed, diplomats said.

But the main legal office in New York backed the stance that UNMIK, the UN's only open-ended mission, can be only terminated by the bitterly divided Security Council, which has already failed to reach a common stance on volatile Kosovo issue, with Russia and the West opposed about the moves which should be taken by the international community.

"Finding the legal basis of the EU's mission in Kosovo could be the key of future activities in New York," a Western diplomat told KosovoCompromise.com, reiterating the UN Secretary-General recently warned that UNMIK must act in accordance with the latest developments in Kosovo and the fact that "it would be hard to imagine the EU simply backs off the plan to deploy its mission".

The confusion in New York led to the changes to Ban's plans to immediately dispatch the chief of peacekeeping operations Jean Marie Guehenno to Belgrade in order to tackle several tough issues which derived from Kosovo's newly proclaimed independence, including judiciary, police, customs, and religious and historical heritage.

However, UN diplomats denied recent reports that Guehenno might be named the new representative in status negotiations, describing his role as wide and influential, but "without mentioning of the status, because UN want to remain neutral in this dispute."

"There has been a flurry of rumors based on a recent article in the London Times - but the rumors are not true - there are no plans right now to appoint a special negotiator. Guehenno may go to the region soon, but that will be in his capacity as the head of our peacekeeping department - not as a special envoy or new negotiator', UN spokesman Brenden Varma told KosovoCompromise.com.

Meanwhile, Russia rejected reports that Moscow's top officials blackmailed United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to redefine his rather pale stance on Kosovo for Russia's support for second term on the top of the world organization.

"This is not a manner in which Russia does business with its international partners, certainly including the secretary-general of the United Nations," Churkin said. "In the course of our contacts with the secretary-general we, of course, always clearly expressed our position, but those contacts have always been respectful of the position of the secretary-general and the person of Mr. Ban Ki-moon. So no threats - veiled or direct - have ever been made."

Churkin's statement, diplomats warned, does not mean that Ban escaped the Moscow's enormous pressure to continue the implementation of the security Council's key resolution 1244.

"The question still remains about what's going on with UNMIK. The EU has announced that it will close down its part of UNMIK by the end of June. UNMIK staff has been invited to attend a meeting with UNMIK chief Joachim Ruecker last Wednesday to discuss the political developments and the ‘reconfiguration' of the mission. But the meeting failed to produce clear answers", an UN diplomat in Kosovo said.

Download PDF document