Eurasia Press & News
The UN Security Council is set to meet to discuss Kosovo, as Serbia seeks to contest the territory’s independence. Serb foreign ministry officials said UNMIK chief Lamberto Zannier will submit his quarterly report on Kosovo to the council, which is chaired by Russia, in New York later on Tuesday.
The meeting comes nearly two weeks after the International Court of Justice, ICJ found that Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008 did not violate international law.
Serbian FM Vuk Jeremic is expected to press for support for its draft resolution on Kosovo that it submitted to the UN General Assembly last week, stating “unilateral secession cannot be an acceptable way of resolving territorial issues.”
The resolution also called for dialogue as a way to reach mutually acceptable solutions “for all open issues” in the region.
Meanwhile Pristina is pushing for the existing UN resolution 1244, which established the international presence in Kosovo and states the territory is part of Serbia, to be replaced.
Kosovo Foreign Minister Skender Hyseni on Monday asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon whether Pristina could submit a new resolution to the council reflecting the ICJ’s ruling.
But Ki-Moon said a new resolution could only be approved once all members of the Security Council recognise Kosovo’s indepedence.
Kosovo is now recognised by 69 out of 192 UN member states.
Belgrade announced two weeks ago that it would send envoys to 55 nations in a bid to stop more countries recognising Kosovo, in a move that risked progress towards its efforts to join the European Union.
Serbia lost control over its former southern province in 1999 when NATO bombed it to halt a crackdown on Albanians in a two-year war.
Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority declared independence in 2008, backed by the United States and most EU member states, but Serbia refused to accept it.
