PRESS BRIEFING BY PRESIDENT OF SECURITY COUNCIL

PRESS BRIEFING BY PRESIDENT OF SECURITY COUNCIL

The 15 members of the Security Council would spend Saturday and Sunday viewing first-hand the political and security challenges faced by the United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK), Anwarul Karim Chowdhury (Bangladesh), President of the Security Council, told correspondents today at a Headquarters press briefing.

The mission would leave for Kosovo tomorrow and would arrive there midday Saturday, said the Ambassador, who will be leading the mission.  On Monday, the mission would go to Belgrade and would meet with the President, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and other officials of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.  That evening the Council would return to New York.  He noted that the mission’s schedule and terms of reference were available in the briefing room.

The mission was taking place in the context of the upcoming elections in Kosovo, which were scheduled for 17 November, he said.  It was also taking place in the context of the relations that UNMIK had established with Belgrade, particularly in light of the meeting the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Kosovo, Hans Haekkerup, had held on 11 June with Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica. 

The mission would be considering first-hand issues such as the return of Serbs, missing persons and detainees, he said.  As all 15 members would take part in the mission, if it was necessary the Council could convene during the visit to address any other issue, he pointed out. 

The Council would see how the situation in the region was impacting on UNMIK and its activities.  It was greatly concerned about developments in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, particularly the serious security situation there.  In light of its mandate, the Council’s intention in watching the situation was not to get involved in the matter, but it would surely discuss the issue with KFOR in Kosovo and would see, upon its return, what recommendations it could make.

A correspondent asked if the President considered the situation in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to be part of the mission’s mandate.

Ambassador Chowdhury said one of the paragraphs of the terms of reference stated that the mission would consider the impact of the regional situation on the work of UNMIK.  In that light, they would naturally discuss how developments in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia were having an impact on UNMIK’s operations.

A correspondent asked if the mission would meet with authorities of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia or the Albanian side in the conflict there.  The President said the mission would not.

Responding to another question on the situation in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the Council President reiterated that the mission would look at the impact of events in the region on the United Nations mission.  If they

were told clearly that the events were having a serious impact on UNMIK’s work,

then the mission would look into the matter and report on it once it returned to New York.  He stressed the importance of not prejudging the outcome of the mission’s discussions and recommendations.

A correspondent asked if the impact of regional events had been discussed in today’s consultations of the Council, and also if there was a possibility that because of the impact of the events in the region the Council might consider taking some kind of action.

The President said that, without prejudging the issue, “all possibilities exist”.  The Council would have to see what the impact on the work of UNMIK was, and that could only be determined once the mission was in Kosovo and discussions with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and his colleagues had been held.  He added that the issue had been very briefly raised during the morning’s consultations and flagged for the mission’s attention.

Following another question, he reiterated that all 15 members of the Council would be represented on the mission.  This was an expression of the recent trend in the Council to be more proactive, to be available for first-hand experience of what was happening in a conflict area, and to gain first-hand experience of how United Nations operations were going.  In April 2000 the first mission to Kosovo had left with the mandate to see how UNMIK operated.  Following that, a series of recommendations had been made.  The current mission could be seen as a follow-up.

In between the two missions, a number of things had happened, he continued.  The change in Belgrade was a “very major development”:  municipal elections had been held in October 2000 and Kosovo-wide elections were scheduled for November.  There had also been good progress following a meeting in May on missing persons.  The recent mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo had been comprised of 12 members, he noted.  The current mission had obtained the unique distinction of having all 15 members.  The trend was a very positive development in terms of establishing a hands-on approach by the Council to various conflict regions.

A correspondent asked if the President saw more unity on the issue of Kosovo this year as compared to last.  Ambassador Chowdhury noted that one major change in the mission this year was that it would go to Belgrade -– only two had gone last year prior to the mission to Kosovo.  So, the Council this year would be meeting with the Yugoslav leadership -– that was a very important change.  He also pointed out that there had been improvements in the context of prospects for solving the issues of returnees, refugees and displaced persons.  Improvements had also been seen in the area of missing and detained persons.  The atmosphere with regard to the mandate and issues was undoubtedly much better than it had been the previous year.

Responding to a question on the Council’s position on the participation of Kosovo Serbs in the upcoming elections, the President said the Council’s intention was to see free, fair and non-violent elections in November.  It would like to see that there was also “effective participation”.  Yugoslav President Kostunica himself had asked for Serbian participation in the elections, he noted, and the Council would also be carrying that message.  There should be an improvement in the security situation to enable the Serbs to return and, when they returned, to urge them to participate in the elections.

In response to another question, the President reiterated that the mission would be meeting separately in Kosovo with the Albanian and Serb leaders to discuss the Kosovo situation.  He again noted that the mission was taking place within specific terms of reference and the mission would have to restrict itself to those terms.

He said the mission was an effort by the Council to see the operations of UNMIK, how to streamline its work within the context of resolution 1244 (1999) and how to implement the stipulations of that text in the context of the work of UNMIK.

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