SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS AMBASSADOR KAI EIDE OF NORWAY AS HIS

SPECIAL ENVOY TO UNDERTAKE COMPEHENSIVE REVIEW OF KOSOVO

The Secretary-General has appointed Ambassador Kai Eide, Permanent Representative of Norway to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as his Special Envoy to carry out a comprehensive review of Kosovo, as indicated in the Secretary-General’s recent report to the Security Council on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (S/2005/335).  The Security Council endorsed the Secretary-General’s report on 27 May 2005.  Ambassador Eide’s previous experience with the United Nations and his in-depth knowledge of the Balkans make him the ideal person for this endeavour.

The comprehensive review, which will be initiated this summer, will be carried out in accordance with resolution 1244 (1999) and the relevant presidential statements of the Security Council.  It will consist of consultations with the parties and the international community, and be broad in scope in order to assess the current situation and the conditions for the possible next steps in the process.  It will look at the actual political realities, as well as the formal preconditions for launching the future status process on the basis of continuing and effective progress towards implementation of the Standards for Kosovo, which are to be achieved in order to establish in Kosovo a multi-ethnic, stable and democratic society founded on the rule of law. 

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