PRESS CONFEFRENCE BY PRIME MINISTER OF KOSOVO

 

The Security Council’s consultations on Kosovo today had helped to clarify the remaining challenges to the building of democratic institutions, enforcing minority rights, creating a functioning economy and establishing an impartial legal system in the Serbian province, its Prime Minister, AgimÇeku, said at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

Mr. Çekusaid that the May referendum, in which neighbouring Montenegro had opted for independence from Serbia, also boded well for Kosovo’s bid for self-determination and a transition to democratic rule.  “We’ll use this momentum to close the unsuccessful story of the former Yugoslavia and to recognize all the countries that want to be independent.  Kosovo is the last one,” he added, expressing confidence that 95 per cent of Kosovo’s people would vote in favour of independence in a referendum.

The Prime Minister praised Security Council members for opposing any attempts to partition Kosovo, or to return it to its pre-1999 status, and for their concern over the plight of the minority Serb community in ethnic Albanian-dominated Kosovo.  He also commended Søren Jessen-Petersen, outgoing Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), for his efforts to negotiate a final status settlement.

Mr. Jessen-Petersen, who attended the press conference, urged all parties to refrain from any steps that would create instability in the area, and expressed regret over the Kosovo Serbs’ boycott of the elections that had brought the Kosovo Albanians to power in the Provisional Institutions, the province’s local government.  Fears that the Kosovo Serbs would boycott municipal elections scheduled for October or November and that those elections would derail efforts to reach a final status, had prompted the postponement of the elections for up to six months after the attainment of a final status settlement.

The Special Representative dismissed claims that he had favoured the Albanian majority over the Serbian minority, saying that he would be “deeply disappointed” if the Kosovo that emerged from a final agreement did not offer a real future for all ethnic groups.  An early settlement was a prerequisite for attracting badly needed foreign direct investment and international bank loans to curb poverty, shore up Kosovo’s tattered economy and reduce widespread unemployment among youth.

He rejected a reporter’s claim that the Russian Federation opposed independence for Kosovo, but noted that, during this morning’s Security Council meeting, that country’s representative -- one of six members of the Contact Group charged with monitoring and supervising international policy on Kosovo -- had expressed concern that the Group was rushing the process, and that the Kosovo case could, in fact, set a precedent for similar situations in Georgia’s Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions, as well as other areas.

He said that Martti Ahtisaari, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Future Status Process for Kosovo, was moving forward to implement the Contact Group’s Guiding Principles, including one that concerned ensuring that the status settlement was acceptable to the majority of the population.  He supported Mr. Ahtisaari’s efforts to hold technical discussions on issues of importance to the Kosovo Serbs, including protecting religious and minority rights.

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For information media • not an official record