U.S. Views on Situation in Kosovo

Released by the U.S. Mission to the United Nations

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Special Representative Steiner, for briefing us today. We welcome the latest report of the Secretary-General (S/2003/113) on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo. Also, I’d like to thank Mr. Steiner for inviting the Security Council last fall to send a mission to Kosovo in December, and for the good work of Mr. Steiner and his UNMIK colleagues in developing a program for the Security Council that proved to be very informative and useful.

The United States continues to be committed to UNMIK. We thank UNMIK’s good work. The United States, however, has some concerns, including reports of parallel institutions. Such parallel institutions will be an impediment, not a benefit, to the future of Kosovo. Parallel institutions will be a roadblock to reconciliation. We share with others in the Security Council a vision of an integrated, multi-ethnic society in Kosovo, where quality education is available to all. Where people of all ethnicities are safe and have confidence in a fair, professional judicial system, where the economy is growing and creating jobs and opportunity, and where the people are empowered to run their own affairs.

We wish to call the attention of the Security Council to certain elements of the Secretary General’s report that we believe are of particular importance, and also to express our views on the current situation in Kosovo.

The United States agrees that the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG) must do much more to use authority already transferred under the Constitutional Framework. The authorities are significant, and the international community needs to continue to stress the importance of this. We believe the Provisional Institutions for Self-Government should resist the domestic political pressures that cause them to blame UNMIK for their own inability to use their new authorities effectively.

The United States also is concerned with infighting among the Albanian parties – this is a growing problem which negatively impacts the prospects for passage of critically needed legislation on the economy and elsewhere. The Security Council should make clear to all parties that they need to work together;

Regarding UNMIK’s transfer of authority in Kosovo, when the Special Representative of the Secretary-General was appointed, Mr. Steiner put forward a plan outlining eight goals or standards in a series of benchmarks to gauge progress toward meeting these standards. The United States Government joined the international community in stressing standards before status, asking the Kosovars to focus their energies on achieving the SRSG’s benchmarks for sustainable, democratic self-government rather than on discussions of final political status. Standards include the establishment of functioning democratic institutions, rule-of-law, returns and reintegration of minorities and others who have been displaced. Because we believe these standards, if implemented, would establish a sound foundation for a functioning multi-ethnic Kosovo, we continue to encourage SRSG Steiner to develop a detailed work plan to guide the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government through the benchmarks process. And we are concerned by the Secretary-General’s report that some Kosovo-Albanian cabinet members have publicly distanced themselves from the benchmarks.

The United States believes UNMIK has been too reluctant to transfer authorities not reserved for the SRSG under Security Council Resolution 1244 and the Constitutional Framework. For example, the United States expended a great deal of energy and political capital in order to persuade UNMIK to agree in December to fold UNMIK’s Central Fiscal Authority (CFA) into the Provisional Institutions for Self-Government Ministry of Finance and Economy. Unfortunately, individual UNMIK advisors at the PISG and municipal levels appear to have been unwilling to cede real decision-making authority in this area. As reflected in the [UN Security Council] President’s statement, the United States welcomed Mr. Steiner’s January 20 television address in which he articulated his desire to hand over all competencies he legally can to provisional institutions by the end of this year on the condition that they are prepared to work seriously.

We commend Mr. Steiner’s intention to develop a joint plan with Prime Minister Rexhepi to work out how this can be accomplished smoothly and efficiently. Our understanding is that UNMIK will turn over, monthly, a specified number of powers through the end of the year. Such a transfer is extremely important. The elected leaders in Kosovo must accept responsibility for implementing the reforms necessary for a multi-ethnic society to flourish. We invite Mr. Steiner to clarify whether this understanding is correct. Where are we on developing and implementing an operational plan for standards? Should financial aid be tied to conditionalities such as performance in areas of education and health?

We believe it is important for UNMIK to work well with the Provisional Institutions, just as it is for those institutions to cooperate fully with UNMIK. The United States continues to fully support “Standards before Status,” and we look forward to the SRSG’s detailed work plan for implementing the related benchmarks for the standards. This plan represents a major step forward in further defining for the Provisional Institutions more completely what it is they need to accomplish in the exercise of their authority to create a multiethnic civil society with a functioning economy.

We continue to find unhelpful all efforts to push forward on final status. We have supported talks between Belgrade and Pristina on technical issues. Therefore, we welcome Special Representative Steiner’s ideas for more talks on technical issues between Belgrade and Pristina. In fact, this has already happened on environmental issues related to contamination of the Ibar River. We support further efforts in this regard as long as UNMIK is careful to manage the process. We believe it is premature to return any military or paramilitary presence by Belgrade to Kosovo. The inter-ethnic situation continues to be very tense and such a development would be provocative and unhelpful. We understand that Command KFOR is reviewing ways to enhance its efforts to provide security at monasteries and other Serb cultural sites in the north of Kosovo.

We also have taken note of the letter from Deputy Prime Minister Covic. We believe his claims reflect a certain frustration with the difficult challenge of making progress in Mitrovica. UNMIK is moving forward on this front, and we look forward to more details on the decentralization plan being worked out with the assistance from the Council of Europe. In the meantime, we urge Belgrade to play a constructive role and comply with its own obligations. More needs to be done to recognize UNMIK license plates and other documents as a way of helping Serbs reintegrate in Kosovo.

The United States is concerned by reports of rising acts of violence in Kosovo. We are especially concerned about the cases of violence against minority communities. There can be no environment of impunity in Kosovo. We are concerned about reports of renewed tension among the Kosovo Albanian Coalition Partners, and we are especially concerned by the Secretary-General’s report that the assembly continued to show reluctance to accommodate minority community demands. And while the Kosovo economy has improved, it is still quite anemic and needs help. There are too few opportunities for the people of Kosovo.

So, in Kosovo there is a great deal of work ahead. At the same time, with successful elections, including at the municipal level, with a growing, well-trained professional police force, with improved freedom of movement, and progress elsewhere, there is cause for appreciation for the contribution Special Representative Steiner and UNMIK are making in Kosovo, and as I said at the outset of my intervention, the United States thanks Special Representative Steiner and UNMIK for their good work and reiterates our strong support for UNMIK and its mission. Thank you.