Fade
03-19-2009, 07:29 PM
UN says it's in difficult position in Kosovo
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
UNITED NATIONS - Kosovo's Albanian-led government is operating as an independent country, which its Serbian minority refuses to recognize, leaving the United Nations in a difficult position as the administrator of the territory, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday.
In a report to the UN Security Council, Ban said while Kosovo authorities maintain working contacts with a UN special representative, the UN mission in Kosovo "faces ever-increasing challenges to its ability to fulfil its mandate" under the council resolution which authorized the UN to administer the Serbian province in 1999.
"There is a perception among many Kosovo Albanians that the mission's tasks have been accomplished and its continued presence is an unwelcome obstacle to the desire for Kosovo to function as a sovereign state," Ban said.
Kosovo came under UN and NATO administration after a NATO-led air war halted Yugoslavia's crackdown on Albanian separatists in 1999.Article continued at http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2009/03/19/8814701-ap.html
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
UNITED NATIONS - Kosovo's Albanian-led government is operating as an independent country, which its Serbian minority refuses to recognize, leaving the United Nations in a difficult position as the administrator of the territory, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday.
In a report to the UN Security Council, Ban said while Kosovo authorities maintain working contacts with a UN special representative, the UN mission in Kosovo "faces ever-increasing challenges to its ability to fulfil its mandate" under the council resolution which authorized the UN to administer the Serbian province in 1999.
"There is a perception among many Kosovo Albanians that the mission's tasks have been accomplished and its continued presence is an unwelcome obstacle to the desire for Kosovo to function as a sovereign state," Ban said.
Kosovo came under UN and NATO administration after a NATO-led air war halted Yugoslavia's crackdown on Albanian separatists in 1999.Article continued at http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2009/03/19/8814701-ap.html