Tadić warns of "legal vacuum" in Kosovo

Boris Tadic has called all sides in Kosovo to abstain from violence, warning that “red lines should not be crossed.” “That would be very dangerous for our interests in Kosovo, and that is why the Serbs and Serb police officers should also keep that fact in mind,” said Tadic yesterday in an interview with Radio Television Serbia. Tadic warns of "legal vacuum" in Kosovo The president said that any excessive use of force at this delicate moment was completely unacceptable, not only for the Serbs but for the whole region. He added that he had made these views clear to NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and EU High Representative Javier Solana. Tadic said that the temporary institutions in Kosovo were in a legal vacuum, resulting in additional difficulties for UNMIK and KFOR. “We all find ourselves in a very difficult position, everybody sees that the problem of Kosovo’s unilaterally declared independence has not been solved, that the decade-long problems between Serbs and Albanians still exist today. The problem is even worse from the point of view of the work of international institutions in Kosovo,” said the president. He added that the Serbs had rightfully left the Kosovo institutions, because they had lost their legal legitimacy after the unilateral independence declaration. “Now the international institutions have to find a solution within the UN Security Council, and that is why we continue to stand for negotiations, we don’t agree with partial solutions because they will lead to new tension,” stressed the president, underlining that it was not the time for inter-party squabbling because the problem was of national importance. Boris Tadic (FoNet, archive) Jeremic sends protest note to Ban Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic sent late on Monday a protest note to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon concerning, as he put it, the absolutely unacceptable and excessive use of force by international forces in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, and demanded a UN investigation into how the incident had taken place. In the letter to Ban, Minister Jeremic calls for an inquiry to determine who ordered the use of force in Mitrovica and how the whole thing had happened, pointing out that an explanation was all the more necessary, given that the night before the incident, Kosovo Minister Slobodan Samardzic had held successful negotiations with UNMIK Deputy Chief Larry Rossin. The minister also wrote a letter to Russia’s UN ambassador and presiding Security Council chairman Vitaly Churkin, calling for the Security Council to discuss the security situation in Kosovo following the incident, and demanding that it continue to monitor events closely. He also delivered a strongly-worded protest by phone to Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guéhenno, and discussed the current situation in the province with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov.

Tadić warns of "legal vacuum" in Kosovo

The president said that any excessive use of force at this delicate moment was completely unacceptable, not only for the Serbs but for the whole region.

He added that he had made these views clear to NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and EU High Representative Javier Solana.

Tadić said that the temporary institutions in Kosovo were in a legal vacuum, resulting in additional difficulties for UNMIK and KFOR.

“We all find ourselves in a very difficult position, everybody sees that the problem of Kosovo’s unilaterally declared independence has not been solved, that the decade-long problems between Serbs and Albanians still exist today. The problem is even worse from the point of view of the work of international institutions in Kosovo,” said the president.

He added that the Serbs had rightfully left the Kosovo institutions, because they had lost their legal legitimacy after the unilateral independence declaration.

“Now the international institutions have to find a solution within the UN Security Council, and that is why we continue to stand for negotiations, we don’t agree with partial solutions because they will lead to new tension,” stressed the president, underlining that it was not the time for inter-party squabbling because the problem was of national importance.

Jeremić sends protest note to Ban

Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić sent late on Monday a protest note to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon concerning, as he put it, the absolutely unacceptable and excessive use of force by international forces in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, and demanded a UN investigation into how the incident had taken place.

In the letter to Ban, Minister Jeremić calls for an inquiry to determine who ordered the use of force in Mitrovica and how the whole thing had happened, pointing out that an explanation was all the more necessary, given that the night before the incident, Kosovo Minister Slobodan Samardžić had held successful negotiations with UNMIK Deputy Chief Larry Rossin.

The minister also wrote a letter to Russia’s UN ambassador and presiding Security Council chairman Vitaly Churkin, calling for the Security Council to discuss the security situation in Kosovo following the incident, and demanding that it continue to monitor events closely.

He also delivered a strongly-worded protest by phone to Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guéhenno, and discussed the current situation in the province with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov.