DSS hits back, calls Feith presence "illegal"

Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic, DSS, commented today Pieter Feith's latest statements. The EU mission head's pronouncements "have no binding power either for the authorities in Belgrade, or for the Serbs in Kosovo". DSS hits back, calls Feith presence "illegal" "Pieter Feith's mission has no legal foundation in international law and he knows this full well. His statements are of a private nature," Samardzic, a close associate to Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, said. "That's how it stands now and that's how it will remain, until Mr. Feith and his mission withdraw from Kosovo and Metohhija," he concluded. Yesterday, Kostunica's first advisor, Branislav Ristivojevic, also said Feith's presence in Kosovo is "illegal and self-willed, representing open mockery of the UN authority". "We do not know who he represents, who authorized him to come to Kosovo, what are the legal bases for his presence in the province, nor in which capacity he is addressing Belgrade," Ristivojevic told Tanjug. He was reacting to a statement by Feith in Pristina when he accused the Serbian authorities of trying to sever ties between the ethnic Albanian majority and the Serb minority in Kosovo, and of being close to dividing the province. Ristivojevic set out that "the crucial issue is whether UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is aware of who Feith is and what he is doing in Kosovo and Metohija, which is under UN administration in keeping UN Security Council Resolution 1244." "Feith's self-willed and illegal presence in the province is the worst form of the manifestation of the policy of force and an open mockery of the UN authority," Ristivojevic stated.

DSS hits back, calls Feith presence "illegal"

"Pieter Feith's mission has no legal foundation in international law and he knows this full well. His statements are of a private nature," Samardžić, a close associate to Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica, said.

"That's how it stands now and that's how it will remain, until Mr. Feith and his mission withdraw from Kosovo and Metohhija," he concluded.

Yesterday, Koštunica's first advisor, Branislav Ristivojević, also said Feith's presence in Kosovo is "illegal and self-willed, representing open mockery of the UN authority".

"We do not know who he represents, who authorized him to come to Kosovo, what are the legal bases for his presence in the province, nor in which capacity he is addressing Belgrade," Ristivojević told Tanjug.

He was reacting to a statement by Feith in Priština when he accused the Serbian authorities of trying to sever ties between the ethnic Albanian majority and the Serb minority in Kosovo, and of being close to dividing the province.

Ristivojević set out that "the crucial issue is whether UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is aware of who Feith is and what he is doing in Kosovo and Metohija, which is under UN administration in keeping UN Security Council Resolution 1244."

"Feith's self-willed and illegal presence in the province is the worst form of the manifestation of the policy of force and an open mockery of the UN authority," Ristivojević stated.