Annan: Progress in Kosovo Insufficient for Final Status Review 17/02/2005 Kosovo has not made enough progress in meeting UN-set standards for the international community to initiate an assessment of the province's final status, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a report Wednesday to the Security Council. (RFE/RL - 17/02/05; Reuters, AFP, RFE/RL, Radio B92, BBC Monitoring - 16/02/05)
Kosovo's government "will be tested as it works to build minority trust and retain majority confidence by addressing severe problems such as unemployment and economic revitalisation," UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said. [AFP] Kosovo has not made enough progress in implementing the required standards for the international community to initiate an assessment of its final status, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Wednesday (16 February). "Progress in many areas remained insufficient. None of the eight standards has been completely fulfilled," the AFP quoted Annan as saying in his regular quarterly report to the UN Security Council, covering the period November 2004 to January 2005. The UN has set out a list of specific, point-by-point targets -- covering areas such as democratic institutions, security and the rule of law, freedom of movement, refugee returns, the economy, and dialogue -- which must be achieved before talks on Kosovo's future status may begin. While formally part of Serbia-Montenegro, the province has been under UN administration since the end of the 1998-1999 conflict. Annan's report comes months before the anticipated release of a comprehensive review of Kosovo's progress in meeting the UN-set standards. A positive assessment would open the doors to negotiations on future status. But UN officials, according to Reuters, have acknowledged that the review could be postponed until later in the year. There must be "real progress on the standards" before Kosovo's final status can be determined, said Annan, adding that this was up to the provisional institutions, political leaders and the people of all ethnic communities. "The continued unwillingness of the Kosovo Serbs to engage in dialogue and support the implementation of the standards has hampered the ability to move forward," the UN chief said, adding that statements from officials in Belgrade have contributed to the Kosovo Serbs' unwillingness to participate in public life. "The Serbian authorities must encourage this process," Annan said, urging Belgrade to "engage in a constructive way". Criticising the provisional institutions of government for failing to take sufficient action to punish ethnically motivated crime, Annan said that Kosovo Serbs continue to feel threatened. Although the situation has improved since the outbreak of violence last March, he said, isolated incidents continue to generate fear. The UN chief also noted that fewer refugees from the Kosovo minority communities had returned to the province in 2004, compared to the previous year. "Many newly reconstructed houses remain unoccupied, as those displaced still have serious security concerns and doubts about acceptance by the majority community," he said, noting also that the freedom of movement of the members of minority groups "remained precarious". The reluctance of the Kosovo Serbs "to leave their communities or to interact with members of the majority community, and vice versa, is widening an already deep ethnic divide," the UN chief said. "The government will be tested as it works to build minority trust and retain majority confidence by addressing severe problems such as unemployment and economic revitalisation," Annan stressed. "The majority community needs to create a climate in which members of minority communities, and in particular the Kosovo Serbs, feel confident they can return and remain." In other news, UNMIK chief Soren Jessen-Petersen announced Wednesday that the next round of talks between Belgrade and Kosovo on the missing persons' issue would be held in early March. No exact date has been set yet for the meeting, to be held under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross. http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/ 2005/02/17/feature-01?print=yes Serbian News Network - SNN news@antic.org http://www.antic.org/
