Kosovo
Current Operations
OSCE Mission in Kosovo
(OSCE Long-Term Missions)
Since: 07/99
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UNMIK
UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UN-led)
Since: 06/99
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KFOR
Kosovo Force (UN-mandated)
Since: 06/99
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ICO
International Civilian Office Kosovo (EU)
Since: 02/08
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EULEX Kosovo
EU Rule of Law Mission Kosovo (EU)
Since: 06/08
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Kosovo election results announced (15.12.2007)
(Quelle: B92) The Democratic Party of Kosovo has 14 municipalities, the Democratic Union of Kosovo 6, and the Alliance for Kosovo’s Future 3. … The Democratic Party of Kosovo has now won the elections at all three levels: parliamentary, local, and municipal.
“Kosovo Serbs should be punished for voting” (13.12.2007)
(Quelle: B92) Coordinators of the Pec District are asking for 18 Serbs that voted in the Kosovo elections to be punished. B92 uncovered an official report from Pec District Coordinator Radojko Dunic sent to Kosovo Ministry adviser Milorad Todorovic, which reports in detail on all the Serbs who voted in the Kosovo elections in Goraždevac, and which parties they belong to. The report calls for those people to be sanctioned for working against the state.
Thaci to form Kosovo government (12.12.2007)
(Quelle: BIRN) Hashim Thaci, the wartime leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army guerrilla force, has been asked to form the UN-administered territory’s new government. Thaci received the mandate to form a new government on Tuesday, more than three weeks after his party won the parliamentary elections.
UN accuses Serbia of provocation in Kosovo (12.12.2007)
(Quelle: The Guardian) The United Nations in Kosovo today accused Serbia of provocation by opening a government office in the ethnically divided northern town of Mitrovica. … 'The opening of this office is raising the level of the Serbian government presence in Kosovo,' the UN mission spokesman, Alexander Ivanko, told a news conference. 'We consider this a provocative act.' … Serbia's minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samardzic, cut the ribbon to the office on Monday and said it would serve to 'intensify' Belgrade's parallel network of services for Serbs.
Serb leadership to ask International Court of Justice to decide on Kosovo (11.12.2007)
(Quelle: Southeast European Times) President Boris Tadic suggested on Monday (December 10th) that the country would ask the UN Security Council to seek the opinion of the International Court of Justice, the UN body that settles disputes between countries, on the possible independence of Kosovo. Tadic added this would be an important argument in the Security Council's debate on Kosovo's future status, which is scheduled for December 19th.
EU leaders agree on Kosovo mission (11.12.2007)
(Quelle: Southeast European Times) EU foreign ministers agreed on Monday (December 10th) to begin unofficial preparations to launch a mission in Kosovo to replace UNMIK. The EU member-states also came closer to consensus on recognising Kosovo after it declares independence from Serbia. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters after the meeting that Cyprus was the only country opposed to a generally shared conclusion that further talks between Serbs and ethnic Albanians are pointless. Slovakia reportedly has also signalled that it would find it difficult to recognise Kosovo, but would not prevent the deployment of an EU mission there.
After 8 years in limbo, frustrated Kosovo awaits its future (11.12.2007)
(Quelle: New York Times) The province, administered for the past eight years by the United Nations, has become a test case for the European Union’s ability to speak with one voice and to prevent another civil war in its backyard. Even as ethnic Albanians pleaded for independence, the leaders of Kosovo reaffirmed Monday that they would not proceed without the support of the European Union and the United States. Skender Hyseni, a spokesman for Kosovo’s Albanian leadership, said the provincial government planned to declare independence sometime before May, with Washington and Brussels recognizing it.
Serbian PM warns EU over Kosovo (11.12.2007)
(Quelle: BIRN) Serbia’s Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica warned the European Union on Tuesday that sending a supervisory mission to Kosovo could damage relations with Serbia. Serbia 'rejects in advance an unlawful decision' on the deployment a European mission, 'and expects the EU to respect its stance that an EU mission cannot enter its territory, Kosovo, without a new Security Council resolution,' Kostunica said in a statement. The warning came after the EU said it was preparing to deploy a 1,600-strong mission that would take over police and justice affairs from the present UN administration, UNMIK, once Kosovo’s Albanian leaders declare the entity’s independence from Serbia.
U.N. fears Serbs will disrupt a free Kosovo (10.12.2007)
(Quelle: New York Times) Senior United Nations officials say they are particularly worried that the Serbian government will direct Kosovo’s Serbs to disrupt most of the province’s power supply and assert partial control of the north by having Serb police officers break away from the province’s police force. Such moves could further inflame tensions between the province’s ethnic Albanians and Serbs, possibly leading to violence.
Kosovo local elections round 2 under way (08.12.2007)
(Quelle: B92) The Central Electoral Commission has announced that 539 polling stations with 2095 voting booths will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. This round of elections is not taking place in three northern Kosovo municipalities - Ljeposavic, Zubin Potok and Zvecane – where UNMIK chief Joachim Ruecker decided against confirming the results from the first round, following the boycott of the November 17 round by the Kosovo Serbs.
Kosovo countdown: a blueprint for transition - new ICG report (06.12.2007)
(Quelle: International Crisis Group (ICG)) Diplomatic efforts to broker a deal between Belgrade and Pristina on Kosovo’s final status will be fully exhausted with the conclusion of the Troika process on 10 December, and the international community must now coordinate a political process to bring about Kosovo’s conditional, or supervised, independence. 'Kosovo Countdown: A Blueprint for Transition', the latest report from the International Crisis Group, analyses why a decision to support Kosovo’s transition to conditional independence in the first half of 2008 should be delayed no longer, and offers a detailed step-by-step guide on how this can be achieved and implemented.
Final elections results show Thaci's PDK won 34% of votes (05.12.2007)
(Quelle: Southeast European Times) The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) led by former Kosovo Liberation Army commander Hashim Thaci won 34.3% of the votes in the November 17th parliamentary elections, according to final results released on Monday (December 3rd) by the Central Election Commission. This translates into 37 seats for the PDK in the 120-seat parliament.
Kosovo backers seek tough NATO security pledge (05.12.2007)
(Quelle: Washington Post) The United States and other backers of Kosovo's drive for independence will seek a firm pledge from NATO allies on Friday to maintain peacekeeping troops at current levels and deal robustly with any violence. … NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels will be asked to confirm they will not lay down limits on how the alliance's 16,000-strong KFOR peace force deal with violence as they did when riots in 2004 caught NATO off-guard.
Senior UN envoy certifies election results in Kosovo (05.12.2007)
(Quelle: UN News) The top United Nations envoy to Kosovo today certified election results for the Assembly of the Serbian province where ethnic Albanians outnumber Serbs and other minorities by about nine to one.
Moscow tries to steer Kosovo decision toward Security Council (04.12.2007)
(Quelle: RFE / RL) Russia has launched a late-hour appeal to place the fate of Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo in the hands of the UN Security Council, in an apparent bid to forestall a quick declaration of independence from Prishtina followed by recognition from foreign governments.
Belgrade considers seven levels of measures (04.12.2007)
(Quelle: B92) The government has received a proposal on how to act in case Kosovo declares unilateral independence. This emerged in parliament Tuesday, when Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić confirmed that his ministry sent the draft, dubbed Action Plan, that include severing of diplomatic relations with countries that would move to recognize the province.
International troika making last visits to Belgrade, Pristina (03.12.2007)
(Quelle: Southeast European Times) The international troika that has mediated negotiations on Kosovo's final status -- the EU's Wolfgang Ischinger, Russia's Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko and the US's Frank Wisner -- travel to Belgrade and Pristina on Monday (December 3rd) to brief both sides on the report they are going to give UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon next week. The document goes first to the Kosovo Contact Group in Vienna on December 9th, ten days before the UN Security Council is expected to start debating the issue. The report is expected to acknowledge no compromise between Serbia and the Kosovo Albanians.
Army: smooth KFOR cooperation (02.12.2007)
(Quelle: B92) An officer in charge of overseeing a Serbia – NATO agreement says the cooperation with the peacekeepers in Kosovo is going well. The head of a committee for the implementation of the Military Technical Agreement, VS Col. Miodrag Popović, says that cooperation between the Serbian Army (VS) and KFOR is 'progressing', and that arrangements over joint activities and their implementation are 'getting easier and simpler'.
UNMIK draws "red lines" for northern Kosovo (02.12.2007)
(Quelle: B92) An UNMIK spokesman says there are three 'red lines' in northern Kosovo that 'cannot be crossed'. Alexander Ivanko said Saturday the first is that there can be no violence, the second that contacts with UNMIK representatives cannot be severed, and the third is that there can be no parallel security forces in northern Kosovo. He was speaking for Kosovska Mitrovica Kontakt Plus radio when he said there were some 200 international policemen stationed in northern Kosovo and that UNMIK has 'action plans' for this region.
Serbian Kosovo president vows to declare independence "soon" (01.12.2007)
(Quelle: Reliefweb) Serbian Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu said on Saturday that Kosovo is going to declare independence from Serbia very shortly, news reaching here from Skopje reported. However Sejdiu, who is on a one-day visit to Macedonia, didn't give a date when the breakaway Serbian southern province would do so, saying 'it will happen very soon'.
Expert says Kosovo has 'clear idea where it wants to go' (01.12.2007)
(Quelle: RFE / RL) No breakthroughs regarding Kosovo's future status have been made as the 'troika' of international mediators prepare to report to the UN secretary-general. … On the sidelines of an RFE/RL briefing in Washington, correspondent Heather Maher asked Belgrade-based James Lyon, the special Balkans adviser to the International Crisis Group, for his predictions on what the coming days and weeks might bring.
Ban, Solana support “plan B” for Kosovo (30.11.2007)
(Quelle: B92) United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is considering the implementation of “plan B” for Kosovo. The plan treats the status question in terms of creating more tangible European prospects for Serbia and the province, according to international diplomatic sources in Brussels. Sources told the Beta news agency that such a solution had been discussed by Ban and EU Security and Foreign Policies Chief Javier Solana in New York yesterday.
Belgrade “testing nerves of West” (28.11.2007)
(Quelle: B92) International Crisis Group analyst James Lyon says that Belgrade is 'testing the nerves of the West'. “Belgrade now wants to extend the Kosovo negotiations. It is now testing the nerves of the West in order to provoke a negative reaction from the Kosovo Albanians, to get on the international community's good side with the solution that Serbia is offering in the negotiations,” Lyon said.
Kosovo talks reach stalemate (27.11.2007)
(Quelle: BIRN) Direct talks between Serbian and Kosovo Albanian leaders have failed to bridge the gap between the two sides over Kosovo’s long-term status. “We can talk for another hundred years, but with Serbia we can never reach an agreement about Kosovo’s final status”, a Kosovo Albanian negotiator, Hashim Thaci, said on Tuesday after face-to-face talks with the Belgrade leadership.
Ruecker could renew local mandates in north (25.11.2007)
(Quelle: B92) The UNMIK chief could opt to renew mandates of existing local authorities in northern Kosovo, B92 has learned. This would prevent Albanians taking over as local chiefs in Serb-inhabited towns.
Kosovo independence 'soon after Dec 10': incoming PM (23.11.2007)
(Quelle: Reliefweb) Kosovo's incoming prime minister said in an interview to be published Saturday that he was sure the Serbian province would be independent soon after a deadline on status talks passes next month.
Details emerge of Belgrade's Kosovo proposal (21.11.2007)
(Quelle: B92) Beta news agency quotes government statement which said that the Serbian negotiating team in Brussels Tuesday proposed that the resolution of Kosovo's status, according to which Kosovo would enjoy essential autonomy, be termed for 20 years. The team presented a comparative analysis of the essential autonomy models of Hong Kong, the Aland Islands and Kosovo as functional solutions in line with the UN Charter, says the government news release.
US and Europeans try to avert breakaway by Kosovo with new year recognition pledge (20.11.2007)
(Quelle: The Guardian) The US and the main European powers are attempting to delay the looming crisis in Kosovo with a deal to head off an immediate unilateral declaration of independence, it emerged yesterday. Risking a showdown with Serbia and Russia, which bitterly oppose independence, the EU and the Americans will offer Kosovo's Albanian leaders prompt recognition of independence, sometime in January, said UN officials in the territory and European diplomats.
Kosovo leader pledges to heed independence warnings (20.11.2007)
(Quelle: Reliefweb) Kosovo's future leader promised Tuesday to heed US and EU warnings against any rash moves toward independence at new talks with Serbia aimed at breaking the impasse over the province's future status. 'Kosovo is ready for independence, we are prepared, but we will cooperate very closely,' Hashim Thaci told reporters in Brussels, ahead of a fresh round of negotiations with Serbian officials. 'Kosovo will do nothing without coordination with our partners Washington and Brussels,' he said.
Kosovo official election results confirm PDK lead (20.11.2007)
(Quelle: BIRN) Kosovo’s Central Election Commission, CEC, published Monday evening the first official preliminary results of Saturday’s elections, which confirm results published earlier by civil society observers. With around 90 percent of the votes counted, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, led by former guerrilla commander Hashim Thaci, is leading with 34 percent of the vote.