The head of the Serbian Foreign Ministry accused the UN of inaction
By refusing to form the Union of Serbian Municipalities, the authorities in breakaway Kosovo are not only undermining dialogue with Belgrade, but also sending a signal that the Serbian people must disappear from the southern province.
This was stated by Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic, speaking at a meeting of the UN Security Council dedicated to the semi-annual report on the work of the UN Mission in Kosovo and Metohija (UNMIK).
The minister pointed out that Serbian citizens, like other non-Albanians, are sad and anxious every day.
“These feelings are a reaction to the instability caused by the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in Pristina,” Selakovic said, adding that Pristina’s goal is for as many Serbs and other non-Albanians as possible to leave Kosovo
The head of the Serbian Foreign Ministry was also outraged that the report on the work of UNMIK, when it comes to qualifying events and their causes, is not more meaningful and clear.
“There are clear problems in Kosovo and Metohija, and to solve them it is necessary to accurately determine the reasons. Creating an artificial balance and identifying two guilty parties when looking at crisis situations does not contribute to their substantive resolution. It is necessary to clearly define their reasons, otherwise they will repeat and become more complicated,” he noted.
The Serbian Foreign Minister recalled that on January 16, Pristina, contrary to UN Security Council Resolution 1244, as well as all democratic principles, banned the holding of a referendum in Kosovo and Metohija on amending the Constitution of Serbia and, despite international efforts, rejected the possibility of holding presidential and parliamentary elections in Kosovo and Metohija on April 3.
Selakovic emphasized that for the first time since 1999, citizens of Kosovo and Metohija were not allowed to participate in elections in the Republic of Serbia, which, among other things, violated the clearly defined mandate of the OSCE Mission regarding the organization of elections.
“Thus, the temporary institutions in Pristina once again confirmed their discriminatory nature and stated that the principle of their actions is unilateralism,” Selakovic said.
He pointed out that in the same way, on September 20, Pristina unilaterally deployed special police units with armored vehicles at two administrative checkpoints into central Serbia, which confiscated license plates on cars from northern Kosovo and central Serbia.
“The way this was done indicates a clear goal to intimidate the Serbs from the north of the region, and the consequence of this was a justified uprising of the local population,” Selakovic said, adding that the Serbs who were victims of such actions suffered from the terror that Pristina commits daily in relation to the Serbian people living both in the south and in the north of the Ibar River.
Selakovic also recalled Srečko Sofronijević from the Zvečan enclave, who was shot in the back with a firearm by Kosovo special police officers on October 13, when they illegally entered the north of the province for the ninth time, contrary to the Brussels Agreement.
“We would like to see his name included in the report we are considering today,” Selakovic said.
“It is a sad reality that today in Kosovo and Metohija, if you are a Serb, you can be sentenced to many years in prison on the basis of unverified or contradictory testimony, without conclusive and unequivocal physical evidence. This demonstrates the practice of ethnically based trials and justice in general,” says the minister.
He also noted that Pristina has long been openly saying that the formation of the Commonwealth of Serbian Municipalities, as provided for in the Brussels Agreement, will not be allowed.
“This not only undermines the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, but also directly humiliates international factors, especially the European Union. With such statements, Pristina sends a signal to the Serbian people in the region that they should not count on the exercise of collective rights,” Selakovic said.
Selakovic pointed out that the number and nature of the incidents, which, according to Serbian data, were 63 over the past six months, clearly indicate a high degree of threat and constant discrimination against the Serbian population.
He noted that Serbia will continue to constantly point out to the international community the problems in Kosovo and Metohija. At the same time, the country continues to comply with international law and implements UN Security Council Resolution 1244, which includes the continued participation of UNMIK and the presence of KFOR as a guarantor of peace and security. However, they are required to fulfill their duties in full.
Serbian Foreign Minister Accuses UN of Inaction