At UN, Serbia Jeremic Wins GA Race over Lithuania 99 to 85, Inner City Press Prediction of 97 Was Close

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 8 -- Serbia's Vuk Jeremic was elected the next President of the UN General Assembly on Friday morning, by a secret ballot vote of over the Lithuanian Permanent Representative.

Inner City Press had interviewed Jeremic about his race, which some called "playing the NAM card" referring to the Non-Aligned Movement. Still, Jeremic is if nothing else energetic and articulate, something often lacking in those who hold this post.

On the eve of the vote, an International Criminal Court-minded European complained to Inner City Press that "Serbia's government still denies that Srbrenica was a genocide." Inner City Press asked, and asks: Does Vuk? 
 
Among those turning out to vote was Russia's Permanent Representative Vitaly Churkin, Brazil's PR Viotti, Japan's PR Nishida, the PRs of, among others, Jamaica, Grenada and Venezuela, India's PR and Deputy PR, and seemingly at the Deputy PR level, the UK, among others.

Lamberto Zannier, former head of the UN Mission in Kosovo and now chief of the OSCE, sauntered in. One wondered, to congratulate Jeremic? Or its opposite?

Before the vote, based on informal polling, Inner City Press tweeted a prediction: Jeremic winning with 97 votes. Many laughed. Then he won with 99 votes. Well, no one is perfect. This prediction must have been from the worst journalist at the UN in the last 20 years. Watch this site.

At UN, Serbia on Churches Paved Over, Kosovo Calls World Court Merely Advisory

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/icj1kosovo101509.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 15 -- Even in the run up to the International Court of Justice's proceeding on the legality of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence, at the UN Security Council the issue has lost its juice. As the Council on Thursday debated whether or not to let Kosovo speak, the stakeout outside was as empty as for Nepal. When the principals emerged, only the Kosovar spoke. Lamberto Zannier, who cashes checks at the UN's envoy to Kosovo, did not speak to the Press.

Vuk Jeremic, when he emerged, walked slowly by the stakeout. There was no other reporter waiting other than Inner City Press. Further up the hall he graciously stopped and answered three questions. Inner City Press asked, what can the ICJ case actually change, on the ground?

Jeremic said it's the biggest ICJ case in history, with 31 countries participating including each of the Council's Permanent Five member. What about cultural damage? Jeremic spoke of a church demolished, paved over and turned into a park. It must be reversed, he said.

Zannier in his testimony complained that until the eve of his flight to the Council in New York, the Kosovo authorities refused to meet with him. Jeremic afterwards told Inner City Press the meeting only took place between the Kosovars were embarrassed. But what is the future of UNMIK?

Inner City Press asked Kosovo's representative if he wants the UN to leave. He spoke highly of the EU and EULEX. And that may say it all.

Footnote: that Kosovo even spoke, inside the chamber, may create a precedent. Others wondered by South Ossetia and Abkhazia can't do it. The answer is the power of the U.S. as host country. They have to let in representatives of any member state. But on the cusp states like Kosovo and Abkhazia, they are not required and can choose. Some power.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/icj1kosovo101509.html

In Kosovo, Privatizations May Include Ex-UN Officials Schook and Walker with Ramush

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/kpp1schook032309.html

UNITED NATIONS, March 23 -- The Kosovo Trust Agency has passed from the UN into Kosovar hands, Foreign Minister Skender Hyseni told the Press on March 23, and it will privatize the "vast majority" of the underlying socially and publicly owned enterprises. Waiting in line, sources tell Inner City Press, are Kosovar Ramush Haradinaj and with him, two American former UN officials in Kosovo, Steven Schook and William Walker. Inner City Press on Monday asked the current head of the UN Mission in Kosovo, Lamberto Zannier, if there are any rules concerning former UNMIK officials benefiting from the privatizations in Kosovo. Video here, from Minute 1:12.

Zannier said he wasn't aware of any UN rules, only "professional ethics." He said that while Schook is a private individual, "we'll also assess what he does based on that," referring to undefined professional ethics. The UN had claimed to have anti-revolving door safeguards.

This case goes beyond the usual conflicts of interest. The allegation is that Schook passed information to Haradinaj, including about witnesses before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Several ended up dead. Now, the sources say, comes pay back time, referring not only to the Kosovo Power Plant Project (and other political projects), but even further privatizations. And the UN has nothing to say. There was a previous quashed probe of Schook by the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services; click here for one of Inner City Press' previous articles on Schook and on the KTA.

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, after predicting Inner City Press would ask "hard questions," said he's heard of Schook's involvement as well, and that the European Union's EULEX Rule of Law mission as well as the UN should investigate. Video here, from Minute 5:25. But EULEX cannot even agree to let the UN attend its meetings in Belgrade, it emerged on Monday. Zannier said the UN would only attend if the "two parties" agreed. Surprisingly, this did not mean Serbia and Kosovo, but Serbia and EULEX.

Inner City Press asked Hyseni about Serbian President Boris Tadic's complaint that the Mayor of Belgrade was barred from carrying humanitarian aid into northern Kosovo. Hyseni replied that these were "provocations," and that permission had to be sought from protocol officials of the Republic of Kosovo. Jeremic used the word province with respect to Kosovo, and said all should be on hold pending the case before the International Court of Justice about the legality of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence.

Hyseni on the other hand said he plans to meet with at least 20 countries' representatives during the next two days in New York, with an emphasis on countries which have not recognized Kosovo's UDI. Watch this site.

Footnote: The disparate response to the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo and that of, for example, Western Sahara, Abkhazia and South Ossetia has previously been raised at the Security Council stakeout. More recently, a comparison that some have been has been to the situation of Tamils in northern Sri Lanka. There are many points on which to compare, from 1999 -- when as some said Monday in the Council, NATO bombed Serbia for its military acts in its province of Kosovo -- to 2008, when the UDI occurred and major Western powers strong armed smaller countries into granting recognition. Now even on the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka, these powers hardly push for a Council briefing, and others on the Council try to block even this. To be continued.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/kpp1schook032309.html

While UN Says Kosovo Trust Agency Budget Is Not Public, UK Calls for Transparency

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN www.innercitypress.com/kta1budget112608.html

UNITED NATIONS, November 26 -- The budget of the Kosovo Trust Agency, a fund run by the UN Mission in Kosovo, is not public, UNMIK chief Lamberto Zannier told Inner City Press on Friday. Speaking outside the Security Council meeting about the deployment of EULEX, Zannier said he has ordered the central bank of Kosovo to preserve the funds, but none of it will be public. He said he visited the UN's former office and didn't sense anything was wrong.

Inner City Press then asked the United Kingdom's Deputy Permanent Representative Karen Pierce, who had just called for transparency in any parallel structures, if the UK thinks the Kosovo Trust Agency should be transparent. She called the KTA "not an ideal situation," even before Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence. She said it should be "regularized," and at some point a budget should be issued. But when?

Inner City Press also asked Zannier about the controversy surrounding former UNMIK chief legal officer Borg-Olivier, who not only went directly to work for the Kosovo government, but bragged that he had lobbied for them while still employed by UNMIK. That was before my time, Zannier answered, refusing further comment.

On the Secretary-General's report on Kosovo, there was a lot of happy talk, punctuated by Serbia's foreign minister Vuk Jeremic speaking about churches destroyed and paved over. Kosovo's representative responded at the stakeout that Serbia had done much worse, that history will be written from facts. Inner City Press asked Karen Pierce if the UK supports the six point plan. Kosovo has rejected it, she said by way of an answer. She pointed out that several more countries -- Kosovo puts the count at five -- have issued recognitions of independence since the case was filed with the International Court of Justice. Most of these five were arm-twisted. Rule of law, indeed....

On the other hand, when Inner City Press asked U.S. representative Rosemary DiCarlo is any progress had been made in getting Miladin Kovacevic, the basketball player who beat a New York State college student into a coma and then fled back to Serbia with the assistance of that country's consulate in New York, extradited to the U.S.. We're trying, Ms. DiCarlo said, adding that she is aware of no progress. Hillary Clinton is on record calling for the extradition. Might U.S. policy, even on Kosovo, be influenced by this issue in the future?

Footnote: Inner City Press asked Karen Pierce if and when the Security Council will issue some pronouncement on the shooting spree earlier in the day in Mumbai, India. Not tonight, Pierce answered, going on to deplore the acts. Cynical journalists moaned that they might have to come in on Friday. Thursday, being the U.S. Thanksgiving day holiday, was considered out of the question.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/kta1budget112608.html

On Kosovo, UN's Ban Torn Between Sponsors and Majority and Law, Handover Under Fire

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un3kosovo062008.html

UNITED NATIONS, June 20 -- Heading into Friday's Kosovo meeting in the Security Council, Ban Ki-moon was flanked by his senior advisors, to show how seriously considered his renunciation of the UN's role has been. He entered with Vijay Nambiar and Nicholas Haysom. Kim Won-soo and Jean-Marie Guehenno followed just after. The goal was to look serious, if not contrite. After Ban called Kosovo the most complex problem he's faced in 40 years of diplomacy, Serbian President Boris Tadic said, "I want to be very clear, Serbia will never recognize the independence of Kosovo."

Tadic went on to criticize Ban's June 12 report on Kosovo, which treated hand-over of responsibility to the European Union as a fait accompli. Tadic called Ban's Report "an acknowledgement that an influential and determined minority can set aside considerations of international law."

After Kosovo's Fatmir Sejdiu spoke of his outreach to Kosovar Serbs, the first Council member to speak was Ambassador Spatafora of Italy, apparently because Joachim Ruecker's replacement as head of UNMIK will be an Italian, Lamberto Zannier. It's said that Larry Rossin, too, is leaving. But what about Gerrard Gallucci? What about the UN's promise to investigate its March 17 re-taking of the courthouse in north Mitrovica?

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin critiqued Ban's report paragraph by paragraph. Graf Five, he complained, referred to only one side's challenge to UNMIK's role. Paragraph Nine concedes that UNMIK has abandoned its so-called economic reconstruction pillar, because the European Commission has stopped funding it. But doesn't the UN have its own budget? Churkin concluded that Russia expects Ban to be "ruled by the Charter" and to refrain from any reconfiguring of UNMIK without Council approval. Outside the Chamber, they speak even more harshly.

Update of 12:44 p.m. -- Ban Ki-moon and entourage left the meeting without taking any press questions. Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesperson when his promised report on the events of March 17 will be available; she said she will check. Back at the stakeout, Inner City Press asked Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin if it is his understanding that the report is finished. Video via here. He indicated it was, and that Ban has promised to provide this report along with briefings on UNMIK operational matters.

On a related Russian issue, Inner City Press askd if Georgia's detention of Russian peacekeepers in Abkhazia will be raised in the Council. "I have no instructions to that effect," Amb. Churkin said. Then he added that it certainly was "unfortunate."

Earlier in the week, Inner City Press asked Ban's advisor Nicholas Haysom if his diplomacy is constrained or distorted by the need to please the Permanent Five members to get a second term. Haysom said you always need the powerful. But the second term issue has been raised in connection with Kosovo. Whose threat about three years from now is more credible? Watch this space.

Footnote: on his way in to the Council just before 10 a.m., U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad was asked if Kosovo would be solved. It's still early, he said, we can knock it out today. Most journalists laughed. Some will be eating chicken wings with Zalmay on July 2 at the Waldorf Towers. Call it independence day -- for Kosovo. Perhaps there will be burek.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un3kosovo062008.html