UN to send mission to Serbia

The United Nations Security Council has ruled to send a mission to the Serbian capital of Belgrade and Kosovo province before resuming consultations on its status. The proposal was a Russian initiative.

The province has been the subject of a long-running dispute between the Serbian government and Kosovo's Albanian population.

“We think it is very important to send a mission of the Security Council to Belgrade and Pristina,” Vitaly Churkin, Russian ambassador to United Nations, said, “And to conduct a comprehensive review of the implementation of Resolution 1244, because, you will recall, it is the resolution which was adopted in 1999 and it is legal and political basis of the role of the International Community in Kosovo. So now that the package of Mr Artissary has been presented to the Council on the future status of Kosovo. In our view it is very important for the Security Council to know exactly what is happening in the area, what elements of the Resolution 1244 have been implemented and which have not been implemented. We believe that a number of provisions of the Resolution has not been implemented, therefore the Security Council must have a clear picture of that”.

The UN mission is set to arrive in the region in April.

Its main goal will be assessing the current situation in the region.