October 18, 2000
The head of the United Nations mission in Kosovo suggested on Tuesday that a Balkans summit next month would be a good occasion for the UN to start talks on the future of the province with the new Yugoslav leadership. Speaking in Zagreb after meeting Croatian President Stipe Mesic, Bernard Kouchner told reporters: "It will be a good, good occasion to start discussion between the newcoming democrats and the people representing the...UN"
He was referring to President Vojislav Kostunica and the country's united opposition bloc, which took power in the rump Yugoslavia - consisting of Serbia and Montenegro - earlier this month. The UN has been in charge of Kosovo since the end of a NATO bombing campaign in 1999, triggered by deposed Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic's repression of the province's ethnic Albanian majority. The province remained formally part of Yugoslavia after a NATO-led force replaced Milosevic's security forces in June, but the UN kept Belgrade at bay, fearing interference by Milosevic could stir conflict in the province. Kostunica's election has opened the possibility of more active links with Belgrade, although these are likely to be resisted by Kosovo's Albanians, who insist on independence.
Kouchner said he was so far the only person who would represent Kosovo at the November 24 summit in Zagreb of the European Union and the countries springing from the former Yugoslavia after its break-up in 1991.
KOSOVO LEADERS MAY ATTEND SUMMIT
However, the Kosovo delegation might involve some "political leaders", Kouchner said, without specifying whether these would include only Kosovo Albanians or Serbs as well. Asked by reporters if his delegation would attend the summit as part of the Yugoslav delegation, headed by Kostunica, Kouchner said: "Certainly not, I don't think so. But it will be a good opportunity to be close to them, as part if you like, and to talk to each other." Kouchner said he and Mesic shared the view that the change in Belgrade was welcome and that Kostunica needed time to consolidate power. "It would not be easy at the moment to treat all the problems at the same time. He is just coming to power and has to look at his own Serbian election in December," Kouchner said. "I discovered with pleasure that, step by step, one speech after the other, Mr Kostunica was more and more open to the rest of the world...to the reality of Europe and the reality of democracy around Serbia."
Mesic, the last president of ex-Yugoslavia before its dissolution in 1991, has seen his plans to visit Kosovo postponed twice in the past few months for security reasons. Kouchner said Mesic would eventually be able to visit, but did not give a precise timetable. "I don't believe that it would provoke big clashes, I don't believe so, but we have to be very cautious about it," Kouchner said.
