New York, 30 Aug. – Serbian Foreign Minister Ivan Mrkic assessed that the role of the United Nations in Kosovo and Metohija was vital, especially in the run-up to the coming municipal elections, saying that Pristina had remained isolated in the position that UNMIK should be dissolved.
"Pristina called for UNMIK to be practically dissolved and that there no longer be any UN presence in the province... This request by Pristina remained isolated; no other country, even those Council members who have recognized Kosovo, failed to support it", said Mrkic on yesterday's debate in the UN Security Council devoted to the report of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon concerning Kosovo.
Minister Mrkic recalled Serbia's firm position that the United Nations was needed maybe more than one could have thought because, as he pointed out, important events were ahead, such as local elections in Kosovo and Metohija, where the role of the United Nations was crucial and without whose intervention it would be impossible to have the elections well organized.
"All those who have recognized Kosovo have very emphatically supported our position, with various other additional suggestions", he said reminding that, in the debate, the Russian representative called for all Kosovo's Serbs, more than 210,000 of them, to be allowed to cast their votes in these elections.
Russia's Vladimir Chyzhov was of the view previously in the Security Council that it was necessary to ensure a massive turnout in the elections, including of the voters living as refugees and internally displaced persons outside Kosovo.
Also, Mrkic assessed that in "a constructive" and "very useful exchange of views" at the United Nations, Serbia received "unequivocal recognition for its policy towards Kosovo".
"All of them urged us to continue to carry out this political action in Kosovo at the same pace and with the same quality", said the Serbian Foreign Minister adding that Belgrade's objective was to formalize the Serb community in the Province and reinforce its institutions.
"I feel that no one is opposed to it, save Pristina for understandable reasons", he remarked.
Mrkic recalled that Serbia presented to the Council its objections concerning the United Nations and proposals as to how to improve the activity of UNMIK.
"We have catalogued the vexing problems like that there were no returns of the displaced; that there were various incidents; that there was a lack of security for Serbs and other minorities there; that there was a need for greater involvement of the outside factor and the Pristina authorities to ensure a safe environment for Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija", said he.
Minister Mrkic highlighted in particular that it was important that the public in Serbia understood the fact that Belgrade had entered into discussions with Pristina, "is seen by no one as a weakness but as a force and our political determination".
"In these negotiations we aspire to achieve everything that represents our vital interests ", he underlined adding that those seeing the resolve of the Belgrade authorities to negotiate as a weakness "are completely mistaken in their conclusions".
Observing that that on behalf of the United States, the new Ambassador to the United Nations, Mrs. Samantha Powers, who was part of the innermost Cabinet of President Obama, spoke before the Security Council, Mrkic felt demonstrated the importance that the United States also attached to this subject-matter.