INTERVIEW: UN head in Kosovo warns against repeating errors in Libya

Apr 16, 2011, 7:07 GMT

Brussels - The international community should be wary of repeating in Libya the mistakes committed in a previous armed intervention in Kosovo, the head of the United Nations mission (UNMIK) in Pristina told the German Press Agency dpa in an interview.

The Kosovo precedent has been evoked earlier this week by Finland's Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb. Just as in Libya, NATO airpower intervened there with the ostensible aim of preventing a humanitarian massacre.

'There are lessons that the international community can draw ... an important one is that when initiatives of this kind are taken, you need to know what is the exit strategy,' UNMIK chief Lamberto Zannier said during a visit to Brussels this week.

Once hostilities ended in Kosovo - after 78 days - the UN and NATO were left ruling and policing the former Serbian province for almost ten years - a nightmare scenario for those hoping for a quick resolution to the Libyan crisis.

In Kosovo 'there was no clear strategy,' with decisions on the key status question 'being constantly postponed in the spirit of 'we'll see,'' Zannier said. 'Today, we are still 'seeing'.'

Kosovo declared independence in 2008 with the backing of the United States and most of the European Union, but the move has been resisted by Serbia, with the backing of major world powers such as Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa.

'The Kosovan assumed that the international community would have, in some way or another, de facto recognized the events ... we have seen a different result,' Zannier said, pointing out that 'a large part of the international community has sided with Serbia.'

'With the declaration of independence, Kosovo started on an autonomous path, but it has not managed to go the whole way, it is still stuck in the middle,' Zannier observed.

Kosovo was also in the news in December, when a Council of Europe report accused its premier Hashim Thaci of having directed organ-trafficking, drug and arms smuggling operations over the past decade, under the eyes of UNMIK and the rest of the international community.

Zannier said UNMIK had collected some evidence from witnesses and passed them on to the UN tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which could not sustantiate the allegations, amid suspicions that key witnesses were intimidated into silence.

Zannier said 'things that are not written' in the Council of Europe report but which are known to its author, former Swiss prosecutor Dick Marty, 'could make the difference,' leading to a reopening of the case.

Since 2008, NATO and UNMIK's roles in Kosovo have been greatly reduced, while an EU-backed mission took over authority over justice and police matters. But the UN is still in Pristina as a guarantor for countries which do not recognize independence.

'UNMIK is there to stay,' Zannier said, indicating that a Bosnia-style solution - where the local international supervisory body is due to be moved out of the country - 'is not on the table.'

UNMIK is also seeking to help solve every-day status-related conflicts which, for example, are preventing the newest Balkan state from exporting goods through its neighbour because Serbian officials do not recognize 'Republic of Kosovo' custom stamps.

An EU-mediated dialogue, which on Friday entered into its third round in Brussels, is tackling the same 'practical' problems.

With the international community having previously failed, Zannier said 'the Kosovo question' would necessarily 'have to be clarified in some way' by Brussels, which can exercise leverage on the two sides through EU membership negotiations.

Zannier, an Italian career diplomat, is vying alongside Turkish, Austrian and Portuguese candidates to lead the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which focuses on security and human rights.

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