Inner City Press: Investigative Reporting from the United Nations

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

By Matthew Russell Lee

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?

Serb protests of Kosovo's UDI, whimper not shown

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.

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

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.

These reports are usually also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund. Video Analysis here

Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

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