Serbia Questions France's Talk of Turbulence,
Disappearance of Funds from Kovovo
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
September 24 -- Serbia's foreign
minister Vuk Jeremic told the Press on Wednesday that his country is
confident
of winning any General Assembly vote on its resolution
to seek an advisory
opinion from the International Court of Justice about the legality
of Kosovo's
declaration of independence. Inner City Press asked him to respond to
the
comments by French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert on September 17 that
the
European Union, which France heads for this six months and which Serbia
is
trying to join, thinks that the Serbian resolution "creates some
turmoil
and some turbulences that are not very good for that." Video here,
from
Minute 11:58.
Jeremic
said that in the Balkan, "we know what real turbulence is," and that
goes beyond seeking an advisory opinion from a court. Serbia is
discussing with new General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto
Brockmann getting a vote on its resolution soon after the General
Debate ends. Jeremic said that European
countries should be hard-pressed to vote against the international
legal review
process. This is what Finland's
representative told Inner City Press on September 23, that they
will never vote
against Serbia's proposal because they support international justice.
French
foreign minister Bernard Kouchner, preening at the stakeout on
Wednesday, came
back to the microphone to say that he had met with International
Criminal Court
prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo because France is a friend of
international
justice. But he did not stay to take the question of Kosovo, how this
professed
love of justice could be consistent with not supporting Serbia's right
to seek
a legal ruling.
![](icj1kouchner.jpg)
Kouchner in the Council: loves int'l justice,
except when turbulent
Moreno-Ocampo, beyond meeting with France, also met
with select
journalists, telling them that he would not dignify the mounting
criticism
rising against him. He has not
consented, however, to hold a public press conference where the
questions could
be asked. Accountability for other, apparently, but not for the
prosecutor.
Inner City
Press also asked Vuk Jeremic about the irregularities in the UN Mission
in
Kosovo's running of the Kosovo Trust Agency, which had the money for
state-own
enterprises privatized in Kosovo. Since some of that money clearly
belongs to
Serbia, Inner City Press asked Jeremic, where is the money? That's what
was are
askin the General Secretariat, he said.
What about the reports of KTA documents being
destroyed? We're asking
about that too, Jeremic said. Mnay
questions, few answers.
Watch this site, and this Sept. 18 (UN) debate.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
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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
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