Kosovo's
UN
Resolutions Face Russian Veto, Churkin Says, Too Big for Footnotes
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 3, updated -- The foreign ministers of Serbia and Kosovo faced
on Tuesday in the UN Security Council, then outside at the stakeout
microphone. Inner City Press asked Kosovar minister Hyseni if he
thought his idea of a new Security Council resolution on Kosovo has
any chance, given Russia's opposition and veto power. Hyseni replied
that all must see that the facts on the ground have changed.
Earlier
on Tuesday,
Inner City Press asked Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin if Hyseni,
who said he has been in New York for a week meeting with non
recognizing states, had asked to meet with the Russian mission.
Churkin
laughed. No, there has been no such request. He pointedly
said that Hyseni would be speaking at the Council session in his
“personal capacity.”
Serbian
Foreign
Minister Vuk Jeremic, who has eschewed the Press in his three last
visits to the UN, this time came to the stakeout. Inner City Press
asked him about report of a Kosovor resolution to the General
Assembly, seeking recognition as a member state.
Jeremic
pointed out
that Kosovo would not itself propose a GA resolution -- of course,
Albania or another supporter could -- and said that UN membership
runs through the Security Council. Later, the head of UNIMIK Zanier
said the same thing.
Finally,
Inner
City Press asked Vitaly Churkin, after he read out a Council press
statement on the Gaza flotilla panel, to respond to Hyseni's proposed
replacement of Resolution 1244, and the idea of a GA resolution for
Kosovo membership in the UN.
Churkin
advised
Kosovo not to hold its breath, given the constellation of forces in
the Security Council -- i.e. the Russian veto.
Vitaly "I'm too big for footnotes" Churkin, Kosovo's
resolutions not shown
So
what has the
International Court of Justice ruling, and Hyseni's week of diplomacy
in the city that never sleeps wrought? Two recognitions, it appears
-- up from 67 to 69 -- by countries which Hyseni would not name. And
so it goes at the UN.
Update of August 4: the 67 figure,
it has helpfully been pointed out, actually comes
from May 2010. It appears that Hyseni's week in New York did not
result in a single new recognition.
We also note
the vicious behind the scenes fight between Serbia and an EU (majority)
draft resolution, complete with calls
for Vuk Jeremic to resign. But as Churkin said, as to Kosovo
membership in the UN, don't hold your breath...
Footnote:
on
Churkin's first public day as Security Council president for
August, he drew laughs at noon by saying “I'm a too big for
footnotes” -- saying he was unaware that non proliferation was in
the footnotes of the month's program of work -- and, at the final
stakeout, refusing a tele journalist's request to re-read the
flotilla statement. He said, “It is a one time opportunity.” But
Kosovo's efforts will only continue.
* * *
Kosovo
Minister
Tells
Other Secessionists, You're On Your Own, Solidarity is Only
Emotional, Is Talking with Spain
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July
29 -- Kosovo's Foreign Affairs Minister Skender Hyseni,
at the UN on Thursday, was asked if he saw Kosovo's unilateral
declaration of independence, and its upholding by the International
Court of Justice, as a precedent for others seeking independence.
“No one should
tie this to any other situation in the world,” Hyseni replied. He
is in New York lobbying non-recognizing states, including five in the
European Union, to now recognize Kosovo.
Inner
City
Press
asked Hyseni, given his arguments about what Kosovars suffered from
Serbia, if Kosovo is in solidarity with other peoples which feel they
have a historical right to their own state.
“I'm getting
your
point,” Hyseni cut in. “I'm not going to mix my actions as
Foreign Affairs Minister with my feelings and emotions.”
If
the
response
means that Hyseni personally feels such solidarity for other
suffering peoples, but the Kosovo's foreign policy includes no such
solidarity, it is problematic.
Hyseni (previously) at UN, solidarity not shown
Inner
City
Press
asked Hyseni about Ukraine and Spain, which have said post-ICJ that
they will not recognize Kosovo, and beyond Spain about four other EU
members: the Slovak Republic, Romania, Greece and Cyprus.
Hyseni
said
“I am
not aware of Spain saying it will not recognize... I am not aware of
the statement on the part of Ukraine.” Both statements are on the
record, as a Spanish journalist later pointed out.
Hyseni
said
he
“discusses recognition” with his Spanish counterpart Miguel Angel
Moratinos, but not in
Spain, and as to the other four EU non - recognizers that “we do
get encouraging signals from those countries.” He said he did not
want to say more, to make Serbia's foreign minister Vuk Jeremic's
lobbying job easier.
Footnote:
Inner
City
Press asked for an update on the violence in Mitrovica in
early July, which Hyseni previously blamed on ethnic Serbs. Nearly a
month later, does he have the evidence? “The investigation is going
in precisely that direction,” Hyseni said. We'll see.
, 
