Kosovo
"Respects Dual Citizenship," But Dodges Abkhazia Question, Downed
Drone Deferred
Byline:
Matthew Russell
Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
April 21 -- Kosovo's prime minister Hashim Thaci was asked on Monday
what he
would do face with a request for recognition by the breakaway republic
of
Abkhazia. "We will see very carefully," he said, walking away from
the microphone. Video here,
at Minute 7:09.
The
exchange highlighted the fall-out from Kosovo's February 17 unilateral
declaration of independence and subsequent entropy in Georgia, even
Bolivia and
the Far East. Georgia has requested an emergency Security Council
meeting on
the situation in Abkhazia, including what it calls Russia's shoot-down
of a
Georgia unmanned drone. Monday morning Inner City Press asked Georgian
Ambassador
Irakli Alasania about reports the Abkhaz shot it down. We have proof,
Amb.
Alasania said. Asked about reports of electricity being cut to the
Russian CIS
peacekeepers, he said he hadn't heard about it. Video here.
Late Monday the Security Council decided
that the requested Georgia meeting will be held Wednesday, although
participation by the Abkhaz has still not been determined. Previously,
Russia
complained that the U.S. declined to grant visas to Abkhaz
representatives. Russia's
Ambassador Vitaly Churkin late Monday alluded to countries which talk a
lot
about free speech but don't want all sides to be heard.
While many at the UN on Monday said
there was "no news" in the Council's meeting on Kosovo, at the
stakeout afterwards several things emerged. The UN Mission in Kosovo,
which the
U.S. says is winding down but Serbia and Russia say must remain, as
apparently
backed off from opposing Serbs in Kosovo voting in Serbian
parliamentary
elections on May 11. Since UNMIK's Joachim Ruecker never came to take
questions
from reporters, Inner City Press asked Kosovo's prime minister Thaci
for his
position on the elections. "We respect dual citizenship," he said,
but "local elections" by Serbs in Kosovo "would be
illegal."
Hashim Tachi and friends, Abkhazia not shown
Some say that these too will be
allowed, and may even benefit UNMIK and Pristina -- how else would they
know
who to deal with, going forward, other than through elections? Inner
City Press
asked Serbian President Boris Tadic about the elections, and he said
there
"is no problem" with the parliamentary elections, and that about the
local, they will talk to UNMIK.
At the UN's noon briefing on Monday,
Inner City Press asked about reports that UN Under Secretary General
for
Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno will travel to Belgrade for meetings.
Afterwards
an answer arrived by e-mail, that you "asked whether Jean-Marie
Guehenno
will visit Belgrade. Yes, he expects to visit Kosovo and the region
soon, in
his role as head of peacekeeping."
Later Monday, Inner City Press asked
President Boris Tadic what Serbia would be asking Mr. Guehenno for.
"I'm
not going to meet Mr. Guehenno," Tadic said. "Some other members of
our government are going to, they are in charge."
Sources tell Inner City Press that
Guehenno requested a one on one meeting with Tadic, and was turned
down. Meanwhile,
on his way into the Security Council, UNMIK's Joachim Ruecker was
asked,
"Are you resigning?" He answered, "Should I?" For more on
Ruecker, click here.
* * *
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
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