At
UN
on Kosovo,
Churkin Says
Ban Ki-Moon
Was Pressured
to Leave UNMIK
Vacant, Tells
Hoxhaj to Obey
Rules, UNGA
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 15
-- On Kosovo,
the UN
Security
Council met
past
8 pm on
Thursday,
ultimately not
agreeing to a
short
statement
proposed by
Russia the
brewing
dispute about
border posts
should be
resolved by
dialogue.
Afterward
as
Kosovo Foreign
Minister
Hoxhaj was
speaking to
the Press at
the
Security
Council
stakeout,
Russia's
Ambassador
Vitaly Churkin
told
him he should
not be
speaking there
without being
accompanied by
someone from
the UN Mission
in Kosovo,
UNMIK.
Hoxhaj
remained at
the
microphone.
Inner City
Press asked
him to respond
to Churkin's
position. We
are an
independent
state, Hoxhaj
answered, we
will be a
state forever.
After
Hoxhaj left
and Churkin
read out the
proposed press
statement that
hadn't been
agreed to, he
was asked
about "being
rude" to
Hoxhaj. "I
didn't tackle
him," Churkin
said. "Let
that be
noted."
Inner
City Press
asked Churkin
about his
statement,
alongside the
Council's last
Kosovo
meeting, that
UNMIK
is rudderless
and Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon should
already have
named a new
head of UNMIK
to replace
Lamberto
Zannier who
left to head
the OSCE.
Churkin
said it is
"obvious" that
Ban Ki-moon is
being
pressured, and
has
given to to
pressure, not
to name a new
head of UNMIK.
In
this view,
Ban's
reportedly
strong
statements
about Syria
earlier on
Thursday were
not
courageous,
but rather
another
example of
being
pressured to
do and
say things.
Vuk
Jeremic
previously in
UNSC, pressure
on Ban re
UNMIK not
shown
Churkin
recalled
when the
Kosovo
delegation
came into the
General
Assembly Hall
and
stayed, and
said that the
rule is that
they can come
in only during
the speech of
the delegation
which invited
them. Expect
fireworks,
during the
UNGA and
possibly
tomorrow in
Northern
Kosovo. Watch
this
site.
Footnote:
before
it became
clear that no
press
statement
would be
agreed to,
Inner City
Press asked
Serbian
Foreign
Minister Vuk
Jeremic to
come
and "do a
stakeout." He
said, "I don't
know if the
camera is
still there,"
referring to
the time
earlier in the
summer when
the UN TV
camera was
gone when he
came out to
speak.
This
time,
he said the
vast majority
of Council
members said
that KFOR and
EULEX
supporting
Kosovo's moves
was wrong. But
even Churkin
said that
memberS
opposed his
simple draft
press
statement. And
so it goes at
the UN.
, 
in