The Quint's efforts to force a resolution of the north Kosovo crisis - caused by Pristina's unilateral actions and the Quint's own efforts to support them - have reached a stalemate. The barricades remain and it seems that only the northern Serbs themselves could bring them down. The Serbs have offered a formula for providing status-neutral freedom of movement (FOM) for KFOR and EULEX but these Quint agents refuse to accept the requirement to act only within their UN mandate.
So what do people do when they need to be seen doing something and really can't? They blabber. The chief Quint representatives were apparently blabbering quite a bit at a conference this week, with the American ambassador causing the biggest stir by suggesting that Kosovo seems to lurch from crisis to crisis and "this has become the governing style.” ICR Pieter Feith mentioned there were times when Prime Minister Thaci did not listen to him while EULEX deputy chief Sparkes talked about failures of the EU mission to live up to "expectations." US Ambassador Dell laid the blame for this sad state of affairs on the UN mission in Kosovo for holding onto power too long and not giving the Kosovo Albanians the opportunity to learn by doing. This triggered "irresponsibility on the part of Kosovo's political class" which "contributed to appearance of irresponsible media and a political class which is not capable of adopting its own decisions without external assistance." This apparently leaves it to poor Dell and Feith to tell them what to do.
Dell's casting blame on the UN is cynical and ill-informed. Cynical because the UN is actually in the hands of the UNSC which includes the US, UK and France. The US had the number two spot in UNMIK for most of the last 12 years while West European countries had the number one spot. I.e., UNMIK is what the European and US members made of it. Ill-informed because as anyone familiar with the actual history of UNMIK can tell him, the Kosovo Albanians captured the mission early on and ran Kosovo through it even before "self-rule."
Meanwhile, Interior Minister was also doing his share of blabbering. He suggested that KFOR can dismantle all the barricades in just a few days but wants to do it gradually, by winter. Minister Rexhepi repeated the standard line that the barricades serve criminal and radical political interests while adding the new KFOR/EULEX bit about freedom of movement as an international standard that should be provided to KFOR, EULEX, Kosovo institutions and all citizens. But he did also reportedly say there will be no further unilateral actions in the north. Hopefully that is not just blabbering.
Joining in the blab-a-thon is the British Foreign Ministry still pushing the Brussels line that Serbia is so close to EU membership and all it has to do is agree to arrangements for the north. Seems to overlook that if Tadic could, he would. But he gets no help from the EU.
Now, I remain of the opinion that KFOR Commander General Drews really is trying to find a way to return NATO to its peacekeeping role in Kosovo. Many in northern Kosovo would disagree with that given KFOR's recent actions and the refusal to accept compromise over FOM. But I won't accuse him of blabbing, just perhaps some conceptual confusion. The General reportedly said that he favors a peaceful resolution of the problems in the north but if not KFOR would find another solution. Perhaps it is worth pointing out that the alternative to peaceful would seem to be non-peaceful. Using non-peaceful means to impose political objectives - the freedom to act outside the UNSCR 1244 mandate - would not be peacekeeping.
So what do people do when they need to be seen doing something and really can't? They blabber. The chief Quint representatives were apparently blabbering quite a bit at a conference this week, with the American ambassador causing the biggest stir by suggesting that Kosovo seems to lurch from crisis to crisis and "this has become the governing style.” ICR Pieter Feith mentioned there were times when Prime Minister Thaci did not listen to him while EULEX deputy chief Sparkes talked about failures of the EU mission to live up to "expectations." US Ambassador Dell laid the blame for this sad state of affairs on the UN mission in Kosovo for holding onto power too long and not giving the Kosovo Albanians the opportunity to learn by doing. This triggered "irresponsibility on the part of Kosovo's political class" which "contributed to appearance of irresponsible media and a political class which is not capable of adopting its own decisions without external assistance." This apparently leaves it to poor Dell and Feith to tell them what to do.
Dell's casting blame on the UN is cynical and ill-informed. Cynical because the UN is actually in the hands of the UNSC which includes the US, UK and France. The US had the number two spot in UNMIK for most of the last 12 years while West European countries had the number one spot. I.e., UNMIK is what the European and US members made of it. Ill-informed because as anyone familiar with the actual history of UNMIK can tell him, the Kosovo Albanians captured the mission early on and ran Kosovo through it even before "self-rule."
Meanwhile, Interior Minister was also doing his share of blabbering. He suggested that KFOR can dismantle all the barricades in just a few days but wants to do it gradually, by winter. Minister Rexhepi repeated the standard line that the barricades serve criminal and radical political interests while adding the new KFOR/EULEX bit about freedom of movement as an international standard that should be provided to KFOR, EULEX, Kosovo institutions and all citizens. But he did also reportedly say there will be no further unilateral actions in the north. Hopefully that is not just blabbering.
Joining in the blab-a-thon is the British Foreign Ministry still pushing the Brussels line that Serbia is so close to EU membership and all it has to do is agree to arrangements for the north. Seems to overlook that if Tadic could, he would. But he gets no help from the EU.
Now, I remain of the opinion that KFOR Commander General Drews really is trying to find a way to return NATO to its peacekeeping role in Kosovo. Many in northern Kosovo would disagree with that given KFOR's recent actions and the refusal to accept compromise over FOM. But I won't accuse him of blabbing, just perhaps some conceptual confusion. The General reportedly said that he favors a peaceful resolution of the problems in the north but if not KFOR would find another solution. Perhaps it is worth pointing out that the alternative to peaceful would seem to be non-peaceful. Using non-peaceful means to impose political objectives - the freedom to act outside the UNSCR 1244 mandate - would not be peacekeeping.
Blabber, Blabber - Dell and Rikkers
ReplyDeleteDell: Kosovo political class, irresponsible
01/11/2011 12:30
The US Ambassador in Prishtina, Christopher Dell, accused the Kosovo political class of being irresponsible.
During a meeting organized by the British Council, Dell declared that the international community was the one that made the Kosovo politics what it is.
“Kosovo passes from one crisis to another. This has become a governing style. The Kosovo political class is completely irresponsible”, Dell has been quoted by Kosovo media.
In this meeting were present other international officials, such as Peter Faith, who also released critics for PM Thaci.
The second person in charge of EULEX, Andy Sparkes, declared that the European Mission has failed to implement law and order in Kosovo.
http://www.top-channel.tv/english/artikull.php?id=3428