KOSOVO RISKS TO TURN INTO FROZEN CONFLICT ZONE – ICG EXPERTS
ITAR-TASS
March 19 2008
Russia
BRUSSELS, March 19 (Itar-Tass) – Kosovo risks to turn into a new zone
of frozen conflict similar to Abkhazia or Nagorno-Karabakh, it is
said in a report on Kosovo prepared by the International Crisis Group
(ICG) received by Itar-Tass.
"The first month of independence has mostly gone well, but violence
in Mitrovica yesterday shows that the opponents of independence
can still threaten the new state and that there is a risk that
Serbian-inspired partition will harden and Kosovo become a frozen
conflict. The Kosovo government, the EU and NATO must press more
countries to recognise Kosovo’ s independence quickly. The UN and
NATO should seek to effectively control the border, police stations,
courts and jails, and cooperate in reshaping their northern presence
to aid transition and gradually introduce the EU rule-of-law mission
(EULEX), first at border and customs posts," the ICG experts stress.
The document says that "The EU and US should stimulate more bilateral
recognitions of Kosovo, lobby for its admission into international
bodies, send high-level political visitors to Pristina and provide
immediate financial assistance and capacity-building support to the
new government."
"UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon should state clearly and without
delay that he welcomes cooperation with the EU in Kosovo and that the
UN will downsize to adjust to developments and changes on the ground,"
it noted.
"The EU, UN and NATO should agree on a common, comprehensive strategy
for the Serb north of Kosovo. Serbia’s efforts since independence
to extend its state institutions there should not be accepted,"
according to the document.
"The Kosovo government and its international partners should mount
a sustained media and information campaign to communicate to Kosovo
Serbs the benefits of the Ahtisaari plan, focusing on decentralisation
and the creation of new Serb-majority municipalities," the report says.