Bulgaria served up a surprise when it abstained in the UN Security Council vote on a draft resolution on the peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) last Tuesday. The move received a blurry explanation from the Foreign Ministry in Sofia.

The ministry press office announced that this way the country was expressing its principle stand that the international community and the Security Council could not afford to be disunited on such an international issue of such serious political consequences.

In a speech after the vote, Bulgarian permanent representative Stefan Tafrov assessed highly the work of the UNMIBH as a stabilising factor in the Balkans, the Foreign Ministry said. He emphasised that Bulgaria was trying to reach a mutually acceptable compromise among Security Council members.

The Security Council turned down on June 30 a draft resolution on UNMIBH. The US vetoed the resolution demanding that the residents of countries, which are not parties to the Treaty of Rome, should be exempt from arrest and prosecution by the International Criminal Code.

"This is a legal and ideological dispute between the US and the other states party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court," Tafrov said. "Bulgaria is party to the Statute, but at the same time we are working very actively for the unity of the Security Council.

"A failure to achieve unity would affect adversely the UN peacekeeping operations. The future of the UN peacekeeping mission in Bosnia, SFOR, is under a question mark, and this will have a direct bearing on our region," Tafrov explained.

On July 3, the UN Security Council voted unanimously to extend the mandate of the UN mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina until July 15, 2002. Bulgaria put forward the motion for the extension of the mission so as to open an opportunity for more discussion of the new proposals for the resolution's text in the Security Council.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs finds that Bulgaria is working successfully at the UN Security Council," Deputy Foreign Minister Petko Draganov said, speaking Friday at the opening of a roundtable on "Bulgaria: Half a Year in UN Security Council". The discussion was organised by The Atlantic Club with the assistance of the Open Society Foundation in Sofia.

Draganov recalled that last month Bulgaria chaired a coordinating team on the drafting of a resolution on Bosnia-Herzegovina. He also noted the fact that Bulgaria was among the first countries to submit their National Report in compliance with Resolution 1373 (2001) at the Counter Terrorism Committee (CTC). The report presents the national programme for the fight against international terrorism. A total of 151 national reports were delivered by June 25, the diplomat specified.

Bulgaria has been a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council since January. The presidency of the Council will rotate to Bulgaria for the month of September. A concept adopted in connection with the country's election to the Security Council lists Bulgaria's key priorities as the fight against international terrorism, improvement of sanctions arrangements, conflict prevention, and support for the positions of the countries of Eastern and Central Europe in addressing the problems in the Western Balkans.