Ahtisaari to visit Kosovo
Martti Ahtisaari is to visit Kosovo’s capital Pristina on June 15 2009 for a celebration of the first anniversary of the constitution adopted after Kosovo unilaterally broke away from Serbia.
Ahtisaari, the former president of Finland and Nobel Peace Prize winner whose report opened the way for Kosovo to declare independence, is to be accompanied his former deputy mediators, Albert Rohan, Frank Wisner and Wolfgang Ischinger.
Plans are for Ahtisaari to address Kosovo’s parliament.
Serbia firmly rejects Kosovo’s February 2008 unilateral declaration of independence and the plan drawn up by Ahtisaari that preceded it.
Belgrade has been pursuing international support against Kosovo independence, with Moscow among its firmest backers, and in 2008 won United Nations General Assembly support for a request to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to give an opinion on whether Kosovo’s self-declared independence was valid.
On May 30 2009, Serbia’s minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanovic reiterated his country’s view that the Ahtisaari plan was wholly unacceptable, both from a political and technical point of view, news website B92 reported from Belgrade.
Following assessments raised at a debate on Kosovo in Brussels on May 30 that at least the technical parts of the plan should be applied, Bogdanovic told Serbian news agency Beta that the Serbian parliament had rejected the plan in its entirety
On June 1, Serbian foreign minister Vuk Jeremic urged the members of the Organization of American States (OAS) that have not yet recognised Kosovo to remain neutral on the matter until the ICJ announces its decision.
It is not known how long the court will take to announce its opinion, but most observers believe that this could take years.
Beta quoted Jeremic as saying at the 39th OAS session, held in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, the refraining from recognising Kosovo was "the only way to avoid the further undermining of legitimacy of the international system and the universal values common to us all".
On behalf of Serbia, Jeremic thanked "the vast majority of OAS member countries for their principled position on Kosovo," emphasising that their "support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a U.N. member state truly deserves praise."
Ahtisaari, the former president of Finland and Nobel Peace Prize winner whose report opened the way for Kosovo to declare independence, is to be accompanied his former deputy mediators, Albert Rohan, Frank Wisner and Wolfgang Ischinger.
Plans are for Ahtisaari to address Kosovo’s parliament.
Serbia firmly rejects Kosovo’s February 2008 unilateral declaration of independence and the plan drawn up by Ahtisaari that preceded it.
Belgrade has been pursuing international support against Kosovo independence, with Moscow among its firmest backers, and in 2008 won United Nations General Assembly support for a request to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to give an opinion on whether Kosovo’s self-declared independence was valid.
On May 30 2009, Serbia’s minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanovic reiterated his country’s view that the Ahtisaari plan was wholly unacceptable, both from a political and technical point of view, news website B92 reported from Belgrade.
Following assessments raised at a debate on Kosovo in Brussels on May 30 that at least the technical parts of the plan should be applied, Bogdanovic told Serbian news agency Beta that the Serbian parliament had rejected the plan in its entirety
On June 1, Serbian foreign minister Vuk Jeremic urged the members of the Organization of American States (OAS) that have not yet recognised Kosovo to remain neutral on the matter until the ICJ announces its decision.
It is not known how long the court will take to announce its opinion, but most observers believe that this could take years.
Beta quoted Jeremic as saying at the 39th OAS session, held in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, the refraining from recognising Kosovo was "the only way to avoid the further undermining of legitimacy of the international system and the universal values common to us all".
On behalf of Serbia, Jeremic thanked "the vast majority of OAS member countries for their principled position on Kosovo," emphasising that their "support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a U.N. member state truly deserves praise."