Posted on 04/09/2008 7:46:46 PM PDT by montyspython
U.N. cautions Serbia against local polls in Kosovo
April 09, 2008
REUTERS
PRISTINA (Reuters) - The United Nations cautioned Serbia on Wednesday against holding its May local elections among Serbs in newly independent Kosovo, saying the results would not be considered valid.
"They are in violation of (U.N. Security Council Resolution) 1244 ... and will have no legal validity," said a spokesman for the U.N. mission that has run Kosovo since the 1998-99 war and pullout of Serb forces.
Serbia holds parliamentary and local elections on May 11, and plans to conduct both in Kosovo, its former province which declared independence with Western backing on Feb 17.
Ethnic Albanians make up 90 percent of Kosovo's 2 million people. Backed by Russia, Serbia and Kosovo's 120,000 remaining Serbs reject the secession.
The U.N. mission has indicated it has no objection to Kosovo Serbs voting in the parliamentary election as they have done before, but Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders say local polls represent a threat to the sovereignty of the new state.
U.N. spokesman Alexander Ivanko said the mission had received a request from Belgrade to hold the elections, and was drafting a response.
U.N. police and NATO peacekeepers would have difficulty preventing Serbs from voting in the local elections without resorting to force.
But U.N. officials have floated the idea of letting them vote, and refusing to recognize the results.
Serbia lost control over Kosovo in 1999, when NATO bombs drove out Serb forces to halt the killing and ethnic cleansing of Albanians in a two-year counter-insurgency war.
Serbia is now strengthening a network of Kosovo Serb parallel structures, telling Serbs to boycott the new state and deepening Kosovo's de facto partition.
(Reporting by Matt Robinson; editing by Stephen Weeks)
Absolutely amazing the hubris the UN has, they apparently don't know their own resolutions, it precisely 1244 that made Kosovo's independence illegal. An utter crock.
The UN has no shame.
As we know now, the Serbs were fighting to stop the killing and ethnic cleansing of Serbs, which is just about complete.
US supported ethnic cleansing so they can keep tabs on an oil pipeline, sovereignty means nothing.
The Serbs have no right to vote?
Apparently not, that’s how democracy works when the UN is involved.
That UN “spokesman” needs to read 1244!
UN? The good ol' USA has got its fingerprints all over this debacle.
Your tagline needs to include the UN.
:)
The same UN couldn’t lift a finger to stop genocide on a massive scale in Darfur. The UN isn’t worth a shit. Not even one. Not even a turd.
I love this. Good ‘ol U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244. The one that EVERYONE was allowed to violate, except, of course, the Serbs.
This gives the term “DOUBLE STANDARD” new meaning.
Kind of nice how they “snuck” that in there.
Its tantamount to organized crime exploiting loopholes in the legal system to twist interpretations of the law and the US knows that it has no obligation to abide by international law, it only has to cite it. Double standards are nothing but a byproduct of egregious power projection and in this case the US Department of State is in full BS mode.
Now Condoleeeza is whining that Russia also wants to project its power, that's how the world works honey, get over it.
The Serbs just need to decide whether they want the UN resolution and “international law” to be followed or not. They whine and moan like little girls that the west violates the UN resolution, but then they go and violate it themsleves. What hypocrites! They expect us to follow the rules while they break them. Well too bad for them.
You are a moron, congratulations. Your parents must be proud that their son has become a useless member of society.
So I suppose the Serbs will shut up about some worthless imaginary “international law” now that they have violated it? Nope, that would be too much to hope for!
Doofus, the West creates rules that it doesn’t want to abide by and cries fowl when someone else reciprocates. Time for you to go and wheel yourself back into your room for your enema treatments. The KGB agent will be by around 7pm to tuck you in for bed time.
“but Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leaders say local polls represent a threat to the sovereignty of the new state.”
What a statement! And this is sanctioned by our goverment?
Wow.
By the way, your keen interest in men's anuses is probably not healthy. You should propbably seek psychiatric help for your fixation on men's anuses and your fantasies about them.
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