UN struggling to establish control in northern Kosovo

The United Nations mission in Kosovo is struggling to establish control over courts and customs services in the Serb-dominated north, officials said today.

When Kosovo declared independence on February 17, minority Serbs attacked border outposts, forcing UN staff to evacuate and Nato peacekeepers to take control over Kosovo’s borders.

“We are trying to re-establish the courts, trying to re-establish the customs,” Alexander Ivanko, spokesman for the UN mission in Kosovo, said. “I assume this will take time.”

The UN is in charge of Kosovo and is expected to stay until a European Union-led mission is deployed as foreseen in a UN-sponsored plan that paved the way for Kosovo to declare independence.

The plan was never approved by the UN Security Council because of Russian opposition, but it is supported by Washington and key EU nations.

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic yesterday asked the UN administration in Kosovo to respect the Security Council resolution that established the mission in 1999 and to halt the transfer of authority to the EU.

The dispute highlights a power vacuum that challenges the UN to reinforce its presence in Serb areas while it awaits the deployment of the EU-led police and justice mission that should take over policing.

The head of that mission said he would seek to establish contact with the minority Serbs in the north and ease their suspicion of the EU-led mission.

“Rule of law is of common interest for everybody,” Yves de Kermabon, who arrived today on his first visit to Kosovo, said. “If you want freedom of movement, you want peace, you want protection of the people and the different facilities you need a good rule of law situation.”

Serbia says the EU-led mission is illegal, and Kosovo’s Serbs threatened to boycott and obstruct its work. EU facilities in northern Kosovo have come under attack several time since Kosovo declared independence.