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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

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Serbian President urges UN SC to immediately annul Kosovo-Metohija’s act of unilateral secession

Belgrade/New York, 18 February 2008

Serbian President Boris Tadic demanded tonight that the UN Security Council immediately annul the unilateral and illegal act of secession by Kosovo-Metohija from Serbia and said that Serbia will invoke all political and diplomatic measures to prevent the separation of a portion of its territory.

Boris Tadic addresses the United Nations Security Council

Author: Reuters

Addressing the UN Security Council members in New York, Tadic stressed that Serbia will never recognise the independence of Kosovo-Metohija and warned the international community that such recognition may become a dangerous precedent with unforeseeable consequences.

At a special session of the UN Security Council, summoned because of yesterday’s declaration of independence by Kosovo-Metohija, Tadic stated that states that recognise the independence of the Serbian province take upon themselves the responsibility for a possible ethnic cleansing of the remaining Serbs in the province.

On behalf of Serbia, Tadic urged the UN Security Council to affirm the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia, which includes Kosovo-Metohija, as well as to take effective measures to ensure full respect of all provisions of the UN Charter and Resolution 1244.

We demand that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his special envoy to Kosovo-Metohija use the powers invested in them. Special Envoy Joachim Ruecker must be given clear and unambiguous instructions to act in accordance with the constitutional framework of the interim self-government in Kosovo-Metohija and in the shortest period possible declare that act null and void, the Serbian President emphasised.

He requested that the Kosovo parliament be dissolved because the declaration of independence is in contravention of Resolution 1244 and pointed out that Special Envoy Joachim Ruecker has binding authorisations which have already been used in the past, and therefore demands that he uses them once again.

According to him, if a small, peaceful and democratic country in Europe, who is also a UN member, has a portion of its territory taken away from it illegally and against its will, that will be an historic injustice because it will be the first time that a legitimate democracy is being punished in such a way.

The President also said that pursuant to Article 9 of Resolution 1244, international security forces in Kosovo-Metohija – KFOR – must remain neutral when it comes to the province’s status and added that they are responsible for the protection of the lives and property of Serbs and all other non-ethnic Albanian communities in the province.

The Serbian state was first created in Kosovo and the province is the central part of our identity. Here we are faced with a situation in which a peaceful country with a proud European people is having a portion of its identity, tradition and history taken away by force. This act annuls the law and introduces anarchy to international order. It treads on justice and establishes injustice, highlighted Tadic.

If you allow this illegal act to become a reality, you will show that law and justice do not have to be respected in the world. You will show that this body of the international organisation has, unfortunately, lost its authority. The world will not be the same after this act, cautioned Tadic.

He accentuated that as a European country, Serbia will fight for law and justice with dignity and in a peaceful and civilised manner, and added that it will never give up on its legitimate interests, but will continue with a peaceful and diplomatic struggle, without relinquishing its legitimate European perspective.

Having concluded that representatives of all UN member countries are sitting in the house of this international organisation and that a number of countries in the world are faced with a problem similar to Serbia’s, Tadic stated: Imagine you are in my shoes. Image you are the president of the country from which a portion of its soil is being taken away by force. How would you feel and how would you react?

I am asking you this, said Tadic, because if you turn a blind eye to this illegal act, who can guarantee that portions of your countries will not declare independence in the same illegal way. Who can assure you that the violation of the UN Charter, which guarantees the sovereignty and territorial integrity of every country, will not be disregarded when your turn comes?

The question before you is this: Are we aware of the precedent which is being set and are we aware of its catastrophic consequences? According to Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the Security Council, as well as UN member states are obliged to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia, said Tadic.

He recalled that this is also defined in Resolution 1244 and that Serbia, as a sovereign country demands that the Security Council respects the decrees of international law and the principles of justice stated in the UN Charter, as well as the text of Resolution 1244 when deciding how to respond to the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo Albanians.

The Republic of Serbia will never accept this undermining of its territorial integrity and sovereignty and the Serbian government and parliament have declared this decision by Pristina to be null and void, said Tadic and stressed that Serbia is taking all diplomatic and political measures to prevent secession.

According to Tadic, as a responsible member of the international community, committed to the peaceful resolution of conflicts, Serbia will not resort to the use of force since that has never succeeded in resolving conflicts, but serves only to destroy human lives.

On the other hand, the Security Council can avoid the setting of a precedent which will do irreparable harm to international order. The unilateral and illegitimate declaration of independence by Kosovo-Metohija directly undermines the first principle of the UN Charter, which is the equality of all sovereign member states, said the President.

Tadic warned that there are dozens of different Kosovos in the world just waiting for the secession of Kosovo to become a reality and an acceptable norm. I am cautioning you, with full responsibility, against the danger that many existing conflicts will escalate, frozen conflicts will flare up, and new ones will appear, said the Serbian President.

He stressed that at this moment we are challenged by a unilateral declaration of independence and the possibility that some countries may decide to recognise the creation of an illegitimate state on the territory of a sovereign country, which will have unforeseeable consequences.

I believe that such a decision will legitimise the ethnic cleansing carried out against Serbs in 1999 after the arrival of KFOR and UNMIK in Kosovo. Countries which decide to recognise the independence of the southern Serbian province will bear full responsibility for any new wave of ethnic cleansing directed against the Serbs who stayed to live in Kosovo-Metohija, said the Serbian President.

All Albanians, who lived in Kosovo-Metohija in 1999, still live there. But 250,000 Serbs who lived in Kosovo-Metohija until 1999 are not in their homes any more, forced to live in refugee camps in central Serbia, said Tadic.

He asked how many Serbs will go back to their homes in Kosovo-Metohija if it becomes independent and added that the illegitimate declaration of independence sends them the message, “Don’t come back because you are not wanted here.”

Tadic also said that he believes in regional peace and stability, and is convinced that long term peace and stability can be reached only through a solution arising from negotiations and compromise.

I am convinced that economic prosperity can come to the Balkans only if it is a peaceful and stable region. Unilateral decisions, like the one made by Pristina, cannot be a solution and will not serve to achieve such a future. We must all be aware of this and should make further efforts to reach a solution, said the Serbian President.

He reiterated that Serbia does not threaten anyone with violence and its strength is in the policy of peace and in strong arguments to defend the law and justice.

According to Tadic, at this historically important moment for Serbia our strength is in the will to protect every human life, in the wish to protect not just our integrity but the integrity of all other countries.

Our strength is in the wish to safeguard stability, the dignity of our country and the future of the region we inhabit. We owe this not just to ourselves, but also to the generations that will follow. Peace, stability and development are needed by every nation in the Balkans, without any exceptions. This is what our children need and we must attain this goal, said the Serbian President.

I want to say, here, in the Security Council, loudly and clearly, that Serbia will never recognise the independence of Kosovo-Metohija. We will never give up Kosovo-Metohija and will not cease to fight for our legitimate interests. For all citizens of Serbia and its institutions Kosovo will always be Serbia, concluded Tadic.