Emmet Stagg
Question:42 Mr. Stagg asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the current situation in Kosovo. [16855/00]
Written Answers. - Foreign Conflicts.
The Government remains very concerned about the situation in Kosovo. Although the humanitarian need of most of the population is now being met a number of problems have yet to be resolved.
The security situation has been a serious problem since the end of the conflict, with recurring waves of inter ethnic violence. Attacks by members of the majority Kosovo Albanian population on the minority Serb and Roma communities have flared up again recently. In the past fortnight eight Serbs have been killed and 25 injured. In a recent report the Secretary General of the United Nations stated that members of minority communities, particularly Serbs, have been the victims of 330 serious ethnic crimes, such as murder, rape and kidnapping committed in Kosovo since January this year. As a protest against the security situation the moderate Gracanica Serbs have withdrawn from the Joint Interim Administrative Structure, JIAS, in which they had been participating for the last few weeks. The EU General Affairs Council which I attended earlier this week strongly urged the Gracanica Serbs to resume their co-operation with JIAS.
During his recent visit to Kosovo, undertaken in the midst of this crisis in security for the Serb community, Secretary General-High Representative Solana was critical of the continuing failure of the Kosovo Albanian leadership to commit wholeheartedly to the establishment of a society founded on tolerance and peaceful coexistence. As the representatives of the majority community in Kosovo they have a responsibility to exert real influence on their communities. The moderate Serbs are in a difficult situation, intellectually committed to participate in joint structures, which have been set up to provide the people in Kosovo some say in their own government, but under pressure from more radical Serbs under the influence of the Milosevic regime in Belgrade and unable to reassure their community on the question of security. The future of the whole province depends on moderate leadership in all the ethnic communities asserting its belief in multi-ethnic structures.
Recent developments have tended to overshadow otherwise significant positive changes which have taken place in Kosovo since I last answered a question in the House on this subject. The situation in Mitrovica, the scene of much intercommunal violence only a few weeks ago, is much calmer, although the town is essentially still divided between the Serb and Albanian communities. Progress is being made in the preparations for the elections to take place in October, although there is a problem in persuading more than a handful of Serbs to register. Economic reconstruction is going ahead. The EU Reconstruction Agency is up and running. Finally, there is an encouraging sign of the emergence of a moderate and less nationalistic leadership in the Kosovo Albanian community. A new moderate grouping will contest the local elections in October.
The Government is working within international bodies – United Nations, EU, OSCE and the Council of Europe – to secure an improvement in the situation in Kosovo. This year my Department is committed to spending one million pounds on reconstruction in Kosovo.
The international community is committed to a democratic multi-cultural and pluralist Kosovo enjoying substantial autonomy and a meaningful self administration. Ireland and its EU partners are committed to the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 in all its aspects.