A UN Success Story

[Guest MikeSC]

Kosovo poll reveals failure of UN rule

By Harry de Quetteville in Pristina

(Filed: 25/10/2004)

 

Early results from the weekend's general election showed that five years of UN rule had only deepened ethnic divisions as Kosovo's voters signalled their despair with the Balkan province's administrators.

 

Barely more than half of Kosovo's 1.4 million voters went to the ballot box. While the province's majority ethnic Albanians were struck by apathy, its 130,000-strong Serb minority was seized by anger and completely boycotted the poll.

 

Only a handful of Serbs voted, following calls from Vojislav Kostunica, the Serbian Prime Minister, and the Serbian Orthodox Church to stay away. Mr Kostunica described the election as a "failure".

 

The level of absenteeism prompted Soren Jessen-Petersen, the UN governor in Kosovo, to protest that some Serbs had been intimidated into observing the boycott and had "had their democratic right to vote hijacked".

 

In one success however, the 20,000 Nato soldiers who maintain the peace in Kosovo were not called into action on election day, as the province remained calm.

 

A victory for the moderate Albanian LDK party of current President Ibrahim Rugova was indicated by early results but it has once again fallen short of an outright majority and will have to form a coalition.

 

Once formed, the local government will have a slim portfolio of responsibilities, while all meaningful power remains with the UN.

 

The provisional result equates to a maintenance of the political status quo by default, as both Kosovo's bitterly opposed ethnic Albanians and Serbs signalled their dissatisfaction with foreign rule.

 

With unemployment running at more than 60 per cent, the province's 1.8 million Albanians are mired in Kosovo's stagnant economy and long for the independence they claim will allow stability for foreign investment.

 

Meanwhile, Serbs, of whom fewer than 1,000 voted, protest that the regime has made them less secure, with many living in enclaves under the protection of Nato troops. Both communities are awaiting a decision on Kosovo's so-called "final status" - that is, whether the province is to become independent, or to be partitioned or not - and negotiations are thought likely to begin next summer.

 

At the moment, though run by the UN, Kosovo is still officially part of Serbia and a land which Serbs have cherished for centuries.

 

Long happy to do nothing, Kosovo's international administrators were stung by riots in March that made clear that maintaining the stand-off was counterproductive. Now Kosovo appears deadlocked.

 

Few places were calmer than the Serb orthodox monastery of Decani, whose 14th-century Byzantine church has been added to the Unesco list of World Heritage sites.

 

Surrounded by ethnic Albanian villages, the Serb monastery has survived 650 years of conflict. Now its 30 monks have a constant bodyguard of hundreds of Nato soldiers. Like other Serbs, they boycotted this weekend's poll.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml...5/ixportal.html

Gee, Iraq would have been SO much better if we involved the UN more deeply.

-=Mike

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

I feel so bad for threads with no replies, so I must post out of pity...

[Guest MikeSC]

I feel so bad for threads with no replies, so I must post out of pity...

My fragile ego thanks you.

-=Mike