UNMIK/PR/895
Tuesday, 17 December 2002

Transcript of the Press Conference by Ambassador Ole Peter Kolby, Head of the UN Security Council Delegation, at the end of the two day visit to Belgrade.

Belgrade, December 17, 2002
At The Hyatt Regency Hotel, Belgrade

Marc-Antoine de Raigniac: Thank you all for coming. This is the press conference given by the Head of the UN SECURITY COUNCIL delegation, Norwegian Ambassador His Excellency Ole Peter Kolby. Ambassador Kolby will first make a short statement and then we will take your questions.

Ambassador Kolby: Thank you. Good morning to everybody. We have visited Kosovo and Belgrade. Last time the SECURITY COUNCIL was here was a year and a half ago. The purpose of the visit now is to get an impression of what has happened since the last visit and to have talks about the follow up. I think that you are familiar with the statements that I made during our visit in Kosovo and those comments that I made in Kosovo still stand. Here in Belgrade we had meetings with President Kostunica, the Serbian Prime Minster Djindjic, the Deputy Prime Minister Covic and also this morning with Foreign Minister Svilanovic. The messages we conveyed during our talks here in Belgrade were the following:

- We stress the importance of Belgrade’s full cooperation in implementation of the UN SECURITY COUNCIL Resolution 1244.
- We stress the importance of full cooperation with the ICTY.
- We stress that the resolution of outstanding issues in Kosovo can only be achieved in dialogue among all affected parties.
- We stress that there cannot be no right of veto, but neither can be any exclusions of legitimate interest of parties.
- We welcome the improvement of the relations between Belgrade and UNMIK. We underline the importance of continuous sound cooperation between Belgrade and UNMIK.
- We stress that it is important that the Kosovo Serbs be encouraged to participate fully in the provisional institutions of self-government. Belgrade should encourage the Kosovo Serbs to be constructive partners in the legislative process in the Kosovo Assembly.
- We underline that the Security Council is committed to promoting the return of IDPs and refugees to Kosovo.
- It is our view that respect for security human and civil rights is vital for stability and prosperity in Kosovo, as well as throughout the region.

These were our main messages.

Marc-Antoine de Raigniac: Thank you very much your Excellency. And now we are ready to take your questions?

AP: What is the response that you got from the Belgrade officials when you urged them to participate more fully and encourage the Kosovo Serbs to work in the municipalities there?

Amb. Kolby: They understood the situation and they emphasized that they were in favor of dialogue. We encouraged them to try to help overcome the apprehensions of the Kosovo Serbs.

Beta News Agency: I want to ask you what will the report that you will be submitting on Thursday to the SECURITY COUNCIL be like, i.e. what will be in that report?

Amb. Kolby: Well, this we will have to discuss. The members of the delegation are now full of impressions after our meetings in Kosovo and also here in Belgrade. On our way back to New York we are going to have discussions among ourselves. Then we will, you know, report to the Security Council. And I think you’ll have to wait a few days till we have finalized our report.

Reuters: I was wondering if you could give us some indication of the timing of the Security Council decision on the status of Kosovo?

Amb. Kolby: This is a question for the future.

Reuters: Follow up question if I may? You’ve stressed the mantra “Standards before status”. Does this mean your view that unless we see faster and more returns of the Serb refugees to Kosovo, there will be no start of talks on determining the status of Kosovo?

Amb. Kolby: Well, I think that “Standards before status” means – standards before status. Now I think what is the most pressing concern for what we saw in Kosovo is that you must try to get some normalcy to this place. UNMIK, they have elaborated certain standards and certain benchmarks and we are going now to report to the Security Council on the basis of these standards. And what we hope and encouraged the communities in Kosovo to do is to cooperate on these benchmarks.

BBC Serbian Service: Have you seen a common ground for the dialogue between the two sides in Kosovo in your talks with both of the sides?

Amb. Kloby: Well what we saw was that there was a lack of dialogue and this is something that is very serious. That’s why we have carried this message to both sides that they must engage in a serious dialogue. Of course, these communities are living in Kosovo and they should be able to live together. And they must talk to each other. And they must also try to accommodate each other’s concerns. So, dialogue - yes – very, very important.

BBC Serbian Service: If I just may add. My question was: Have you seen the common ground where this dialogue can be produced. Is there resistance to compromise between the two sides that you saw on this trip?

Amb. Kolby: I mean in Kosovo there are a number of rather practical and day to day issues that need to be dealt with. And we encouraged them to try to work together on these issues. If you think about the future of Kosovo, of course, there is no common ground on that. You are familiar with the views of the Kosovo Serbs, and the views of the Kosovo Albanians on that. But we emphasized that they should now concentrate on all these practical issues. They live in this place and they should concentrate on working together. On these issues I feel that there should be common ground.

Television B92: How do you see the work of the Kosovo Parliament, as the Serb MPs have complained that they are discriminated against in Parliament and what can be done to improve dialogue in this institution?

Amb. Kolby: Well we visited this institution and we saw that there really was a lack of dialogue, a severe lack of dialogue. That is why we stress the importance of dialogue throughout our meetings. This is very important.

Tanjug: You said the first message was Belgrade’s full cooperation with Resolution 1244 and the ICTY. The Serbian Deputy Prime Minister yesterday accused your delegation that you were constantly pressing Belgrade to cooperate on these issues. Can you comment on this and can you tell us what you have done to press Pristina to cooperate?

Amb. Kolby: Well, I can reassure you that this was also raised during our visit in Kosovo. So we are not only pressing Belgrade, this was also raised in Kosovo. So, this is the requirement of the Security Council that they need to have full cooperation with this tribunal. So, this was our message delivered both in Kosovo and also here.

Reuters: I am going back to the status issue. There are many people in Kosovo who worry that if it takes too long before these talks start, on the future status, that will hurt and that is already hurting Kosovo’s economic development most of all. What is your view on that? Do you see a danger that if this issue is not resolved in the next few years perhaps, that it could have a negative impact on Kosovo’s economic development?

Amb. Kolby: I’m not going to speculate on that, but what we’ve heard when we were in Kosovo, we heard is this aspiration of the Kosovo….. (inaudible) that been stated to us. But this is, of course, nothing new. This we have heard before and that was reiterated again. And then we also heard the concerns of the Kosovo Serbs, and we also had the chance, during our visit here in Belgrade, to hear Belgrade authorities’ views on this. So, we have got all these impressions, and, of course, this we will bring back to New York. And the question about status – that’s the question for the future.