SARAJEVO, September 6 (RIA Novosti) - The United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) will continue its work in Kosovo, the head of the mission, Lamberto Zanier, has told Belgrade's Danas daily.
Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008. The Kosovo constitution, adopted on June 15, 2008, does not specify any duties for the UN mission. Kosovo authorities have repeatedly declared that the mission, which operates predominantly in Serb-populated northern districts of the northern city of Kosovska Mitrovica, must end its work in the area.
"The authorities of Kosovo demanded that the UN mission stop its work, and submitted a request to the UN Security Council," he said.
"What is more important, however, is that all the members of the Security Council support the current role of UNMIK. I'm sure that the UN mission will not leave Kosovo," the Italian diplomat added.
UNMIK, which has policed the province ever since NATO's 78-day bombing of Yugoslavia ended a bloody conflict between Kosovo Albanians and Serb forces in the region in 1999, is currently in the process of transferring its duties to the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX).
On December 9 EULEX assumed full responsibility for the maintenance of peace and stability in Kosovo, announcing that it would perform its duties under the general guidance of the UN, and assume a neutral stance in regard to Kosovo's independence. EULEX police have since been deployed at the police headquarters in Pristina, at all local and regional police stations, and at border checkpoints.
"After the last year's events our duties are mainly political," Zanier said. "We focus primarily on the problem of national minorities and on the dialogue between Pristina and countries that does not recognize Kosovo as an independent state."
