Kosovo envoy stands firm against partition

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Kosovo envoy stands firm against partition
By Neil MacDonald in Pristina

Published: February 27 2008 19:59 | Last updated: February 27 2008 19:59

Kosovo’s new European Union special envoy has taken a tough line against ethnic partition within this latest, and supposedly final, Balkan breakaway state.

“This country ... should not end up even with soft partition,” Peter Feith, the EU chief diplomat, told the Financial Times in an interview. The veteran Dutch diplomat, who arrived last week as special representative, will also head the western-backed supervisory office ensuring safeguards for ethnic minorities, including the 120,000 Serbs who overwhelmingly reject independence from Serbia.

His parallel mandate as International Civilian Representative (ICR) could start by next week, assuming the US and leading EU countries can persuade the United Nations secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, to cede responsibilities without the consent of Russia, Serbia’s ally on the UN Security Council.


The UN would make the handover in most parts of Kosovo 120 days later, in line with the status package embraced by Brussels and Kosovo’s government, Mr Feith says.

“The clock starts ticking the moment I’m appointed as ICR.” Two thousand EU-led police and justice officials will be deployed in the same four months “over the whole territory of Kosovo”, says Yves de Kermabon, the commander of the “rule of law” mission.