| Date | 7 March 2001 |
|---|---|
| Started | 18:45 |
| Ended | 20:10 |
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Letter dated 4 March 2001 from the Permanent Representative of The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/2001/191).
| President: |  | Mr. Yel'Chenko Ukraine |
(The Presidency changes each month to the next member in alphabetical order) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Members: |  | Mr. Sorcar Bangladesh |
 | Mr. Shen Guofang China |
 | Mr. Valdivieso Colombia |
 | Mr. Levitte France |
 | Mr. Cooney Ireland |
 | Mr. Ward Jamaica |
|
 | Mr. Ouane Mali |
 | Mr. Neewoor Mauritius |
 | Mr. Kolby Norway |
|
 | Mr. Lavrov Russia |
 | Mr. Mahbubani Singapore |
 | Mr. Cherif Tunisia |
|
 | Sir Jeremy Greenstock United Kingdom |
 | Mr. Cunningham United States |
|||
Adoption of the agenda
Letter dated 4 March 2001 from the Permanent Representative of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/2001/191)
The President
I should like to inform the Council that I received letters from the representatives of Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Slovenia, Sweden, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Yugoslavia, in which they request to be invited to participate in the discussion of the item on the Council's agenda. In conformity with the usual practice, I propose, with the consent of the Council, to invite those representatives to participate in the discussion without the right to vote, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Charter and rule 37 of the Council's provisional rules of procedure.
There being no objection, it is so decided.
On behalf of the Council, I welcome the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, His Excellency Mr. Srgjan Kerim.
The President
The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. The Council is meeting in response to the request contained in the letter dated 4 March 2001 from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/2001/191).
I give the floor to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Srgjan Kerim.
Mr. Kerim (The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia)
Allow me to begin by expressing my great satisfaction at seeing you, the representative of Ukraine, presiding over this very important meeting of the Security Council, which was requested by the Government of the Republic of Macedonia. I also want to thank you for your prompt response in organizing this meeting.
I am here to inform the Council on the disturbing developments on the northern border of the Republic of Macedonia. In the past few weeks, my country has been confronted with a serious problem caused by unidentified extremist militant groups stationed on the northern border of the Republic of Macedonia. These groups have occupied the village of Tanusevci, and from this stronghold they have continuously provoked armed incidents for some time now. On 4 March of this year, three soldiers of the Macedonian army were killed.
The extremists have not put forth their demands or their requests. They are consciously holding the local Albanian population hostage, and in view of the fact that the border belt with Kosovo is inhabited mostly by ethnic Albanians, they are also affecting the inter-ethnic relations in my country. Tanusevci is a serious warning that the Macedonian border area with Kosovo can be used constantly for provoking these kinds of incidents, thus threatening the peace, security and stability of Macedonia and the entire region.
The problem we are facing requires political, diplomatic and security measures. The Government and the President of the Republic of Macedonia are undertaking numerous activities with the aim of finding a peaceful solution, in close cooperation with the international community. The coalition Government of Macedonia, including the Democratic Party of Albanians, speaks with one voice and has condemned all attempts made to disrupt the inter-ethnic balance in the country. The Republic of Macedonia undertook a measured security response to the provocations, and only when provoked. The Government of Macedonia appreciates very much the clear signals of support it has received in the statements made by the Security Council, the United Nations Secretary-General, the European Union Presidency, the North Atlantic Council, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and other international forums. The activities of the Kosovo Force (KFOR) in the initial stage were not as effective as necessary, thus causing additional problems for the operations of our security forces. In the meantime, the lack of cooperation between Macedonian security forces and KFOR has been overcome.
With the aim of resolving this situation, the Government of the Republic of Macedonia adopted an action plan. Its main elements are, in fact, preventive measures against a spillover of the conflict from both sides of the border. The action plan proposes the full observance of Security Council resolution 1244 (1999); the immediate establishment of a ground safety area along the entire Kosovo side of the Macedonian-Yugoslav border, by KFOR and by countries willing to make their contribution if necessary; the undertaking of urgent actions by KFOR for strict compliance of the provisions related to the movement of military and paramilitary formations, arms shipments and a ban on the movement and gathering of larger groups in the ground safety zone; strengthening the permanent coordination of activities between the armed forces of the Republic of Macedonia and KFOR, for the purpose of dealing with the conflict situation in the border area, disarming paramilitary extreme groups and bringing them to justice; and creating conditions for the return of the inhabitants of the village of Tanusevci to their homes.
The action plan also proposes the strengthening of the existing measures and the undertaking of additional ones by the Macedonian Government on the border in order to prevent a spillover of the conflict, in particular by reinforcing police control with new border police units.
The seriousness of the problem I have just elaborated on and the timing of its occurrence demand that we act preventively. In this case, to act preventively means to act promptly. We believe that this plan can work, and that is why we are advancing it before the Security Council.
For the last decade, Macedonia has affirmed itself as a factor of stability in the region, in spite of the challenges presented by the regional crisis. Now that a new page is finally being written in the history of the region, the new climate of cooperation and regional integration is again under threat. This new approach was best articulated at the Skopje summit of heads of State and Government of South-eastern Europe, at which the leaders of the countries of the region committed themselves to a new era of development, cooperation and stability in their relations.
In that context, the Republic of Macedonia signed the agreement with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on the demarcation of the border. All countries in South-eastern Europe and the international community as a whole strongly supported this agreement. They have acknowledged its important contribution to the peace and stability of the region.
However, it is evident that there are persons and forces in the Balkans who still believe that the time for creating so-called greater national states and drawing ethnic border lines has not passed. The incident in Tanusevci and in the border area of the Republic of Macedonia with Kosovo must be understood also in this light -- as a warning for all of us to react and oppose these kinds of activities without hesitation.
The Security Council should be aware that the incident in Tanusevci must be seen in a broader context. This is not just about Tanusevci or about the Republic of Macedonia. This is about the region of the Balkans and its transformation into a peaceful, stable, democratic and prosperous European region.
Some say that Macedonia is being tested once again, particularly as regards its inter-ethnic relations, which are a crucial element of its stability. But they should not forget that this time the international community is also facing a serious test. Nobody today can claim to have been caught by surprise. The spill-over mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was established almost 10 years ago. I can assure the Council that Macedonia will pass this test in these difficult times, in spite of the fact that a group of people -- whom some call guerrillas and others extremists or terrorists -- has tried to take hostage not only the local Albanian population but inter-ethnic relations in Macedonia in general.
But in order to be effective, Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) must be fully implemented, and KFOR has to act according to its basic mandate, to prevent spill-over effects and to secure the northern border of Macedonia from the Kosovo side. In this context, I am pleased to note the conclusions reached today by the North Atlantic Council on measures to be undertaken in regard to my country.
Before I conclude, I would like to emphasize once again the role of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo and of KFOR in the period ahead of us. The eyes -- and hopes -- of the Macedonian population are turned towards KFOR and the measures it will undertake. It should be clear that at this time we are endeavouring to protect not only the stability of our northern border, but also the values we share with the peoples of the countries represented here -- peace, freedom and democracy, in a multi-ethnic and multicultural country like the Republic of Macedonia.
I call upon the Council to support the measures we are proposing. In this fashion, we can work together in reaffirming the preconditions for a peaceful and democratic development of the Balkans, with inviolable, stable and transparent borders. The support of the Council for the case I have had the honour to present to it, on behalf of the Republic of Macedonia, is of crucial importance at this moment. I strongly believe that today's endeavours and the message that the Security Council will send will serve as a basis for undertaking adequate measures for the stabilization of the northern border of my country -- the Republic of Macedonia -- in the period to come.
I stand ready to answer any questions Council members might have.
The President
I thank the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia for his important statement and for the kind words he addressed to me.
Mr. Cunningham (United States)
It is a pleasure to welcome Foreign Minister Kerim to the Security Council, although I wish it were under slightly happier circumstances, but it is good to have him here and to hear his views on the situation in his country and in the border area.
I will make my remarks brief, because there is little disagreement in this room about the responsible and careful way that his Government has handled the violence in the northern part of his country, about the need for it to cease and about the desire for the Council to provide support for future actions that can help respond to the problem in a way that is consistent with the Government's responsibility to the rule of law.
My delegation is encouraged that the international community is assisting his Government in managing this problem, and we recognize the important roles that the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the European Union are all playing in that regard.
Several days ago members of the Council heard from NATO Secretary General Robertson, who noted the difficulty of responding to the problems in the region and described to us some of NATO's efforts to help. It is certainly not easy to balance the different and not always well-grounded or rational perceptions on the ground with the need to take action as the situation requires, and as this situation requires.
I understand that Minister Kerim will be proceeding to Brussels later this week for discussions at NATO, and I am confident that it will be a productive visit.
As the Council will make clear in the statement that the President will read out at the end of this meeting, there is considerable concern about the violence that has spilled over into Macedonia, and there is much support for the efforts of its Government, with the help of the Kosovo Force (KFOR) and others, to deal with it. I should like the Foreign Minister to please take a message back to his Government: that the Security Council understands the seriousness of the problem, that it understands the prudence with which the Government has responded; that it sees the country as an example of democracy based on the rule of law and inter-ethnic cooperation; and that the United Nations will do all it can, in cooperation with other international organizations, to ensure that these accomplishments are not undermined.
Mr. Levitte (France)
--> -->
| <type 'exceptions.UnicodeEncodeError'> | Python 2.6.6: /usr/bin/python Wed May 22 06:36:27 2013 |
A problem occurred in a Python script. Here is the sequence of function calls leading up to the error, in the order they occurred.
| /data/vhost/www.undemocracy.com/docs/trunk.py in |
| 194 if __name__ == "__main__": |
| 195 pathpart = os.getenv("PATH_INFO") |
| 196 maintrunk(pathpart) |
| 197 |
| 198 |
| maintrunk = <function maintrunk>, pathpart = '/securitycouncil/meeting_4289' |
| /data/vhost/www.undemocracy.com/docs/trunk.py in maintrunk(pathpart='/securitycouncil/meeting_4289') |
| 138 elif pagefunc == "scmeeting": |
| 139 LogIncomingDB(hmap["docid"], "0", referrer, ipaddress, useragent, remadeurl) |
| 140 WriteHTML(hmap["htmlfile"], hmap["pdfinfo"], "", hmap["highlightdoclink"]) |
| 141 |
| 142 elif pagefunc == "sctopics": |
| global WriteHTML = <function WriteHTML>, hmap = {'docid': 'S-PV-4289', 'highlightdoclink': '', 'htmlfile': '/home/undemocracy/undata/html/S-PV-4289.html', 'pagefunc': 'scmeeting', 'pdfinfo': <pdfinfo.PdfInfo instance>, 'scmeeting': '4289'} |
| /home/undemocracy/unparse-live/web2/unpvmeeting.py in WriteHTML(fhtml='/home/undemocracy/undata/html/S-PV-4289.html', pdfinfo=<pdfinfo.PdfInfo instance>, gadice='', highlightth='') |
| 322 if dclass == "spoken": |
| 323 if not gadice or agendagidcurrent == gadice: |
| 324 WriteSpoken(gid, dtextmu, councilpresidentnation) |
| 325 elif dclass == "subheading": |
| 326 if agendagidcurrent and (not gadice or agendagidcurrent == gadice): |
| global WriteSpoken = <function WriteSpoken>, gid = u'pg004-bk03', dtextmu = u'<h3 class="speaker"> <span class="name">Mr. Levi...st France is firmly at the side of Macedonia.</p>', councilpresidentnation = u'Ukraine' |
| /home/undemocracy/unparse-live/web2/unpvmeeting.py in WriteSpoken(gid=u'pg004-bk03', dtext=u'<h3 class="speaker"> <span class="name">Mr. Levi...st France is firmly at the side of Macedonia.</p>', councilpresidentnation=u'Ukraine') |
| 69 print '</cite>' |
| 70 |
| 71 print dtext[mspek.end(0):] |
| 72 |
| 73 print '</div>' |
| dtext = u'<h3 class="speaker"> <span class="name">Mr. Levi...st France is firmly at the side of Macedonia.</p>', mspek = <_sre.SRE_Match object>, mspek.end = <built-in method end of _sre.SRE_Match object> |
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