What's In Blue

Kosovo and South Kordofan Briefings

Tomorrow afternoon (28 July) Council members are expected to receive briefings on Southern Kordofan and Kosovo in closed informal consultations.

The Southern Kordofan briefing was requested by some Council members who wanted an update on the situation there. The last briefing on Southern Kordofan was on 15th July by a briefing in consultations on the humanitarian situation in Southern Kordofan from Valerie Amos, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). It seems that tomorrow’s briefing will be by Ivan Simonovic, the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights.

The Council will also have a briefing on the situation in Kosovo by DPKO. This follows the take over of two border posts by Kosovo police in an ethnic Serb enclave on Monday, 25 July. Serbia wrote to the Council president on Tuesday, 26 July asking for an open meeting on Thursday, 28 July, with Serbia’s participation to discuss the incident.

It seems that under “other matters” today Council members discussed procedural issues related to the briefing. Some members felt that since Kosovo would be discussed by the Council in August, there was no need for a briefing now. However Russia apparently was keen to have the briefing to send a message to Kosovo that unilateral steps are not acceptable and that contentious issues should be dealt with through negotiations. The compromise appears to be a closed, rather than open, meeting and for DPKO to brief.

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