What's In Blue

Council Meeting on Kosovo

The Security Council will meet this evening (15 September) in response to a Serbian letter (S/2011/574) requesting the Council to meet on the situation related to the customs and border police control of the boundary crossings between north Kosovo and Serbia. It appears that the Council will first be briefed in an open meeting by the Secretariat with both Kosovo and Serbia present followed by a closed meeting with both parties.

Following the letter from Serbia, Russia sent a letter (S/2011/575) yesterday requesting that the Council convene a public meeting today at 3:00 p.m., with the participation of a representative of Serbia. It appears that after prolonged discussions it was agreed that the Council would meet in the evening (at time of writing the meeting was slated for 6:30pm) to allow time for a Kosovo representative to arrive from Pristina. (Serbia will be represented by Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, who apparently is already in New York.)

Serbia will attend under rule 37 of the Provisional Rules of Procedure of the Council (this provides for a member to participate in discussions where its interests are affected) and the Kosovo representative under rule 39 (this allows the Council to invite someone to provide it with information). It appears that at yesterday’s consultations it was agreed that if a representative from Pristina is unable to be present on the evening of 15 September, the meeting would not be postponed or cancelled.

It is possible that Russia may suggest having informal consultations following the closed meeting to discuss a possible press statement stressing that all outstanding issues between the parties should be resolved through dialogue without the threat of or use of force.

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