[ALBSA-Info] {QIKSH «ALBEUROPA»} "Conditional Independence" Proposed for Kosovo

[Nikoll A Mirakaj]

"Conditional Independence" Proposed for Kosovo 

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 24, 2000 -- (Reuters) Kosovo, under interim UN administration since June 1999, should have "conditional independence," according an independent international commission that studied last year's conflict over the mainly ethnic Albanian Serb province.

The commission, that circulated a report on Monday, also found that the 11-week NATO military bombing campaign that forced the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops and police from Kosovo was illegal, since it did not have Security Council consent, but was legitimate from a political and moral point of view.

The commission's main findings were summarized by its co-chairman, South African Constitutional Court Judge Richard Goldstone, after he and other members handed a copy of its report to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Although established on the initiative of Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson, the commission, co-chaired by Carl Tham of Sweden, was a completely independent body, Goldstone said. It included members from Benin, Britain, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan and the United States and its findings were unanimous.

"We came to the conclusion that...having regard to the ethnic cleansing by Serb forces...of the Albanian population of Kosovo, the terrible human rights violations which took place in Kosovo, that it is not realistic or justifiable to expect the Albanians in Kosovo to accept rule from Belgrade," Goldstone said.

"At the same time we recognize that, in order for there to be any peace and...any legitimacy, that the Kosovo Serbs and other minorities - the Roma - have absolute rights to protection, to be able to live peacefully in Kosovo," he said.

"We have come up with what the commission has called 'conditional independence'," he continued. This meant Kosovo should become independent, subject to a number of conditions that might take many years to fulfil.

One condition was that there should be good faith negotiations with neighbors and with the Balkan states generally on the future independence of Kosovo. It could not exist without open borders for political and economic viability, said Goldstone, who was chief prosecutor from 1994 to 1996 of the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

DEMOCRATIC CONSTITUTION

Other conditions were that Kosovo have "an acceptably democratic constitution" and sufficient assurances that the Serb, Roma and other minorities could live in absolute safety, with protection for their human rights. Those forced to leave Kosovo should be able to return with those assurances.

A June 1999 Security Council resolution that authorized the establishment of an interim UN administration for Kosovo, backed by a NATO-led peacekeeping force, called for "substantial autonomy and meaningful self-administration" for the Serb province.

But it also reaffirmed the commitment of all UN members to "the sovereignty and territorial integrity of" Yugoslavia,

Belgrade has repeatedly accused the UN administration of usurping Yugoslavia's sovereignty over Kosovo.

Regarding last year's NATO military intervention, Goldstone said the commission concluded that it "was illegal, a contravention of international law, because it did not have the consent of the Security Council, which under the UN Charter is a sine qua non for military intervention of this kind."

But, he said, the NATO intervention "was legitimate both from a political and from a moral point of view."

The commission recommended that this "gap between legality, on the one hand, and legitimacy on the other" should be narrowed sooner rather than later.

The report set out 11 conditions that should exist to justify humanitarian intervention, including both military intervention and action short of that, such as sanctions and embargoes.

Goldstone said the UN General Assembly should consider drafting a declaration determining the conditions that would be necessary before military intervention could be contemplated legitimately.

"It is the hope of the commission that that eventually could lead to an amendment of the (UN) Charter to ensure that legality and legitimacy in this area coincide sooner rather than later," he said.

(C)2000 Copyright Reuters Limited

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