Djuric receives acting UNMIK head

BELGRADE - Serbian FM Marko Djuric met with the acting head of the UN mission in Kosovo-Metohija (UNMIK) Milbert Dongjoon Shin in Belgrade on Wednesday, noting a need for the mission to continue to fully carry out its mandate in line with UNSCR 1244, the fundamental legal framework for preserving peace and stability in Serbia's southern province.

Djuric noted that the UN was the most significant international organisation when it comes to safeguarding the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Serbia and added that Serbia attached exceptional significance to its work.

In view of an upcoming UNSC session on the work of UNMIK, Djuric noted that, for Serbia, it was especially important to maintain the continuity and dynamics of such sessions in an open format to keep the international public objectively informed on the situation on the ground and on all challenges facing the Serb population in Kosovo-Metohija, the Serbian MFA said in a statement.

Djuric informed Shin in detail of the current situation in the province, pointing to increasingly prominent pressure on the Serb community and a systematic expulsion of Serbs.

He noted that continued attacks and measures targeting the health care, education and judicial systems in the north of Kosovo-Metohija, as well as a lack of political will by Pristina to meet its commitments from the Brussels Agreement were a clear political message reflecting an intent to make life even more difficult for the Serbs.

Djuric noted that, as many as 12 years after the agreement, a Community of Serb Municipalities has still not been established and that Pristina officials had said on several occasions they had no intent of doing so, which the minister noted was a serious violation of agreements under the Brussels deal.

He said the upcoming October 12 local elections in Kosovo-Metohija were decisive for the survival of Serbs in the province and noted that voting in the elections was an opportunity for them to retake institutional control of Serb-majority municipalities in the north of Kosovo-Metohija.

Djuric said UNMIK's presence was essential for preserving peace, stability and protection of fundamental human rights, and that the UN must react with determination to the numerous incidents, provocations and unilateral acts by the provisional self-government institutions in Pristina, the statement said.