Written answers

Tuesday, 26 April 2005

Department of Foreign Affairs

UN Missions

9:00 pm

Photo of Aengus Ó SnodaighAengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 276: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the continued non-publication of the results of investigations by the UN interim mission in Kosovo, the NATO-led Kosovo Force and the French and German Governments into their respective failures to protect minority communities during the March 2004 riots in Kosovo; if he will call for the immediate publication of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13226/05]

Photo of Dermot AhernDermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The outbreak of ethnically-motivated violence in March 2004 was a serious setback to the work of building a multi-ethnic society in Kosovo. In a series of attacks across Kosovo on 17 March, 19 people were killed and widespread damage was caused to homes and other property, most of which were owned by members of the Kosovo Serb community.

I am aware of criticism by Amnesty International on the first anniversary of the violence that the UN Interim Administration in Kosovo, UNMIK, and KFOR, the UN-mandated peacekeeping force in Kosovo, have not admitted responsibility for their failings or made public the results of their investigations. In the aftermath of the violence, the UN Secretary General asked the Norwegian ambassador, Kai Eide, to undertake a comprehensive review of the policies and practices of all actors in Kosovo and to prepare recommendations on the way forward, in accordance with Security Council Resolution 1244 of 1999. The UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan submitted Mr. Eide's review to the UN Security Council on 6 August 2004. The Secretary General conveyed his recommendations to the Security Council on 17 November 2004. All of these documents are available on the website of UNMIK.

The Eide review concluded that the international community was taken by surprise by the violence in March and, with UNMIK in the lead, gave an impression of being in disarray and without direction or internal cohesion. The review further concluded that a restructuring of UNMIK was unavoidable, in order to re-energise the mission and bring its various components together in a more organised way. The Secretary General recommended immediate streamlining and realignment, with a comprehensive restructuring of the international presence as a whole to be undertaken in 2005.

KFOR has also carried out internal reviews of the conduct of its operations in Kosovo. For reasons of security — of the members of KFOR and of the local population — it is normal practice that such reviews are not made public. It would be inappropriate for me to comment on the role of other national contingents. However, I pay tribute to the particularly courageous role played by the Irish contingent in KFOR during last year's violence. Some 18 members of the Defence Forces received citations from the commander of KFOR for their actions to protect civilians. There are over 200 members of the Permanent Defence Force serving with the Irish contingent in KFOR. The latter has also carried out internal reviews of the conduct of its operations in Kosovo.

The Government and its partners in the European Union fully support the work of UNMIK and of the special representative of the UN Secretary General in Kosovo, Mr. Soren Jessen-Petersen. The European Union will play its part in the months ahead in the political process aimed at reaching an agreed settlement in Kosovo, based on the creation of a multi-ethnic society in which the rights of all communities are fully protected.

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