UN Senior Envoy Warns of Violence in Kosovo; Calls for Reconciliation between Communities

The absence of a significant process of reconciliation between communities in Kosovo -- which declared its independence from Serbia in 2008 -- together with economic difficulties, continues to present the risk of social unrest, a senior United Nations envoy warned yesterday (May 17, 2010).

But the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) continues to devote close attention to issues affecting relations between the majority Albanian and other communities, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative Lamberto Zannier told the Security Council.

UNMIK administered Kosovo from 1999 -- when North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces drove out Yugoslav troops amid bloody ethnic fighting between Serbs and Albanians -- but it gave up its administrative role after the independence declaration in 2008.

The declaration was rejected by Serbia, which still seeks a robust role from the mission as opposed to that envisaged by the authorities in Kosovo's capital of Pristina, according to the Serbianna website.