General Cunha: Kosovo is not a finished story

Portuguese General Raul Cunha, a former high-ranking KFOR official and military advisor to the former UNMIK head Joachim Rücker, assessed in an interview with Kosovo Online that Kosovo is not a finished story and that no effort is being made to find a peaceful solution. A peaceful solution is possible, this general believes, only with a comprehensive agreement between Belgrade and Pristina, which would involve the formation of the CSM. Evaluating 25 years of KFOR and UNMIK's work, General Cunha claims that the key problem is that both missions have not been operating in accordance with their mandate based on UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and the Kumanovo Agreement from the start.

"Even if I were Serbian, I wouldn't be happy with the current situation. Likewise, the Albanians are not happy with the current situation either. Therefore, the conflict will definitely continue," Cunha emphasizes.

According to his words, the solution from the beginning was to grant Kosovo the status of the broadest autonomy.

"For me, the solution has always been autonomy. It makes no sense to call it a full-fledged state as they claim. Either a province of Serbia, an autonomous province of Serbia, or, if there is some kind of consensus, the part occupied by Albanians should be allowed to join Albania, although this seems a bit misplaced as a condition for a solution. For me, the best solution would be significant autonomy for the province. That's it," Cunha emphasizes.

He adds that the biggest problem currently is that no one wants a peaceful solution to the conflict, which is only possible if both Belgrade and Pristina accept the complete agreement.

"Some parts, municipalities could even separate from the province. Why not. That should be a peaceful solution. But, since no one is trying to find a peaceful solution, the conflict will continue. It's not over yet. It will be over when both sides accept the complete agreement. At this moment, that is not the case. Therefore, the potential for problems is there all the time and depends a lot on the leaders of both governments. On one side, it depends on the Serbian government, very important, and on the other side also people who have power in Pristina. At this moment, the current leadership is the worst possible. I remember the time when I was there, one of the biggest causes of problems in Kosovo was precisely Self-Determination, Mr. Kurti's party. He hasn't changed, he is the cause of the problems," Cunha believes.

General Cunha considers the claims of Western European diplomats that the formation of the CSM is no longer the "condition of all conditions" for Kosovo to be wrong and not recognizing the concessions Serbia has made so far.

"If someone from the European Union says that, then it's a mistake. If they say that it's not a condition, then it's a mistake. They must understand that if the CSM is a condition, it is a major concession by Serbia in terms of its sovereignty. Okay, if Serbia agrees to the formation of this Community, then it is a message that they will somehow recognize independence, except for these municipalities that still have strong ties to Serbia. Legally, it is somewhat a relinquishment of sovereignty. But, for a peaceful solution, this is the way, the path to a peaceful resolution. After all, these municipalities will be the guarantee of peace," specifies Cunha.

The Portuguese general has been in Kosovo on several occasions, both as part of KFOR and UNMIK. Asked how he assesses the 25th anniversary of both missions' work, he emphasizes that the key problem is that they did not start their work in accordance with the entrusted mandate.

"Neither KFOR nor UNMIK started their mandates properly. Unfortunately, the international environment at that time did not favor a good start to their work," says Cunha.

General Cunha explains that a problem also lies in the fact that neither the Kumanovo Agreement nor United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 were fully implemented.

"There was the Kumanovo Agreement on the withdrawal of Serbian forces from Kosovo, and that agreement was never, but never fully fulfilled. Then, UN Resolution 1244 was adopted. The same thing happened. The UN resolution clearly emphasized that this is Serbian territory. Therefore, it was out of the question for things to develop in the way they have. But the first representative of the Secretary-General, I believe—and this is my opinion—channeled the situation to what it is now. That means he boycotted all possibilities for an agreement within autonomous frameworks," explains Cunha.

He believes that decisions were made at that time which misinterpreted the mission's assignments.

"In a way, the agreements made then, from vehicle registration, police, personal IDs, and others... All these agreements changed the system from what it should have been, were misinterpreted. That was a way to boycott the normal evolution of the situation," believes Cunha.

He also mentions as another serious oversight the establishment of a financial system completely independent of Serbia, including customs.

"The customs at the border benefited only the local government and were very damaging to Serbian interests," claims Cunha.

He concludes that the greatest responsibility lies with the first head of the UN civil mission in Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner.

"The complete disregard of the UN Security Council Resolution and the Kumanovo Agreement are reasons why the situation did not go in the right direction. The responsibility for this lies with key people who were in charge in UNMIK, and that was Bernard Kouchner. Actually, mostly him. It was terrible to work at that time. I was there; I know how things were done. KFOR was also, undoubtedly, a strong military force that depended a lot on what the countries decided. The KFOR commander was always a subject who fulfilled the wishes of various countries," claims Portuguese General Raul Cunha.