Jovanovic: The obligation from the UN Resolution 1244 on the return of the Serbian forces to Kosovo is still valid

The stipulation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 on the obligation to return up to a thousand Serbian soldiers and policemen to Kosovo was equally binding as all other provisions of that document. Serbia had the right to raise this issue because there was no statute of limitations for imperative resolutions of the UN Security Council, Vladislav Jovanovic, former ambassador of the Federative Republic of Yugoslavia to the UN, told Kosovo Online.

The Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabic, said today that Serbia intended to return a certain number of troops to Kosovo, according to the UN Resolution 1244. As she stated, Serbia would demand on the issue of Kosovo what was in accordance with this document and expressed the expectation that it would be accepted by all those who called on all the countries of the world to comply with all resolutions of the Security Council.

Jovanovic explains, for Kosovo Online, that the UN Resolution 1244 was passed by the Security Council under Chapter 7 of the United Nations Charter, which orders and threatens the use of force by the United Nations if something adopted is not carried out. This means, he says, that if what the UN Security Council ordered is not implemented, those responsible will be forced to implement it. Chapter 6 of the UN Charter, he explains, does not threaten the use of force if something is not done.

"All the stipulations of the UN Resolution 1244 are equally important and there are no more or less important stipulations among them. However, in the application of this resolution from the beginning, since the time of Bernard Kouchner, the stipulations that are in favor of the Albanians have been forced, and those that are in favor of Serbia, especially the expelled Serbs, were put on hold for 23 years. The stipulation of the UN Resolution 1244 on the obligation to return to Kosovo and Metohija up to a thousand soldiers and policemen, which means a maximum of 999, is as binding as all other stipulations. Serbia has the right to initiate this, as well as The UN, i.e. its UNMIK mission, and KFOR can initiate it," our interlocutor says.

Jovanovic points out that Serbia's right to return soldiers is not time-barred because the UN Security Council resolution does not expire.

"Now the question arises – why those responsible for the implementation of the UN Resolution 1244, did not implement it to the end. If someone would say that it is too late for that - that does not stand, because there is no statute of limitations for imperative resolutions of the Security Council. If they are not implemented, then it is the negligence and the responsibility of those who did not implement them. It is not too late for us to raise this issue, even as a test. Even if they refuse it, then the whole world can see that they had an evil intention from the beginning -to make our southern province into another Albanian state," Jovanovic says.

As he adds, Serbia has so far not asked that question so directly because it entered the negotiations, probably to maintain goodwill in the eyes of others.

"Due to good intentions, we failed to do it for ourselves, but it is never too late. The UN Resolution 1244 is an order of the Security Council and it must be carried out under the threat of coercion," Jovanovic concludes.

However, he notes that there was also a deviation from the UN Resolution 1244 because NATO subsequently authorized the KFOR commander to have the discretionary right to decide when and if Serbian forces of up to a thousand soldiers will be returned. Since the UNSC Resolution was passed under Chapter 7, as he explains, no one else can have powers that derogate from the force of UN Resolution 1244.

"The commander of KFOR never asked for the return of the Serbian forces. Now are in a situation where the stipulations in favor of the Albanians have all been carried out to excess, and those concerning the Serbs and Serbia have not been implemented at all. For the 200,000 expelled and displaced Serbs, no conditions have been created for return, and only 2 percent of them returned. Secondly, according to the UN Resolution 1244, the return of up to a thousand soldiers was supposed to demonstrate Serbia's sovereignty in Kosovo, even if only through a symbolic military presence. From the beginning, the US had no intention of carrying it out because it had in mind the Declaration of Kosovo as an independent state. This is why NATO's aggression against the Federative Republic of Yugoslavia was not only criminal but also conquering because they forcibly separated the southern Serbian province to definitively hand it over to the Albanians," Jovanovic says.

The issue of the return of Serbian troops to Kosovo was raised in Belgrade due to the latest events in Kosovo, including last night's incursion in the north of around 300-350 Kosovo policemen with armored vehicles stationed in mixed settlements.

What is in the Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council?

The UN Resolution 1244 (1999) was adopted by the Security Council at its 4011th meeting held on June 10, 1999. Annex 2, paragraph 6, states that after the withdrawal, an agreed number of Yugoslav and Serbian personnel will be allowed to return and perform the following functions: relations with the international civilian mission and the international security presence; marking/clearing minefields; maintaining a presence at the sites of Serbian cultural heritage; maintaining a presence at the main border crossings.

In the section "Other requested elements" it is said that the return of Serbian personnel would be limited to a small agreed number (hundreds, not thousands).