At the United Nations Security Council session that took place on Monday, April 22, discussing the latest six-months UNMIK report on Kosovo, efforts at “trust-building” between Serbian and Albanian communities were front and center until Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu took a dramatic turn to unveil her unannounced guests in the chamber.
The very start of the United Nations Security Council session was delayed due to issues arising with the entry of President Osmani-Sadriu’s entourage.
“I know that you are looking blankly at me but this is an issue of UN protocol,” said Vanessa Frazier, the Maltese Ambassador to the UN presiding over the Security Council. “UN protocol has not allowed the entire delegation of Kosovo to enter the building,” she further clarified adding that “we have to wait until protocol has rectified this.”
What initially appeared as a mere bureaucratic glitch soon revealed itself as a politically charged affair fraught with implications for already fractured Belgrade and Pristina relations.
In his address to the UN Security Council, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic kept his remarks on agenda, directing attention to the limitations of the UNMIK report by highlighting unreported issues affecting the Serbian population on the ground. Namely, an eleven-year stalemate on the implementation of the legally binding obligations Kosovo leadership has under the Brussels Agreement to form Association of Serb-majorty municipalities, denial of basic needs to the Serb population as the result of the ban of Serbian dinar in Kosovo as well as violent attacks against the ethnic Serbs and non-Albanians.
Vucic told the Security Council that Serbs have been completely ostracized from the political and economic system of Kosovo since 2021. He referenced US Deputy Assistant State Secretary Gabriel Escobar by highlighting Blinken’s diplomat as being “moved by the stories of ordinary Serbs who were affected most directly by the ban of dinar.”
Kosovo’s model for a liberal, multi-ethnic, and multicultural democracy, Vucic told the UN Security Council, is “galloping today towards mono-ethnic despotism” with all minorities being systematically cleansed.
Following Vucic’s remarks, it was Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani’s turn to address the UNMIK report. However, after a few minutes in, her speech took an unexpected turn, catching Serbian delegation as well as many other member states off-guard.
Instead of directly addressing the issues raised in the UNMIK report, such as the delayed formation of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities 11 years after the 2013 Brussels Agreement, Osmani veered off the planned discourse by introducing victims of the 1990s war as her guests. She introduced Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman a Kosovo politician and 1990 wartime rape victim who was sitting as her guest in the chambers. As Osmani progressed through her speech, referencing her guests and their stories of war, the atmosphere in the chamber began to resemble more of a war crimes trial than a diplomatic session of the Security Council on UNMIK’s report in the past six months.
Vucic: Why didn’t you inform us?
Aleksandar Vučić, President of the Republic of Serbia, addresses the Security Council meeting. [ Photo credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider]
President Vucic expressed concerns at being blindsided by Osmani-Sadriu, noting that what had just occurred is something that happened “for the first time” in the UN Security Council. He pointed out that Osmani-Sadriu invited individuals who are not part of the diplomatic corps or her advisory team. He described the sequence of events as a “set up” for the Serbian delegation.
“Why didn’t you inform us who was going to be a member of each delegation?” President Vucic asked the Security Council President Vanessa Frazier.
“Do you really believe that there are or that there were no raped Serbian women in Kosovo during that period?” he asked, holding a print out of a photograph in his hand of a woman.
“There is one person that I couldn’t bring here as a part of my delegation,” he continued. “That’s Marica Miric from Bijelo Polje from Kosovo. That woman, at that period of time, was raped several times and then slaughtered,” he recounted.
“But that was not the topic of our today’s meeting,” President Vucic emphasized. “Please, next time, inform us— at least as a founder of the United Nations— that some citizens that will be present at this session will bring more people to put the blame on the other side.”
Malta UN Ambassador stated, “With regard to the delegation from Kosovo — we have nothing to do with it.”
Osmani-Sadriu claimed in the UN Security Council chamber “the four women sitting behind me are also members of my Cabinet, appointed as such, so they are also here in an advisory capacity.”
However, Marko Djuric, Serbia’s outgoing Ambassador to the US, posted on X a screenshot of the list of Osmani-Sadriu’s official advisors, indicating that the guests in question are not listed among her cabinet advisors.
“Osmani lied blatantly to the UNSC and the world as none of her guests are on the list of her ‘advisors,'” said Djuric.
Dujarric, Spokesperson for UN Sec-General talks to The Pavlovic Today
Following the conclusion of the UN Security Council session on UNMIK’s report on Kosovo, The Pavlovic Today reached out to the Malta Mission at the UN for insights into Osmani-Sadriu’s guests.
“We are not involved in the accreditation of her delegation; that is done exclusively between the representatives of Kosovo and UN Protocol. Therefore, we do not know who the persons are who are accompanying her,” Adam Kuymizakis, Deputy Permanent Mission of Malta to the United Nations told The Pavlovic Today.
Subsequently, The Pavlovic Today sought further clarification from Stephane Dujarric, the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres regarding the participation of individuals brought by Osmani-Sadriu into the Security Council chamber.
Consistent with Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) and the Organization’s ‘status-neutral’ policy, the individuals from Kosovo were issued the usual special ground passes to participate in the Security Council session on Kosovo that took place on 22 April.
Stéphane Dujarric, the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
According to Dujarric, the process was managed by the Secretariat and not the Protocol Office, and individuals from Kosovo were issued special ground passes in line with Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) and the UN’s “status-neutral” policy.
“The process that you refer to is not managed by the protocol office. It is managed by the Secretariat as a whole, and the UN Secretariat follows established procedures concerning the access of individuals from Kosovo to United Nations premises,” Stéphane Dujarric informed The Pavlovic Today.
Under these procedures, Dujarric noted, “consistent with Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) and the Organization’s ‘status-neutral’ policy, the individuals from Kosovo were issued the usual special ground passes to participate in the Security Council session on Kosovo that took place on 22 April.”
He explained further, “The ground passes bear the designation ‘Kosovo’, with the name of the person and no functional title, which does not introduce any change to Kosovo’s status.”
The passes, Dujarric explained, “also carry the letter ‘O’ which refers to ‘Others’, a category that applies to a range of individuals and institutions but does not include Member States of the United Nations.”
The ground passes bear the designation ‘Kosovo’, with the name of the person and no functional title, which does not introduce any change to Kosovo’s status.
Stéphane Dujarric, the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
Stéphane Dujarric said that “The individual from Kosovo seated at the Council table was invited under Rule 39 of the Provisional Rules of Procedure of the Security Council, under which the Security Council ‘may invite members of the Secretariat or other persons, whom it considers competent for the purpose, to supply it with information or to give other assistance in examining matters within its competence.’
He further stressed, “As a matter of course, the Secretariat is not briefed on the content of remarks delivered in the Security Council chamber, nor do we request it.”
Trust breaking or trust building?
The latest Security Council session on UNMIK’s report on Kosovo is a poignant reminder of sobering reality in Belgrade-Pristina Dialog. Trust, that elusive currency of diplomacy, remains as scarce as ever, if not more so.
What does this ongoing deadlock mean for the prospects of progress in the region? What does it mean for the trust-building if President of Kosovo, Osmani-Sadriu, with a palpable lack of diplomatic etiquette, did not extend the courtesy to the Serbian delegation to notify them that she will be bringing the victims of war in 1990s to the UN Security Council chamber. In a UN forum dedicated to the urgent matters of the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, such gestures, or lack thereof, undermine the very foundations of trust-building.
Now everyone’s playing naive.
President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic
Commenting on the surprise guest lineup, the President of Serbia remarked that he found himself wondering at the beginning of the UN Security Council why the session was delayed and who the individuals were that UN protocol did not want to let in. Characterizing the unfolding events as “shocking,” Vucic suggested they were orchestrated to provoke a response from him.
“Now everyone’s playing naive.” He further stated, “We’re certain that Caroline Ziadeh knew it, that everyone here at the UN Security Council knew it. But they’re all pretending as if they didn’t know. But we’ve established one thing—since Vjosa Osmani claimed these guests are part of her cabinet—none of them are on her cabinet list. You have the official list of names in her Cabinet. None of these women are on her Cabinet list.”
Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu addresses the Security Council meeting. [ Photo credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe]
In the wake of President Osmani-Sadriu’s unexpected line up of guests at the UN Security Council, questions linger over the sincerity of Kosovo’s pursuit of reconciliation under the banner of “Kosovo for All.” Should there be a sincere commitment to healing and enduring peace, it would be reasonable to ensure that all individuals from all ethnic backgrounds impacted by the traumatic events of the 1990s violent conflict are afforded an opportunity to share their stories.
Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu, with a palpable lack of diplomatic etiquette, did not extend the courtesy to the Serbian delegation to notify them that she will be bringing the victims of war in 1990s to the UN Security Council chamber.
Wounds of war run deep, and the omission of Serbian victims from the conversation serves as a stark reminder of the work yet to be done. Regrettably, numerous Serbian victims did not survive to share their perspectives within the confines of the UN Security Council chamber.
In the aftermath of the latest UN Security Council session, Kosovo’s leadership seems fixated on revisiting the ghosts of conflicts past, their gaze stubbornly fixed on the tumultuous chapters of the 1990s.
But what about the pressing issues of today?
Caroline Ziadeh, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), told the UN Security Council that the establishment of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities could provide a solution to normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina. She highlighted to the UN Security Council that its final configuration should include financial and institutional assurances for the Serbian community.
The US delegate to the UN mission said in the Security Council chamber that uncoordinated actions taken by the Government of Kosovo, including its enforcement of the Central Bank of Kosovo’s amended Regulation on Cash Operations are inconsistent with Kosovo’s commitment to work through the EU-facilitated Dialogue.
“These actions affect the welfare of vulnerable and non-majority communities and undermine the path to normalization between Kosovo and Serbia,” said the US delegate at the UN.
Instead of prioritizing efforts to address the current concerns of the Serb population in Kosovo, particularly regarding the establishment of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities and responding to their needs outlined in the latest UNMIK report, the chambers of UN diplomacy seem to have devolved into platforms for political posturing.
The Kosovo President Osmani-Sadriu, tasked by her own slogan “Kosovo for All” to represent the interests of all people in Kosovo, has failed miserably in her duty.
At a time when the world teeters on the brink of uncertainty, the events unfolding within the UN Security Council chamber serve as a dire warning. Until genuine efforts are made to address the situation on the ground of all parties involved, the cycle of distrust will persist unabated.
In the words of Lao Tzu’s old adage, “Mistrust begets mistrust.” After the UN Security Council session the gap only gets wider, and the road to reconciliation increasingly fraught.
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