BRUSSELS—The United Nations and NATO rushed on Thursday to iron out snags in the troubled international security presence for Kosovo, just days ahead of its constitution coming into force.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon put forward long-awaited proposals to "reconfigure" the activities of the U.N. Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and allow the European Union to pursue its goal of launching a police oversight mission there.
Separately, NATO states agreed to train a lightly armed Kosovo security force, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said after talks in Brussels.
The steps came just days before a June 15 deadline when a new Kosovo constitution will come into force, but leave major questions unanswered over the exact role of the EU and how it will operate on the ground next to NATO's 16,500 peacekeepers.
"I believe that the United Nations is confronting a new reality in Kosovo, with operational implications for UNMIK that it must take into account," Ban said in a report to the U.N. Security Council obtained by Reuters.
"It is my assessment that not doing so could lead to increased tension within Kosovo, including between Kosovo's communities, and would contribute to an unwelcoming environment for the international civil presence."
The United Nations has administered Kosovo since a 1999 NATO bombing campaign to drive out Serb forces from the majority ethnic Albanian territory, but the EU wants to take on more tasks after Kosovo's disputed Feb. 17 claim of independence.
Ban proposed the 2,200-strong EU police mission, known as EULEX and months delayed because of Russian objections in the United Nations, be deployed under a U.N. legal "umbrella".
The U.N. chief stressed such arrangements would apply "without prejudice to the status of the Kosovo", whose independence has been recognised by 42 U.N. members.
German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung said he regretted the delays to the EU mission but welcomed Ban's proposals.
"What I consider important is that no security vacuum comes about, that UNMIK should not pull out with EULEX not yet on the ground," he told reporters before a NATO meeting in Brussels.
But in Moscow, Russia demanded disciplinary action against the head of UNMIK for preparing to hand over powers to a European Union mission that Moscow says is illegal.
"It is obvious that any actions with regard to UNMIK, or a changing in the format of the international presence in Kosovo, are only possible on the basis of a decision of the U.N. Security Council," a Russian Foreign Ministry statement said.
Asked whether Russian objections were being considered, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Moscow's opposition was not even raised during Thursday's meetings.
But a Western source told Reuters in Pristina that UNMIK chief Joachim Ruecker was expected to announce on Friday that he would resign in what was a long-planned move.
Turkish Question
Ban set out his plans in letters to Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu and Serb President Boris Tadic, proposing Serbia had a say in deliberations over "technical and cross-boundary issues".
In Pristina, Sejdiu told reporters: "I have received the letter from Ban. We cannot comment. We are still analysing it."
Serb officials have said they expect to be granted extensive rights to administer the Serb-dominated north of Kosovo as part of the UNMIK reconfiguration, in what some analysts fear could be the first step towards a de facto partition.
Separately, allies agreed to train a new Kosovo Security Force of some 2,500 troops which would initially be responsible for crisis response, civil protection and ordinance disposal.
However, alliance sources said agreement was only possible after allies dropped efforts to upgrade NATO planning arrangements to define how it will operate with the EU mission.
Turkey had raised concerns that this could mean sharing sensitive military information with EU member Cyprus, the island at the centre of a decades-old Turkish-Greek dispute.
"There will come a stage when we have to look again at these arrangements," de Hoop Scheffer told a news conference after alliance defence ministers met, while playing down the risk of communication problems between NATO peacekeepers and EU staff.
It is also not clear how the EU mission—dubbed EULEX—will divide tasks with UNMIK, which it was originally due to replace. Diplomats say that will not be possible for some time and that EULEX could be a target for the anger of Kosovo Serbs.
Allies fear the continued question marks over police tasks in Kosovo could mean alliance troops are burdened with duties such as riot control for which they have not been trained.
Despite such concerns, de Hoop Scheffer insisted NATO KFOR troops would remain in Kosovo and would help as needed.
"No KFOR commander would stand idly by if there was an emergency," he told reporters.
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