The United Nations Security Council has unanimously adopted secretary-general Ban Ki-moon's report on wrapping up the world body's mission in Kosovo and begin the handover to a European Union mission.

The adoption of the document sets the stage for the deployment of the EU law-and-order mission, EULEX, of some 2000 officials, which would gradually replace the UN Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, and take over police and customs duties in Kosovo.

The plan was drafted through cooperation between Serbia and the UN, confirming Belgrade's conditions for agreeing to the deployment - keeping the northern region of Kosovo, predominantly populated by ethnic Serbs, under UN administration, declaring the EU mission to be neutral regarding Kosovo's final status, and avoiding the mention of Kosovo independence.
 
Kosovo declared independence unilaterally from Serbia in February and has been recognised as an independent state by a majority of EU member states and in total, more than 50 nations worldwide.
 
Officials in Kosovo's capital Pristina continue to object to the UN plan, demanding that EULEX's mandate should include putting a plan by former UN Kosovo envoy Martti Ahtisaari in motion, which envisages internationally-supervised independence for Kosovo.
 
Pristina leaders, however, eventually stated they would back the deployment, after pressure from the United States and EU to do so, stating that the functioning of EULEX in Kosovo would be in the best interest of everyone living in there.
 
Serbia sees the adoption of Ban's report as another diplomatic victory, coming on the heels of last month's go-ahead given by the UN General Assembly to ask the opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legality of Kosovo's independence.
 
Serbian foreign minister Vuk Jeremic, who was in New York for the vote, said that the "language of the report confirms the neutral status of EULEX" and maintains the validity of the UN Security Council's Resolution 1244, passed at the end of the Kosovo conflict in 1999 which effectively reaffirms Serbia's sovereignty over Kosovo.
 
He also said that the adoption of the plan gives greater weight to Belgrade's stance that it will never recognise Kosovo's independence.
 
Jeremic called on Pristina to accept "the will of the international community" and the "resolve of the Security Council," with the deployment of the EU mission.
 
Jeremic's Kosovo counterpart Skender Hyseni also addressed the Security Council, stating that Pristina supports the EU mission, but that it "will not tolerate any actions infringing on the sovereignty and territorial integrity" of Kosovo.
 
Kosovo's rejection of the plan stems from fears that Belgrade's influence in the north of Kosovo would strengthen and could lead to an eventual partition along ethnic lines. Pristina demands that the EU mission deploy throughout the entire territory of Kosovo without exception.
 
The EU has stated that further negotiations would be needed with Belgrade before the mission could function in the north, since ethnic Serb leaders in Kosovo refuse to cooperate with any new administration in the region without Belgrade green-lighting the deployment first.
 
UNMIK deployed to the province in 1999 after a bloody conflict between ethnic Albanians and Serbian military forces ended.
 
Despite its lack of administrative power in Kosovo since 1999 and the will of the majority 90-percent ethnic Albanian population in Kosovo which proclaimed independence in February, Serbia maintains its sovereignty and territorial integrity over Kosovo, deeming the independence declaration of Pristina as a violation of international law.

Source: Balkan Insight