Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric said today at a meeting with the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General and Head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) Zahir Tanin that the United Nations has an inevitable role in the process of resolving Belgrade-Pristina relations.

Djuric and Tannin exchanged views on the current political and security situation in Kosovo, as well as on the upcoming UNMIK report to the UN Security Council, reads the statement of the Office for KiM.

According to Djuric, Serbian media quotes the statement, Serbia sees the UN’s role as inevitable in the process of resolving relations between Belgrade and Pristina, which are by its nature primarily internal ones, that is within Serbia, with an element of foreign interference.

The statement reads that Djuric reminded that the dialogue led under the auspices of EU, conducted based on the mandate of the UN General Assembly, after more than six years, or exactly 2,341 days, since the Pristina's main obligation to form a Community of Serb Municipalities (ZSO) was not implemented. He also added that the EU did not ensure the implementation of this agreement, of which Serbia has repeatedly informed the Security Council.

Analysing the position of the Serb people in Kosovo, Djuric expressed his expectation that the report would state that the human and political rights of the Serbs were drastically impaired after the introduction of anti-civilization taxes by Pristina on goods from central Serbia.

Djuric drew attention to the fact that the interethnic provocations and attacks by Albanians on members of the Serb people are ever-increasing, which is not instigating a sufficiently serious and decisive response from the part of the international community that has the greatest impact on the ground.

The office for KiM Director expressed his expectation that the upcoming elections in Kosovo, with the help of international organizations and representatives, would take place in as much democratic atmosphere as possible, and that the Serbian people would be guaranteed the right to freely elect their representatives.

The statement reads that Djuric thanked Tanin for his personal contribution to the advancement of the position of the Serb people in Kosovo, and for UNMIK's consistent commitment to respecting the international laws and the framework provided for by UN Security Council Resolution 1244.