United Nations published this video item, entitled “Kosovo: ‘incidents of serious concern’ – Security Council Briefing (20 April 2022) | United Nations” – below is their description.
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Kosovo briefed the Security Council on Wednesday (20 April) on some “incidents of serious concern” that happened in Northern Kosovo, calling upon the leaders of Pristina and Belgrade to “be very judicious in their actions and in their political rhetoric.”
Addressing the Council for the first time, Caroline Ziadeh, who also acts as the head of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), told Member States that “during such complex days, these leaders bear the main responsibility for reducing tensions rather than fuelling them.”
“This applies at the political level and, equally, in the public arena,” Ziadeh added.
According to the Special Representative, the attacks happened a few days ago and “apparently” targeted directly Kosovo police patrols. She said that gunshots were fired at the patrols, along with stones and pyrotechnic devices thrown.
Ziadeh also noted the 9th anniversary of the First Agreement of Principles Governing the Normalisation of Relations, marked on Tuesday, saying the process has led to meaningful results on various practical matters, but progress remains “tentative and slow.”
“Whatever the pace of discussions — which we hope will increase — another principle bears re-emphasizing: However difficult the path toward agreements and solutions, unilateral actions — from any side – have the potential to damage the real interests of the people on both sides,” the Special Representative said.
According to her, “dramatic shocks to Kosovo’s and other regional economies were building up well before the onset of events in Ukraine”, with economies struggling to manage and recover from the pandemic.
“Inflation, supply shortages, rising interest rates, and increasing debt burdens were already occurring, and have since been exacerbated,” Ziadeh said.
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