Kosovo
Volume: 7 pages, pdf
Description:
In December 2007, international talks on Kosovo’s future ended in failure. On 17 February 2008, the province’s government declared independence from Serbia, of which it had been nominally part while under UN administration since 1999. A number of states—including France, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States—have recognized Kosovo, but the majority of the international community have not. In October, Serbia persuaded the UN General Assembly to refer the issue to the International Court of Justice. Staunch Russian opposition to independence precluded any decisions in the UN Security Council. This meant a year of confusion and conflicting signals for the international presence in Kosovo. The UN and NATO were faced by significant challenges in ethnically Serb north Kosovo after the declaration of independence. But the major dilemma has been the existence of competing legal and political bases for operations emerging from international and local dynamics.