UN feud stirred up by Russia and Britain

The Turkey News.Net
Thursday 7th August, 2008

Russia and Britain are feuding over a Security Council debate on last March's rioting in a Serb-populated part of Kosovo.

The battle took place in the flashpoint Kosovo town of Kosovska Mitrovica, leaving one Ukrainian policeman dead.

Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin has blasted as 'unwarranted' a decision by leaders of the UN mission in Kosovo to use force against Serb protesters who were opposed to Kosovo being turned over to the ethnic Albanian majority.

UN Police tried to dislodge a group of Serb protesters who had been holed up for three days inside two UN-run courts, which they wanted to be placed back under Serbian control.

Churkin expressed regret that an internal UN report on the incident was not released to council members.

But Britain's deputy ambassador Karen Pierce maintained that UN mission soldiers acted with professionalism during the incident.

She said: 'This was a premeditated attack on the international personnel in Kosovo. The notion this was a peaceful demonstration to which UN forces reacted heavy handedly I think is not correct.'

After the police detained around 50 of the Serbs, hundreds of residents from the Serb-populated northern part of the town attacked the security force's convoy and freed some of the prisoners.

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