Support of Non-Aligned Movement for solution to Kosovo necessary

Belgrade/Manila, March, 19. 2010 (Serbia Today) – Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremic expressed deep gratitude to member states of the Non-Aligned Movement today in Manila, of which the majority did not recognize the independence of Kosovo. He called on them to keep that position and support Serbia’s efforts to find solution for its southern province through dialogue.

Your resoluteness to respect sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia deserves true respect, Jeremic said in the speech at the special ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement. The Serbian Foreign Minister said that owing to efforts of the Movement’s member states, the UN General Assembly asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague to give advisory opinion on the legality of the unilaterally-proclaimed independence of Kosovo, which is the first such case in the history of that court. It is of crucial importance that you remain faithful to your principled position because this case will be a very important precedent, Jeremic said, adding that the court’s decision will have sweeping consequences to the entire international community. He warned that in case the Court proclaims legitimate the unilateral separation of an ethic minority from an UN member states, borders of every multiethnic state might be jeopardized which would cause instability in the entire world. Jeremic said that by supporting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of an UN member state, as well as a just solution to the status of the southern Serbian province, the Movement’s member states will make international law remain obstacle to present and future separatists, who dream of Kosovo’s secession becoming a globally accepted norm. He added that Serbia is the leading advocate of reconciliation in the south-eastern Europe. We had the courage for a national re-examination in order to face crimes from the past. We believe that is the only way to cut the vicious circle of violence and hatred in our part of the world, the Serbian foreign minister said. For that reason, Serbian President Boris Tadic apologized for the crimes committed by the previous Serbian regime in the wars in the former Yugoslavia and visited Srebrenica for the 10th anniversary of the massacre, Jeremic explained. He added that the Serbian parliament will soon examine a resolution for condemning the Srebrenica crime. We hope that will enable us to make a full reconciliation with Bosnian Muslims, Jeremic said. He reiterated Serbia’s proposal to hold in Belgrade in June 2011 a special conference of the Non-aligned Movement for the occasion of the 50th anniversary from the first, inaugural meeting of that organization that was held also in Belgrade in 1961. Serbia, the direct successor of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, one of the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement, now has the status of observer in this organization which has over one hundred member states.