The Serbian Community in Kosovo under the International Administration. A critical balance of the UNMIK's experience.

by Simona Mameli

Established in 1999 through the UN Security Council Resolution 1244, the elephantine mission of international ad interim administration of Kosovo is drawing to an end. On the eve of the status question solution for the land of blackbirds and monasteries, a critical analysis of the UN administration actions appears appropriate.
According to its mandate, UNMIK was supposed to act in order to create democratic and multi-ethnic governmental institutions in Kosovo, to foster reconciliation between Serb and Albanian Communities, to promote security, peace and multi-cultural living together in a land where, ideally, all displaced people could have come back.
Eight years from UNMIK installation, Kosovo is far from being a multi-ethnic heaven, and reconciliation between Serbs and Albanians is a very long way away.
Heavy responsibilities have to be blamed on Belgrade and Prishtina, but not less severe faults are those of the International Administration Mission.