yugoslavias implosion

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ChApter 3
Kosovo would need to make progress on eight standards before its
final status could be addressed. However, when Serbs refused to participate
in the Kosovo elections in 2004—signifying Belgrade’s lack
of interest in constructive dialogue—the international community
began to understand that its approach needed to change. 462
Having sought but failed to persuade Belgrade to engage in talks
about Kosovo’s final status, the international community decided to
discuss the subject without Belgrade. A message to this effect, delivered
in 2005 via the International Crisis Group’s (icg) report on
Kosovo’s final status, raised a great hue and cry on the Serbian political
scene. 463 The icg explicitly opposed the partition of Kosovo and
concluded that the international community should convene an
international conference on Kosovo by fall 2005 to decide whether
Kosovo should be granted suspended independence regardless of
whether or not Belgrade participated in the conference and accepted
its outcome. Secretary-General Annan suggested that “the Serbs’
unwillingness to get engaged in a dialogue and support the implementation
of standards has hindered progress” and that government
institutions in Belgrade had not provided support for Kosovar
Serbs’ participation in provisional institutions 464 The un representative
in Kosovo, Søren Jessen Petersen, advised, “It would be in the
Serbs’ best interest to be present in provisional institutions, for this is
how they could most efficiently stand for their interests,” adding that
Kosovar Serbs should stop the practice to “always wait for Belgrade’s
decisions.” 465 Belgrade reacted promptly by securing itself a place at
the negotiating table.
462 Kosovo held municipal elections in 2000 and 2003 and Kosovo-wide
elections in 2001(Serbs participated in these legislative elections but were
later pressed by Belgrade to leave the Assembly), 2004, and 2007 .
463 ICG Kosovo: Towards Final Status (January 2004) .
464 http://www .unmikonline .org/archives/news11_06full .htm .
465 Jessen Petersen speech at the UN Security Council in New York, October 24, 2005