The UN mission in Prevlaka

We had a briefing from Assistant Secretary-General, Annabi on Prevlaka in

Croatia on the business of the UN mission in Prevlaka. The members of the

Security Council welcomed the fact that the situation remained stable and

calm, and voiced their continuing support for the Chief Military Observer in

Prevlaka and for UNMOP. They expressed concern about the long standing

violations of the security regime in the UN-controlled zone and called for

unrestricted freedom of action for UNMOP. Council members noted that no

progress had been made towards a political settlement and encouraged the

parties to make early progress on the confidence building measures conveyed

informally to them by the Secretariat in October 1999. They welcomed the

Secretary-General’s intention to assess the situation before the end of the

present mandate of UNMOP on 15 July with a view to exploring with the

parties ways of moving the political process forward.

We then agreed the draft presidential statement which was then adopted by

the Council in the meeting on Georgia.

(Question about assessment of the prospects of resolving this dispute)

Mr Boden: With the support of the Security Council that I have definitely felt

today we may be able to speed up the process. It is difficult to give any

precise prediction on that, but as I say we have been deliberating on a crucial

issue of the peace process namely, on how to initiate a negotiating process

on this latest issue. And I think today’s meeting will bring us forward on that.

(Question: Do you think this going to be acceptable to both sides?)

Mr Boden: I have said in the meeting that acceptability to both sides for me is

not the main criteria. The main criteria must be the expression of the

principles of the United Nations in such a paper. And I think the best success

will be if it is equally unacceptable for both sides because only then can it be

a fair negotiating basis.