THE HAGUE, The Netherlands -- At a press conference in The Hague on Tuesday (December 18th), Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said the EU does not need a new UN mandate to send its security mission to Kosovo. The EU recently decided to deploy a police and judicial mission of 1,800 to Kosovo next year, which would eventually replace UNMIK.
Russia and Serbia insist it would be illegal without prior UN permission. Verhagen says Security Council Resolution 1244, which created the UN force, could clear the way for a new EU mission.
In other news Tuesday, thousands of Serbs gathered in Mitrovica to protest the anticipated declaration of independence by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders. The crowd called on Belgrade to prevent Kosovo's separation from Serbia and the deployment of an EU mission in Kosovo. (SETimes, Koha Shqiptare, Telegrafi, RTK, AP, Beta, B92, Tanjug, RTRS, BBC, AFP - 18/12/07)
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