The new U.N. administrator for Kosovo took control Sunday of the Serbian province, which has remained deeply divided along ethnic lines since the end of a 1999 war.
| "Waiter! More escargot to celebrate the arrival of our new administrator!" |
Soren Jessen-Petersen, a Danish refugee expert and former European Union representative to Macedonia, was named to the post June 16 by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. On arriving in Kosovo on Sunday, he pledged to work for peace. "I firmly believe that Kosovo is the last piece in a puzzle taking the western Balkans from the conflicts of the 1990s toward normalization, stabilization and European integration," he said.
"Visa, Mastercard or UN chit, sir?"
"The usual, man, the usual." |
Jessen-Petersen replaces Harri Holkeri, a former Finnish prime minister, who resigned because of ill health in May. Hokeri served for less than a year, but his tenure saw Kosovo was wracked by violence.
| Certainly made his mark, didn't he? |
Jessen-Petersen, a lawyer, served as assistant high commissioner for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees from January 1998 to December 2001. He became chairman of an EU initiative to manage population movements in the western Balkans and since February has been the EU special representative to neighboring Macedonia. |