UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been coy in his statements, but extended UNMIK’s deployment and welcomed a growing internationalism multilateralism.

Below is an article reported by Tanjug and published by B92:

“The UN will certainly be staying in Kosovo through its UNMIK mission,” Ban told Vienna weekly Profil.

Asked whether Kosovo independence would encourage other provinces and regions with aspirations of self-determination, and what distinguished Kosovo and Tibet, Ban replied that he did not want to “speculate as to what might and might not happen as a result of developments in Kosovo.”

“Every situation must be analyzed independently, on the basis of its own specific set of circumstances,” said the secretary-general, who will be visiting Vienna at the end of this week [Week 17, 2008].

Asked whether he expected the U.S.’s return to multi-lateral diplomacy instead of independent moves after the presidential elections, Ban replied that a great many members supported the UN’s central role with its multi-lateral approach.

“When you look at UN history, you reach the conclusion that the clock hand of history is returning to multi-lateralism. I find that encouraging,” he said.

Ban pointed out that members had often taken unilateral actions, but that the majority recognized the UN as international organization where global problems had a greater chance of being resolved through international cooperation.

There are an increasing number of global problems that individual countries cannot solve alone, however strong and wealthy they may be, concluded the UN secretary general.