United Nations Radio

The United Kingdom on Wednesday criticized a UN investigation into the March storming of a courthouse by UN and NATO troops in Kosovo. That report concluded that commanders had ignored cautionary advice from UN headquarters in New York.

Russia's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin has repeatedly criticized the raid. But Britain's Deputy UN ambassador Karen Pierce told reporters after a Security Council briefing on the issue that while her country supported the investigation, the United Kingdom did not believe that all the facts were properly aired and that the report ignored the situation on the ground:

"This was a pre-meditated attack on the international personnel in Kosovo. The demonstrators had access to long-bowed weapons, to petrol bombs, to grenades. Those are not things found lying around the average courtroom. So the notion that this was a peaceful demonstration to which UNMIK reacted heavily, I think, is not correct."

Kosovo, which has been administered by the UN since 1999, declared its independence from Serbia in February. The UN is in the process of reconfiguring its presence in Kosovo.

Diane Bailey, United Nations Radio.

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