Kumanovo Agreement

The Military Technical Agreement between the International Security Force ("KFOR") and the Governments of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia (commonly known as the Military Technical Agreement or Kumanovo Agreement) was an accord concluded on 9 June 1999 in Kumanovo, Macedonia. It concluded the Kosovo war. The full text is found on the website of NATO.^[1] The key provisions of the MTA were designed to enable the following:

• A cessation of hostilities between NATO's Kosovo Force (KFOR) and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia followed by an end to the bombing campaign should FRY comply effectively with the agreement.
• Definition of a 25 km air safety zone and 5km ground safety zone around Kosovo's boundaries, into FRY where necessary, which FRY forces could not enter without NATO permission.
• Over 11 days from signing, the staged withdrawal from Kosovo by FRY forces, including the clearing of military assets (mines, booby traps) from communications lines, and the provision of information to NATO about remaining hazards.
• The deployment of civil and security forces within Kosovo, pursuant to an at that point unapproved, but drafted United Nations Security Council Resolution.
• Authorisation for assistance to, and use of necessary force by NATO to create a secure environment for the international civilian presence

Status of Agreement

Legal expert Enrico Milano has argued that the Kumanovo Agreement "is dubious under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) and, as a consequence, so too are parts of Resolution 1244 referring, implicitly or explicitly, to paragraph 10 of Annex 2 of the same resolution."^[2] One particular argument is that "it is doubtful whether the Kumanovo Agreement can be considered valid according to Article 52 of the VCLT, which states that ‘a treaty is void if its conclusion has been procured by the threat or use of force in violation of the principles of international law embodied in the Charter of the United Nations’. The legal arguments continue that in fact to remedy the legal issues arising what is needed is for Status of Forces Agreement to be entered into with Belgrade.^[2]

See also

• Demilitarized zone

References