Legal Aspects Related to the Termination of the Kumanovo Agreement (1999) and Possibilities for Serbian Armed Forces to return to Kosovo in Case of Termination of that Agreemen

Abstract

This article examines the Kumanovo Agreement as an obstacle to possible Serbian military intervention in Kosovo and Metohija (hereinafter shortly: Kosovo) in case of uncontrolled Albanian invasion against the Serb population in Kosovo. The Military Technical Agreement between the International Security Force (“KFOR”) and the Governments of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia, known as the Kumanovo Agreement, represents a legal limitation to any involvement of the Serbian military force(s). With respect to the Kumanovo Agreement the consent element required for such peacekeeping agreements appears to be missing. The absence of consent element of the agreement undermines the legal basis and thus the legal validity of the Kumanovo treaty reached under apparent coercion in 1999. It appears that Kumanovo Agreement in the absence of proper consent requirement may be interpreted as a dubious act under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (hereinafter VCLT), particularly Article 52 (related to the Coercion of a State by the threat or use of force). Therefore, the Kumanovo Agreement, as an Annex to the Security resolution 1244 (1999), can be considered as an invalid act according to the VLCT. As a consequence of its invalidity, the Serbian government in warlike situations, in case of massive human rights violations by Kosovo authorities against Serbian population, may resort to termination of the Kumanovo Agreement (under Article 52 and even under Article 53 (jus cogens) of the VLCT) for aim to protect the Serbian population against ethnic cleansing, oppression and other human rights violations of International (humanitarian) public Law.