The United States will launch a campaign at the United Nations this fall to expel Yugoslav diplomats from the international organization, UN ambassador Richard Holbrooke said Friday.
The campaign will aim "to end the anomalous position of the Yugoslav diplomats in New York who are half in half out of the UN and represent a regime which has not been recognized by the UN," Holbrooke said at a press conference in New York.
"We want to throw them out."
According to Holbrooke, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, made up of Serbia and Montenegro, is the only country that has not applied for readmission to the UN after the breakup of the Yugoslav federation in 1992.
"It is a completely ridiculous situation," he said, calling the Yugoslav flag at the United Nations "Tito's flag."
Josip Tito ruled socialist Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1980.
It's "a flag that belongs to a museum, a flag that represents nobody," according to Holbrooke.
"We're tired of the situation and we're going to make an issue of this," he said, asking for support from Europeans and "understanding" from other countries.
In a debate over Montenegro in June, the Security Council voted for the expulsion from the room of Yugoslav representative Vladislav Jovanovic following at the request of Holbrooke, angering Russian Ambassador Sergei Lavrov - UNITED NATIONS (AFP)
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