The end of a unique chapter in the history of international peace operations is now coming into view. The next twelve months will see major changes not only in the Joint Structure, but also within UNMIK. The watershed will be election day, 17 November 2001.

Following the elections, Kosovo's first post-conflict government will succeed the joint structure. The government will form and begin to take over the powers and responsibilities assigned to it under the Constitutional Framework. Although still under international administration, Kosovo will then develop along the lines largely determined by the people of Kosovo, taking advantage of the support available from the arrangements for the Stability Pact for South-East Europe and from other donors.

Election preparations

A crucial starting point for the forthcoming elections was Kosovo Albanian political representatives' agreement to participate in the democratic processes set out in the Constitutional Framework. Promoting the participation of Kosovo's other communities thus became UNMIK's priority. The strategies build particularly on the early summer encouragement by the Governments of Turkey and Yugoslavia to their respective minority communities in Kosovo.

To facilitate registration, OSCE will send mobile registration teams to Kosovo Serbs enclaves and to other remotely-located communities. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) will carry out out-of-Kosovo registration and voter services. The new UNMIK Office in Belgrade will assist registration and participation of Kosovo Serbs residing in Serbia proper.

Plans for parties and other political entities to register in June 2001 had to accommodate late registration of Kosovo Serb political parties. The reconstituted Central Election Commission will meanwhile follow up its publication of a Code of Conduct for political entities. The Code's 15 or so electoral rules cover, for example, ballot access, polling and counting procedures, media access, financial disclosure, and appointment of new Municipal Election Commissions.

The Institution-Building Pillar's capacity-building effort will focus mainly on the parties that obtained seats in the municipal election. However, all minority parties will be strongly supported, regardless of their October 2000 performance. The object: to develop internal party structures to ensure that party activities are sustainable. As in 2000, OSCE will again mount a citizen/voter awareness programme on major electoral themes.

Changing the JIAS

With the clock for the transition to self-government already running, UNMIK will devote the remainder of 2001 to transforming the JIAS administrative departments into embryo ministries, organizing them into clusters and, as far as possible, bringing them together in the same buildings.

By 17 November, the Pillars will also have submitted 2002 budget proposals to the CFA that correspond to the nascent ministries. The CFA, meanwhile, will have discussed with donors several possibilities financing the additional outlays that will be required to set up the Assembly, its Committees, the Office of the President and that of the Prime Minister. Its aim is to hand the new government a Kosovo Consolidated Budget reflecting forecast revenues and donor contributions, and all reasonable public expenditures. Other JIAS departments will also have prioritized and accelerated the passage of essential legislation-in anticipation of a legislative lull in the first half of 2002 as the new government gets under way.

UNMIK will meanwhile establish or restructure several independent bodies and offices that prefigure those required under the Constitutional Framework, e.g.the Kosovo Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, the Office of the Auditor-General, and the Independent Media Commission.

The new government

Building on successful local elections in 2000, Kosovo-wide Assembly elections this year will move Kosovo closer to democratic government (Photo: Lubomir Kotek)

Given a general election as successful as the one for local government in October 2000, the SRSG will quickly certify the general election results after receiving reports from international (including regional) and local monitoring organizations. The first session of the Assembly will be convened within the following 30 days. The Assembly's first task will be to elect its own seven-member Presidency.

Its own house in order, the Assembly will then elect a President of Kosovo, who in turn will undertake consultations with various political factors. Based on the views expressed, he or she will then nominate a candidate for Prime Minister. The Prime Minister-designate will then compile a list of members of the government (prospective ministers and others) and create some 10 ministries out of the consolidated JIAS departments.

The new government will go to work when the Assembly appoints the Prime Minister and approves the Ministers as a group. Under the Constitutional Framework, no approval will be valid, if the government does not contain at least one member of the Kosovo Serb community and one member representing communities other than Kosovo Serbs and Kosovo Albanians.

From then on, and according to the government's progress, UNMIK will begin to withdraw from day-to-day administration-limiting itself increasingly to a supervisory role. However, UNMIK international staff cannot immediately withdraw from their present functions because the United Nations will continue to hold the SRSG and his staff responsible for any failure or mismanagement. UNMIK will therefore have regular meetings with the government to assess progress. Additional functions will be transferred to the newly-formed ministries according to those assessments.

As today with the IAC and KTC, the SRSG will continue to sign all legislation produced by the Assembly. Municipal Assemblies and local governments will continue to administer affairs within their responsibility.

Changing UNMIK

After November, the people of Kosovo will run their own domestic affairs-within the limits of SCR 1244 (Photo Ky Chung)

For the remainder of 2001, UNMIK will consolidate its own structures- in response to the absorption of the Department of Judicial Affairs and UNMIK Police in the reconstituted Pillar I, in anticipation of the new government, and finally to take into account changes in longer-term priorities.

Until 16 November UNMIK will continue to convene and participate in IAC and KTC meetings. From then on, it will no longer lead each of the areas designated for full self-government responsibility, assuming instead the role of senior advisor. By the election, UNMIK will also have finalized the transfer of functions out of its regional offices and converted them into regional liaison offices with limited oversight responsibilities.

Looking further ahead, the Mission will meanwhile increasingly focus on Kosovo's longer-term sustainability. This will be evident in increasing Kosovar participation at all levels of administration, thereby promoting ownership of the newly-established institutions.

UNMIK will also strive to depoliticize Kosovo's non-political institutions, a tendency that has emerged strongly in the functional departments at the local government level. The Institution-Building Pillar will likewise increasingly promote mainstreaming of democratic processes-emphasizing transparency, popular participation and respect for human rights.

For economic development, the Economic Reconstruction Pillar will seek international support to consolidate investments in the energy sector, to upgrade transportation facilitates to encourage trade, and to rehabilitate Kosovo's environment. Employment will be supported through measures to encourage creation of enterprises and, through credit lines, to transform socially-owned enterprises.

Building trust

Building trust between the international community and Kosovo representatives in the KTC set the standard for trust between other stakeholders: regional governments and Kosovo's national, civil and political communities (Photo: Ky Chung)

The new era of self-government and substantial autonomy will begin next November. What follows, according to SCR 1244, will be Kosovo's final status. To prepare for it, UNMIK, donors and the international community face an even more difficult challenge than those so far- that of restoring and building up trust, the very medium of democracy.

Trust-building is required at all levels and on nearly all fronts. In the new Self-Government they will be needed to promote trust between the people and their representatives. The new government itself will need to trust and be trusted by neighbouring governments. The government will also have to trust and be trusted by its own civil service.

With the end of armed conflict still only two years away, creating a measure of trust between Kosovo's communities is even more problematic. It has to grow between the general public and those who run the public services, and between all the people of Kosovo and the international community.

This last will be crucial. Only if self-government is seen to succeed in all ways, will the international community consider finishing the business it started. Good self-government will pave the way for a new Security Council resolution, rescinding SCR 1244 and determining Kosovo's final status.

It is in no-one's interest, except those who thrive on anarchy, to work for anything else.

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