Indicted Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect
transferred to UN tribunal
31 January – Following his voluntary
surrender, Dusan Fustar, a Bosnian Serb who has been indicted
for war crimes, was transferred today to the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
The 47-year old suspect was a shift commander
in 1992 at the Keraterm camp, where detainees, held in severely
overcrowded conditions with little or no personal hygiene facilities,
were fed starvation rations once a day, according to the indictment.
Interrogations were allegedly conducted on a daily basis and regularly
accompanied by beatings and torture.
The indictment says killings, sexual assault
and other forms of physical and psychological abuse were also
commonplace at the Keraterm camp. Camp guards and others used
"all types of weapons and instruments to beat and otherwise
physically abuse the detainees." Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian
Croat political and civic leaders, intellectuals, the wealthy
and non-Serbs who were considered to be extremists or to have
resisted the Bosnian Serbs were especially subjected to beatings,
torture and/or murder.
"At a minimum, hundreds of detainees, whose
identities are known and unknown, did not survive," the UN
court said in a statement today.
Mr. Fustar faces charges of crimes against humanity,
including persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds,
as well as violations of the laws or customs of war such as outrages
upon personal dignity, murder, cruel treatment and torture.
In the coming days, the Tribunal is expected
to set a date for the suspect to enter a plea in response to the
charges against him.
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UN police arrest three men for smuggling
arms and explosives in Kosovo
30 January - United Nations police have
arrested three men for smuggling weapons and explosives into Kosovo
from Albania, the UN mission in the province reported today.
Two Albanians and one Kosovo-Albanian were transporting
a large arms cache by mule when they were intercepted by police
serving with the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK),
supported by the international force for Kosovo (KFOR).
The three suspects, currently in police custody
pending prosecution, could face prison sentences of up to eight
years if convicted of illegally possessing a large quantity of
weapons.
According to UNMIK, items confiscated
included 20 automatic and sniper rifles, 2 machine guns, 15,000
rounds of ammunition, 20 kilogrammes of explosives and 30 hand
grenades.
Kosovo: UN police help to arrest two war
crimes suspects
28 January - The United Nations police
in Kosovo, supported by the KFOR security force, have arrested
two men suspected of committing war crimes against the civilian
population, UNMIK, the UN mission in the province, reported today.
The alleged offenses were committed from September
1998 through June 1999, UNMIK said, adding that all the victims
were Kosovo Albanian civilians.
. The accused, who are also Kosovo Albanians,
are alleged to have committed a series of illegal abductions,
physical attacks and in some cases, murders, that fall under Section
142 of the Criminal Code on War Crimes.
The defendants at the time of the alleged
criminal activity were members of the Kosovo Liberation Army Military
Police, operating in the general area of Podujevo Municipality,
the UN mission said. The arrests relate to the alleged criminal
conduct of these individuals and are not directed at the organizations
with which they were affiliated at that time, or with which they
are currently employed.
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UN war crimes tribunal to hear appeal against
separate Milosevic trials
25
January – The appeals court of the United Nations war crimes
tribunal today ordered a hearing next week on an appeal by the
prosecution of a decision to hold separate trials for former Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic for alleged crimes committed in Croatia
and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in Kosovo.
The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) scheduled the hearing
for Wednesday 30 January. Mr. Milosevic, as well as his court-appointed
advisers, will appear at the hearing.
Last autumn, the Prosecutor’s Office had
asked that all three indictments against Mr. Milosevic be tried
together and in December, the Trial Chamber partially granted
the Prosecution’s motion, ordering that the Croatia and Bosnia
indictments be joined together and that the Kosovo indictment
be tried separately first.
On 20 December, the prosecution filed an application
to be granted leave to appeal the decision, which was allowed
on 9 January. A week later, the prosecution filed an appeal, asserting
that the Trial Chamber had erroneously found that the Croatia/Bosnia
indictments and Kosovo indictment could not be joined because
they did not form “the same transaction.”
The Prosecutor’s Office also argued
that the Trial Chamber had erred by failing to take into account
the true prejudice to prosecution by requiring certain witnesses
to testify in separate trials. In addition, it faulted the decision
for finding that a joint trial would prejudice the accused, contrary
to all representations on record, and for ruling “that a
joint trial would be unmanageable for the Trial Chamber.”
Senior German diplomat appointed Annan’s
top envoy for Kosovo
23 January - Secretary-General Kofi Annan
has appointed a senior diplomat from of Germany to be his Special
Representative for Kosovo and the head of the United Nations Interim
Administration Mission (UNMIK).
Michael Steiner, a former Foreign and Security
Policy Adviser to the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,
replaces Hans Haekkerup, who left Kosovo when his contract expired
at the end of 2001.
Mr. Steiner is the third Special Representative
for Kosovo since UNMIK was established in 1999, following Mr Haekkerup
of Denmark and Bernard Kouchner of France. He will take up his
duties in Pristina early next month.
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Stalemate persists in installation of Kosovo
government, UN Security Council told
21 January - While the deadlock in forming
a coalition government and electing a president of Kosovo persisted,
the United Nations Interim Administration (UNMIK) and interested
countries continued to encourage a quick solution to the current
stalemate, the UN's top peacekeeping official said today.
Jean-Marie Guéhenno, UN Under-Secretary-General
for Peacekeeping Operations, briefed the Security Council this
morning on developments in Kosovo since the 17 November province-wide
elections, which had failed to give one party the necessary majority
in the Assembly to form a government without entering into a coalition.
UNMIK continued to work to create an environment
in which Kosovo's minorities would feel secure to participate
in public life, Mr. Guéhenno said, adding that overall
the last three months had been calm.
He underscored that a more robust and active
approach by UNMIK and the international force for Kosovo (KFOR)
towards the so-called "bridgewatchers" had also helped
to decrease the level of violence in Mitrovica North, and appeared
to have undermined some of the support for that element.
On the negative side, Mr. Guéhenno pointed
to last week's murder in the Pec region of Ismael Hardaraj, a
Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) member of the Assembly. UNMIK
had launched a thorough investigation, but at this point the motivation
for the killing was unclear.
The current Council President, Ambassador Jagdish
Koonjul of Mauritius, informed Council members this morning that
Secretary-General Kofi Annan intended to appoint Michael Steiner
of Germany as his new Special Representative for Kosovo and chief
of UNMIK.
Many Council members warmly commended Mr. Steiner's
predecessor, Hans Haekkerup of Denmark, for his stewardship in
Kosovo, his work with UNMIK and his efforts to organize the recently
held elections.
Following Mr. Guéhenno's briefing,
representatives from 18 countries took the floor during an extensive
discussion of the situation in Kosovo.
UN mission condemns murder of Kosovo Assembly
member
18
January - The United Nations top official in Kosovo today denounced
the murder last night of an ethnic Albanian member of the Kosovo
Assembly and of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) led by Ibrahim
Rugova.
"UNMIK strongly condemns the brutal murder
of one of Kosovo's democratically elected leaders," Mr. Brayshaw
said Charles Brayshaw, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Acting Special
Representative, said in a statement released today by the UN Interim
Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). "UNMIK will do
its utmost to apprehend the assailants and to determine the motive
for this contemptible act."
According to UN mission police, Ismael Hajdaraj,
50, was travelling in his car near his residence in Pec when he
was ambushed by assailants and shot to death. Police say at least
two weapons were used.
UN police immediately launched an intensive
investigation into the murder.
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Kosovo elections 'important step' towards
eventual self-government, Annan reports
17 January - The past three months in Kosovo
have been dominated by the election of a legislative body and
the subsequent efforts to forge a government majority, Secretary-General
Kofi Annan says in a new report on the United Nations Interim
Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).
In his latest report to the Security Council,
the Secretary-General says that the Assembly election on 17 November
2001 was an important step forward in the implementation of the
Council’s 1999 resolution on Kosovo, which created a UN administrative
authority that would gradually hand over control of the province
to provisional institutions of self-government.
With the electorate giving no single party a
majority, political forces have been compelled to work together
to overcome the legacy of the past and contribute to the building
of a common future. "The time it is taking to elect a President
and form a Government is an indication of the difficulties that
will have to be overcome," Mr. Annan observes.
Saying security remained a paramount concern,
the Secretary-General calls on all Assembly members to lead by
example in creating conditions conducive to improving inter-communal
relations and promoting reconciliation.
"Reconciliation must begin in the Assembly,
as members of all communities work side by side to improve the
situation of all the people of Kosovo," Mr. Annan stresses.
The Secretary-General also pays tribute to his
Special Representative in Kosovo, Hans Haekkerup, "for his
steady leadership during a period that has seen significant progress,
and to the men and women of UNMIK for their wonderful work in
difficult circumstances."
Mr. Annan says that he will be writing to the
Security Council about the successor to Mr. Haekkerup, who decided
for personal reasons not to continue in his post.
The Council has scheduled a public meeting
on 21 January to discuss Kosovo.
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UN tribunal allows prosecution to appeal decision
about combining Milosevic cases
10
January – The United Nations war crimes tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia has granted the Prosecution permission to appeal
an earlier court decision to separate the trials for former President
Slobodan Milosevic for alleged crimes committed in Kosovo, Croatia
and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In December, the UN International Criminal Tribunal
for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) denied a Prosecution "motion
for joinder" requesting that the three indictments for crimes
against humanity against Mr. Milosevic be combined into one trial.
The Tribunal had earlier ordered that the Kosovo case be tried
separately and the Croatia and Bosnia charges merged.
The decision yesterday by a bench of the ICTY
Appeals Chamber granted the Prosecution "leave to appeal"
the Tribunal's decision, although the court said that Mr. Milosevic's
Kosovo trial could still begin, as previously scheduled, on 12
February if the Trial Chamber so decides.
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Voting for Kosovo President inconclusive,
UN Mission reports
10 January - Despite two rounds of voting
for a President today, the Kosovo Assembly took no final decision
on the matter after the sole candidate, Ibrahim Rugova, failed
to attain the majority needed to win, according to the UN Interim
Administration Mission for Kosovo (UNMIK).
The first round required two-thirds of the 120-member
Assembly for victory, but Mr. Rugova received only 50 votes, according
to UNMIK. In the second round, which required only a simple majority
of 61 votes, Mr. Rugova received 51 votes.
After that round – which was the
third since voting was first held last month – the President
of the Assembly, Nexhet Daci, adjourned the session and said he
would later inform members of a new date for their next meeting,
UNMIK reported.
Kosovo: on eve of Assembly meeting, UN
urges efforts towards self-government
8 January - As the Kosovo Assembly prepares
for its third meeting later this week, a senior United Nations
official in the province today urged all political forces there
to pursue the democratic process.
Charles Brayshaw, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's
Acting Special Representative for Kosovo, said the 10 January
meeting will provide the province's elected representatives with
an opportunity to continue the process of "establishing substantial,
meaningful and effective self-government."
"The United Nations remains fully committed
to the process, and has invested significant efforts to ensure
peace and stability in Kosovo and in the region that permit the
people of Kosovo to exercise the right to participate in their
own government," said Mr. Brayshaw, adding, "The international
community has noted the efforts that the different entities have
made over the last several weeks to build a coalition government."
Mr. Brayshaw stressed that the UN Interim Administration
in Kosovo (UNMIK) "urges all the political forces in Kosovo
to continue and develop those efforts, thus demonstrating to the
International Community their commitment to democratic processes
and their readiness to take on the responsibilities of government."
He called attention to specific measures that
must be taken, including finalization of the composition of the
Presidency, election of the President, and designation of a Prime
Minister to form a government.
"It is in the interest of the people
of Kosovo to complete these steps," said Mr. Brayshaw. "We
trust that the third session of the Kosovo Assembly will be characterized
by the constructive engagement of the political representatives."
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UN tribunal prepares for Milosevic pre-trial
hearing for Kosovo case
8 January – The United Nations war
crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia will hold a hearing
tomorrow for former President Slobodan Milosevic to consider his
trial on charges stemming from the 1999 Kosovo conflict.
Among measures that are likely to be raised
by the Prosecutor during tomorrow's hearing at the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague
are the number of witnesses that are to be called and the number
of statements and transcripts that are to be admitted.
Mr. Milosevic’s trial is scheduled to begin
on 12 February. In December, the Prosecutor had sought unsuccessfully
to have the Kosovo indictment combined into one trial with the
other cases against the former President for alleged crimes committed
in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.
The Court agreed only to join the Bosnia
and Croatia cases. A start date for that trial has not been set.
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