UN envoy to Kosovo says
plan for standards more important than ever
31 March 2004 – Launching Kosovo's Standards Implementation
Plan today, two weeks after deadly violence rocked the province,
the top United Nations envoy for Kosovo, Harri Holkeri, said the
plan "is not a panacea, but it is a start."
Mr. Holkeri said that while not every ethnic
community was involved in producing the plan, it still contained
provisions that ought to protect all residents of Kosovo, regardless
of their background.
The plan is a detailed guide that sets specific
goals in such areas as the building of democratic institutions,
the enforcement of rights for minorities and the creation of a
functioning economy. Its provisions include the holding of free
and fair elections and the establishment of an impartial legal
system.
Mr. Holkeri - who was joined by Kosovo's Prime
Minister Bajram Rexhepi for the launch - said the province "is
still a long way from recovering from the violence of two weeks
ago," but the importance of the standards is clearer than
ever.
The UN Interim Administrative Mission
in Kosovo (UNMIK)
today also released updated information on the recent violence.
In total, 19 people were killed - 11 Kosovo Albanians and eight
Kosovo Serbs - and more than 900 people were injured, including
dozens of international police officers. Some 29 churches and
monasteries, 800 houses and more than 150 vehicles were destroyed
or badly damaged.
UN envoy sets up review
of mission's response to recent violence in Kosovo
30 March 2004 – The top United Nations envoy for Kosovo
announced today he is setting up a review body to study the UN
mission's response to the deadly violence in the province earlier
this month and to make recommendations on how it can react better
in future crises.
Harri Holkeri, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's
Special Representative for Kosovo, said an international judge
or jurist will chair the Crisis Management Review Body, which
will include qualified crisis management experts. The Body will
report back to him on its findings within 30 days of beginning
work.
More than two dozen people were killed, hundreds
of others were injured, homes and religious sites were burnt and
at least 3,000 people driven from their homes during two days
of rioting across Kosovo starting 17 March. At the time the Security
Council issued a statement by its President denouncing the "large-scale
inter-ethnic violence."
In a statement issued in Pristina, Kosovo's
capital, Mr. Holkeri said the review body will examine whether
security and protection measures and procedures can be improved
for future crises. It will also assess the performance of the
UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).
The statement said some of the measures to be
examined by the body include better mobilizing the police to control
the situation, greater coordination between security agencies
and more action to protect minority communities and cultural or
religious sites.
Meanwhile, Mr. Holkeri delivered a message on
behalf of Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a memorial ceremony
for two police officers killed in the days following the rioting
in Kosovo.
Offering his condolences to the families of
the two officers, Mr. Holkeri said the people who committed the
crime should not underestimate the determination of the UN and
the international community to continue their work in Kosovo.
The two officers, one from Ghana and one serving
in the Kosovo Police Service, were shot dead on 21 March while
carrying out routine work in a clearly marked car near the town
of Podujevo in the Pristina region. A UN language assistant travelling
with them remains in a serious but stable condition in hospital.
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Kosovo: UN officials on
hand as reconstruction starts on building destroyed by riots
28 March 2004 – Senior officials from the United Nations
and Kosovo today witnessed the start of reconstruction on a building
damaged by recent deadly ethnic clashes in the province.
Francesco Bastagli of the UN Interim Administration Mission
in Kosovo (UNMIK) and Kosovo's Prime Minister, Bajram Rexhepi,
were on hand as work commenced on cleaning up the YU-building
in Ulpiana. Prime Minister Rexhepi said that he hoped the renovation
would be completed in 10 days.
“This is a good beginning, but much more needs to be done,”
Mr. Bastagli said, stressing that the affected communities should
be involved in the building's reconstruction.
Besides repairing material damages, confidence and trust between
the Serb and Albanian communities have to be rebuilt, he added.
In another development, UNMIK today reported that the dead body
of a male child had been found washed on the side of a riverbank
in the Lipjan area of Pristina.
The Mission said no foul play is suspected, but the Pristina Regional
Serious Crimes Squad is investigating the case.
Police linked the body with that of a
Kosovo Albanian child reported missing since 27 February, according
to UNMIK.
Kosovo: Security Council members condemn
recent killing of two police officers
26 March 2004 – Members of the Security Council today condemned
the recent killing of two police officers in Kosovo, one of them
with the United Nations mission in the province, and called on
the Provisional Institutions of Self-government to cooperate with
the investigation.
The two officers, one from Ghana and one from
the Kosovo Police Service, were shot Sunday while carrying out
routine work in a marked car near Podujevo, in the Pristina region.
Today's statement,
made to the press by the Council President for this month, Ambassador
Jean-Marc de La Sablière of France, reiterated that "any
attack on the international presence or the law enforcement agencies
in Kosovo is intolerable."
Council members also called on all inhabitants
of Kosovo to cooperate with the UN Interim Administration Mission
(UNMIK) and the Kosovo international security force (KFOR) in
support of the police investigation so that those responsible
for the killings and other violent crimes are brought to justice.
In addition, the statement conveyed condolences
to the families of the victims and to the Government of Ghana.
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'Shocked and outraged,'
Annan condemns killing of two UN police in Kosovo
24 March 2004 – Voicing shock and
outrage, Secretary-General Kofi Annan today condemned "in
the strongest possible terms" the killing of two United Nations
police officers in Kosovo, coming less than a week after the worst
ethnic clashes since the world body took over administration of
the province nearly five years ago.
"The current violence and instability in
Kosovo cannot be tolerated," Mr. Annan said in a statement
released in New York on the "inexcusable" shooting of
the two officers, one from Ghana and one from Kosovo itself, while
they were carrying out routine work in a marked car near Podujevo,
in the Pristina region. A UN language assistant who was also shot
is in serious but stable condition.
Speaking
in Pristina, the Kosovo capital, Stefan Feller, Police Commissioner
for the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), said
he did not wish to link the shooting with last week's riots, which
killed 28 people, injured hundreds, displaced over 4,000 more
and destroyed 30 religious sites, mostly churches, and more than
300 homes.
"But I must mention that an effort by certain
groups of people to perpetrate public disorder in the last few
days has contributed to promote an environment that potentially
encourages criminal activities," Mr. Feller added.
He said the attackers fled the scene by seizing
two passing cars after the police returned fire and reinforcements
rushed to the area to give chase. One suspect was hit by police
fire and the body of a man with fatal gunshot wounds was later
recovered in a nearby village.
"Let the death of these police officers
be a wake-up call for people everywhere in Kosovo," he warned.
"Each one of us must play a part in rooting out violence
by identifying the perpetrators to the police and helping to bring
them to justice."
In his statement, Mr. Annan called on all inhabitants
of Kosovo to cooperate with UNMIK and the international security
force KFOR to support the police investigation, so that those
responsible will be brought to justice. The top UN envoy in Kosovo,
Harri Holkeri, today reiterated UNMIK's full commitment to the
establishment of "a multiethnic, tolerant, democratic society
in a stable Kosovo."
The shooting came on the eve of the fifth anniversary
of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) intervention
that forced the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops from the province
following fierce ethnic fighting and led to the UN taking over
its administration in June 1999.
Kosovo: UN envoy condemns
killing of two policeman
24 March 2004 – The two were shot dead while carrying out
routine police work near Podujevo in the UN-administered province.
One language assistant was also injured.
“This attack will not be allowed to disrupt
the functioning of the legitimate local and international institutions,”
Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Representative Harri
Holkeri said in a statement in Pristina, the Kosovo capital, adding
that local and international police were using all their resources
to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The incident came on the eve of the fifth anniversary
of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) intervention
that forced the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops following fighting
between Albanians and Serbs, and less than a week after the worse
inter-ethnic violence since then claimed at least 28 lives and
injured hundreds.
The NATO action led to the establishment
of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), which
has administered the province since June 1999.
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UN mission urges calm
on fifth anniversary of NATO's intervention in Kosovo
23 March 2004 – The United Nations Interim Administration
Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) has called for calm during tomorrow's
expected celebrations to mark the fifth anniversary of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) intervention to stop the
killings in the province.
UNMIK and the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) said
that while the people of Kosovo "should be able to express
themselves freely and openly," UNMIK Police and KFOR cannot
"accept actions which incite violence."
The top UN envoy to the province has also issued
an open letter to Kosovars, saying the five-year anniversary should
be used to mark a new beginning after last week's deadly violence.
Harri Holkeri, the Secretary-General's Special
Representative, called on the people of Kosovo to play their part
individually to make sure that the events do not re-occur.
Some 28 people were killed and hundreds injured
after violence erupted across the province following the drowning
of three ethnic Albanian children in the town of Cabra. At least
30 religious sites, mostly churches, were destroyed and more than
300 homes were burnt.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
estimated that 3,200 people - mostly ethnic Serbs and Roma - fled
their homes because of the attacks.
A UNHCR spokesman said
the agency had distributed mattresses, blankets, jerry cans and
food supplies to the evacuees, who are either living with host
families or staying temporarily at KFOR bases.
Mr. Holkeri visited the towns of Obilic and
Gracanica today to inspect the damage caused in the rioting, and
also met with Bishop Artemije, the head of the Serbian Orthodox
Church in Kosovo.
The envoy said the province had experienced
"ethnically motivated violence" that may have started
spontaneously but was orchestrated by extremist elements.
Mr. Holkeri added he would seek international
help to re-build churches and other religious sites damaged during
the violence.
His deputy, Charles Brayshaw, travelled to Prizren
to inspect homes and religious sites damaged in that town and
to talk to some of the people who had to flee their homes last
week.
The head of the UN Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
has also condemned the violence, particularly the damage to Kosovo's
cultural and religious heritage.
Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of
UNESCO, said
it is not just the monuments but "a memory and cultural identity
that are being destroyed."
UN envoy in Kosovo vows
to help displaced people return to their homes
22 March 2004 – The top United Nations
envoy to Kosovo pledged today to make sure that the thousands
of people who fled their homes in the province last week because
of ethnic violence will be able to return.
After a tour of houses and religious buildings
damaged or destroyed during the rioting, Harri Holkeri, the Secretary-General's
Special Representative, said the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK)
would help the estimated 3,200 displaced people - mostly ethnic
Serbs - to return.
"You have the right to return," Mr.
Holkeri told people in the town of Lipljan, where several houses
were burnt during last week's riots. "Every citizen has a
human right to have a home and to live there protected in peace
with prosperity."
UNMIK police have reported that the situation
in Kosovo is comparatively calm after last week's violence, which
left about 30 people dead.
Mr. Holkeri said police are investigating the
riots and acts of violence, adding the perpetrators must be brought
to justice.
Asked by reporters whether the purpose of last
week's violence was ethnic cleansing, Mr. Holkeri said labels
were not the most important issue at this time. "Every lost
life is one too many. Every destroyed home is one too many. Every
destroyed holy site is one too many."
During a tour of damaged apartments in the capital,
Pristina, with Mr. Holkeri, Kosovo's Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi
promised to provide funds to repair the damage caused by last
week's violence.
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Following last week's
violence, funeral held in Kosovo without incident – UN
21 March 2004 – Police from the United
Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) today
reported that the situation in the province is calm compared to
the turmoil of the past week.
A funeral with the attendance of up to 7,000 people proceeded
uninterrupted, according to UNMIK police spokesman Derek Chappell.
“I am pleased to report to you that no incidents have been
recorded and the situation is calm and quiet everywhere,”
he told reporters in Pristina, the capital.
Despite the relative tranquility, the repercussions from last
week's violence continue to be felt. Peggy Hicks, Director of
the Office of Returns and Communities, estimated that over 3,200
people were newly displaced as a result of the deadly ethnic clashes.
Over the past day and a half, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has
provided essential supplies to those in need, including some 650
mattresses, 1,000 blankets, eight tons of food and 200 hygienic
kits that each serve 1,000 people.
Asked about a probe into the alleged drowning of two teenagers
which sparked the violence, UNMIK spokesperson Izabella Karlowicz
said autopsies on both bodies have been conducted, an international
prosecutor has been appointed to look into the case and the preliminary
investigation will be held.
She added that in order to improve stability,
it would be essential to bring back the rule of law, start the
process of reconciliation, and ensure its continuation. “This
cannot be done by UINMIK alone,” she stressed. “The
big part of the responsibility and making reconciliation possible
is with everybody here and with the Kosovo leaders.”
Kosovo situation calming
down after extra troops deployed, says UN mission
19 March 2004 – The deployment of
extra international troops has helped to calm the situation in
Kosovo after the recent deadly violence, but there are still reports
of looting and unrest, the United Nations mission to the province
reported today.
Additional troops from the United Kingdom, the
United States and France have joined KFOR (the Kosovo international
security force) after clashes between ethnic Serbs and Albanians
in Kosovo this week have killed more than two dozen people and
injured hundreds of others.
UN spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters today
that "their presence is being felt," and their arrival
has also been welcomed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) as it tries to help civilians in the area.
Mr. Eckhard said UNMIK considers the situation
in Kosovo to be "extremely volatile," but he added that
while there have been reports of more clashes and continued looting,
most have been on a smaller scale compared to the violence of
earlier this week.
Six more churches were destroyed yesterday,
taking the total in the past two days to at least 16, while at
least 110 houses of Serbs have been burned.
UN Police report that at least 28 people died
in the clashes, the worst violence since the UN assumed administration
of the province almost five years ago. Hundreds of others, including
55 KFOR soldiers, have been injured.
UNHCR is attempting to deliver aid to more than
1,000 members of ethnic minorities - mostly Serbs - who were evacuated
from the Pristina, Gnjilane and Pec/Peja areas by KFOR soldiers.
But access is now severely restricted because of security concerns.
The Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees,
Kamel Morjane, who was in Belgrade yesterday on a previously planned
mission, had to cancel a planned trip to Kosovo today because
of security concerns.
In Serbia, the agency has made contingency plans
to receive possible arrivals from Kosovo, while the High Commissioner
for Refugees has appealed to the region's ethnic communities to
refrain from further violence
Meanwhile, Harri Holkeri, the Secretary-General's
Special Representative for Kosovo, is talking to politicians in
Pristina and in Belgrade to urge them to play their part in calming
tensions.
Late yesterday the Security Council issued a
presidential statement denouncing the violence and calling on
authorities to ensure that the rule of law is maintained and the
perpetrators of crimes are brought to justice.
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Condemning violence in
Kosovo, Security Council demands return to rule of law
18 March 2004 – Denouncing
"the large-scale inter-ethnic violence" that has led
to the deaths of at least 31 people in Kosovo since yesterday,
the United Nations Security Council today called for the province's
authorities to ensure that the rule of law is maintained, all
ethnic communities feel properly secure and the perpetrators of
crimes are brought to justice.
In a statement read out by Ambassador Jean-Marc
de La Sablière of France, which holds the Council's rotating
presidency for this month, the 15-member body also condemned the
attacks on staff from the UN Interim Administration Mission in
Kosovo (UNMIK) and the troops of the Kosovo international security
force (KFOR).
"The perpetrators must understand that
an attack on the international presence is an attack on the international
community as a whole and that extremism has no role in Kosovo's
future," the statement said.
The Presidential statement was read out after
a Council debate
about the situation in Kosovo, which has faced the worst public
unrest since the UN took over its administration nearly five years
ago.
Speaking
at the outset of the session, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
told the Council, "We cannot close our eyes to the fact that
this violence is ethnically motivated, with communities attacking
each other." He said they highlighted how fragile Kosovo
remains despite the progress made since the war of 1998-99.
Mr. Annan described the deliberate targeting
of residential houses and religious sites as "shameful and
inexcusable."
The Secretary-General also said he especially
wanted to remind the leaders of the Kosovo Albanian community,
the province's biggest ethnic group, of their responsibility to
protect and promote the rights of all Kosovars, particularly its
minorities.
In the Presidential statement, the Council offered
its full support to UNMIK, KFOR and the Secretary-General's Special
Representative for Kosovo, Harri Holkeri. It also welcomed moves
to strengthen the international security presence there.
Mr. de La Sablière said in the statement
that all parties in Kosovo should remain calm, avoid inflammatory
behaviour and use peaceful and democratic channels - such as the
UN and Kosovo's Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG)
- to resolve their grievances.
He said the Council wanted to emphasize that
legal investigations were underway into the shooting of a Kosovo
Serb teenager in Pristina and the deaths of three Kosovo Albanian
children in Mitrovica.
Serbia and Montenegro's Foreign Minister, Goran
Svilanovic, said the violence towards Kosovo's Serbs was designed
to send a signal that they should leave and that UNMIK and KFOR
have no real authority over the province.
Mr. Svilanovic called for the strengthening
of international forces and extra measures to protect Serbs, who
he said were preparing to escape to central Serbia. He said "Albanian
extremism and terrorism" was responsible and had to be stopped.
The Foreign Minister also said that Serbia
and Montenegro's international borders with Albania and the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) must be secured to prevent
"groups of armed terrorists" from coming in to Kosovo
"with large quantities of arms and other military equipment."
UN war crimes tribunal
to hold hearing on substitute judge for Miloševic trial
18 March 2004 – The United Nations
war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia announced today
that it will hold a hearing next week on whether the trial of
former Yugoslav President Slobodan Miloševic should continue
with a substitute judge.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
is considering introducing a substitute judge to sit on the Miloševic
trial after the recent resignation, effective on 31 May, of Judge
Richard May of the United Kingdom for reasons of ill-health.
Judge May has been the presiding judge of a
three-member panel - the other judges are Patrick Robinson of
Jamaica and O-gon Kwon of the Republic of Korea - in the Miloševic
case.
The ICTY's President, Judge Theodor Meron of
the United States, today issued an order scheduling the hearing
for next Thursday "to ascertain whether the Accused gives
his consent."
A spokesman for the ICTY said today that if
Mr. Miloševic opposes the continuation of the trial with
a substitute judge, the two judges may decide to proceed regardless
if they determine it is still in the best interests of the case.
That decision could be appealed.
Mr. Miloševic faces charges of crimes
against humanity and war crimes for his role in the wars that
engulfed Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo during the
1990s. The prosecution closed its case last month and the defence
is scheduled to begin its case on 8 June.
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As violence continues
in Kosovo, top UN envoy issues new appeal for calm
18 March 2004 – The top United Nations
envoy in Kosovo issued a new appeal today for an immediate halt
to violence that has already killed 22 people and injured 500
more in the worst unrest to hit the ethnically divided province
since the world body took over its administration nearly five
years ago.
“Let no one be mistaken. This violence
is destroying Kosovo’s future, for every day that the violence
goes on, Kosovo loses valuable friends,” Secretary-General
Kofi Annan’s Special Representative Harri Holkeri’s
said in a statement in Pristina, the capital, as clashes between
ethnic Albanians and Serbs continued into a second day.
Mr. Holkeri, who heads the UN Mission in Kosovo
(UNMIK), called on politicians and media who incited or supported
the violence to refrain immediately from making inflammatory statements
ahead of a meeting later today of the UN Security Council to discuss
the situation.
“Yesterday Kosovo saw the worst possible
violence since UNMIK and KFOR (the international security force)
came here five years ago,” he said. “We are deeply
shocked, saddened and disturbed by these events and call for an
immediate halt to all violence and protests, some of which are
on going today.”
Kosovo has been under UN administration since
1999 when NATO forced the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops following
fighting between Albanians and Serbs. Eleven KFOR soldiers and
61 policemen were among yesterday’s injured.
“The violence was the worst possible
message that Kosovo could send to the international community,”
Mr. Holkeri said. “The whole world is watching how the people
of Kosovo behave with each other and with the international community
five years after the international community at great expense
intervened to stop the violence.”
Annan calls for immediate
halt to deadly Albanian-Serb violence in Kosovo
17 March 2004 – Secretary-General
Kofi Annan today called for an immediate halt to the violence
between ethnic Albanians and Serbs in United Nations-administered
Kosovo, which has reportedly left at least seven people dead and
hundreds injured amid repeated bursts of automatic gunfire and
explosions.
The UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo
(UNMIK) said a large riot erupted after a crowd of some 3,000
people gathered in the south of the ethnically divided town of
Mitrovica, attacked the UNMIK police station and regional headquarters,
then marched across a bridge and attacked Serbs in the north.
It added that the situation was far from stable
and there were reports of clashes elsewhere in Kosovo, which has
been under UN administration since 1999 when NATO confirmed the
withdrawal of Yugoslav troops from the province following fighting
between ethnic Albanians and Serbs.
In a statement issued by his spokesman in New
York, Mr. Annan strongly condemned the violence, which also hit
the towns of Lipljan, Pec, and Gnjilane, and said preliminary
reports indicated that several KFOR international security force
soldiers and UNMIK civilian police were among the casualties.
"He urges all parties involved to bring
an immediate halt to the violence, which jeopardizes the stability
of Kosovo and the security of all its people," the statement
added.
Expressing full support for the efforts of his
Special Representative and the rest of the international community
in Kosovo, Mr. Annan called on local authorities to help return
the situation to normal, and bring to justice those responsible
for the violence.
Declaring "this is a dark day for Kosovo,"
Special Representative Harri Holkeri issued a statement in Pristina,
the capital, calling on people to return to their homes and allow
the police and KFOR to do their jobs and provide security for
everyone.
"There is no excuse for further violence,"
he said. "It is essential that people remain calm and do
not add to the tension and general insecurity."
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Kosovo elections set for
23 October, UN envoy announces
14 March 2004 – Kosovo's next elections
will be held on 23 October, the United Nations envoy to the province
announced today.
Harri Holkeri based this decision on the recommendations
of an Election Working Group, endorsing all of its proposals,
including one calling for closed lists, which he termed “the
most appropriate option for Kosovo at this time.”
During elections in 2000, using the open lists system, only 8
per cent of successful candidates were women.
“The closed lists will ensure women's participation in the
Assembly of Kosovo, which currently has one of the highest percentages
of women representatives,” Mr. Holkeri said, adding that
open lists “tend to favor those who have high public profiles.”
The announcement came during a press briefing with the UN Under-Secretary-General
for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, who today
wrapped up a five-day trip to Kosovo and Belgrade, where he had
numerous meetings with representatives from all segments of society,
including senior officials.
Mr. Guéhenno said there was evident progress in Kosovo,
citing the functioning of the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government,
improved security, the return of displaced persons and the rebuilding
of infrastructure.
“At the same time I don't think that any sound bite can
catch the complexity of Kosovo,” he said, adding, “I
wouldn't be realistic if I did not also acknowledge that much
remains to be done.”
Among the challenges ahead, he noted the need to revive the economy
and to implement the Standards – a set of benchmarks that
must be reached before action on Kosovo's final status can begin.
He also pointed to the importance of improving minority representation
in government and fostering observance of the rule of law.
“There is a lot at stake there and
it goes way beyond political issues,” he said. “It
is the issue of a prosperous Kosovo, which retains its people,
which attracts fine capital, which is a vibrant place, where tensions
have subsided, where everybody can live with mutual respect, where
there is trust, where all communities can feel comfortable and
that they are respected.”
In Kosovo, senior UN peacekeeping
official urges reconciliation
13 March 2004 – Visiting Kosovo today, the United Nations
Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping urged all concerned to
promote reconciliation in the province.
Jean-Marie Guéhenno met with a number of officials
and toured various sites, including the “returns village”
in Suvi Lukavac, where he said that when displaced people went
back to their homes they served as a positive example for others.
“We want more people to come back,” he told reporters.
“I think it is possible but it needs real willingness and
[a] change of hearts and minds.”
Responding to a question, he stressed that security and economic
development are essential to spur the returns process on.
Earlier in Mitrovica, he told the press
that he had seen significant changes in the security situation
in the area since his last visit in 2000. At the same time, he
noted the need for greater economic activity, saying this “comes
with trust.”
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UN war crimes tribunal removes restrictions on Miloševic's
contacts
11 March 2004 – The United Nations war crimes tribunal for
the former Yugoslavia announced today that it has eased the communications
limitations imposed on former Yugoslav President Slobodan Miloševic.
David Tolbert, the deputy registrar of the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY),
said that the lifting follows Mr. Miloševic's compliance
with previous restrictions issued by the court.
Mr. Miloševic can now contact by telephone
or receive visits from anyone except the media, a spokeswoman
for the ICTY said today. Previously he had been restricted to
legal counsel, diplomatic or consular representatives and immediate
family members only.
Mr. Tolbert said that if Mr. Miloševic
tries to communicate directly or indirectly with the media, or
takes any actions that were "likely to frustrate" the
mandate of the ICTY, or violate its detention rules, then the
communications restrictions will be reinstated.
Mr. Miloševic is on trial facing charges
of crimes against humanity and war crimes for his role in the
wars that engulfed Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo
during the 1990s.
In a separate development, the Tribunal announced
today that the United Kingdom has become the 10th Member State
of the UN - but the first common law country - to sign an agreement
on the enforcement of ICTY sentences.
The agreement, which will enter into force
in 30 days, means the UK joins Italy, Finland, Norway, Sweden,
Austria, France, Spain, Denmark and Germany as countries which
may house people who have been convicted of crimes and sentenced
to jail terms by the UN court.
Kosovo police disable
home-made bomb outside UN headquarters compound
6 March 2004 – Kosovo Police Service
officers today discovered and helped to disable an improvised
explosive device outside the headquarters compound of the UN mission
in the province (UNMIK).
The makeshift bomb was found adjacent to apartment buildings
occupied by Kosovo residents in the early hours of 6 March. With
the assistance of multinational troops (KFOR), the device was
disarmed without causing damage or injuries.
Harri Holkeri, the Secretary-General's Special Representative
to the province, condemned the attempted attack and voiced opposition
to extremists who continue to threaten the people of Kosovo with
these actions.
He also assured the public that together
with the ongoing police investigation, additional security measures
were being implemented to prevent future attacks of this nature.
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