Security Council urged
to reject calls to end UN Interim Administration in Kosovo
23 April - A senior United Nations official today urged the Security
Council to reject calls to end the UN Interim Administration Mission
in Kosovo (UNMIK), stating that the mission has, and will continue
to encourage dialogue and multi-ethnicity in the province, which
still has some way to go in establishing independent functioning
institutions.
"The Mission has balanced the competing,
and often conflicting, desires of the leaders and people in Kosovo
without giving fodder to extremism," Assistant Secretary-General
Hedi Annabi said
during his briefing to the Council on Secretary-General Kofi Annan's
latest report which highlights the continuing transfer of responsibilities
to Kosovo's Provisional Institutions of Self-Government.
During the Council's open meeting on Kosovo,
which also heard from the representatives of nearly 20 countries,
Mr. Annabi said perceived weaknesses in the UN's work in other
post-conflict situations have been exploited to unjustifiably
discredit the work of UNMIK and its efforts to establish and oversee
the development of provisional self-governing institutions.
"The report shows that Kosovo has some
way to go in establishing representative and functioning institutions,
particularly since the Provisional Institutions have been hampered
by political inter- and intra-party struggles," Mr. Annabi
told the Council, making the case for continued UNMIK presence.
He stated that while the Kosovo Assembly continued
to hold regular sessions, it remained unable to bridge political
and ethnic differences, leading to several walkouts by Albanian
and Serb parties. Separate and mono-ethnic administrative institutions
have also been formed, complicating efforts to establish an inclusive
Kosovo.
Ethnic violence and crime seemed to be on the
increase again after a decline in December last year, Mr. Annabi
added. "Important minority issues such as freedom of movement,
use of language and alphabet, and receipt of fair share financing
from the municipalities remained problematic with little tangible
progress," he said.
He asked for the Council's continued support,
saying there has been steadily increasing pressure on UNMIK from
all sides, particularly seeking to violate UN resolutions and
to challenge the authority of the head of UNMIK, Michael Steiner.
On the bright side, Mr. Annabi said there have
been an increased number of minorities in the civil service, including
the judiciary, and the continued development of the Kosovo Police
Service. Another positive development has been the transfer of
administrative and operational responsibilities of the Tax Administration
to the provisional institutions.
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Transfer of UN Authority
progresses in Kosovo, but multi-ehnic institutions needed
17 April - Though a significant process of transferring further
responsibilities from the United Nations to local authorities
was launched in the last three months, Kosovo still has some way
to go in establishing representative and functioning institutes,
Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in a report
issued today.
In his report to the Security Council on the
activities of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo
(UNMIK) since the beginning of the year, Mr. Annan says the tendency
of local Kosovo Albanian leaders and the Provisional Institutions
to focus on symbols and image, and to publicly promote positions
contrary to UN resolutions is a cause for concern.
He calls for all local leaders to work together
to consolidate these institutions by focusing on substance and
practical results instead of holding institutional developments
hostage to political or ethnic differences.
"Forming separate, mono-ethnic administrative
institutions will not lead to the multi-ethnic Kosovo towards
which we all strive," Mr. Annan says, calling local leaders
to work towards this end. "Working within the established
structures requires willingness on the part of minority communities
and receptivity on the part of majority community."
Despite these challenges, he states that "the
transfer must proceed, so that the Provisional Institutions become
accountable to the people of Kosovo for the delivery of those
services and administration for which they are responsible."
UNMIK is also working hard to ensure the environment
is conducive to minority people returning to Kosovo, Mr. Annan
notes, adding that progress has been made on the ground by preparing
projects and sensitizing communities to ensure that returns take
place in as safe, secure and sustainable an environment as possible.
"However, acts of intimidation, threats
and violence directed against minorities still occur and are intended
to discourage minority participation in public life," he
says, and calls on the leaders and people of Kosovo to put an
end to such acts, and work actively on inter-ethnic dialogue and
reconciliation.
The Security Council has scheduled an open meeting
on Kosovo next Wednesday.
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Security Council backs
action by UN Mission Chief to overrule Kosovo Assembly
14 April - The United Nations Security Council today strongly
supported the decision by the top UN official in Kosovo to declare
without legal effect the enactment of legislation on higher education
by the Kosovo Assembly on 3 April.
The Secretary General’s Special Representative
in Kosovo, Michael Steiner, made the decision because laws can
only enter into force once promulgated by the special representative.
The Assembly also failed to respect the outcome of the special
process to protect minority rights.
Council members “expressed their concern
about this action by the Assembly and called on the Provisional
Institutions of Self-Government to focus their work on competencies
under their purview, in a way fully consistent with 1244 and the
Constitutional Framework,” Security Council President Adolfo
Aguilar Zinser, of Mexico, said in a press statement.
“Members of the Council strongly reaffirmed
the need for strict observance of resolution 1244 and full respect
for the authority of the Special Representative,” the statement
said.
Former Bosnian Army Commander
to appear before UNTribunal
11 April - A former commander of the Bosnian army charged with
the abuse and killing of Serb detainees in Srebrenica in 1993
will make his initial appearance before the United Nations International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
next week, the UN court said today.
Naser Oric, who was arrested yesterday in Tuzla,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, and transferred to the ICTY’s Detention
Unit in The Hague, is charged in his individual capacity with
two counts of violations of the laws or customs of war and an
additional four counts of the same crimes for his responsibility
of those serving under him. He is schedule to appear before the
court on Tuesday.
According to the indictment confirmed on 28
March, Mr. Oric was the commander of the forces of the Army of
Bosnia and Herzegovina (ABiH) in the Srebrenica area in Eastern
Bosnia and Herzegovina. Between 24 September 1992 and 20 March
1993, members of the military police under his command and control
detained several Serb individuals in the Srebrenica police station
and in the building behind the Srebrenica municipal building.
“These detainees were subjected to physical
abuse, serious suffering and serious injury to body and health,
and inhumane treatment by the guards and/or by others with the
support of the guards. In some instances, prisoners were beaten
to death,” the indictment says.
Mr. Oric is also alleged to have known, or had
reason to know, “that his subordinates were about to plan,
prepare or execute the imprisonment, killing and/or cruel treatment
of Serbs detained at the Srebrenica Police Station and the building
behind the Srebrenica Municipal Building, or had done so, and
he failed to take necessary and reasonable measures to prevent
such acts or to punish the perpetrators thereof,” the indictment
says.
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UN Tribunal upholds sentences
of 3 Bosnian prison camp commenders.
8 April - The United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for
the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) today upheld the prison sentences
of three Bosnians convicted of war crimes committed while in charge
of a prison camp.
Zdravko Mucic, Hazim Delic and Esad Landzo had
appealed their new sentences, which were for nine, 18 and 15 years,
respectively, after a previous ruling by the ICTY
Appeals Chamber returned their case to the trial level with a
number of issues relating to the adjustment of the sentences that
had been imposed as a result of its new findings.
Mr. Mucic, the camp commander, Mr. Delic, the
deputy commander, and Mr. Landzo, a camp guard, had been found
guilty of killing, torturing, sexually assaulting, beating and
otherwise subjecting detainees at the Celebici camp to cruel and
inhumane treatment.
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