Security Council deplores Kosovo Assembly's action
on border pact
 |
| UN
Security Council in session |
24 May – Reaffirming
its earlier statements and decisions, the United Nations Security
Council today said that the Kosovo Assembly had overstepped its
authority when it passed a recent measure dealing with a border
pact.
In a statement read out at a formal
meeting by its President for the month of May, Ambassador Kishore
Mahbubani of Singapore, the Council deplored the Assembly's adoption
of a "resolution on the protection of the territorial integrity
of Kosovo."
The Council said it concurred with Secretary-General
Kofi Annan's Special Representative for Kosovo, Michael Steiner,
that such resolutions and decisions by the Assembly on matters
that do not fall within its field of competence were "null
and void."
"The Security Council calls on Kosovo's
elected leaders to focus their attention on the urgent matters
for which they have responsibility, in accordance with resolution
1244 of 10 June 1999 and the Constitutional Framework," the
statement said. "Concrete progress in those areas is of paramount
importance to improve the life of the people."
In reiterating its full support for Mr.
Steiner, the Council also urged Kosovo's leaders to work in close
cooperation with the UN Interim Administration Mission (UNMIK)
and the international security presence (KFOR) with a view to
promote a better future for Kosovo and stability in the region.
"All steps undermining those efforts are detrimental to this
common objective," the statement said.
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Security Council backs
UN envoy veto of Kosovo Assembly's measure on border pact
23 May – In a move that drew the backing
of the United Nations Security Council, the head of the UN Interim
Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) today vetoed a resolution
adopted by the province's Assembly on the grounds that the legislative
body had exceeded its powers by passing a measure on a border
accord.
Michael Steiner, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's
Special Representative in Kosovo and the head of UNMIK, issued
a statement declaring "null and void" the Assembly resolution
that sought to challenge the border agreement signed in February
2001 between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Mr. Steiner told the press that the Assembly's
action was a clear violation of the Kosovo's Constitutional Framework.
The Assembly cannot take up issues relating
to foreign relations, including the issue of borders, he explained,
noting that those types of issues were within the competency of
the Special Representative only.
Later in the day in New York, the Council's
current President, Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani of Singapore,
said in a press
statement that the 15-member body "rejected" the
resolution adopted today by the Kosovo Assembly.
"The members of the Council expressed
their full support for Mr. Steiner's decision to declare the resolution
null and void," Ambassador Mahbubani said, adding that the
Council will discuss the matter tomorrow morning and provide a
more detailed reaction soon.
Security Council calls
on Kosovo leaders to work 'constructively' with UN mission
22 May – Security Council members
today called on Kosovo’s elected leaders to work “constructively
and in full cooperation” with the United Nations Interim
Administration Mission (UNMIK) for the full implementation of
resolution 1244, which calls for the development of provisional
institutions of self-government.
The Council's appeal came
in a press
statement by its current President, Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani
of Singapore, who said Kosovo's leaders should also focus the
attention of the province's Assembly on addressing the urgent
matters for which it had responsibility, in accordance with the
Constitutional Framework.
The members also reaffirmed
the Council's position in its presidential statement of 7 March
2001 that the border between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia must be respected,
Ambassador Mahbubani said.
"[They] expressed
concern about reports that the territory of the former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia had been shot at from the territory of Kosovo,"
he added.
Council members also reiterated their
full support for the efforts of Michael Steiner, Secretary-General
Kofi Annan's Special Representative for Kosovo.
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Kosovo: UN outlines principles
for return of displaced persons, refugees
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| SRSG Steiner on a visit
with Ashkali families |
21 May – Setting
forth the basic principles for displaced persons and refugees
to go back to Kosovo, the head of the United Nations Interim Administration
Mission in the province (UNMIK) today made public a conceptual
outline on the right of sustainable returns.
UNMIK chief Michael Steiner launched a Concept
Paper in the garden of the homes of some Kosovo Ashkalis who
recently returned to the Vushtrii area from exile in Vojvodina,
Serbia.
"I am here to honour the brave men and
women who've exercised their inalienable right to return home,"
Mr. Steiner told the families and media. "The homecoming
of these 59 individuals demonstrates the principles embraced by
UNMIK and other agencies, as well as the Government of Kosovo."
According to the Paper, returns must be fundamentally
based on the rights and decisions of individuals, and these rights
should apply equally to members of all communities. Returns must
also be sustainable, meaning returnees must have equal access
to public services, employment, property, humanitarian assistance,
freedom of movement and other attributes of normal life.
The document goes on to stipulate that no displaced
person should be forced home, or be used as a political pawn,
and that displaced persons should try to return to their original
homes or at least the area they came from.
The Paper notes that security conditions for
minorities continue to improve and that freedom of movement has
gradually increased. "KFOR and UNMIK Police are shifting
to a flexible, threat assessment-based approach in order to achieve
the gradual dismantling of protected enclaves, and to promote
local-level integration and reconciliation," the document
says.
It stresses that with these improvements
and the establishment of a multi-ethnic government, "there
are emerging opportunities for returns."
Kosovo Serbs must take
up their rightful places in government, Security Council told
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| Jean-Marie
Guéhenno |
May 16 - Briefing the
Security Council on the latest developments in Kosovo, particularly
the functioning of self-government institutions, a top United
Nations peacekeeping official stressed today that it was essential
for Kosovo Serb representatives to move quickly to take up their
rightful places in the government.
"All sides need to help each other to find common
ground solutions so that many of the complex situations facing
Kosovo - ones that require concessions on all sides - can begin
to be tackled in a way that will prove effective and sustainable,"
Jean-Marie Guéhenno, the UN Under-Secretary-General for
Peacekeeping Operations, told an open
meeting of the Council.
In his briefing, Mr. Guéhenno noted that
on 9 May the Kosovo Government submitted its draft Programme to
the Assembly, which highlighted such priorities as consolidating
democratic structures, improving education and health care, and
promoting economic development. The Programme also focused on
the protection of the rights and interests of communities - including
the right to return - and regional integration, including meaningful
dialogue with the authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Unfortunately, the Kosovo Serb Return coalition
(KP) so far had not put forward candidates for the three government
posts it had been allotted, Mr. Guéhenno said, noting that
it was regrettable for two reasons. First, it meant that the Kosovo
Serbs were still not part of the decision-making process and did
not participate in the talks on the Government's Programme. Secondly,
it tended to undermine the KP Assembly members and their ability
to be respected by their colleagues in the Assembly.
As for municipal elections, Mr. Guéhenno
said that the vote, originally slated for 21 September, would
now be held on 26 October, with the important element that local
electoral bodies would take increased responsibilities for the
balloting. The voting would also provide an opportunity for those
communities that boycotted the 2000 elections, particularly the
Kosovo Serb community, to participate.
Turning to the issue of returns, Mr. Guéhenno
said the aim was to achieve increasing returns this year to create
momentum for more significant numbers of repatriations during
2003 and 2004. In its draft Programme, the Government of Kosovo
had committed itself to demonstrating its willingness to address
the wishes and concerns of internally displaced persons and refugees.
Efforts had continued, he added, to determine the fate of the
missing of all communities, an issue that remained one of the
major obstacles to reconciliation.
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Kosovo: one year after
signing key self-government act, UN cites 'Great success'
May 15 - The top UN official in Kosovo
today marked the one-year anniversary of the Constitutional
Framework for Provisional Self-government in the province
by calling the document "a great success."
"We have had elections; we have an Assembly,
provisional institutions and a Government. None of this would
have been possible without the Constitutional Framework,"
Michael Steiner, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General
and head of the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), said today.
Signed as Regulation 2001/9 by then Special
Representative of the Secretary-General Hans Haekkerup, the Constitutional
Framework set up the legal structure for today's Provisional Institutions
of Self-Government (PISG), and it described the powers and responsibilities
that would be put into the hands of Kosovo's leaders and civil
servants after the general elections of 17 November 2001.
The Framework was drafted over seven weeks in
spring 2001 by a working group composed originally of seven Kosovo
and six international members under the chairmanship of Johan
Van Lamoen, an international expert in the field of transitional
legal regimes.
In its preamble, the Framework recalls that
"UN Security Council resolution 1244
(1999) envisages the setting up and development of meaningful
self-government in Kosovo pending a final settlement…"
and that a "gradual transfer of responsibilities to Provisional
Institutions of Self-Government will, through parliamentary democracy,
enhance democratic governance and respect for the rule of law
in Kosovo."
The document also recognized "the importance
of creating a free, open and safe environment which facilitates
the participation of all persons, including all members of communities
in the process of establishing democratic institutions of self-government."
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Two Serbs wanted for alleged
war crimes transferred to UN tribunal
15 May – Two Serbs wanted for alleged
war crimes in Croatia were transferred today from Serbia to the
detention unit of the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal
for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
In an indictment confirmed in 1995, prosecutors
allege that Milan Martic, the leader of the self-proclaimed “Republic
of Serb Krajina” (RSK), ordered RSK military forces to attack
the central part of Zagreb on 2 and 3 May 1995, causing death
and injury to a number of civilians in the Croatian capital.
For his actions, Mr. Martic was charged with
four counts of violations of the laws or customs of war for an
unlawful attack against the civilian population and individual
civilians.
Meanwhile, Mile Mrksic was wanted in connection
with a separate indictment, confirmed in 1997, against the other
so-called “Vukovar Three,” which includes Miroslav Radic
and Veselin Sljivancanin.
According to the indictment, in November 1991,
the Yugoslav army (JNA) and Serb paramilitary soldiers under the
command or supervision of the three suspects removed at least
200 non-Serb individuals from the Vukovar Hospital and then transported
them to a farm building in Ovcara, where they beat them for several
hours.
Soldiers then transported the captives in groups
of about 10 to 20 to a site between the Ovcara farm and Grabovo,
where they shot and otherwise killed at least 198 men and two
women. After the killings, the bodies of the victims were buried
by bulldozer in a mass grave at the same location.
During that time, Mr. Mrksic was a colonel in
the JNA and commander of the Guards Brigade, which had primary
responsibility for the attack on Vukovar. After the siege of Vukovar,
he was promoted to general rank with the Yugoslav army and later
became the commanding officer of the army of the RSK.
Mr. Mrksic is charged with two counts
of grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, two counts of
violations of the laws or customs of war and two counts of crimes
against humanity.
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Kosovo:
UN to host Balkan forum on ways to fight cigarette smuggling
6
May – Finance and customs officials from the Balkan countries
are set to gather in Kosovo later this week for a United Nations-hosted
meeting on ways to combat cigarette smuggling, which has contributed
to a significant loss in revenue for several governments in the
region and a consequent drop in funds available for public services.
“Cigarette smugglers are stealing from
the people of Kosovo, and we are talking big bucks here,”
the head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK),
Michael Steiner, said Monday. Mr. Steiner had proposed holding
the conference, set to get under way on Friday in Pristina, as
part of UNMIK’s priority to combat organized crime and corruption
and to create conditions for economic growth.
“It is a problem which can only be dealt
with comprehensively, at the regional level,” he added, as
finance ministers and customs directors from Albania, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, and the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are expected to discuss practical
and coordinated steps to end the region-wide practice of avoiding
taxation on the transport and sale of cigarettes.
Of the €105 million (euros) collected each
year in excise taxes in Kosovo, at least €20 million comes
from levies on cigarettes. Customs officials in the province estimate
that €8 million is eluding customs control every year, an
improvement over the past, when as much as €30 million may
have escaped collection during 1999-2000.
According to UNMIK, due to improved efforts
at tax collection, as well as the reduction in the tax rate on
cigarettes coming into Kosovo, the share of excise tax generated
by cigarettes has grown dramatically – from 1 per cent of
excise tax revenues collected in 2000 to more than 13 per cent
this year.
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UN Mission sets up emergency
fund for victims of last weekend´s earthquake
3 May - Following last week's earthquake in the Gnjilane area,
the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK)
has started a €500,000 (euros) fund to help victims get back
on their feet.
The Earthquake Emergency Fund (EEF), established
by UNMIK chief Michael Steiner earlier this week, received its
first deposit from the Mission today and is set to be operational
by Monday.
The EEF will be used mainly for in-kind assistance
to individuals and families, with funds targeting the most vulnerable
cases, UNMIK said. In exceptional circumstances, families in extreme
situations may be eligible for cash assistance of up to €20.
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and donor agencies will
provide additional support for the relief effort.
EEF money will be allocated to municipalities
based on the findings of the technical experts in the Municipal
Crisis Committees, which are composed of international and local
technicians and engineers in cooperation with UNMIK officials
and engineering teams. The Committees have been established to
assess the extent and level of damage and to categorize affected
buildings and families according to established criteria.
In order to ensure an equitable evaluation of
and response to the needs of the 16 affected minority villages,
UNMIK has tasked four teams of international and local engineers
to carry out damage assessment.
Mr. Steiner, meanwhile, has also contacted representatives
of the Government of Japan to seek its assistance in informing
the public about earthquakes by sending seismological experts
to Kosovo.
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