Kosovo making steady progress despite continued
challenges, Security Council told
27 May 2005 – Progress in Kosovo
remains on track in most priority areas, despite continued uncertainty,
a change of Government and the fact that Kosovo Serbs continue
to shun participation in the provisional institutions, Secretary-General
Kofi Annan’s representative told the United Nations Security
Council today.
“Let there be no doubt there has been
progress,” Søren Jessen-Petersen, Mr. Annan’s
Special Representative for Kosovo told the Council in a briefing
on the Secretary-General’s latest report. He pointed, in
particular, to the rapid formation of a new Government in March
following the resignation of Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj after
his notification of an imminent indictment from the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
“During those difficult days and weeks,
the political leaders and citizens of Kosovo managed a highly
unusual situation with maturity and without any disorder or instability,”
he said.
In addition to other progress in the building
of democracy, Mr. Jessen-Petersen also highlighted positive developments
on dialogue between the Kosovo institutions and the Government
of Serbia and Montenegro, as well as with the Serbian Orthodox
Church.
He said that such progress would continue even
without the meaningful participation of the Kosovo Serbs, but
the ability to establish a full multi-ethnic country, integrating
all communities, would remain limited as long as one ethnic group
was pressured to stay outside the political, economic and social
processes.
In that context, he said, “Belgrade would
help the Kosovo Serb community, and itself, by moving from reticence
and delay to commitment and engagement.”
Pointing to improvements in security, freedom
of movement and economic issues, among others, he stressed that
the so-called international “standards” remained the
road map for the short and long term, as well as a way for Kosovo
to move progressively towards European Union integration. He added
that a resolution of the status issue would produce even more
significant results on issues such as refugee returns and the
economy.
Finally, he emphasized that the pace of further
progress relied on the willingness of the majority community to
continue to make efforts to create a multi-ethnic and democratic
Kosovo.
“This willingness does exist, despite
the recent, painful conflict, and we must and will continue to
support those who display it,” he said.
For his part, Nebojsa Covic, President of the
Coordination Centre of Serbia and Montenegro and the Republic
of Serbia for Kosovo and Metohia, said that the report heard today,
regrettably, linked the most important problems to the Kosovo
Serbs and to the Government of Serbia and its authorities. In
view of the fact that Serbs and other non-Albanians lived isolated
in enclaves precisely because their safety was jeopardized and
there was no freedom of movement, the statement that the freedom
of movement existed in all municipalities in the province except
in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica was inaccurate.
He said the authorities in Belgrade were
trying to facilitate the process of achieving the common goal
of a truly democratic and multi-ethnic society. The cornerstone
of Belgrade’s policy was that state borders could not be
changed, and its sovereignty and territorial integrity could not
be questioned. Direct dialogue was the only road to follow if
solutions to the problems faced in the province were to be found.
Mr. Covic said he hoped that the leaders of the Kosovo Albanians
would also demonstrate their readiness for dialogue.
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Set of 64 mortal remains repatriated to Kosovo
under UN auspices
27 May 2005 – A group of 64 bodies
exhumed from Batajnica, Serbia, and believed to be of missing
Kosovo Albanians, were repatriated under United Nations auspices
today.
The Office on Missing Persons and Forensics
(OMPF) of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK)
arranged the transfer in cooperation with the UN Civilian Police
Missing Persons Unit (MPU) and the Serbian authorities.
The remains were identified by DNA, and once
verification procedures were completed, they were transported
to the Rahovec/Orahovac mortuary where forensic inspections will
then begin.
UNMIK said family members would be the first
to be informed as soon as their loved ones are identified. Teams
consisting of an OMPF outreach officer and MPU identification
officers will visit the families affected by the transfer when
forensic inspections are complete. The mortal remains will then
be ready for release to the families.
The first group of bodies exhumed from
Serbia were repatriated to Kosovo in May 2003.
Progress in Kosovo must be across the board,
continuous – Annan
26 May 2005 – Noting concrete progress
in Kosovo toward internationally-agreed standards in such areas
as government reform, the rule of law and minority rights, United
Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a report out today, stressed
that continuing progress must be made in all priority areas for
any future political settlement to proceed.
Mr. Annan's latest
report to the Security Council on the UN Interim Administration
Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) contains an assessment of progress measured
against the eight agreed-upon standards in the priority areas
of democratic institutions, rule of law, freedom of movement,
sustainable returns of displaced persons, economic growth, property
rights, cultural heritage, inter-community dialogue and a civil
emergency response corps.
"All standards are important and the focus
on areas of particular importance to Kosovo minorities does not
diminish the relevance of any of the eight standards," Mr.
Annan says in the report.
Mr. Annan recommends that a comprehensive review
of progress against the standards should be initiated this summer,
saying that he intends to appoint a Special Envoy to conduct that
review in the near future.
He adds that the review – on the basis
of which final status talks could be launched – should consist
of consultations with the parties and the international community
to assess the current situation and conditions for possible next
steps in the process.
But he also stresses that the review's outcome
is not a foregone conclusion. "During and beyond the comprehensive
review, Kosovo's political leaders will be expected to pursue
and strengthen their efforts to implement the standards, and will
continue to be assessed on this basis," he says.
While noting improvements in outreach to minority
communities and the smooth transition of government that took
place recently, he expressed concern over the slow pace of local
government reform, inter-party rancour and violent incidents that
may have been related to such problems.
"It is crucial that any threats of
violence or intimidation not detract us from our goal," he
said. "It is the responsibility of all people in Kosovo to
ensure that the work of extremists is not allowed to dictate the
future course of Kosovo."
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UN conference seeks €40 million to restore
cultural heritage sites in Kosovo
13 May 2005 – Donors gathered in
Paris today for a United Nations conference to raise €40
million (euros) to repair and restore 75 cultural and religious
monuments in Kosovo destroyed or damaged during the 1998-99 war
and subsequent violence, or which have simply fallen into disrepair.
Among the sites singled out are 48 Orthodox
monuments, 14 Islamic/Ottoman monuments and 13 examples of vernacular
architecture and other historic sites, including the Decani monastery,
which was inscribed on the World
Heritage List in 2004. Dating from the 14th century, the Romanesque
Byzantine church houses numerous Romanesque Gothic sculptures
and some 60 icons, and its interior is almost entirely covered
in remarkable frescos of more than 1,000 saints.
Søren Jessen-Petersen, head of the UN
Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), said:
"Respect for preservation and reconstruction of cultural
and religious sites is an integral part of the process of improving
and consolidating relations between the different communities
in Kosovo, particularly between the Kosovo Albanian and Kosovo
Serb communities."
He added that it was important for the sites
to be preserved and protected not only because they were important
symbols for the different communities but also because they had
intrinsic value in themselves.
"These religious and vernacular sites belong,
not only to the cultural heritage in Kosovo, but also to Europe
and the world, and therefore must be preserved for future generations,"
he told the conference, organized by UNMIK, the UN Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),
the Council of Europe and the European Commission.
Mr. Jessen-Petersen assured donors that
UNMIK and the international force for Kosovo (KFOR) were doing
all that was necessary to ensure that the security environment
remained as stable as possible. "We have placed 47 cultural
heritage sites under protection throughout Kosovo and all of these
sites receive regular patrols and security checks, while others
are under full time international police and KFOR protection,"
he said.
UNESCO to host donors' conference on cultural
heritage in Kosovo
11 May 2005 – The United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
is set to host a donors' conference on cultural heritage in Kosovo,
where 75 monuments are in need of urgent repair or restoration.
Friday's meeting in Paris aims to help in the
restoration, protection and preservation of the many Christian
and Islamic monuments, and other sites of major historical importance,
which were targets of destruction in Kosovo, a UN spokesman said
in the province's capital, Pristina.
According to reports by UNESCO and the Council
of Europe, the list includes 48 Orthodox monuments, 14 Islamic/Ottoman
monuments and 13 examples of vernacular architecture and other
historic sites. The monuments surveyed require work which will
cost, in the initial phase, €40 million (euros).
The chief of the UN Interim Administration
Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Søren Jessen-Pedersen, is scheduled
to take part in the conference, to be chaired by UNESCO Director-General
Koïchiro Matsuura.
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