Top UN envoy to Kosovo says minority
interests will be protected after polls
19 November 2007 – Voicing regret
that many Kosovo Serbs did not participate in general elections
at the weekend, the top United Nations envoy to the province
today called for talks to ensure that the Serbs and other minority
communities are adequately represented in any public institutions.
The Secretary-General’s
Special Representative Joachim Rücker said in a media statement
issued in Pristina that although “it is unfortunate that
Kosovo Serbs did not vote in large numbers,” the focus
now must be on finding a way forward for the UN-administered
province.
Municipal, assembly and mayoral
elections in Kosovo took place on Saturday and Mr. Rücker
stressed that the present municipal assemblies will remain in
place until the results of the ballot are certified.
“During the interim,
there is time for discussions to find a solution so that the
Kosovo Serbian community’s interests will be properly
protected,” he said.
Today Mr. Rücker met
with representatives of Štrpce/Shtërpcë, an undivided,
multi-ethnic municipality in the south of the province, and
both the ethnic Albanian and Serbian members of the municipal
assembly there promised to work together and continue their
dialogue.
Earlier this year Belgrade
and Pristina held direct negotiations on the future status of
Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians outnumber Serbs and other minorities
by about nine to one. This followed a report from the UN Special
Envoy Martti Ahtisaari in which he proposed a phased process
of independence for Kosovo.
The UN Interim Administration
in Kosovo (UNMIK), which Mr. Rücker heads, has administered
Kosovo since 1999, when Western forces drove Yugoslav troops
out of the province amid inter-ethnic fighting.
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Top
UN envoy in Kosovo says clarity on status is vital for future
stability
15 November 2007 – The Secretary-General’s Special
Representative in Kosovo said today that clarity on the future
status of the United Nations-administered province is critical
for its ethnic communities and to ensuring stability across
the wider region in South-East Europe.
Speaking in Vienna to the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Permanent
Council, Joachim Rücker said he continued to have faith
in the so-called Troika-led negotiation process, which brings
together the European Union, Russia and the United States to
try to devise a solution to the ongoing dispute about Kosovo’s
future status.
“An agreed solution
would be the optimal outcome, and the easiest to implement,”
he said. “Still, even if no agreement is reached, clarity
on Kosovo’s future, key to ensuring stability in the region,
will have to be forthcoming.”
Earlier this year Belgrade
and Pristina held direct negotiations on the future status of
Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians outnumber Serbs and other minorities
by about nine to one. This followed a report from the UN Special
Envoy Martti Ahtisaari in which he proposed a phased process
of independence for Kosovo.
Municipal, assembly and mayoral
elections in Kosovo are scheduled to take place on Saturday
and Mr. Rücker stressed that preparations remain on track.
The UN Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK), with the help
of the OSCE mission in the province, is ready to deploy mobile
polling stations in case voters in some areas are refused access
to public buildings to cast their votes.
Last month both the envoy
and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Kosovo’s ethnic
Serb community to take part in the polls.
UNMIK, which Mr. Rücker
heads, has administered Kosovo since 1999, when Western forces
drove Yugoslav troops out of the province amid inter-ethnic
fighting.
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Third
witness in Kosovo trial faces charges at UN tribunal over refusal
to testify
14 November 2007 – A witness who failed to appear before
the United Nations war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
during the trial of the former prime minister of Kosovo has
been arrested on contempt of court charges.
Sadri Selca becomes the third
witness in the trial of Ramush Haradinaj to be charged with
contempt of court, the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said in a media statement issued from
its headquarters in The Hague yesterday.
Prosecutors have complained
throughout the trial of Mr. Haradinaj, who faces charges of
war crimes and crimes against humanity, that a climate of intimidation
has led to many witnesses refusing to testify. They expect to
wrap up their case-in-chief within the next few days.
Mr. Selca was indicted for
contempt of court for having failed to appear, without just
cause, before the Tribunal on 21 June this year. Another witness,
Shefqet Kabashi, was charged after refusing to testify while
taking the oath before his testimony on 5 June.
Last week, another witness,
Avni Krasniqi, was arrested, charged for failing to comply with
a binding order to appear before the ICTY, and detained. Mr.
Krasniqi did not enter a plea at his initial appearance before
the Tribunal on Monday.
Mr. Haradinaj, 39, was a well-known
figure with the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the conflict
with Serb forces in 1998-99 and later served as the leader of
a minority political party and briefly as the province’s
prime minister.
The indictment against him
accuses Mr. Haradinaj of participating in a joint criminal enterprise
with two others, Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj, between March
and September 1998 aimed at consolidating KLA control in the
Dukagjin area by attacking, persecuting and forcibly removing
Serb civilians and violently suppressing “any real or
perceived form of collaboration with the Serbs by Albanian or
Roma civilians.”
While they may not have physically
committed every crime for which they are charged, the indictment
states, they are still considered criminally responsible for
planning, instigating, ordering or aiding and abetting their
commission.
The charges against
Mr. Haradinaj include murder, rape, torture, abduction, cruel
treatment, harassment and the deportation or forcible transfer
of civilians.
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