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UNMIK-UNMIK Police-KFOR-UNHCR Press Briefing, 1 October 2001 UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel
IAC-KTC Special Session Tomorrow there will be a special session of IAC and KTC, devoted to security. This will be the last meeting of the KTC, before the campaign begins. Also on 3 October, the 20 administrative departments will be clustered into nine transitional administrative departments, which will be in place until the new ministries will be formed. These transitional departments will be run by international officers until the new ministers are appointed. All Kosovo co-heads will go on leave from 3 October. They will be on paid leave until 17 November. Election Campaign Late tomorrow SRSG will launch the election campaign along with OSCE head Daan Everts at a reception at the OSCE. Meeting with Covic Mr. Haekkerup is also expected to meet with Mr. Covic here late tomorrow. SRSG to address Security Council On Wednesday, Mr. Haekkerup leaves Pristina for NY and on Friday he will make a presentation of the state of affairs in Kosovo to the UN Security Council. New Library On 4 October a library building in Ferizaj, rehabilitated by IOM, UNMIK, US KFOR and UNICEF would be inaugurated at 3 p.m. All media is invited to attend the inauguration. 200 Cattle CARITAS Switzerland and CARITAS Bozen Brixen will import 200 cattle of the Tyrolean Grauvieh breed into Kosovo. These cattle come from the Tyrolean Alps in Austria/Italy where the Grauvieh has been bred for hundreds of years to fit the difficult environmental conditions. You can view the 100 animals while they are in the Quarantine Station Dubrava in Istok on Thursday between 12 am and 2 pm. You will also have the chance to discuss the project with our agricultural staff. The Dubrava station is 3 km outside Istok driving from Istok center to Skenderaj, near the prison. Euro Info Centre At 1000 hrs tomorrow morning, the Euro Info Correspondence Centre will be inaugurated in the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce, 20 Mother Teresa Street. This will help Kosovo businesses to foster links with businesses all over Europe. Speakers will be Heinz Zourek, Deputy Director General of the Enterprise section of the European Commission in Brussels. Also, DSRSG Bearpark, the Director of the European Agency for Reconstruction, Hugues Mingarelli, and Ismail Kastrati, President of the Chamber of Commerce will also be present. This week is also the world Breast Feeding Week. UNICEF recommends exclusive breast feeding for the first six months of life. UNICEF will mark the beginning fo this campaign with posters in Albanian and Serbian. The message is that 'breast feeding is the best start in life'.
I would like to take this opportunity, on my first press conference as KFOR spokesman, to say how pleased I am to have been given this opportunity to make a contribution to KFOR's mission of maintaining a safe and secure environment here in Kosovo. General Skakier considers it vital that the people of Kosovo understand fully the work being done by KFOR on their behalf and the reasons for the actions we take. I know that General Valentin, the next COMKFOR, shares this view and I am looking forward to playing my small part in that process. But on to the business of the day There was a serious incident in KOPRIVNICA on Friday when K-Serbian,
Trajan Strojkovic, was murdered. The van he was travelling was fired
on at close quarters. It is suspected that this murder was
ethnically motivated. KFOR condemns this crime, and sends its
condolences to his family. Crimes of this nature threaten the
stability of the situation in Kosovo, and KFOR will provide every
assistance to UNMIK-Police to ensure that the perpetrators of this crime
are brought to justice. The successful conclusion of Operation Essential Harvest, and the subsequent dissolution of the so called NLA has done much to restore stability to the FYROM area of the Balkans, but this will not mean a relaxing of KFOR's resolve to prevent the movement of illegal weapons, goods or people across the border and throughout the rest of Kosovo. Eleven people were apprehended attempting to illegally enter Kosovo,
this week. KFOR continue to stop trucks loaded with illegally cut
wood. In fact ,14 trucks were stopped in a 6 hour period over Friday
night and Saturday morning. The drivers and their trucks were handed
over to UNMIK Police. I have two administrative notices. SACEUR, General Joseph W. Ralston will be present at a ceremony to celebrate the Transfer of Authority from COMKFOR5, General Skakier, to COMKFOR6, General Valentin on Wednesday afternoon. There will be press facilities available and a press conference will be held after the ceremony. And, I would to Introduce 2 new important arrivals to the KFOR Press Team: Colonel Vincent Campredon, the new Chief of the PIO and Lieutenant Colonel Wolfgang Schäfer, the new Director of the KFOR Press Office in this building.
Total Number of Arrivals Since the Beginning of the Conflict: 81,824 This figure includes those persons who may have fled for a second or third time after having returned to fYRoM temporarily. Estimated number of returnees approximately 55,939 Estimated Total remaining 25,885 Returns to FYROM The number of returnees remained low, at a rate of 200 per day. In all approximately 56,000 people have returned. There are still up to 26,000 refugees remaining in Kosovo, while there are over 70,000 people displaced in fYROM, as reported by the Macedonian Red Cross (60% of whom are ethnic Macedonian) UNHCR Kosovo met with several representatives of these refugees, many of whom are still staying in the Gnilane area of responsibily (Gnilan, Vitina). Refugees from the northern villages in fYROM ,w ho came to Kosovo during the first phase of the FYROM conflict, indicated that though over a thousand of their people returned (Into secondary displacement) several others see no chance to return at this stage as the security situation does not allow for them to return. Some refugees feel very uncomfortable remaining in Kosovo, as they consider themselves a burden to their hostfamilies. Some expressed to our teams that once the amnesty is implemented, half of the remaining caseload would return to Macedonia, even though they would find themselves yet again in displacement. Many are concerned about their jobs (for example teaching jobs that should have started by now) if they do not return in time. UNHCR High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers in FYROM Mr Lubbers, UNHCR High Commissioner, visited fYROM on Friday where he encouraged the Macedonian authorities to embrace the concept of mixed police patrols as soon as possible to enable displaced people from both communities to return home safely. Most of the ethnic Albanian refugees are discouraged from going home by intimidating Macedonian police checkpoints on access roads, while the displaced Macedonians are put off by a lack of Macedonian police in rebel?occupied areas. He also urged the deputies to implement the accord, which makes Albanian an official language in some areas, devolves wider powers to local government and provides more minority jobs in the police force and administration. "It's critical to keep the calendar as agreed ?? very precise," Lubbers told journalists in parliament after meeting Trajkovski and other political leaders. UNHCR has on several occasions urgently called for a credible, large enough NATO military presence to deter armed radicals opposed to the peace compromise from exploiting a security gap. "The volatile security situation in some areas of return threatens to undermine the humanitarian efforts to build confidence between the communities," Lubbers said. "We hope that an effective international monitoring and security presence is set up in full as soon as possible so as not to lose the current momentum toward building peace." UNHCR has been focussing on bringing life back to normal in conflict?affected villages. UNHCR field teams have so far reached 61 of 90 villages, distributed aid kits to returning families and up to 1,500 houses were being repaired. From last week, U.N.?chartered bus lines have been enabling free movement of civilians across ethnic truce lines and security checkpoints in the troubled Tetovo region. Questions: Q: Do you know why the UAE soldiers are leaving Kosovo? DS: The decision by the UAE is purely for domestic reasons. Q: Is it linked in any way with the situation in the area there? DS: I wouldn't want to speculate on it. SM: This decision was made before the attack, as far as I understand. Q: How come they are already leaving and nothing has been organized to replace them. They are holding certain number of checkpoints around enclaves in Vushtri area. They had a significan5t role and they need to be replaced. DS: As I said earlier we are still assessing the impact of their withdrawal and drawing up contingency plans to cover any gaps. Q: Can you tell us how many UAE soldiers were there in KFOR? DS: Yes, I can. 873. Q: Is the Serb killed near Kamenica a former Serb policeman? DC: I don't have that information. Q: Was he the specific target of the gunmen or did they shoot him by chance? DC: The circumstances of the attack are that the vehicle in which a number of people were traveling was sprayed with gunfire. Q: Do you have any specific security plans to implement at the beginning of the election campaign? DC: Yes, we do. We have been preparing for the election campaign for several months now. We have conducted security assessments of sites and politicians. We have worked together with KFOR to provide point security, area security for registration sites, for polling stations. We have rules in place for supervision of rallies and demonstrations that might occur. We do have a comprehensive plan that something that we have been prepared for several months based on our last year's experience during the municipal elections. Q: There are a number of former NLA soldiers who have reportedly crossed the border into Kosovo. Can their presence in Kosovo influence the security situation ahead of the elections. I saw this interview of Mr. Haekkerup to a Macedonian newspaper that it is Macedonia that destabilizes Kosovo. SM: There is that chance and we are definitely watching as much as we can. If people come across illegally with arms, then they are basically arrested. There have only been a few people who have come across in that situation. I believe KFOR can talk if they come across in an official capacity. It hasn't really been a problem thus far although we are beginning to look at it a lot more carefully.
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