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UNMIK-UNMIK Police-KFOR-UNHCR Press Briefing, 7 May 2001 UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel SRSG Schedule SRSG Hans Haekkerup left Kosovo for Skopje this morning to fly to New York. Before departure he will meet EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Chief Javier Solana and NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson at the airport, where he will obviously be discussing the security situation in the region. Mr. Haekkerup is going to New York for consultations with Secretary General Kofi Annan. The SRSG will also address the Security Council on Wednesday. On the agenda of course will be the status of the legal framework and the regional security situation. While his visit is very brief-he leaves NY Wednesday evening-he will be meeting with various international representatives with interest in the area, including most probably President Kostunica, who will be in NY at the same time. However, this and other meetings have not yet been confirmed. Solana Visit Mr. Solana's visit to Kosovo, by the way, has been cancelled and he will remain in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Legal Framework Talks on the legal framework with Kosovo Albanian leaders, as you know, ended Saturday with consensus nearly achieved. Mr. Haekkerup expects to take a decision on the document soon, but this will probably happen after his return from New York. Train derailment Yesterday, a Railway of Kosovo train derailed north of Pristina last night en route to the depot north of Pristina. The railway driver sustained a broken leg and ribs. We hope the damage to driver and the track can be repaired quickly. ID Cards The second phase of the identification card distribution is almost over. Nearly 380,000 cards from this phase have been sent to Post and Telecommunications of Kosovo offices. The next phase should start soon. We once again urge Kosovars to go to he PTK offices to pick up their cards, as some 200,000 cards remain in the PTK offices waiting to be collected. UNMIK also continues registration of Kosovo inhabitants over 16. Trade & Industry News Conference A press conference by the Department of Trade and Industry tomorrow will address socially owned enterprises and the appointment of their managers. This will be at 2p in room C301. UNMIK Police Spokesman Dean Olson Shooting in Mitrovica Last night a Serbian man was shot and killed near a Danish KFOR checkpoint. This happened on the road from Zvecan, near Buljinovac Village. A car approached the checkpoint at approximately 19:45 with three occupants. As the car and the passengers were being searched for weapons, one of the occupants fled on foot. During the pursuit, the man pulled out a handgun and pointed it at his pursuers. Police and KFOR fired their weapons fatally wounding the man. He remains unidentified at this time The Mitrovica Regional Investigation Unit is not releasing names at this time. There is an ongoing investigation. As more details become known, information will be released to the media. Weapons Amnesty Program The summary of weapons collected for the Weapons Amnesty Program during its first week is as follows: 5 hand grenades Currently the maximum penalty for possession of illegal weapons is a sentence of up to 3 years in jail. The new law goes into effect on 5 June. Violators can face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and fines up to 20,000 Deutsche Marks. We are hoping that community leaders will embrace the program as part of an anti-violence campaign. There are successful precedents for a weapons amnesty program in other countries, such as the United States, where such programs have met with great success. Even one weapon is one less life at risk, so success with this program will be measured more in terms of the public's willingness to participate and in an improved awareness of what is at stake for the future of Kosovo rather than in raw numbers of weapons gathered. The real gain will be in fostering an attitude amongst the public of denying violence and a means to violence. There has been enough. Our best efforts in this program seem to be when our officers actively solicit people to turn in their weapons within their communities. This has been a learning experience for the police in fostering trust between law enforcement and the citizens and we hope to continue this practice of forming an alliance with the people to create a safe community in Kosovo. Summary of Weekly Statistics There was one murder of a Kosovo Serbian in Gnjilane, four aggravated assaults, three kidnappings, five arsons, and 196 arrests. KFOR Spokesman Sqn. Ldr. Roy Brown Exercise dynamic response The NATO Strategic Reserve Forces taking part in the Exercise Dynamic Response, have spent the past weeks operating alongside the in-place KFOR units, conducting routine peace-keeping operations. Soldiers of the American 1st/508th Airborne Battalion and the 1/22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, have been working with the KFOR's Swedish and Finnish Battalions. They mounted fixed and mobile vehicle checkpoints, searching a large number of vehicles, and conducted houses searches and cordon operations. The San Marco regiment and Argentinean Platoon moved into the border area, west of Djackovica yesterday, to conduct anti-smuggling operations. The strategic Reserve units have integrated well with KFOR units and the local population, who they have found to be friendly and co-operative. The main phase of the exercise draws to a close to morrow. The participants will then re-organize and prepare to return to their home bases by 10 May. Attacks against KFOR Yesterday, KFOR troops again came under fire from positions inside Sector Bravo, of the ground safety zone. Soldiers from KFOR multinational Brigade East, Brigade Reconnaissance Troop and the Russian TG-13 were conducting boundary marking operations inside Kosovo, when they were fired at from close to the village of Konculj. They immediately broke contact and fortunately, suffered no casualties. Once again the description and uniform of individuals seen in the area, from which the fire originated, suggests that they were members of an ethnic armed group. This is the second attack on KFOR troops in three days. Whatever the motive, attacks on KFOR soldiers are totally unacceptable and we condemn them in the very strongest terms. These actions will not deter us from carrying out our mandate to establish a safe and secure environment for the people of Kosovo. Nor will they sway our impartiality or persuade us to change our policy for the Balkans region. Again we urge the political leaders in Kosovo, and anyone that can exert influence over the ethnic armed groups to condemn these attacks, and to use their influence to encourage the extremists to lay down their arms and return to the process of negotiation and dialogue. This is the only way to achieve a lasting, peaceful and fair society for all the people of the region. Kosovo Serb shot With regard to the shooting incident last night, let me just say that this incident shows the joint nature of our operations working closely alongside UNMIK police. Let me also point out that KFOR soldiers continue to operate under robust rules of engagement based on the inherent right of self-defence. The Danish soldiers correctly employed those rules of engagement last night. Let me make it quite clear: if any individual, of ethnicity, threatens KFOR soldiers with a weapon, those soldiers will respond with the appropriate UNHCR Spokeswoman Astrid van Genderen Stort Statement on the UNHCR/UNMIK organized RAE meeting Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian (RAE) representatives today met with two IAC representatives and the Deputy Chairman of the AAK to discuss details of a declaration of principles supporting the RAE communities in Kosovo. All parties recognized the importance of the declaration in setting down basic principles about returns. Improvements in conditions faced by RAE are the most positive message for those hoping to come back to Kosovo. "Meetings like today form a vital part of an ongoing process" says SRSG Hans Haekkerup. DSRSG Tom Koenigs led today's working session with UNHCR Special Envoy Eric Morris, Kosovar Albanian leadership including Ibrahim Rugova (LDK), Hashim Thaci (PDK), Bajram Kosumi (AAK) and others. Comkfor and members of CivPol, the Department of Reconstruction and the Housing and the Property Directorate also participated in various working sessions focusing on issues of security and property. Today's meeting marked another step in a process that was set in motion one year ago with the endorsement of the Platform for Joint Action, initiated by UNHCR in April 2000. UNMIK and UNHCR have worked intensively with RAE communities over the past year, organizing field visits of the Kosovo leadership to the RAE communities all over Kosovo and two working sessions with JIAS departments. At today's meeting Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian community leaders, along with the Kosovo Albanian leadership, revisited the important issues touched on during their previous endeavours and sought new ways to move forward in a spirit of co-operation and mutual respect. "The treatment of RAE communities as equal and fellow citizens by all members of Kosovar society is crucial and is required by the principles of Security Council Resolution 1244" says Eric Morris UNHCR's Special Envoy, "Only then will an end be brought to the marginalisation of these communities and real progress be made on return to and re integration into Kosovar society" Crisis in fYROM Arrivals as of 3 May Date Blace border(Gnilane AOR) Jazince
Border(Gni.aor) Through hills/mountainsAround Jazince into
Gni.AOR Muchibaba Mountains into Dragash and Zhupa Valley
(Prizren AOR) Total 3164 (*) of these 900, 650 went to Dragash area (Opoja) and 250 to Prizren
town. All were from Brodec village near Tetovo Since the fighting in fYROM started at the end of the afternoon on the 3rd of May, over 3000 people have entered Kosovo. While initially most new arrivals came from the area around Kumanovo where the fighting is presently ongoing, over the weekend over 1500 people from the Tetovo region had entered Kosovo after a long 9 hours journey by foot over the mountains. Many new arrivals have left fYROM for precautionary reasons. They fear an escalation of the violence and deem leaving at this point a better option than staying. Those that fled from the Tetovo region reported an increased build up of Macedonian military in the Tetovo rural area. The people from Brodec village reported that when the military entered their village the population left immediately out of fear for any attack. The group that crossed the mountains consisted of mainly women, young children and elderly men. The displaced people reported that all the population of Brodec village had left their homes. The approximate population of the village was 1,200. As of Monday morning also villagers from Vesale (population of 2200) and Shipkovica (population around 5000) were reported arriving. All new arrivals have been hosted by families in the area. The weather has deteriorated during the weekend, rain is pouring down and it is misty, conditions not conducive to a smooth passage over the mountains. Macedonian refugees into Gnilane AOR The majority of the new arrivals have entered Kosovo through official border crossings, Blace and Jazince. Of the latest arrivals through Blace, there were people from Cerkez, a village very close to Kumanovo Town. The people stated that the Macedonian forces started to attack Cerkez. According to people fleeing, there is panic in the villages. These people are mostly heading to Gnjilane/Vitina area. At Blace border local taxi drivers assisted in transporting those
without transportation from the border to Hani Elezit/Djeneral Jankovic.
Kosova Red Cross had taken up the registration of the people. Most of
these arrivals are from Kumanovo and Skopje areas, and heading to their
relatives/friends in our AOR. So far only one family, which entered the
mountains into Vitina area, approached UNHCR for
accommodation. "We remain particularly concerned about the well-being of civilians caught in the conflict areas. Civilians must be protected from military attacks as well as political manipulations. Experience indicates that once people flee out of fear of violence it is extraordinarily difficult to create the conditions for their safe and sustainable return to their houses. And the longer people can not return to their homes, the more difficult it is to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.". Remaning displaced from fYROM Registration of fYROM citizens who were displaced during March has
nearly been finalised. Questions: Q: This might seem obvious but are all the people who have fled ethnic Albanians? Also there are reports that the NLA is asking people for money as they leave. Do you have anymore information on that? AGS: Yes, as far as I know they are all ethnic Albanians but I will have to verify if that counts for the whole region. We have heard the same rumors (requests for money) but we have nothing confirmed by any of the arrivals. Q: UNHCR has an office in Albania. So you have any information that people are fleeing to Albanian? AGS: So far I did not receive any reports from Albanian but it might be waiting for me when I arrive back at my office. Q: How many have been displaced from FYOM since the fighting started in March? AGS: We have around 8,000 people that were displaced during the first fighting and like I said there is still registration ongoing of how many people are remaining. In Prizren area there are 4,300 people from the first batch, in Gnilane 2,528 are remaining, the rest all returned, in the Prishtina area, as I said it is still unclear and since the 3rd of May the new arrivals are exactly 3164 as far as we have reported. So you can count it all together and it is over 11,000.
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