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UNMIK-UNHCR-OSCE-EU Briefing, 07 June 2001 UN Spokeswoman Susan Manuel Susan Manuel IAC There will be an extraordinary meeting of the Interim Administration Council tomorrow at 10 a.m. to further discuss the principles of returns of displaced people and to discuss further the draft regulation prohibiting terrorism. Haemorrhagic Fever We put out a release yesterday from the Department of Health and Social Welfare on the outbreak of Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic fever in the area of Prizren, Malishevo and Djakova in southwest Kosovo. That release and another background paper are available outside. There may be a Department of Health press conference later today or tomorrow on the disease. The Institute of Public Health has reported a cluster of cases-not an epidemic-of this very serious disease. Twenty one cases have been reported among Kosovars as of 6 June, with three deaths. The Department of Health and Social Welfare is in charge of outbreak control, and they have dispatched three outbreak control teams. The World Health Organization and all international organizations involved with health have been alerted. All medical staff in Kosovo have been informed about the disease and how to handle it. There is a special unit at Pristina Hospital established. The TMK has been alerted and should the need be determined, they are prepared to establish a field hospital if needed. The disease has appeared in the past in Kosovo, since 1986. We ask the media to do its role in spreading public information as widely as possible, particularly the preventative measures. Radio and TV should repeat these messages as often as possible. This is not a problem in Pristina or an urban area, but in the countryside where people may come in contact with ticks and livestock which can also carry the disease. As the disease is first brought by ticks, people must try and avoid tick-infested areas. Don't' crawl through bushes, etc. If you live in an area where ticks are common, check you r body regularly for ticks and quickly remove them.. Wear light-coloured clothing that covers the legs and arms and insect repellant. Health care staff must wear gloves and other protective clothing to prevent skin contact with infected tissues or blood. This should go for friends and relatives of people with the symptoms, as the disease has spread within one family already. Also, avoid contact with livestock in the infected areas, as the disease can be spread by contact with blood or tissues from infected animals. Crimean-Congo Hem. Fever is a severe disease in humans with a high mortality-30 percent. Animal infection is more common. Symptoms include high fever, aching muscles, dizziness, neck pain, headache, sore eyes, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, nose bleed, and rashes or bleeding elsewhere. Mass Graves Regarding the reported mass grave sites in Belgrade, although we have no independent corroboration of the stories, we have already been in contact with Belgrade authorities on bodies found previously, UNMIK Police from the Missing Persons Unit are meeting today with Belgrade police officials on how to cooperate in the work of exhumations and determining the identities. SRSG Hans Haekkerup will ask that Kosovo Albanian forensics experts also attend the work on the remains discovered in Serbia. Police UNMIK police have arrested a Kosovo Serb man, Radoslav Kostic, in connection with war crimes committed on 14 April 1999. On 5 June, the Mitrovia Court signed a detention order of one month of pre trial custody. The case is connected to that of K. Serbs Simic, Aleksic and Popovic, who went on trial earlier this year. The latter two escaped and Simic was released due to lack of evidence. Weapons Amnesty Regarding the weapons amnesty which ended earlier this week, UNMIK Police remind people that if there is a weapon at home they forgot to turn in or discovered belatedly, they can call UNMIK Police to pick up the weapon and they will not be penalized. UNHCR Spokeswoman Astrid van Genderen Stort OSCE Spokeswoman Claire Trevena Elections As you are all aware, the OSCE's Permanent Council in Vienna has agreed the supplementary budget for the Mission in Kosovo to hold elections this year. But I do want to clarify a misconception. This money is for running the election - everything from administering political party certification through to printing ballot papers. It is not intended for distribution to political parties. Political Party Forum Political parties will have a chance to voice their opinions tomorrow at the Political Party Consultative Forum, which is being held in Pristina. The parties will also receive a briefing on the certification process which they will have to go through in order to run in the elections. All parties, coalitions and citizens initiatives will have to be certified to take part in the election. If a party did not get at least 1,000 votes in the last elections it will have to submit 1,000 signatures, which will be scrutinised. The certification process starts on the 22nd of this month and lasts one month. They will also be discussing the gender and geographic balance on candidates lists. CEC The next central elections commission meeting will be on Tuesday - it will be continuing its discussion of gender and geographic balance on the candidates list as well as starting work on other rules. CEO Training Today sees the start of a three day workshop for Chief Executive Officers of municipal assemblies at OSCE headquarters here in Pristina. The workshop follows on from a training course held for the CEOs in March in Norway. The aim is to help Kosovo's civil servants develop a professional outlook and professional skills. It will be covering issues such as the relationship between assembly members and civil servants, annual reports and audits and informing people about the work of the municipal assembly. There will be a press release on this later today. EU Spokesman Mike Todd Tax Collection Update As of yesterday staff have now been deployed to work in the three tax collection points at Gate Hen near Zubin Potok, Gate One at Lesak and Gate Five in the Gjilane region. At Mitrovica's central tax collection office a steady stream of commercial traffic is now arriving to pay its tax Mines and Minerals The Directorate for Mines and Minerals within the Department of Trade and Industry issued last week the first Quarry Exploitation License. The Mines and Minerals Directorate is responsible for the management of all Kosovo's mine and minerals deposits. This first quarry exploitation was issued to Alkos Company of Gjilane following approval of the application by the Mining Advisory Board and the Municipal Assembly. EAR Media Event There is a media event planned for the European Agency for Reconstruction. The European Union has provided EURO 4,5 million (about DM 9 million) for the rehabilitation of the University of Pristina's facilities. This project was initiated in 1998 but disrupted by the armed conflict. It continued as part of the EAR's overall effort to reconstruct Kosovo's infrastructure. The project is now finished and representatives of the media are invited to attend a ceremony marking the successful completion of works. After a visit to dormitory No. 3, a ceremony will be held in the Gallery of the Architectural Faculty where the media will be provided with detailed information and view a presentation of the overall project. There will also be an opportunity to meet and interview key participants in this project including EU officials, contractors, university officials and students. The ceremony will be followed by the launch of an exhibition of the university's arts and architectural faculties and a drinks reception. The event will take place, tomorrow, Friday 8 June at 15:00 Dormitory No. 3, in the Students Centre of the University. Questions: Q: It's well over a month since the mortar attack in Krevnik killed three people. Have you8 any idea, since the UN is responsible for administering Kosovo and KFOR here is under the UN mandate, when NATO's report on this attack is going to be published? SM: No, we had a back and forth on this a week ago in the press briefing, when the KFOR Spokesperson said the report from KFOR has been completed but it has now gone to this joint body in Macedonia. So we are waiting for what the KFOR and the joint body produces. Q: Why the Macedonians need to be involved in it? SM They were on the other side of the line, shooting. Anyway, as the KFOR spokesman explained there will be two separate reports, so they won't be involved in the KFOR report, except to write a joint cover letter in their own report. Q: You are not concerned about the speed or the lack of speed in which this is being produced. SM: No personally, it seems quite slow. As the KFOR spokesman said last week the Macedonians are quite involved in another matter right now. It may not be on top of their agenda. Q: Susan, you said the Macedonians were involved in this shooting. Does this mean that Macedonians have said that they committed this shooting. SM: I don't know anything about the shooting. You were here when the KFOR Spokesman spoke about it. So please address your questions to the KFOR about it. I have no independent information about it. Q: Can we have an answer from KFOR? KFOR: There has nothing changed since then. Q: What is Kostic charged with? What led to his arrest? SM His arrest was two days ago. I guess they found him two days ago. He has been wanted for quite a while since before the trial of the other defendants. It involved shooting of several Albanians in Mitrovica in April of 1999. I don't know if he has been formerly charged. The charge would be some kind of war crime. He has been detained in pre-trial custody. The international prosecutor will decide next week whether he wants to get involved with the case. But it is probably going to be a case that involves international judiciary as well.
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