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UNMIK-KFOR -UNHCR Press Briefing, 10 September 2001 UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel The SRSG Hans Haekkerup is in Denmark until 12 September. Next Monday he will be in New York to address the Security Council. On the same day Serbian deputy Prime Minister Covic will also be at the Security Council. The draft regulation on the executive structures of the provisional self government, which we distributed last week, is ready to be sent for a final time to the legal offices in New York before Mr. Haekkerup signs it. He has been in discussions with the IAC members on it; proposals have been incorporated but I don't believe there are major changes from the copies we gave you. Registration figures: as of Saturday, from the communities' registration, 33,494 have registered in Kosovo and some 70,000 displaced people in the rest of Serbia and Montenegro To correct a headline in today's Zeri: 10 Seats are set aside in the Kosovo Assembly for Serbs and 10 for other non-Albanian communities, whether or not they participate in the voting process…How those seats will be allocated has not yet been decided. Garbage strike As you can see, garbage is being collected. However, some observers have pointed out that garbage is being taken from the dumpsters, but not from the street. Cleaning up these piles will require more time and added costs of some 46,000 DM a day, according to the EU. However the situation with the garbage strike has not been resolved, as the Pristina landfill sites are still being occupied by protesters, rather than garbage. Protestors have also been intimidating workers and the current director has received death threats… There is a crucial meeting this afternoon between representatives of the EU-responsible for donor support for publ.ic utilities-and the municipality…aimed at resolving the situation. Following the seizure by UNMIK police and KFOR of most of the HT garbage trucks last week, garbage has been being collected and dumped in the Kosovo Polje/Fushe Kosovo landfill site. However, this is at a great cost. Also, waste companies from other municipalities are helping the current garbage collection with additional trucks. One of the central issues has been the appointment of the HT director, as well as other public utility municipal companies. According to UNMIK regulations, a supervisory board under PUD (Department of Public Utilities) oversight is the only body responsible to appoint directors to public utility companies. We reserve this power in cases of appointments of directors of municipal public utility services because significant amounts of donor money have gone into these utility companies, and in Kosovo, as in much of central Europe, there is a lack of expertise in managing these companies. Therefore, management is to be selected by a Supervisory Board, consisting of nominees from the municipalities and under the chairmanship of a PUD- appointed person. However in the case of Hygenia Teknika, Pristina Muncipality never appointed this board and basically circumvented the process. PUD refused the municipality's appointment for the post, on these grounds. The SRSG on 3 August then issued an executive order enforcing the PUD decision after the municipality's man, Mr. Shefki Gashi, -- tried to occupy the HT premises with four armed bodyguards. The municipality last Friday announced a new proposal which included Mr. Gashi as deputy director: this has not been agreed to by UNMIK. KPC Regarding the press reports on Serbs and the Kosovo Protection Corps, Mr. Haekkerup and Gen. Ceku discussed publicly last week the issue of a Kosovo Serb in the KPC…However some local media have been distorting what was said there and in subsequent interviews. Ten percent of the 5,000 KPC posts were from the initial regulation setting up the KPC to be for minorities. It has been nearly impossible to fill those posts, particularly in the case of Serb candidates. Few have applied, but when individuals have tried to join, they are intimidated or pressured to withdraw. Therefore as a confidence building measure, a Serb unit to be based in Gracanica is under consideration. This would not be a parallel unit, as some media here have suggested, but rather a unit fully integrated into and under the command of Regional Task Group (RTG) 5, based in Pristina… Like the Serbs in the Kosovo Police Service, the Serbs in the KPC would
work primarily in Serb areas. But their supervisior is the RTG 5 commander
and ultimately Gen. Ceku. UNHCR Spokeswoman, Astrid van Stenden Gort Total Number of Arrivals Since the Beginning of the
Conflict: 81,802 Estimated number of returnee approximately 47,771 Estimated Total remaining 34,031 General Overview The end of the demonstrations at Blace border led to an enormous increase of returnees. Over the past four days alone over 8000 people ( at an average rate of 2000 per day) returned back to fYROM from Kosovo, mainly using Blace border crossing. People travelled in personal vehicles, in vans and taxis. Others were being dropped off by their hosts at Hani i Elezit/Djeneral Jankovic side. Many of them crossed the border by foot having made arrangements with taxis on the Macedonian side. Return movements continued until midnight on most nights recorded. Several returnees mentioned they had no information on the condition of
their house, but just wanted to go home. Some informed UNHCR's field teams
that they would stay with family, friends or even in a tent, if necessary,
until their house was rebuilt. Others again mentioned the urge to return
because schools had started already. There was a sense of relief amongs
some of the returnees following the recent political developments, some
even mentioned "peace". Many however stated that they are returning with
cautious optimism and expressed their concern about the sustainability of
the peace agreement and fear that if NATO troops pull out of fYROM the
fighting could break up again. Some declare that their return is
encouraged by presence of NATO troops in their country. Overall
regarding security mixed feelings could be revealed from the refugees that
were returning. The number of refugees crossing into fYROM from Kosovo was lower than earlier this week (obviously because the enormous increase of returnees through Blace border). The returnees went back to Tetovo, Scelce, Recica, Shipkovic, Jazince, Radusha, Skopje and Kumanova. Inside fYROM: UNHCR has increased its presence in the Tetovo region to help build conditions of returns, especially of ethnic groups in the minority in their home villages. UNHCR believes this is crucial to durable returns. The UNHCR funded bus-shuttle from collective centres in Skopje to Brnjaci, near Aracinovo, has been very succesfully used: as of 7 September this bus will come to an end, as a public bus line now has been re-established. The team also visited Aracinovo where an IRC mobile medical team, working within the governmental structures, this week started to offer medical service to the villagers. An ethnic Albanian nurse and an ethnic Macedonian doctor work together in the team, which handles basic medical problems while more complicated cases are referred to the ambulanta in nearby Singelic. There is no solution for the electricity problem Shelter assessment was carried out in the collective centre '1 Maj' as well as in other centres in Skopje on Thursday, in order to determine the need for winterization. A UNHCR field team on Thursday visited the villages of Lesok and
Neprosteno in the Tetovo area. Scores of displaced Macedonians took their
belongings from their homes in these villages, where they are in the
minority.The visitors loaded their cars and trailer wagons with their
possessions, including carpets, television sets and kitchen appliances,
and then went back to their temporary accommodations in Skopje and Tetovo
town. They said they did not feel safe in their home villages controlled
by ethnic Albanian rebels, despite the presence of Macedonian troops at
checkpoints on the main roads and NATO troops patrolling the
villages. The government has been leading go-and-see visits for Macedonian IDPs to their home villages in the Tetovo region. On Thursday, seven buses and 100 cars joined the convoy, raising fears among international monitors that its presence in the volatile areas of Tetovo could heighten tension. At Odri village, near Neprosteno, a group of Albanians watched the parliament vote on TV as they talked to a UNHCR team, saying they want to live in peace with their Macedonian neighbours. Odri has 1,400 inhabitants, 80 percent Albanian. Macedonians in the village feared ethnic Albanian rebels in their midst and the Albanian residents said they cannot harvest their potato and tobacco because of land mines and snipers. Questions Q: Susan, is there any reason why the KPC shouldn't pick up the garbage rather than fighting in Macedonia? SM: This has been under consideration, but we have enough workers now to do the job. Q: What do you consider to be a parallel structure in Kosovo? SM: A parallel structure is any structure that answers to anybody but UNMIK and KFOR - that goes for schools, KPC, security, etc. Q: What kind of emblem will the KPC in Gracanica have? And who does the KPC answer to, the Serb political parties, Serb National Council, the Belgrade authorities, or General Ceku? SM: I think I just explained that. The person responsible will be the RTG Section 5 commander, an Albanian who answers to General Ceku. So all your other speculation is garbage. The insignia is under discussion, but basically it will be pretty much the same as now. Q: Is UNMIK worried that Miami Beach is in the yard of a primary school? SM: Well I didn't know about this, but it should not be in the yard of a school. But let me find out. Q: And for Astrid, what makes you believe that people are going back in such big numbers and do you encourage the returns? AVGS: We see them cross the border. We're not encouraging or organizing returns and we'd like to have better security before encouraging returns. But we can't stop anybody who wants to go home. Q: A long time ago a Serb Protection Corps existed in Mitrovica. Now these new members of the KPC, aren't they the same? Are they going to go through screening? Will this be a parallel structure? SM: Hold on, that had nothing to do with the TMK. And all the work we do in Mitrovica has to do with getting rid of parallel structures. From the regulation that set up the Kosovo Protection Corps, 10% of seats were set aside for minorities. That's 500 seats. We've never filled them and we want to make sure they are filled. Q: Will these members go through screening? SM: Of course, KPC members all go through extensive screening by KFOR and the IOM. And if you remember from the first year it took months to screen candidates and these people will go through no less screening. Q: Susan, I hope you won't consider this to be garbage. But there are rumours that you're going to change the constitutional framework. SM: Yes, I consider that garbage, we're not going to change the constitutional framework. Q: But you are allowing some kind of parallel structures. SM: The only case even close to parallel structures in Kosovo is what we call the Bridgewatchers and we're trying to get rid of them. What do you call a parallel structure? Q: How will you consider the Municipal Assemblies in Gracanica and Pristina? The Municipal assembly in Gracanica is issuing ID cards and license plates and so on. SM: UNMIK and the Joint Interim Administrative Structures are the administration in Kosovo. Anyone else who takes it on is a parallel institution. To have something in another language is not a parallel structure. We have Serb members of the Kosovo Police Service, and they are not a parallel structure. They answer to the central command of the Unmik Police. This is the same as a unit of Serbs attached to the KPC. And I think the KPC will be proud to have their quotas filled. Q: Derek, are you worried to have Miami Beach in a school yard? You know it's there because you raid it. DC: Well, we did shut it down last year. I'm not sure why it's reopened. Perhaps under new ownership. I'm not aware of the licensing for bars and strip clubs in Pristina. That's a matter for the civil administration. The opinion of UNMIK police is that it's not a suitable place for a strip club. Q: What is the work of UNMIK and KFOR to bring communities together and not divide them? What are you doing to bring them together instead of Serbs in Gracanica and Albanians in Pristina? Why can't they come together? It seems like a parallel system. SM: It sounds like a good idea. I think it would be wonderful if you would come together. We had recruiters out all over Kosovo for the past two years trying to convince minorities to join the KPC. But they are pressured-by their own communities and others-not to join. The University, hey, do you know what a university is? It's a place of new ideas, a place for liberalism and democracy, where people get together and debate ideas. Not the University of Pristina, there is not a Slavic word uttered there. So if Serbs have to have their own language institutions under UNMIK, that's what's going to happen. You guys are the ones that have to go out there and make this place unified. Q: Can you tell us what's going on between Haekkerup and Covic meeting for 12 hours and then we get 3 lines on it? SM: Covic is a man of many words, Haekkerup of few. But it's the same with the IAC meetings. We used to get very little out of them until we were allowed to attend. I think all in all, although we don't see results, there is quite a step forward. A year ago there was no dialogue at all with Belgrade and the work on important issues we had to do our own. But now we have a high level partner with Belgrade and we're grappling over essential issues. There are no real concrete results so far, but it' good that they're talking and it's the only way to move forward. Q: Susan, thanks for the lecture on democracy. I get the feeling that you are saying that the mission has completely failed in two-and-a-half years in creating the multi-ethnic and democratic society in Kosovo. SM: I was accused of the same thing in Belgrade yesterday. I don't think its up to the international community to create a multi-ethnic society here. The international community came and bombed and came with all its money and forces to help people here to create a democratic society. That's what we're here for and that's where we're going. Q: Susan, do you know if the University in Belgrade has some Albanian language lessons? SM: I'm sure it does. No? okay. Well listen, that's why we're here, to change what happened before. Why would all of us be here to repeat what happened before? Just to endorse a reverse of what happened to you guys? It's not what we're here to do. I don't care what anyone else is doing, we're here to create a western style democracy, not to avenge the wrongs of the past. And the past was very wrong. You guys were totally excluded, and that was wrong. But we're not here to see that it happens to the next generation. Q: Have any of the local leaders been approached to be part of the Haekkerup Covic talks? They will need to be part of it soon. SM: For now he meets Covic alone and informs the IAC. I assume that after November 17th, when there are elected leaders, that may change. Q: Having been absent for the last weeks I was wondering how the level of violence is? DC: Generally there have been spikes of serious crimes such as the incident in Glogovac. Over the past few weeks the interethnic violence has been low aside from a few individual attacks and attacks on Roma. But no large scale ethnic attacks.
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