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UNMIK-KFOR-UNMIK Police-UNHCR Briefing, 11 June 2001 UN Spokeswoman Susan Manuel Susan Manuel UN Spokeswoman SRSG to Belgrade Tomorrow Mr. Haekkerup goes to Belgrade for a meeting with President Kostunica and Foreign Minister Svilanovic. He will also meet with ambassadors of interested countries at the Swedish Embassy on the invitation of Sweden which now holds he EU presidency. With the FRY leaders, Mr. Haekkerup will be speaking about missing people and detainees, about Kosovo Serb returns and participation in elections and interim institutional structures. UNMIK's 2nd Anniversary Wednesday marks the 2nd Anniversary of UNMIK's arrival in Kosovo. There will be a special press conference here at 12noon, featuring the SRSG, the four pillar heads and Mr. Eric Morris. War Crimes Trial The War Crimes Trial on Kolasinac/Jovanovic is going into the final round. Today they have the final statements of the Defense and the Prosecution. On Wednesday, the verdict will be read. Media are allowed in the courthouse, but please check ahead of time with UNMIK Press Officer in Prizren Christian Lindemeiher. Fever Update On the Crimean Congo fever, there are now 31 suspected cases. There are no new deaths. Samples have been sent to Lublijana and there are reports that some of those cases have not tested positive for the fever. Later today we will have more information, perhaps reducing the number of suspected cases. Security Council visit Finally, a reminder that on Saturday all 15 members of the UN Security Council are expected here for a visit to Kosovo. The delegation will be led by Ambassador Chowdhury of Bangladesh, the current Council head. They will meet with local leaders, visit Mitrovica, Slivovo, and Dubrava prison There will be a press briefing here a week from today at 830a. We will have a full agenda for you later this week. Journalists are invited to attend the graduation ceremony of Class 1 of the School of Civil Protection on Thursday, June 14th at 10am at the National Theatre in Pristina. Eighty-six members of the KPC will graduate. The event has been organized by the IOM, Council of Europe and the KPC in cooperation with the Pristina University. Sqdrn. Ldr. Roy Brown KFOR Spokesman 2nd Anniversary It will not have escaped your notice that tomorrow sees the second anniversary of the day that KFOR first entered Kosovo. We are, of course, aware that many people will want to celebrate this anniversary with rallies and large gatherings. All we ask is that they are conducted peacefully and that the leaders and organizers ensure that they are conducted in a non-confrontational manner and that inflammatory language and actions are avoided. An awful lot has been achieved here already and I would like to pay tribute to all the servicemen of the 39 KFOR troop contributing nations, that have served here in the cause of peace during the past two years. Our thoughts, at this time, especially go out to the families and friends of those servicemen and women that have died or been seriously injured while serving here in Kosovo. FYROM Border Operation Eagle 1, KFOR's further reinforcement of the Kosovo / FYROM border continues and is already making an impact. Over the weekend 16 people were detained, in four separate incidents, south of Vitina, and a number of weapons and equipment seized. The combined haul included a complete 82mm mortar with a number of mortar rounds, rifles, pistols, anti-personnel mines, uniforms and over 40 000 rounds of ammunition. In Prizen a further five individuals were arrested and we continue to foil border crossing attempts, from Albania into Kosovo, on an almost daily basis. Also over the weekend, nations serving with KFOR have responded to a request, received from the FYROM government on Friday, to assist in the relief of the humanitarian crisis in Kumanovo. Yesterday afternoon KFOR water tankers from the Polish, contingent began delivering drinking water to distribution points in Kumanovo to help relieve the suffering of the people there. They were joined, this morning, by four British tankers, which gives us the capacity to deliver up to 260 000 litres of water per day; over 50 percent of the 450 000 litres needed. Possible contributions from other nations, that have vehicles available to support the humanitarian operation, could further increase this capacity in the next few days. KFOR & Hemmorrhagic Fever Finally, I'd like to make a short mention of the Hemmorrhagic Fever outbreak to allay the concerns of the families of our servicemen and women back home. To date no KFOR soldiers have been infected. KFOR has medical staff with the requisite skills to deal with this disease and our medical and environmental health staff have provided advice to soldiers on how to avoid infection. In the unlikely event that any of our soldiers should contract Hemorrhagic Fever, all KFOR medical units are aware of the immediate treatment and procedures required to combat the disease. A contingency plan is already in place to immediately medi-vac any KFOR member catching Hemorrhagic Fever to his or her home country, so that they can receive the very best medical care available. Derek Chappell UNMIK Police Spokesman Suspects Arrested in Murder/Weapons Possession Offence On Sunday, the 10th of June, Police were called to a home in Prizren
following reports of a shooting. Upon arrival, blood was found at an
apartment containing three occupants but there was no trace of any
victim. Enquiries at the hospital disclosed that a 19 year old
K-Albanian male victim had been brought to the hospital at 1100 suffering
from a single gunshot to the chest. He died at 11:15. Police
arrested the three K-Albanian occupants of the house and conducted a
search that led to the seizure of : A joint investigation is being made by UNMIK Police and German KFOR Military Police into the shooting and the source of the weapons. Arrest made in Dragash Bombings Over the last year Dragash has suffered an inordinate number of bombing attacks. An intensive investigation by the Prizren Regional Investigation Unit led to the identification of three suspects who were involved in an organized bombing campaign. Arrest warrants were obtained for these individuals. Throughout Wednesday, the 6th of June, Police searched three locations around Dragash locating and arresting all three K-Albanian male suspects. The three men detained are suspected of being involved in at least 30 bomb attacks in the Dragash area over the past year. All three are detained at Prizren Detention Centre. Found Body Starts Murder Investigation On the 8th of June, at approximately 1100, a Serbian male reported to Mitrovica Police Station that he had found a dead body while walking in the woods near his home. Officers attended the scene and discovered the body of a male victim, age unknown. The scene was located between the village of RUJISTE and KOZARBUO, along a roadway. The body had been set on fire and had sustained a major head wound. The victim is believed to be Serb. An investigation is going on. Drug Enforcement Continues UNMIK Police and the KPS continue to direct resources and enforcement at the drug trade within Kosovo. Four additional arrests have been made this week
for possession of heroin. Body Found near Pristina At 1830 on Sunday, June 10, KFOR were notified of a dead body lying in the middle of a small dirt road near SICEVO village, which is a short cut road to Pristina. KFOR and UNMIK Police attended the scene and found the body of a 58 year old Albanian male. He had been shot through the chest. Forensic examinations are being made to determine the time of death. UNMIK Police have started a murder investigation. Crime Overview The week of 3rd June to the 9th June saw the number of major crime reported to UNMIK Police remaining stable at 103, as compared to 101 last week. One murder was recorded in Mitrovica compared to 2 last week. The 5 aggravated assaults are a significant reduction on the 10 last week. There were no kidnappings. 144 persons were arrested throughout Kosovo last week, the majority (39) in Prizren and Mitrovica (42). 10 of the arrests were for outstanding major crimes. Overall crime activity remains stable at 503 for the week, with intimidation, assault and threats forming the largest proportion. Astrid van Genderen Stort UNHCR Spokeswoman FYROM Arrivals The total of arrivals from fYROM since 3 May including those that arrived during Feb/March/April and have not yet returned: approx. 24,137 assuming that the Feb/March/April caseload is approx.9000) Over the past three days close to 12.000 refugees crossed into Kosovo, bringing the total of refugees from fYROM into Kosovo to over 33,000,presently registered by KRC/ICRC (including 9000 that still remained in Kosovo since the fighting in Feb/March/April). People had continued to arrive in smaller numbers throughout the week. The latest wave of new arrivals however started on Thursday with people coming from the Aracinovo, Aricina village which is only 10km from Skopje. An increase of military build up and the presence of the NLA troops inside the town provided the push factor for the more than ten thousand others that followed in the past three days. While most of the new arrivals were originally from Aracinovo/Aracine, inhabitants of Skopje proper and of Hasanbeg and Gazibaba, areas inside Skopje municipality/town were also reported arriving. In addition there were several people originally from the Kumanovo area, who had found temporary shelter in Aracinovo/Aracine and /or Skopje (since fighting had started in their respective villages). These now find themselves in a situation of secondary displacement, fleeing from yet another potential crisis area. The majority of the people that arrived were women, children and elderly. On Thursday and Friday problems were encountered at Blace border, when groups of women and children without documents were not allowed to cross the border. After interventions by UNHCR and others, no major problems were encountered with access for women/children and elderly without documents. UNMIK police at Blace border reported several people crossing into Kosovo without having the proper documentation.. Men without documents, however, have reportedly been turned back at roadblocks on the way to the border, or denied access into Kosovo through Blace's official border crossing. Some of them managed to cross through unofficial routes into Kosovo. Of others their exact location is unknown, a factor which is obviously of great concern to those women and children that managed to cross the border but had to leave their men behind. UNHCR Skopje have raised the issue with the Government and as of Sunday men with documents are allowed to cross. The majority of the people crossed the border on foot. The people are generally scared, traumatised, tired and some dehydrated as the weather has been very hot these past days. Many people found other people to drive them to the border, took a taxi or hitched a ride; some walked all the way. On the Kosovo side of the border, local busses, taxi's and cars are waiting to assist those in need of transport. IOM is present to coordinate the transport. There is still the same hospitality among the local population and enormous amount of assistance provided for free. People have mainly gone to Gnilane/Gnjilane, Vitii/Vitina and Kacanik, but several busses also headed towards Pristina/Prishtine. All over 33,000 refugees have been housed in host families in Kosovo/Kosova.Those that find themselves without any housing have been temporarily placed in the temporary community shelters, mainly in Gnilane/Gnjilane, but for all of these housing in families was allocated one, maximum two days later. The total number of displaced people in fYROM, Kosovo and southern Serbia stands at 55,500. High Commisioner's visit While the large number of refugees entered Kosovo, UNHCR's High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers undertook and finished his tour of the Balkans on Saturday. During his visit on 8 June in Kosovo he met with the SRSG Hans Haekerup, the Albanian IAC leaders, the Serbian leaders, a Serb displaced family and with refugees from fYROM, presently in Gnilane/Gnjilane AOR. In his meetings with the Albanian leaders Mr.Lubbers expressed the wish for return of at least limited numbers of Serbs. Accepting them back into Kosovo society can be a proof of the strength of Kosovo, Mr Lubbers said. He added that acceptance of participation in the self governing structures of Kosovo would be a necessary condition for safe and sustainable return. After a short visit to fYROM where he met with the President Mr. Trajkovski and other government officials he continued on to Preshevo Valley where he met Mr. Covic in Bujanovac and Mr. Halimi and other Albanian leaders in Lucane. Mr. Lubbers expressed his hope that similar solutions will be found for the problems in fYROM, as were found for those in Preshevo Valley. He stated that there must be a way to live together. "When there are democratic rights" he said, "there is no reason for fighting and no reason for fleeing" . Even though Mr.Lubbers was pleased with the peaceful path that was taken in Preshevo Valley he emphasised to Mr. Covic that immediate progress needs to be taken toward the implementation of the promised confidence building measures, in order to keep up the momentum. Questions: Q: Just wanted to check with Roy Brown whether we had got the report on the Krivenik shelling. Please tell me why this is not a cover up not to have a report even after seven weeks. RB: There is absolutely no change in the status of the Krivenik report. I explained this previously both reports, the one written by KFOR and the one written by the FYROM authorities are both in Skopje with the joint commission. You have to accept that on the FYROM side, the members of the commission are also members of the ministry of defence and they are particularly busy people at the moment. Q: We have seen a steady spread of the insurgency in Macedonia. Are you afraid that your troops who are at the airport can come under attack? Have they prepared themselves for that eventuality? RB: Yes, obviously yes. As the fighting spreads and moves nearer to areas KFOR personnel are operating is of concern to us. I can tell you that in the HQ, we have got senior staff officers working particularly on that problem and generating and coming out with proactive measures to provide enhanced security for those individuals.
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