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UNMIK-OSCE-EU-UNHCR Press Briefing, 11 October 2001 UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel
SRSG's Meetings in NY Last week I attended the Security Council briefing and other meetings in New York with Mr. Haekkerup. Simon fully covered the briefing. I can only reiterate that the Council members individually and collectively expressed their full support for the mission. The US representative-along with France and the Russian federation-- stressed that the elections are not intended to lead to the determination of the final status of Kosovo…Singapore, however, said that UNMIK could begin to facilitate a political process that would lead to a final political settlement, as laid down in 1244. The US representative stressed the need for responsibility and discipline by the local leaders in Kosovo. He called for a nonviolent election campaign and, from the international community, improved security and support for the return of Kosovo Serbs. He called for full participation of all communities in the elections as the only way for Kosovo to remain multiethnic and respect for the rights of all. The French ambassador welcomed the dialogue between UNMIK and Covic and called for further cooperation between UNMIK and the FRY. He also noted that France gave $2 million for 14 interethnic projects in Mitrovica… All council members called on Kosovo Serbs to vote and on Kosovo Albanian leaders to take the lead in urging Serb participation and in conducting a nonviolent campaign. China, Mauritius and Jamaica also expressed their disappointment at the lack of progress in Mitrovica. The FRY ambassador also addressed the Council and said that FRY was not yet in a position to take a decision on Serb participation and that better conditions must be created "before we can responsibly support participation of Serbs and other non Albanians in the election…," although he said that the Council meeting Friday was certain to contribute to the decision and that there was a "genuine desire to be able to call for participation," on the part of the authorities in Belgrade. Vedrine Tomorrow Hubert Vedrine, French Foreign Minister, will arrive for meetings with UNMIK, KFOR and Kosovo leaders. He'll take questions tomorrow at 5:30 in the front lobby here in UNMIK. Covic Serbian Deputy PM Nebojsa Covic has been touring Serb-inhabited areas of Kosovo over the past two days including Leposavic, Gracanica, Velika Hoca, Osojane and Stprce. He met with COMKFOR Gen. Valentin, the representatives of international missions, Kosovo Serbs and UNMIK administrators, as well as three prisoners in the Mitrovcia detention center. From UNMIK Police From the police: an explosive was thrown at the home of a Kosovo Albanian in Mali Alas village in Lipjan. The house owner has been the target of a number of attacks in the past, according to police. No known motive is known for this hostility. In the Gnjilane area, a nine-year-old boy was stabbed in a schoolyard. One Millionth ID Card The one millionth ID card will be given out by Mr. Tom Koenigs at the Gracanica UNMIK warehouse on Monday 2:30 p.m./ Media are invited to the ceremony. Driving License As you know the IAC discussed progress on drivers licenses on Tuesday. Tomorrow will be the graduation ceremony for the first class of Driving License Examiners at the KPS School in Vushtri at 1.15 p.m. The Department of Public Services is taking the help of the KPS School for training and testing the initial batches of driving license examiners, driving school inspectors, vehicle inspectors and for training the trainers. The training courses have been designed to match European standards in this field, so that those who administer the tests will have themselves been trained according to European standards. The next course for the driving license examiners will start on Monday. The rest of the IAC discussion on this subject is available in the press release on the racks. IOM Guide On Monday, IOM Kosovo will launch the Young Women's Guide to working abroad and in Kosovo. The guide gives information on checking a contract for work, workers rights and the options available for studying and working abroad. It also highlights the dangers of applying for work abroad without checking the particulars of the person offering the job or checking the job contract. The Press Conference and launch of the guide will be held at the Agolli Hair Salon in Peyton Place, Pristina, 13:00 hrs on 15th October. World Bank's Poverty Assessment
Report
Elections The CEC meets tomorrow again - for the 18th time. Tomorrow's meeting will likely be brief as the main areas it will be looking at are the appointment of people to the Municipal Election Commission and the accreditation of observers. It meets again next Tuesday (when it will approve the political party candidates lists. Last week three CEC members went to England to observe the ballot
printing process. Out of Kosovo voters will start to receive their ballot in the coming days. The mailing from Vienna began yesterday. There will be further distribution after any appeals about inclusion on the voters list, have been heard. Voters outside Kosovo have to get their ballots back to the Vienna collection centre by 17th November. Book Launch Tomorrow sees the launch of the OSCE's book, Kosovo Concerns. This book compiles the views of hundreds of people across Kosovo and is an expression of what they believe are important issues - and issues the politicians should address in the election and when the government is formed. As well as telling politicians what is of concern to the electorate the book also aims to encourage voters to hold their elected officials accountable. The top priority for people in Kosovo, according to the book is law and order, with education and health being the next most important issues. Community rights are most important for Kosovo's minority communities - but also rank highly for other groups in society. There's a press release on this outside. The launch is tomorrow at 5pm at the NGO Resource Centre at the Political Party Service Centre in Pristina. The media are very welcome to attend. Roma Kindergarten A kindergarten for Roma children in Mitrovica north officially opens Monday; the OSCE has been instrumental in getting the school together assisting with its development. We have been working with Caritas France, UNICEF and ACT. The school serves 23 children aged three to six in the morning session and has remedial classes for up to 60 primary school children in the afternoon.
Power Supply Disruption The return to a stable power supply has hit a few problems in the past few days. On Tuesday at 13.48 hrs there was a short circuit in the power transmission line connecting the A plant with Macedonia. This had a domino effect on the other transmission lines connected to the B plant and all the systems went down temporarily. Partial power has now been restored but unit A3 has a leakage in the boiler system (damage exacerbated possibly due to the short circuit) and B2 is on half generating capacity due to a damaged pump. Currently load shedding is 3 hours on and 3 hours off. Commercialization Contract A tenth commercialization contract was signed last week in for Prizren-based handicraft company "Arizanati". DSRSG Andy Bearpark signed the contract with a local company operating in Prizren, called Astra-B. The lease will be for five years and 130,000 DM of primary investment will be made with a particular focus on the area of market development and sales expansion. All 29 existing employees have been granted employment and an extra 42 employees are expected to be employed in the next five years. DTI The Department of Trade and Industry reports an increase in the numbers of applications for quarry blasting. Trepca has received an allocation of 9.43 Million DM from the KCB for use during the 4th quarter of 2001. Housing The Department of Reconstruction has reported that 65 per cent of donor commitments in the housing reconstruction sector have been completed. UNHCR Spokeswoman Astrid van Genderen Stort Figures Total Number of Arrivals Since the Beginning of the
Conflict: 81,824 The estimated number of over 57,000 returnees (officially recorded) is being revised now, as is the number of refugees remaining. Returns Returns to FYROM continue, albeit in limited numbers of less than a hundred a day. UNHCR reported previously that over 57,000 people have so far returned to FYROM. Even though UNHCR and its counterparts have diligently followed the return movement, figures can never be 100% precise: there will always be people returning through other roads, returns that cannot be recorded by UNHCR and its counterparts. As return is slowing down and the number of those that will decide to stay in Kosovo over winter (for various reasons) is stabilising, UNHCR Kosovo has embarked on an exercise to reassess the number of remaining refugees from FYROM (which consequently means a reassessment of the returnee figures). Until now UNHCR Kosovo reported the figure of up to 25,000 people remaining in Kosovo. UNHCR's field offices are presently reviewing the remaining population that is being assisted. Initial outcome of these surveys in the field have shown us already that the figure of those remaining is lower than 20,000. We will provide you with a more detailed number as soon as the assessment will be finalised. Displacement inside FYROM The figures for IDPs as calculated by the Macedonian Red Cross remain as those of 7th October, namely 44,531; with 40,984 in host family accommodation and 3,547 in collective centres. The increase is in most part due to the re-registration by MRC. Remaining Refugees UNHCR field offices conducted intensive field visits throughout their areas of responsibility in order to understand better the remaining refugee caseload and be able to respond to their particular needs. In the Gnilane area of responsibility a total of 1895 persons were interviewed randomly by field teams throughout the AOR, including some 495 in Gnilan/Gnjilane, over 400 in Ferizaj, 460 in Kaçanik and more than 500 in Viti/Vitina. The interviewees included a good sampling of men, women and elderly persons of the more than 12,000 refugees that are remaining there. In Gnilan/Gnjilane most of the remaining refugees (around 1500), based around Zhegra, come from the war affected areas north of Kumanovo, where the situation remains tense, with checkpoints, extensive military and police presence and ongoing rumours of the re-entry of military/police forces that destabilise the trust of the population. In several villages, electricity and water pose a problem. Returnees have to revert to return through illegal routes which does not encourage many of the remaining refugees to return at this point in time. UNHCR FYROM is visiting these isolated villages on a daily basis, providing returnee kits to recent returnees and addressing - where it can- all problems of concern to the returnees. In both Kumanovo and Tetovo regions, UNHCR is also offering basic support through the QIP - Quick Impact Projects - basic funding for projects that can support local economic regeneration. As of 11th October there will be a new UNHCR Bus Line (the third line to be established, two are already running in the Tetovo area) running from Kumanovo to Lipkovo, via Lopate and Opaje. The collecting point is the main bus station in Kumanovo. The bus line aims to provide transport particularly for children in an area where checkpoints have seriously impeded freedom of movement. The refugees remaining in Viti/Vitina (over 3500) reported a rowing sense of fatigue among hosts who have been providing accommodation for refugees for up to eight months. The occupation of minority houses in the area is another reason for concern. Many families in this area brought along their animals, which have created problems both in terms of their stay and their return. Finally, the majority of these families come from areas directly affected by the fighting and therefore they have many problems with their return. The return of ethnic Albanians to the Tetovo region has been more successful. Internally displaced ethnic Macedonians are slowly returning as well, but the situation still remains tense, the overall distrust is high and ethnic divisions are omnipresent. The chances of return for many of the remaining refugees are small. The main reasons, the refugees say, is the feelings of insecurity, the destruction of their houses and the overall infrastructure, checkpoints and lack of freedom of movement. Around 90 per cent of the interviewed refugees in the Gnilan/Gnjilane area declared that they would definitely spend the winter in Kosovo and around ten percent said that they would reassess the circumstances in FYROM later this fall. Those determined to stay are preparing for winter. UNHCR, with the financial help of ECHO, is preparing to meet some of the winter needs of the remaining refugee population (firewood, multi purpose stoves). Demining In the Kumanovo area, a de-mining programme is currently underway resulting in the inevitable detonation of mines and other unexploded ordnance. Return of Minorities The lifting of the month long barricades that had been placed on the FYROM side of the Macedonian/Kosovo border, has allowed UNCHR to resume facilitated return activities for the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian displaced community. A small number of families returned, mostly to the Pristina region. In view of the Platform for Joint Action and the Framework for Return, UNHCR actively continues to facilitate go and see as well as go and inform visits for potential returnees from all ethnic background.
Q: Susan, I have a question for you. What kind of compromise or concessions UNMIK is ready to make to the Serbs or the Yugoslav authorities to have Serbs participate in the general elections in Kosovo? SM: Well it is not a question of concessions. Covic and others have put certain conditions on their willingness to endorse Kosovo Serb participation and we can' t really accept that there should be any conditions on participation in elections. You vote because you want to participate in the Provisional Self-government. But the types of conditions they want are well known - they want greater freedom of movement for Serbs, greater security, more returns, improvement in the judiciary, more information on the missing. We are working on all of those things anyway; we don't want to tie them to elections. It is not that we dismiss those conditions, they are definitely issues that must be improved but we would like to separate them from the idea of voting. Q: Susan, I cannot follow Mr. Covic these days. He was in Mitrovica yesterday and visited the prisoners. No one knows what they said to him, no one knows what he said to them. Secondly, yesterday he met with COMKFOR in Pristina, they had a meal together and they issued different statements on what they discussed. Can we know exactly what are Covic's demands except for these five demands, clear demands of Covic, I mean, because I have read in different newspapers about different demands of the Serb Government. Can we know exactly what they are because so many things are hidden from the people in Kosovo? SM: No, this has not been hidden at all. This has been announced over
and over again and it is basically what I have just told you; it is
movement on all of those areas, a movement that they would be impressed
by. There is no hidden agenda, I mean he has meetings just like other
people have meetings. He wants to talk to the Kosovo Albanian press, by
the way, so I am going to try to arrange something as soon as possible.
But there is no hidden agenda. The conditions are quite clear and I don't
think there is a specific list. There are general areas and those are
basically what I outlined. |