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UNMIK-OSCE-UNHCR-EU Press Briefing, 12 July 2001 UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel Susan Manuel SRSG Acting SRSG Tom Koenigs meets with a Turkish Parliamentary Delegation this morning on the status of Kosovo's Turks, the use of their language and other rights. Swimming Pool The Germija swimming pool will open on 15 July at 10 a.m. It will be open on a daily basis from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sport clubs will be able to use the pool under a special agreement from 07:00 AM to 11:00 AM. Tax Points In northern Kosovo, roadblocks are still being maintained just north of the tax sift points, in the ground safety zone, outside UNMIK and KFOR jurisdiction. UNMIK Police continue to receive complaints from truck drivers entering. Kosovo from Serbia that drivers are being extorted on that side of the boundary. Mr. Andy Bearpark has sent a letter to Mr. Momcilo Trajkovic telling him to stop issuing forms that exempt goods from Serbian sales tax, to stop registering businesses and to stop raising funds through these practicises. Mr. Andy Bearpark reminded Mr. Trajkovic that the FRY committee for relations with UNMIK has no administrative role in Kosovo. UNMIK Police UNMIK Police patrol in Zubin Potok interrupted an armed robbery in progress last night. Officers drove up on four armed suspects around mid-night, who had stopped two trucks on the highway. The robbers wore masks and were armed with AK47's and pistols. When they saw the police they ran away. The thieves had enough time to rob one of the drivers before police arrived. The trucks were on the main road, headed towards Novi Pazar. KFOR soldiers assisted police in a search of the area but the suspects were not found. Zubin Potok Police have also been successful in intercepting trucks
that have been trying to UNMIK Police made a significant arrest in Pec/Peja, Sverke village early yesterday morning. Two Kosovo Albanians were arrested in connection with the murder of three Romas, including two teenage boys and a woman murdered on 8 April 2000 in Svrke village. The bodies had been found on the roadside by KPC officers who alerted UNMIK police. Also yesterday police reported a bus carrying Albanians was stoned as it passed through Gracanica. There were no injuries. OSCE Spokeswoman CEC The Central Election Commission meets this afternoon. It will be discussing access to the media by political parties. It will also likely agree on a system by which the diverse geographical areas of Kosovo are reflected in the candidates lists submitted by political parties. Party Certification So far in the party certification process we have had 6 independent
candidates pick up their papers. 32 political parties have their papers,
two citizens initiatives and one coalition. Community Centres Tomorrow sees the opening of the an OSCE community centre in Globocica in Dragas municipality. Ambassador Daan Everts will be there to officially inaugurate the centre. Community centres aim to assist Kosovo's smaller communities by giving people a place to meet, space to carry out activities and a chance to network. There are already community centres in Leposavic and in Strpce and nxt week the OSCE will be opening centres in Vrbovac - in Viti/Vitina and Ropotovo in Kamenica/Kosovsko Kamenica. Tomorrow's opening in Globocica is at 5 pm. Training begins On Monday training begins for the almost 200 international supervisors who will be working on updating the voters list, and on community registration - which starts in less than three weeks - on July 30th. Much of the training will be at the Kosovo Police Service School. But on Monday morning we are having a photo-opportunity at the Grand Hotel, where the head of Election Operations Peter Erben, and the Ambassador, Daan Everts, will be addressing the newcomers. For t.v. and photographers, please come to the Grand Hotel at 10.15. The photo-op is at 10.30 EU Spokeswoman District Heating Over the next two weeks, bidders have been invited to make compulsory onsite inspection visits to clarify details of the DM 3.5 Million EAR project for reconstruction of the District Heating System in Pristina and Gjakova. Electricity update Unit A3 and A4 will be shutdown later this month for a major programme of rehabilitation being financed by KfW, KEK and EAR for DM23 (12+7+4) Million The programme of rehabilitation will include environmental measures (filters and ash removal system) on A3 and A4 (emission of flue gas particulates will be reduced by 98%). Both units should be back in operation by mid December 2001. Commercialization of businesses The commercialization of businesses in Kosovo is continuing with two new contracts being signed on 2 July 2001 by DSRSG Andy Bearpark with the Lipjan Chicken and Fish Farm and the Fapol Plastics Factory, Pristina. The total investment in the two companies is approximately DM 8 Million. The contract for the Lipjan company was awarded to NT 'ADI' from Lipjan municipality. They have committed to invest DM 4.9 Million. All workers at the Chicken and Fish Farm will retain their jobs and an additional 10 new workers will be employed. The minimum wage is set at 320 DM and training and other benefits are included in the package. The 'Fapol' contract was awarded to CPK, a consortium of five Pristina-based private enterprises. They have made a commitment for investment of DM 3.7 Million. In the first two years DM 2.21 Million will be invested in 'Fapol' (which has not been working until now), with an additional DM 1.2 Million of working capital to be used to purchase raw materials and other essential supplies. This brings the total of commercialized companies to eight. BPK Responding to the BPK campaign to introduce direct electronic payments of wages and salaries, the Department of Public Services has initiated this system on a trial basis. The first payment was made on 27th June. Payments from UNMIK were cleared through ICS and credited to three commercial banks, which then credited the 41 individual employees who had volunteered to have the payment made to their accounts in different banks. This trial programme will be expanded but UNMIK and the commercial banks must still resolve some technical and organizational problems. It is hoped that this program will lead to an increase in the number of persons opening bank accounts and a reduced reliance on cash payment. UNHCR Spokeswoman Total Number of Arrivals Since the Beginning of the
Conflict: 73,118 Overall Situation The number of the people returning to fYROM has decreased over the past days. Presently UNHCR teams are observing a return movement of approximately 500 people a day. UNHCR roughly estimates that aound 10,000 people have returned, all and only those with valid passports. The majority of these still return to Skopje, while very minimal movement has been observed going to Kumanovo and Tetovo area. At Blace border crossing UNHCR continues to witness rejection of those without valid passports. UNHCR is increasingly concerned about these developments. With regard to this matter Eric Morris, UNHCR's special envoy, states: "It is hard to quantify the magnitude of the problem of those not being
allowed to re enter. UNHCR continues to raise the issue in Skopje, but
under the prevailing circumstances it has not yet been possible to receive
a clear answer. What concerns us the most now is that it is precisely
those issues of citizenship and proper documentation, that need to be
resolved in fYROM very very quickly." On Wednesday 11 July, UNHCR Gnilane/Gnjilane and Preshevo facilitated the return of 210 Albanian IDPs to their home village in Depce, Presevo Municipality. Three IOM busses transported 131 individuals under UNHCR escort to the village. In addition there were several private cars, tractors that joined the movement from Gnilane/Gnjilane. There were many women and children present this time, which showed that the returnees were really intending to stay and build up life in Depce area again. Upon arrival an additional number of spontaneous returnees had gathered at the school yard, bringing the total number of returnees up to 210. Mayor Halimi together with Preshevo notables was present to meet the new arrivals OCHA, FAO, OTI and a few NGOs were also present. The overall mood was festive, even though many of the returnees found their houses they had not seen in two years, completely looted, lightly damaged and in disarray. The IDPs were however clearly intent on making their return work and rebuilding their communities. Basic assistance to the returnees The IDPs were provided with the basic NFI kit and IRD gave each family a food parcel and hygiene kit. The Presevo Commissioner for refugees issued some fresh food to each family ? WFP unfortunately is proving to be slow in addressing the food requirements of the returning IDPs. UNHCR's partner SDR (Swiss Disaster Relief) will visit the village on Thursday (today) to focuss on the shelter needs and officials from Presevo Municipality have promised to sending someone who will look into the electricity situation. The IDPs, who returned in extended family units, immediately on arrival began to repair their houses (most houses are lightly damaged missing doors windows and basic fixtures). Increased interest in return UNHCR is extremely pleased about the increased and accelerated interest in return shown by the IDP's still in Kosovo. An additional 250 IDP's have spontaneously returned to Zarbince since UNHCR facilitated the return of 99 persons last Wednesday. UNHCR is planning the return of 120 families (approximately 500 people) to Pribrovac and Ravna Bujce in Bujanovac municipality next week. Everyone ? the IDPs themselves, the local Albanian govt authorities, IDPs leaders in Kosovo, the Serbian govt and even the police ?thus far appear pleased with the return and are encouraging it to continue. Questions: Q: How long will the shutdown of these units last while they are being rehabilitated and will it exacerbate the problem of power cuts happening right now, while they are shut down? BD: They will be returned into service by mid-December. But this is a planned shut down as is happening throughout the summer on different aspects of the power generation scene and there are contracts which will be put in place to minimize the difference between what is used and what is required. Q: Do you have any number of percentage shortfall that's going to be created by these plants being taken offline against the imports that you are going to bring in? BD: No, it does fluctuate because obviously some problem can develop on a short term basis in some of the other units. But the contracts are planned to meet the demand so that there isn't any difference between demand and supply. However, in Kosovo, as you are well aware, the best laid plans sometimes go astray. But we have …………….to go down and we have made contracts to supplement the generation of power and during the summer we will see how it goes. Q: The demand already outstrips supply currently. Is that correct? BD: Yes, there is a problem with unit A3, where a ring of turbine blades will have to be removed. These blades were damaged. That unit will be back in service on 28 July. That is the difference that is currently being dealt with. There was no contract for that because that was unexpected. Q: Do you have a start date when to take the other units off line. It would be after the 20 July or before. BD: No. It is starting next week and if you come to my office I can give you the planned schedule. It is carefully calculated to minimize the problems. Q: Susan are you going to go to the swimming pool. SM: I was worried about the cleanliness aspect. UNMIK TV had a show last night on the purity of Kosovo's water and it is actually more pure than the bottled water that we purchase here, according to the local scientist. Q: What's the capacity of your camp that you set up on the other side of the Blace border crossing for incoming refugees from Macedonia? AvGS: The camp is not a camp. It is a transit center and it is there to decongest the border and to receive people when there is a large influx and we have to decongest the border, to do registration, to give first assistance, if need be to provide overnight accommodation, to transport people onwards. In the worst case scenario, which we hope would not happen, the camp could accommodate 14,000 people but we would really resort to that when the temporary community shelters and other sites have been filled, if it ever comes to that. Q: How many Serb parties have registered or been certified so far? Which are the parties from Serbia that have been registered or certified in Kosovo and how many Serbs have been registered outside Kosovo? CT: If I answer your last question first, community registration and registration for elections does not actually start until the 30th July. So no individual has yet been registered. On the parties, we have given out nine application forms to Serb parties among the 32 total. So far out of the 32 only two parties have completed their applications. We are not actually specifying which parties yet because it is still a confidential process while certification goes o. when all the applications are in we will make it known, just who is applying. Out of 32, across the board, Albanian, Serb, Bosniac, Turk, only two have got their applications in. Q: Susan, did the Albanian pathologist give any reason why are they refusing to go to Serbia for the exhumation of the bodies. SM: No. The only reason they gave orally to our missing persons unit, which is setting up the visit was that they were under some kind of political pressure not to go and we have no idea what kind of political pressure. We have no idea from whom. You could see yesterday in the KTC that both the LDK and the PDK representatives seemed very surprised that the forensics pathologists stated they did not want to go after all this planning, after the desires expressed by the missing persons group. So we really have no idea what is going on there and they have been invited to come to the next KTC meeting. But we hope we have a resolution before then. Q: You are accusing some Albanian political forces of putting pressures on the experts. SM: I do not accuse anybody. They said that they were under some political pressure. We are not accusing anybody. Q: Is it possible that they are under the political pressure of UNMIK
or some other international group? Q: Who is main person who would lead this group to Belgrade?. Q: What is the name of the specific person? Q: Does OSCE have some in Belgrade who is observing the
exhumations? Q: The pathologists say they don't want to go to Belgrade for two
reasons: they weren't allowed to identify bodies in Kosovo's mass graves
and because they are afraid for their security. Have you heard these
stories? Q: What are you going to do with the bodies that are being exhumed?
Will they be returned to Kosovo?
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