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UNMIK-UNMIK Police-OSCE-KFOR Press Briefing, 12 November 2001 UNMIK Spokesman Susan Manuel
Election Campaign The election campaign has been going ahead with very few incidents and
lots of activities. IAC The Interim Administrative Council will not meet again until after the elections. So tomorrow's meeting is cancelled. After elections it will continue to meet until 1 January. Pending Regulations There are a handful of regulations to be considered before the
inauguration of the Assembly. This is legislation which must be
promulgated now to meet certain external deadlines. These include a
regulation on the Kosovo Consolidated Budget for 2002, the introduction of
the Euro and the regulation giving the formula for allocation of seats in
the Assembly. On Friday, the UN Security Council issued a statement on the upcoming elections. This press release is available at our press office. "Applauding the role played by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in
advance of the election in Kosovo, the Security Council called upon all
women and men of the province to take part in the vote on 17 November.
Acknowledging the current situation of low electricity supply, KEK and the Public Utilities Dept are trying to ensure adequate electrical supply during prime time news hours this week so that residents can get access to campaign and election news. Kosovo will be divided into three groups, and each group should get at least one hour of electricity on between 19 to 22 hours. KEK has said it will provide news media with the daily schedules. Driving Licenses SRSG Haekkerup has signed a regulation on documents permitting the operation of vehicles in Kosovo, in other words, on driver's licenses. This states that people can operate vehicles if they have a valid Kosovo drivers license, issued by the competent government authority in Kosovo, or a license issued by the competent authorities of the FRY, or a license issued by competent authorities of a foreign state. Until the Kosovo program gets underway, --which will probably be in
March--a drivers license issued by the FRY that expired after 1 January
1999 shall be deemed valid until 30 June 2002. After that date, those
expired licenses which have not been renewed by FRY authorities must be
replaced by a valid Kosovo license. Currently, the modalities for issuing the Kosovo driving licenses are being worked out and companies are being sought to prepare the drivers license database. The program to train driving license examiners is going well, as is the driving school inspectors' course. By the time we start issuing licenses, around March next year, we hope to have 50 driving license examiners and 20 driving school inspectors. Each region will have offices to issue driving licenses. The driving licenses would be produced according to highest international and European standards on special security paper. Currently, Kosovo has about 200 unlicensed driving schools. As we get trained driving school inspectors, the Department of Public Services will start the process of inspecting and licensing the driving schools, which meet the requisite standards.
Death of an UNMIK Police Officer UNMIK Police were deeply saddened by the death on November 10th of one of their officers. Officer Carlyle Schrank, 58, of the United States Police died suddenly of natural causes while on his way to work on Saturday morning. The death of Officer Schrank is a particularly tragic loss for us in the Press and Public Information Office. He was the Regional Press Officer for UNMIK Police in Gnjilane. Having spent 32 years with the Wisconsin Police, Carlyle SCHRANK arrived in Kosovo in September, 2000 and after serving as an investigator at the Vitina station, was assigned as Press and Public Information Officer in the UNMIK Police Regional Headquarters in Gnjilane. He leaves behind a wife and four children. All of us in UNMIK Police extend our heartfelt sympathy to his family and to the United States Police community. We thank Carlyle SCHRANK for his contribution to the future of Kosovo. On Tuesday, 13 November at 1100 hrs a Memorial Service will be held for
Officer Schrank at the UNMIK HQ Annex Building Auditorium in Pristina. All
are invited to attend. On behalf of UNMIK Police we issue a public condemnation of the slanderous misrepresentation of facts by 'Bota Sot' in one of their news items published on Friday 9th November. The report was titled 'Six KPS Members Threatened and Arrested Head Chief of LDK Lipjan'. The report names six KPS Officers who are alleged to have been working in the interest of the PDK Party and termed as "Thaci's supporters masquerading in KPS uniform". These officers have been alleged to have assaulted some LDK supporters and arrested some of them on the 8th of November after the Party rally in Lipjan was over. The Bota Sot journalist has ascribed this action to the KPS Officers' ire at the massive public response to the rally. The facts of the case are that on the date of the incident the KPS officers were deployed for regulating the traffic for the rally which was scheduled for 1300hrs. Well before the rally was to commence, and not after the rally as alleged by 'Bota Sot', at about 1245 hrs a convoy of vehicles containing LDK supporters refused to abide by the legitimate directions of the KPS Officers. Some persons in the convoy abused and assaulted the KPS officers. As a consequence, four persons were arrested by the police and released after recording their statements at the Police Station. The rally was conducted peacefully without any other untoward incident. The highly irresponsible reporting by 'Bota Sot' is the subject of a report we have sent to the Media Commissioner this morning for further examination. Escape from Custody On the 10th of November at about 2135 hrs a 31 year-old K-Albanian male prisoner undergoing treatment in the Cardiology Ward of Pristina Hospital managed to escape from police custody. He is reported to have been assisted in the escape by some staff members of the hospital. The prisoner had been arrested about 6 months back for weapons offences. UNMIK Police have arrested a 21 year-old K-Albanian male staff member of Pristina Hospital who is suspected to have helped the prisoner to escape from police custody. Election Activity With elections round the corner, we have now reached the zenith of
political activity in Kosovo. During the week 201 political rallies were
organized by various political parties in different parts of Kosovo. An
estimated 89,000 persons attended. Overview Looking back on the past week, there was no murder reported as against two in the week before. Seven kidnappings were reported which was quite a jump from the two in the previous week. Cases of arsons fell to two from the previous week's three. Across Kosovo, 119 persons were arrested, the majority being in Pec, Pristina and Mitrovica. 14 persons were arrested for outstanding major crimes like attempted murder and kidnapping. The overall crime rate increased from 435 cases the week before to 473 cases this week.
International Election Supervisors At the moment almost 2,000 people who will be working as supervisors in polling stations during the election are receiving training in Greece. The location was chosen because the airport in Thessaloniki is less prone to get fogbound than Pristina; and, because the tourist season is over, there is a lot of space for the numbers who are working with us. They will be coming to Kosovo tomorrow - more than 40 buses are going to be bringing them up. If you want a photo-opportunity, they should be passing the Greek camp between 1045 and 1330 tomorrow; buses will arrive at the Illyria hotel here in Pristina about 1430 onwards. They will be working in the more than 1600 polling stations in Kosovo and more than 190 in Serbia and Montenegro. ECAC Decisions The Election Complaints and Appeals Subcommission, has, as you most likely have seen, fined Epoka e Re for contravening the election rules by giving excess coverage to one party. It has been fined 1000 DM. ECAC decisions are on our web site, and they will also be available here in the media centre later today. Voting As we get closer to election day I want to stress two points - one is that there has been some mis-reporting about how to vote. This is particularly for those newly added to the voters' list. To vote you must have proof that you have registered - a registration slip or receipt; but, like last year, if you do not have an UNMiK id card you are still eligible to vote - as long as you have proof of registration. It also helps if you have some form of photo-id. The other issue is possible problems on election day - we have done everything possible to improve the system in the polling centres and stations - making the voters list alphabetical, reducing the size of the centres and so on. But it is also up to the voters to make this an orderly election - and that means going to the polling centre early and lining up in a patient and orderly manner. If people crowd in at the doors that will slow down the process - not get you to the polling station any quicker. Polling stations are open from 7 in the morning to 7 in the evening which should give everyone who wants to the opportunity to cast her or his ballot. Briefing We will be having a briefing after this main press conference where the head of the Central Election Commission Secretariat, Andrew Caldwell, will be talking about the voting system. And this afternoon we are having a photo-opportunity at the Grand Hotel where we have the second roundtable debate between political parties and ngos. Today among the participants are the PDK, AAK, Kosovo Forum for Open Society youth and minority groups. That's at two pm today at the Grand Hotel. And as I mentioned before - we will have election briefings at 1200 every day and photo-opportunities throughout the week. The schedule of events is on the boards outside.
Q: Is the list of Coalition Return presented and certified? CT: The candidate's list has not been certified yet. We are still doing checks on the people. Q: Someone was murdered in a Bosnian village Donje Dupiste. Can you tell me if the murder was politically motivated in UNMIK Police's view? NKS: We have ….(inaudible) we are investigating possibility (inaudible)…… Q: Did the KPS stop the people from attending the rally, you mentioned they were controlling traffic; they were telling people that town is full there is no parking place. Could that have sparked the incident? Question for OSCE. What are the measurers OSCE is undertaking for elections out of Kosovo? NKS: (answer inaudible)….. CT: I can give you a whole lesson on what we are doing for out of Kosovo voting and much of it is very well known. Out of Kosovo voting for those people who are not living in Serbia and Montenegro we have a mailing voting system. Ballots will be coming to the IOM in Vienna, and then they will be brought down to Pristina and will be counted here. In Serbia and Montenegro we will be running a system which is pretty much the same as you will see here there will be polling stations, polling centers, OSCE international supervisors working there, OSCE polling station's managers and the actual voting system will be as it is here in Kosovo. Q: How many votes do you expect from Albanians out of Kosovo? How many are registered? CT: It is impossible to guess how many votes there are going to be. There are over 36 000 thousand people who are registered to vote. Outside Kosovo, outside Serbia and Montenegro who will vote by mail, who will have the right to vote by mail. Q: Some of the rallies that Coalition Povratak held over the weekend were reported to have been shouting matches between the candidate's on the list and the Serbs of Kosovo. I am wondering at this stage do you have any indications of the Serb participation on November 17th? CT: We have as much information as you have, really. There are clearly some people who want to take part and some who are vocal and saying that they don't want to take part. And we will have to wait until 17th November to see how many people come to vote. Q: What do you think - is the number of those who will turn up bigger than those who won't? CT: It is impossible to guess. I won't speculate on that. Q: How many Serbs do you estimate would participate in the elections? In percentage terms, if possible. CT: As I just said to Tina, I am not going to speculate about the figures. It is up to every individual to choose if they want to participate or not. Q: What kind of documents will the Serbs use for voting on 17th of November? CT: They need to show their registration slip to show that they have registered. And if they have a photo ID, they can bring that along; it gives extra validity. But they need the registration slip. Q: Who is in charge of giving the permission for building religious places. I am asking because of the church in North Mitrovica that caused a lot of controversy. SM: The municipality must give permits for any kind of constructions, be it religious or civil. Q: Do Serbs from Mitrovica have that permission? SM: As far as I know they began construction without it but then they filed the necessary papers. Q: Susan, when can people start collecting new Kosovo driving licenses? SM: As I said they have a little difficulty in getting a company who will assemble the database. We expect it will be in March. Q: You have the database of the old driving licenses, cant' you use that for people who want to their driving licenses? The matter is just to print the new ones. Is there going to be any test or anything new for people who have old Yugoslav driver's license? SM: Those licenses that expired, even if you get renewed or replaced or whatever, the expired ones are valid until next June. In the meantime if you have lost yours you may go to municipalities and try to get a replacement. I don't know when the expiration date is for replacements. But as of June you will have to have current driver's license. Q: Obligatory? SM: Obligatory. There is a regulation. But as of March we are hoping to be issuing Kosovo driver's licenses. Q: Question for Police. Since the regulation is signed, when will UN Police and KPS start enforcing it? NKS: (inaudible) …… Q: Question for Claire. We know that there will be international monitors on election day, are there going to be Kosovar monitors in the so called Serbian enclaves, and will Kosovar monitors be allowed to oversee elections in Serbia proper and Montenegro? CT: For Serbia proper and Montenegro they have to apply so that Commissariat for Refugees can make sure that they can travel there safely and work safely. So far we haven't had any applications. For the areas within Kosovo, for the enclaves I imagine there will be provision made for them. I will check security arrangements and get back to you.
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