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UNMIK-UNMIK POLICE -OSCE-EU-UNHCR Press Briefing, 20 December 2001 UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel
IAC The Interim Administrative Council is meeting currently and will discuss some draft regulations which must be passed by the end of the year, due to fiscal deadlines. These include draft regulations on the Kosovo Consolidated Budget for 2002, pensions and the civil service. Earlier Acting SRSG Charles Brayshaw briefed them on the first meeting of the High Level Working Group, which he held last week with Mr. Covic. The three Kosovo Albanian representatives expressed their disapproval of this group. At the IAC today, Mr. Kuci is representing the PDK, Mr. Haradinaj, the AAK and Mr. Kole Berisha the LDK. Lecture by the Austrian Designated Co-ordinator of the Stability Pact Later today, the Austrian Designated Co-ordinator of the Stability Pact, Mr. Eduard BUSEK, will give a lecture at the University of Pristina and will meet with Mr. Brayshaw at 15.00. Release of the suspects in the Nis bus bombing attack As most of you have reported, we released the three suspects in the Nis bus bombing attack yesterday, following a decision by the Kosovo Supreme Court, to reject the petition by the prosecutor and to order their release. There is a press release outside on this. Announcements Tomorrow, Mr. Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, President of Italy, will vist Pec/Peja and Djakova. See press officer Andrea Angelli for further details. Kosovo Assembly President Mr. Rexhat Daci is expected to give a press briefing Monday at 1 p.m. in the Government Building press conference room. Also, Greek KFOR would like to announce the visit of the Greek Minister of Defense Mr. Yiannos Papantoniou to Camp Riags Fereos on Sunday, with a press briefing at 1500. Please see officer Roumeliotis Sotirios of Greek KFOR for details. Neeraj K. SINGH, UNMIK Police Spokesperson Death of UNMIK Police Officer UNMIK Police regret to announce the death of yet another Civpol Officer in the Mission. In the night of 18th - 19th December, at the stroke of midnight 58 year old Officer Daniel Kyeremeh from Ghana died in Pristina hospital from complications arising from a stroke he suffered on December 4th. A Chief Inspector of Police from the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana, Officer Kyeremeh arrived in Kosovo on the 5th of March 2001 and was serving as a patrol officer in Mitrovica North. All of us in UNMIK Police extend our heartfelt sympathy to his family and to the Ghanian Police community. Murder Arrest - Decani In the morning of December 4th 2001, Decani was witness to a daring attack on a K-Albanian resident. At 9:10am, as 40 year-old Dobrunaj Avdi walked in the town center, he was shot three times in the chest and arm. He was rushed to Decani hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. The Regional Investigations Unit of the Pec Region has since been working on the case. In the night of 18 December, Police raided a house in Decani and arrested a 33 year-old K-Albanian male who is believed to be the prime suspect in the murder. Murder in Pristina On 17 December at 3:30am Police responded to shooting at the Sports Centre in Pristina. Several shots had been fired by more than one suspects. A 25 year-old K-Albanian male victim was found with serious bullet injuries lying in a pool of blood. The victim, Ahmet MURTEZI, was rushed to Pristina Hospital where he later died of his injuries. The shooting appears to be the result of a quarrel between two groups of people. UNMIK Police have arrested four K-Albanian males suspected to be involved in the shooting. The investigating judge has ordered their detention for 30 days for further investigation. The Pristina Regional Serious Crimes Squad is investigating the murder. Further information will be released as the investigation progresses. Seizures of False Documents in Pristina Airport Airport Security is one of the most sensitive tasks for any security officer to perform. It is also one of the most painstaking and thankless jobs. It is an assignment where common human foibles have the potential of being blown into spectacular failures sometimes with disastrous consequences like the one we witnessed on September 11 and on several occasions before. Well aware of the sensitivity of their task, UNMIK Border Police Officers deployed at the Pristina Airport have been working diligently through the year with spectacular success. But since there have been no spectacular failures, they have not attracted much media attention and remain unsung heroes. Approaching the end of the year, as we take stock of our performance during the year, we would like to begin with the spectacular success of the Pristina Airport Police. Until the end of November this year, Airport Police had seized 2178 false documents with a monthly average of 198. Projecting that figure for December, we would have seized documents close to 2400 during this year. These include passports, permits of stay, identity cards and so on. The difficulty of detecting the fraud can be appreciated by the fact that only about 25% of these documents were totally fake. Most others were genuine documents where the picture of the holder had been substituted or stolen blanks had been used to prepare the documents making detection extremely difficult. The age profile of the perpetrators is somewhat disturbing, with 10% of them being under the age of 20 and 58% between the age of 20 and 30 years. They were all apprehended while seeking to leave Kosovo for various destinations in Europe. OSCE Spokesman Sven Lindholm Human Rights Awareness and Promotion The OSCE and the Council of Europe, with the support of the Department
of Education have been running a human rights awareness campaign the past
four months in a number of primary schools across Kosovo. The basic objective
of the campaign is to raise awareness and develop knowledge of basic human
rights, and to understand what they mean in practice. Each month throughout
the school year a different right of the European Convention of Human
Rights will be highlighted through a piece of artwork. Students then discuss
which right represented by the image and then participate in activities
that correspond to that right. The OSCE has already completed a number of human rights education projects and have found that children at this age are very receptive and interested in these issues. It is also to ensure that the message is learned and owned by the children, who then pass on what they have learned and actively contribute to the developing of a human rights culture. EU Spokesman Mike Todd Budget The 2002 Budget has gone to the IAC today. Once the budget receives final approval, a separate briefing is planned and more details will follow. The important new developments in the budget are: the money set aside for pensions, the money for the new government and the de-evolution of education spending. The total figure projected for next year is 730m DM - or around 315m Euros. It is expected that only a very small amount, perhaps just 15m Euros, will be funded from donor financing. Next year will see a much more decentralised approach to of certain financial and budgetary responsibilities, particularly in the area of education, with the Municipalities taking up the lead role. The transitional Department of Education and Science, the Central Fiscal Authority and the Department of Local Administration have already signed a memorandum of understanding to facilitate this process. Market Economy Legal System This morning there is a round table discussion taking place entitled 'Shaping a Market Economy Legal System in Kosovo'. The discussion has been designed to assist in the development of a systematic approach to this key area of economic development. Local and international experts and stakeholders have been invited to the event. Speakers include Professor Dr. Nexhat Daci, President of the Assembly of Kosovo, Mr. Blerim Reka, President of Kosovo's Institute for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Co-Chairman of the Joint Advisory Committee on Legislative Matters, Ismail Kastrati, President, Chamber of Commerce of Kosovo and Dr Juergen Voss Deputy Head of UNMIK's EU Pillar. Euro There are now less than two weeks to go before the Euro becomes Kosovo's new currency. The BPK announced yesterday that special provisions have now been finalised to enable businesses to collect their Euros on January 1. The board of the BPK has approved rules on the Euro changeover, which include for a special facility for small retail establishments engaged in direct cash transactions with the public. Application forms are available from BPK branches. It is hoped that this provision for small businesses will help facilitate a speedy changeover from DMs to Euros. Questions: Q: We have heard that the NATO Secretary General, Lord Robertson was ver y happy that the KFOR and SFOR in Bosnia were very successful in fighting the worldwide terrorism. Kosovo was mentioned that some groups were active in Kosovo. Can we know according to your intelligence service how much the worldwide terrorism is active in Kosovo? SM: UNMIK has no intelligence here. We rely on the intelligent of the countries based here. As far as the operation carried out by KFOR and KFOR alone, not UNMIK Police last week, there are KFOR representatives here to describe it. My understanding in speaking with countries who do have intelligence here is that the worldwide international terrorist circles are not wide spread here, but the three suspects have been detained and KFOR can tell you more about it. KFOR: As you know last Friday the worldwide operation has been conducted in Bosnia, Kosovo and USA against people that we know had links with terrorist groups. Three people have been arrested, they are fore the moment in the secure KFOR location in Kosovo and they are questioned. The only thing I can tell your for the moment is that it is the normal KFOR mission to fight against terrorism in Kosovo and when we have evidence that people have links with terrorist groups, we act on it. |