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UNMIK-UNMIK Police-KFOR-OSCE Press Briefing, 22 October 2001 UNMIK Spokesman Susan Manuel
IAC The Interim Administrative Council will tomorrow take up the discussion on the draft regulation on flags and other symbols on or in public buildings. The IAC will also be presented with the proposed administrative structure of the Kosovo Assembly and the draft rules on procedure. SRSG visits Belgrade The next day, Wednesday, Mr. Haekkerup will go to Belgrade to meet with FRY President Vojislav Kostunica. The major subject will be a description of UNMIK's efforts to improve conditions for Kosovo Serbs and the prospects for Kosovo Serb participation in elections. Murders I would like to express my outrage and condolences to the community of journalists over the murder on Friday of one of your colleagues-Mr. Bekim Kastrati. As you well know, he was killed in an ambush which also resulted in the death of Besim Bajaku. Police will have more to say on the investigation. However there has not yet been a clear motive ascribed to the killings. In addition to the murders of two Kosovo Albanians, a Kosovo Serb journalist was attacked early Saturday morning in Devet Jugovica village in the Pristina region. RTS employee Rados Radonjic was shot in his home by an unknown suspect who was in the process of stealing his cow. He has been transferred to Belgrade with grave injuries. While neither of these attacks appears to be related to the victims' work, they remain losses for the profession here in Kosovo, which is already hampered by so many challenges with which most journalists in the world have no experience. Illegal Construction You have all reported on the demolition of the NovoSella building in Dragodon over the weekend. And I would like to note the Koha Ditore journalist who had an encounter with the owner-I admire her courage in reporting the attempted bribery. There will be more demolition of major illegal buildings, as we try to inhibit the profusion of unauthorised structures. And there will be a press briefing on the subject at the Pristina city hall at 2 this afternoon, by local and international staff of the municipality. This weekend's operation came after many months of organizing adequate security and revamping the urban plan. There was a considerable set back to all this with the murder of Rexhep Luci, the planning director who was killed in Sept 2000. This was one of four notorious buildings which he authorized to be destroyed. Since September 1999, more than 3,000 restraining orders and about 2,000 fines have been served to illegal builders. However it has been very difficult to implement the orders due to systematic non-compliance of illegal builders, the lack of enforcement and technical capabilities on the part of the Municipality and the reluctance of local contractors to be engaged in demolition activities. In August 2000 the Municipality conducted a survey of all post-conflict constructions in Pristina which revealed 2,500 buildings without a construction permit in the city of Pristina at that time. The Municipality then issued an Instruction that specified the procedures for legalization of those buildings. However, only 200 applications were submitted. This past summer, the Municipality resumed a demolition campaign but limited its activities to smaller structures illegally built on municipal land. Around 30 illegal structures were demolished. Then, after long and painstaking preparations in close coordination with UNMIK Police and KFOR, the Municipality has begun to implement the three remaining demolition orders issued in September 2000. In July, the Municipality tried again to give illegal structure owners a possibility to regularize their property by means of a Legalization Commission. A large number of applications for legalizing structures are being processed. In August, Municipal Assembly approved a proposal for making changes in the existing General Urban Plan of Pristina City of 1988. This decision allows the municipal Department of Planning, Urbanism and Construction to adapt plans for specific areas with consideration for the actual situation. The goal is to deal with illegal construction primarily by adapting the number of potentially legal buildings with the urban and other developmental plans for Pristina in compliance with the actual social and economic requirements.
Killings in Skenderaj First I have a statement from the OSCE on the Skenderaj murders. The OSCE Mission in Kosovo expresses its deep concern over the attack. And strongly condemns the murders of Bekim Kastrati, a journalist who worked for Bota Sot, and of Besim Dajaku. Ambassador Daan Everts extends his sincere condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of the victims, on behalf of the Mission. He said,"This incident has happened at an extremely important and sensitive time for Kosovo, in view of the upcoming elections. While the motives of the attack are still unclear and the police investigation is under way, any violent incident of this kind is to be condemned in the strongest possible terms. The OSCE is particularly concerned that this incident took place during the election campaign, and that one of the victims of the attack was a journalist." A copy of the statement is available outside. Voter Information Centres Voter Information Centres will open in every municipality from this Thursday - 25th October - and stay open right up through to 16th November, the eve of the Election. For Election Day to be as orderly and convenient as possible, voters must know where to vote. Many voters still have not checked the location of their polling station. They should take the time to find out that information before Election Day in order to avoid queues and confusion. This is one of the services which will be provided by the Voter
Information Centres. The media are invited to join Jarrett Blanc, Senior Advisor to the Director of Election Operations at 12 noon tomorrow, Tuesday 23rd October in the 6th floor conference room at OSCE HQ. Again, the press advisory is available outside. Next CEC Meeting Also this week, the CEC will meet on Wednesday October 24th. Most of the items on the agenda will be administrative matters. However, the members will be looking at a draft UNMiK regulation which deals with seat allocation.
Q: Susan, can we know what is in the 25 page document that you are sending to Mr. Kostunica on Wednesday? SM: Basically, it is the list of all the areas in which we are working to improve conditions for Kosovo Serbs from the judiciary to the freedom of movement to returns to information on the missing to distribution of services. So it is basically an update from all the departments on the work we are doing and planning to do to improve the life of the Kosovo Serb community. Q: Do you think that Resolution 1244 does not comprise all this you mentioned and that Mr. Kostunica does not know what is going on in Kosovo? SM: Well, he may not know to this kind of detail what we are doing in every department in every aspect of life. It is basically an assessment of efforts and the situation as it exists right now and our plans to improve thing in the future. But as I said to the media in Belgrade there is no radical thing that is going to happen between now and the elections, there is no big surprise, there is no major announcement in this document. It is a compounding of the work we are doing in that regard and I don't understand your allusion to 1244. Q: I understood from your interview to Politika that Kosovars will not be in position to decide for themselves on the final political status of Kosovo? SM: I said that it would not be the business of this provisionally elected self-government to decide on the final status of Kosovo. Q: Where will the final status of Kosovo be resolved, in which country and more specifically, in which city and who is going to decide about Kosovo final political status? SM: You know very well that none of that has been outlined. We are now at the stage in the mandate of UNMIK preparing for substantial autonomy and preparing for the creation of the provisional self-government and I can read to you from the Constitutional Framework. In the preamble it says "determining that within the limits defined by UNSCR 1244(1999), responsibilities will be transferee to Provisional Institutions of Self-Government which shall work constructively towards ensuring conditions for a peaceful and normal life for all inhabitants of Kosovo. With a view of facilitating the determination of Kosovo's future status through a process at an appropriate future stage which shall, in accordance with UNSCR 1244(1999), take full account of all relevant factors including the will of the people". Q: In your interview you did not mention that the will of people would be taken into account when deciding on the final status. SM: That is not what I was asked. I was asked whether the provisional self-government can declare independence which is the issue in Belgrade now and that is what I was answering. Q: Will the people elect Parliament or will someone just bring it here? SM: I don't understand the question. The people will be elected democratically to the Assembly but in answer to a question I received in Belgrade, this Assembly will not be determining the final status of Kosovo that is not it'd business. Its business is to run the administration of Kosovo, to run the major part of it. Q: You said that the Kosovars would not decide on the final political status. SM: No, I didn't say that. I said exactly what I have just told you. Q: Susan, did the letter that Mr. Kostunica sent to President Bush cause the scheduling of this visit to Belgrade? SM: No, the letter was just announced on Saturday. We didn't know anything abut the letter. Mr. Haekkerup has planned to visit president Kostunica for some time but the date was not set. They are totally unrelated; activities have to do with the pre-election time. Q: Susan, in your interview given to Serb media you said that something has improved as a result of Mr. Covic'c engagement in Kosovo and that 20 judges will come to Kosovo and serve in the justice system here. Is that true or not? SM: There are some 20 defense lawyers that will come and represent Serb defendants. They are not going to be hired by our justice system but it is a welcome development because we have only five court appointed defense lawyers so far and there has been real strain on Serb defendants in having defense representation. This people haven't actually shown up yet but it is a welcome development. Q: Are these defense lawyers, judges, whatever, Kosovo Serbs who are now in Serbia or are they the Serbs from Serbia, and do you believe that when the Serb judges come from Serbia to serve here we will have the independent and impartial justice system? SM: These are not judges, these are defense lawyers and I don't know if they are going to be Kosovo Serbs or not but it does not really matter, they are defense lawyers who are offering their services to defend suspects. That is legitimate in our eyes. They are not judges and they have not been hired by the Kosovo judiciary. Q: If these lawyers will come from Serbia, what will be their status here. Also, you said that public services are lacking for the Serbs. I must remind you that Mobtel is operating, sometimes much better than Vala 900 and UNMIK did approve the operation of Mobtel but did not approve and did not give a license for further development of Mobtel - that is what I heard from Mr. Fischer in his interview. SM: I can also remind you that Vala 900 has not been serving the Serb enclaves for the most part. Q: But they have Mobtel. You said that there is no system of mobile telephones for the Serbs in the enclaves. SM: Because Vala 900 is not available to the Serbs. Q: There is Mobtel. SM: So what is your question? Q: My question is that you said that there is no mobile phone network in the enclaves. SM: I did not say that. I said that Vala 900 system in general is not serving the enclaves and now they are building towers … Q: I read the original version in radio B 92 and you did not mention Vala 900, I read that there is no mobile phone system in Serb enclaves. SM: The provision of services by the Kosovo administration should go to all of Kosovo. There has been some lack in the Kosovo provided mobile and fixed landline phone services to many of the Serb enclaves. That is all being improved as we are going to tell president Kostunica. They are building now or will be building Vala 900 towers but so far that service in many areas has been lacking and that was my point. Q; But it is not lacking only for the Serbs, most areas in Kosovo are lacking Vala 900. Why stress the discrimination against the Serbian community? SM: I stressed it because you can drive into, for example, Gracanica and your Vala 900 will go off just like that as soon you cross into the enclave. It is true and we are improving it. Q: The first question was what will be the status of these lawyers if they are citizens of Serbia? SM: I will have to find out for you, but I think the issue is that the defendants need some kind of defense attorney. Their status, as I said, is that they will not be paid by the Kosovo judiciary, they would be serving the clients here as far as I know. Q: You said that there is no Vala 900 in the Serb enclaves and you think this is a discriminatory act by the PTK or by whom? SM: I think that there has been discrimination but we are working to improve it. Q: So you believe there is discrimination against the minority in Kosovo? SM: I think there has been some of it, yes. Q: Is there or has it been? SM: Has been but it is improving. Q: Susan, you said that the number of international lawyers coming to Kosovo would be doubled. I don't think they will be biased. So why importing lawyers from Serbia? SM: The international will be judges and prosecutors, defense lawyers in general are either paid by the client or they work pro bono, they work for free. I said the numbers of international judges and prosecutors will be doubled in the next few months. Q: Is there a chance for them to be employed as international staff here? SM: The internationals are employed as international staff. Q: I mean the Serb lawyers? SM: No, we have no Serb international staff. Q: Derek, I don't think we heard back from you on the six KPS officers. What happened to them in Montenegro; we heard some rumors that they were harassed there? Do you have any such reports? DC: I reported back to you last week, I believe on Thursday, that there is an investigation as to have they came to be injured, how they crossed the border and that if it turned out that it was result of improper action by anybody in authority, we would be making a protest to those authorities. I have not seen the results of that investigation yet so I can't answer that question. I can assure you that once we have the result of the investigation, as we have always done in the past, we will announce it publicly. Q: I have information about a case involving police officers in Gnjilane. Do you know anything about that? DC: The procedure would be for an officer to be suspended while the investigation is completed. If you'd like to see me afterwards and tell me where you got your information. I was talking to Gnjilane this morning and to be updated on the various criminal matters that they have reported over the week. No mention was made of tat and I don't have a flash report there was nothing on our situation report. You are giving me information that I ma hearing for the first time so I don't know whether it is accurate information that you are giving me or not. Q: Do you know anything about two Serbs who were allegedly attacked and wounded yesterday evening near Vitina? DC: Yeas I do. Yesterday evening at approximately 20:15 two Kosovo Serb males were shot. They were raiding on a tractor when unknown suspects fired approximately three shots in their direction. Both persons were injured. They were taken to hospital for treatment. They are recovering from their injuries. One was shot in the leg one in the body. Neither has received fatal injuries. It is under investigation. There is no motif and no suspects at present time. Q: Susan, there were five bodies exhumed from Pristina graveyard last week. Do you have information as to who were these people? SM: I believe the identification process is going on now to confirm that. These were people that were dug up by the ICTY and then reburied in the orthodox cemetery so we believe they are probably Serbs, but I don't think the identification process is completed yet. Q: Susan, can we get Covic's plan for Kosovo and his eight points? If the Serbs boycott the elections in Kosovo, are you going to recognize their wish for autonomy for their enclaves, especially for the northern part of Kosovo? SM: The answer to the last question is no. We would like to see the Covic plan; we have never seen it. I can easily get the eight points for you. Mostly they are information on the missing, more returns. Anyway I can get them for you. Q: Why don't you recognize the will of Serbs to have autonomy for northern Kosovo? SM: Because it was decided long ago that Kosovo would have substantial autonomy; first administered by UNMIK and then by democratically elected provisional self-government which would exist in Pristina and which would administer the entire territory of Kosovo as a whole. Q: Is the OSCE planing to make available the voter information centers within Serb enclaves or near to them? LM: I would have to check all the locations for you. I will have the list of them, hopefully later on today. But probably not. I'll check it for you but probably not because the reason for voters information center is so that people can check their names on the list to make sure they are there and to find out where to vote, primarily because there is still awful lot of people who have registered since the last elections and who have to be allocated a polling station. Anybody who registered during the voter registration process would have gotten that information there and then. So we are primarily concerned about all those people who registered since the last elections and most of those would be Kosovo Albanian. And they need to find out what polling station they have been allocated. It will not be possible to change any details on the voters register now because we are in the process of finalizing all the data entries and reviews and so on with the view obviously at producing the final voters list as soon as possible. Essentially it is for people who still don't know where they are supposed to go to vote. There were only a handful of Kosovo Serbs who did register last year so the vast majority of those who registered, registered during the last couple of moths. Q: Hypothetically saying, when the decision comes down from Belgrade, hypothetically if the Serbs were recommended to vote in the election, will the OSCE be able to handle the influx of Serbs requesting voter information from the OSCE? LM: We were engaged in the process of voter information since the very beginning. There is a huge public information campaign which has been underway for several moths now which is covering all of the various phases of the process right through from voters registration until the election itself. For example one of the issues that we will be dealing with over the next couple of weeks is giving people information on how they should to fill out a ballot and where the polling stations will be. So there is a plenty of information out there and there will be plenty more information out there to cover all the various needs and if other things crop up we will respond to them as needs be.
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