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UNMIK-OSCE-EU-UNHCR Press Briefing, 23 August 2001 UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel Susan Manuel Health Briefing Following our briefing there will be a special briefing here by the Department of Health and Social Welfare on the regulation of pharmacies. This is an important development, please stay for it. SRSG Mr. Hans Haekkerup goes to Dubrava today to review the rehabilitation of Kosovo's central correctional facility. Currently there are 291 prisoners there, 195 of these convicted criminals and the rest detained pending the outcome of the judicial process. There are some 20 staff including 8 Austrian prison guards. Tomorrow Mr. Haekkerup will meet with Serbian deputy prime minister Nebojsa Covic on UNMIK property just outside Pristina city. On the agenda will be missing persons and detainees, as well as the status and future of offices in Kosovo for FRY liaison purposes. At this time I have no information on opportunities for media coverage. Please contact our offices late this afternoon. Police Report From the Police, UNMIK police are pursuing a single line of inquiry into the brutal murders of five members of the HAJRA family in Gllogovac. The investigation is proceeding vigorously. Two more people have drowned , a nine year old in a well in the Gnjiline region and a man in Stinica river near Vushtri. Registration Regarding registration for the 17 November elections, numbers are low but picking up in Serbia where 20,000 IDPs have registered. In Kosovo, 10,000 people have registered so far this summer: this includes people such as Serbs who boycotted last year's registration, and others who returned to Kosovo after last year's registration and those who turned 18 after last year's registration. Out of these 30.000, the number of minorities is probably around 3,000. However, it is encouraging that key Kosovo Serb figures such as Bishop Artemije, who registered yesterday, are coming out and registering as well as publicly supporting registration. Border Closing The Blace border crossing with FYROM remains closed. UNMIK is on fuel
rationing. A large demonstration is expected tomorrow over the statue issue. While we endorse the right to demonstrate, we hope this one remains peaceful, and we stand behind any decisions made by the Prizren Municipal Assembly. We have Special Police Units which will be on standby tomorrow. Sven Lindstrom Voters Services We are now near the end of the fourth week of the voter services
procedure, the updating of the voters' list. We have noticed in the
last few days a sharp and marked rise in numbers of those turning out at
the Registration and Voter Service Centres, though it continues to
be In taking the step of registering, Kosovo Serbs leaders are showing that they are in support of Belgrade's message that it is essential for Kosovo Serbs to participate in the registration process. The registration period is almost over. We urge all who have not registered to do so as soon as possible. Do not wait until the last minute. A clarification with regards to voter eligibility for out of Kosovo registrants. If you meet the criteria to vote inside Kosovo and were residing in Kosovo on 1 January 1998 and left after that date, you then meet the residency requirements for registering as a out of Kosovo voter. CEC The Central Election Commission (CEC) met yesterday afternoon and certified three more political entities - Bosniac Party of Democratic Action of Kosovo (BSDAK), New Initiative for a Democratic Kosovo (IRDK), United Roma Party of Kosovo (PREBK). This brings the total entities certified to 18. The CEC also decided not to certify one political party for
irregularities and problems associated with signatures given by persons in
support of the party. In applying for certification, all political
entities were required to submit 1000 signatures of support.
These All political parties, coalitions and citizens' initiatives that have
submitted certification applications have been issued candidate
registration forms over the past two days. Political entities will
have until September 10th to draw up their candidates' list and submit it
to Lastly, the CEC also welcomes the decision of the SRSG to accept its recommendation on dual mandates for elected members of the Kosovo Assembly. Mike Todd Quarterly Report The Department of Reconstruction (DOR) has this week published its second quarterly report covering the months April-June of 2001. The report shows that in the second quarter of this year about DM 284 million of new contracts were awarded bringing the total for the year so far to around DM 1,000 million. The report states that economic development is progressing well. The rural economy will benefit considerably from a number of agricultural investments and industry has much greater access to credit than ever before. Similarly there was good progress in the social sectors as both health and education received important new commitments. However, the report underlines the urgent need for additional donor support to transport, environmental protection, civil security and emergency preparedness, justice and the Kosovo Police Service in order for important programmes to go ahead this year. There will be a media event, with DOR co-heads Roy Dickinson and Mehmet Hajrizi presenting the findings of the report, this afternoon at 2.30 in room c301 here in the Government Building. Details are available outside. Power A note on the power from PUD, Unit A3 is down due to leakages and with the lack of availability of imports from the region, there will be quite heavy load shedding: 2 hours on, 4 hours off. Euro - Meeting The Euro working group, chaired by DSRSG Bearpark, will meet next week. Since the working group last met some months ago, a great deal of work has been carried out in preparing sectoral areas such as public administration and business for the currency changeover. Work has also been carried out on the logistical implications of bringing in the actual cash. The EU Pillar's Banking and Payments authority is working closely with the Police, KFOR and institutions such as the Chamber of Commerce. With the arrival of the Euro in Kosovo at the beginning of next year, UNMIK and the EU are encouraging all Kosovo's citizens to be aware of its arrival, be prepared to open bank accounts to ease the transition to the new currency. Last week the BPK licensed five new bank branches that will be established in Gjilane (BRK), Ferizaj/ Uroshevac (BRK), Gjakova/ Dakovica (BRK), Prizren (BPB). This means that a total of 12 bank branches will be open and operating in Kosovo. Media will be invited to attend the Euro group meeting and further details will follow. Insurance Regulation In a related matter the BPK has submitted its draft insurance regulation for legal review. Following this review it is expected that the regulation will be discussed by the IAC. The draft regulation defines the legal provision governing the licensing and supervision of insurance companies and Insurance intermediaries. The Guiding Principles that prevailed in the drafting process were aimed at ensuring consistency with European Union Insurance Directives, and to strive for harmony between Insurance and Bank Regulation. Maki Shinohara Figures Total Number of Arrivals Since the Beginning of the
Conflict: 81,464 Estimated number of returnees approximately 28,345 Estimated Total remaining 53,119 Very few refugees from Macedonia have been able to return since last Saturday due to the blockage of the road to Skopje. Many refugees are anxious to go back and are looking forward to the opening of the road. A total of approx. 53,000 refugees are estimated to remain in Kosovo at this point of time. Organised return movements to Southern Serbia resumed this week. 158 IDPs who had stayed in the Gnjilane area returned to the villages of Novo Selo and Suharno located North of Bujanovac. Similarly 26 IDPs returned from the Pristina area to Medvedga. UNHCR's will focus more on return to Medvega in the future since relatively few IDPs have returned to this municipality so far. fYROM The Blace border remains blocked for the sixth day today. The number of daily returns to fYROM, therefore, remains very low, mainly through Globocica. There remain over 120,000 refugees displaced people from conflict in Macedonia, including an estimated 53,000 refugees in Kosovo and over 60,000 registered by the Macedonian Red Cross as having fled within the country. Macedonian authorities and aid agencies began yesterday assessing the level of damaged homes in fYROM. Following a UNHCR-hosted training course on Monday, the Ministry of Transport and Communications, EU and international/national aid agencies (Macedonian Center for International Cooperation, Mercy Corp, SlidaritJ, CARE, IRC, OXFAM) have formed joint teams to assess shelter needs in conflict-affected villages. The inter-agency teams began work yesterday in Aracinovo, and will continue on to cover other villages in Macedonia as more affected areas open up for humanitarian access. This shelter assessment is based on a model developed for Kosovo during 1999 and 2000. Based on the assessed levels of damage, UNHCR will provide basic kits for minor repairs and the European Agency for Reconstruction will provide more substantive shelter rehabilitation and reconstruction assistance for individual returnee families. UNHCR's special envoy for the Balkans, Eric Morris, is in currently Skopje, meeting with the government authorities on the issues of humanitarian access to the affected villages and the safe return, particularly of ethnic Macedonians who were in a minority in their home villages. UNHCR's main priority is to assist the voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced people to their original homes in Macedonia. But shelter and other assistance to returnees depend very much on the improvement of the security situation in the return areas. UNHCR considers that allowing equally the safe return of both ethnic Albanian and ethnic Macedonian communities is critical to a successful implementation of the peace agreement. Returns to Presevo Valley UNHCR this week organized a first return of displaced people to their
homes in Medvedja municipality. On Monday, 8 families (26 people)
returned to their homes in 5 villages with personal
belongings. UNHCR had to postpone the scheduled return movements to the Presevo Valley in the immediate aftermath of the murder of police in Muhovac on 3 August. The incident understandably has had an unsettling effect on the local population, but the good news is that people did not flee from the area as they did so quickly in the past. The killers may have had the intension to destabilize the fragile peace in Presevo, but we are pleased to see that the villagers and the Serb authorities have held it together. Over 5,200 of the estimated 15,000 displaced people have returned to southern Serbia. Of these, UNHCR assisted some 1,200 of them in 9 organized returns, providing transport from Kosovo and basic return kits. We will be distributing shortly reconstruction kits (window/door frames, glass, bricks and tools) through the Swiss agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) to help rebuild some 50 heavily destroyed returnee homes in Presevo. Questions: Q: There were supposed to be some more Serb refugee returns to the area
around Osojane by the end of the month. Is it scheduled, has it
happened? |