18 December 2002, Wednesday Edition

CONTENTS

What did Norwegian Ambassador Kolby say in Belgrade about Kosovo's status?

Kosova Sot carried the following transcript of the press briefing given in Belgrade by Norwegian Ambassador Peter Ole Kolby, head of the UN Security Council delegation that visited Kosovo and Serbia.

AP: What answer did you get from officials in Belgrade when you suggested that they should encourage Kosovo Serbs to work in municipalities there?
They understood the situation and emphasized that they are in favor of a dialogue.

Reuters: Can you indicate the time when the Security Council will make a decision on the status of Kosovo?
This is an issue of the future.

Reuters: You have emphasized 'standards before status'. Do you think that if there are no Serb returns to Kosovo soon, there won't be talks on the status of Kosovo?
I think that 'standards before status' mean 'standards before status'. I also think that what is of utmost importance is to see a normal situation in Kosovo. UNMIK has determined the standards and now we will report to the Security Council based on these standards.

BBC: Have you witnessed any grounds for a common dialogue between the two parties in Kosovo during your talks with the two parties?
What we saw was a lack of dialogue and this is a very serious thing. This is why we have conveyed to both sides that they should be involved in a serious dialogue. Of course, these communities are living in Kosovo and they must be able to live together. They should talk to each other. Therefore, dialogue is very important.

B92: How do you perceive the work of the Kosovo Assembly, after Serb representatives have complained about being discriminated against in the Assembly, and what can be done in order to improve dialogue in this institution?
We have visited this institution and we noticed that there is truly a lack of dialogue there. And we have stressed the importance of dialogue. This is very important.

Tanjug: You said that the first message was Belgrade's full cooperation with Resolution 1244 and The Hague tribunal. The Serbian Deputy Prime Minister yesterday accused your delegation of constantly applying pressure on Belgrade to cooperate on these issues. Can you comment on this and have you applied pressure on Prishtina to cooperate?
I can assure you we have also addressed this issue during our visit to Kosovo. This means that we are not applying pressure only on Belgrade, because this is also the case in Kosovo. Therefore, this is a message sent to both Belgrade and Kosovo.

Reuters: Let us return to the status issue. Many people in Kosovo are worried that if the status issue is prolonged it will damage the current development of the economy in Kosovo. What do you think about this? Do you think it will be a danger if this issue is not solved in the next couple of years and could it have a negative impact on Kosovo's economic development?
I will not speculate on this; however, during our stay in Kosovo, we heard that this was one of the aspirations of Kosovo. However, this is nothing new. We have also heard the concerns of Kosovo Serbs and the opinion of Belgrade authorities during our visit here. Therefore, we have heard all the impressions and we will surely send them to New York. And the status issue is an issue of the future.

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Press coverage on the final verdict in the Dukagjini Group trial (all dailies)

All dailies report that the presiding panel of judges in the Dukagjini group trial sentenced the five accused to a total of 31 years in prison. Idriz Balaj-Togeri was given 15 years; Daut Haradinaj and Bekim Zekaj each received five-year sentences, while Ahmet Elshani and Ramush Ahmetaj got three years each. Dailies report that all five will serve their sentences in Dubrava Prison.

All dailies quote AAK leader Ramush Haradinaj, the brother Daut Haradinaj, as saying, 'I am surprised by the court's verdict. The aims are gradually being seen and unmasked and what is happening in the name of justice… I think that this is an assassination of justice… I think that these people who are coming from far away to do justice, they will leave one day.'

Under a headline, The Frenchman announces the final verdict and flees from Kosovo, Epoka e Re says the Supreme Court of Kosovo will have the final word on the case.

All dailies carried the verdict delivered by Presiding Judge Maurice de Thevenard, and then focus on statements given by defense attorneys as they left the courtroom.

Daut Haradinaj's lawyer, Adem Bajri, reportedly said that this was only the first half of the game. He said that he would complain and ask for the case to be sent to the Supreme Court. 'In my opinion, it is a strange decision. It is surely not in accordance with the law,' he said.

Zëri quotes Bajri as saying, 'There are very good chances for the Kosovo Supreme Court.'

Nikë Shala, Ramush Ahmetaj's defense attorney, claimed that the final verdict was the biggest injustice that could be done in the name of justice.

Koha Ditore says it couldn't get a statement from Public Prosecutor Nyasulu Kamudoni.

Providing background to the story, Koha Ditore notes that Idriz Balaj, Bekim Zekaj, Ahmet Elshani and Ramush Ahmetaj were arrested on 18 June 2002. Daut Haradinaj handed himself in to police a day later. The indictment raised by the public prosecutor had charged the accused with penal acts of illegal deprivation of freedom and causing serious bodily injuries ending in death to four victims. The public prosecutor based the indictment on the statement from the eyewitness, Vesel Murriqi, one of the surviving victims, and from another witness, Ilir Selimaj.

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Shala: Toward a problematic transparency (Zëri)

Zëri ran an editorial by Blerim Shala on the final verdict of the judge's panel on the Dukagjini Group trial. Shala wrote:

The statistics at the end of the trial against the KLA commanders from Dukagjini, among them Daut Haradinaj, one of the main figures of the KLA war in 1998 and 1999, have a common denominator in that a sentence of 31 years in prison was announced, and where it was singled out, a five-year prison sentence for Haradinaj.

Further court procedures will take place. It is also known how the trial proceeded until today's verdict. The court was open to the general public and the media. Many topics can be discussed, but I believe that the most important are tied with the political consequences that will come out of this trial in Kosovo.

The first consequence, which has been stressed by the media but has a deeper political meaning, is the recurrence of political entrenchment, division, confrontation, and the reopening of political divisions that were present during the war in Kosovo.

Many things during this trial led to the conclusion that this was a settling of old political scores, in a place where, one way or another, the confrontation between the main Kosovo political players was expressed.

This fact cannot be overlooked. The messenger cannot be faulted for the contents of the message. It would be better if it were wrong, but we are convinced that the Kosovar political scene is moving towards the true positioning of our main political parties.

The magic word, transparence, will each day be less a motto and more a Kosovar political reality. We will see later what this clarification brings to Kosovar politics.

Miftari: The epilogue of a trial - a dark chapter (Koha Ditore)

Koha Ditore ran a commentary by one of its journalists, Naser Miftari, on the conclusion of the Dukagjini group trial.

The indictment against the five accused was so harsh that no Albanian judge could announce the final verdict in this trial.

I know that many people will be outraged by this decision. And the way that this verdict will be interpreted today will hardly be valid. Only time will tell whether the verdict announced on Tuesday was right or wrong.

But the decision announced on Tuesday was not the final verdict. It was the beginning of a dark chapter of our history. This verdict brought to the surface the conflict between political forces, which I doubt can be solved through the courts.

I don't know if history will ever deal with this dark side of our recent history. But I know that for the time being the courts are dealing with this dark side.

Morina: When the law speaks - words stop!
Bota Sot editor Bajrush Morina comments the sentencing of the Dukagjini Group.

Regardless if the sentences of the five accused, known as the Dukagjini Group, are a topic of public discussion, whether their 'sentence was too light' or the 'the innocent were sentenced', it seems that justice and law are finally taking their first functional steps. As a matter of fact, after the many 'mysterious' killings that took place in post-war Kosovo, after arrests and the commencement of some trials, and above all after some of these trials were continued (Commander Drini case in Prizren) and suspects released for lack of evidence (Shaban Manaj case), a feeling of insecurity came about and a 'suspicion' that justice and law weren't functioning.

Thus, in some circles there were rumors that witnesses in the Drini case had changed their statements or that one of the witnesses had changed his name. There were the same rumors regarding the Manaj case, where witnesses changed the initial testimonies that they had been given to the investigative judge.

It seems that there is some truth behind the oft-mentioned rumors outside the court. The Drini trial was suspended for several months, while the accused, charged in the killing of the lawyer, Shaban Manaj, were kept in detention and several court sessions were ended for lack of evidence. While investigations regarding the killing of Xhemail Mustafa, Rexhep Luci, Haki Ymeraj or Smajl Hajdaraj were never completed or even maybe never started. Meanwhile, the suspects in the killings Bekim Kastrati and Besim Dajaku were arrested and Ukë Bytyçi's killer was apprehended.

The trial against the five accused, Idriz Balaj, Daut Haradinaj, Bekim Zekaj, Ahmet Elshani and Ramush Ahmetaj, known as the Dukagjini Group was followed with great interest by the media and the public in Kosovo and elsewhere. In fact, this trial was in a way a big test (maybe even a provocation) of the functioning of law in Kosovo. Eventual failure of this process (especially after the failure of several trials by international judges against Serbs accused of war crimes) would be a failure of justice in Kosovo. People would stop believing in the strength of the law and justice, while the surviving witnesses fearing for their lives would back down from their true testimonies before the judicial bodies.

However, it seems that finally the law has spoken, and thus the words have stopped. In fact, for the next few days there will be a lot of noise, in the streets or in some street posters, about the so-called 'drastic sentencing of the liberators and their innocence', but all these will remain street words printed in letters.

International Judge Maurice De Theverand has declared this trial as ended. He announced the merited sentences. Thus this judge and this trial will mark the first steps of the functioning of law and justice in Kosovo. Other judges in other trials must now give their verdicts.

It is time for words to stop; now it is up to law and justice.

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Surroi: Pigs walk around the backyards of mosques (Koha Ditore)

Koha Ditore carries the first of what it refers to as a series of Christmas letters, written by the paper's publisher, Veton Surroi, to SRSG Michael Steiner.

1. Dear Michael,

I saw you a few days ago at the welcome organized for the Security Council delegation, but we didn't get to talk to each other. Nonetheless, for me it was a ceremony full of meaning.

While the Norwegian Ambassador was speaking as head of the delegation, I carefully listened to his words and the emphasis on the main points. I managed to outline two basic symbols in his words. The first was the rule of law. While I was listening to the elaboration by a person who was born and will die in a country ruled by law, I thought of the ceremonial paradox. He was saying these words in a new hotel in Prishtina, which was built illegally and without any transparency as to the origin of the funds. To talk about the rule of law in such an environment is like walking with a pig in the backyard of the mosque.

The other symbol of the Norwegian was your motto, 'standards before status', which he reiterated in the ritual that has become a religion. By doing so, he, and many others before and after him, show that they believe in it and that they don't question it.

The third symbol that night came not from words but from deeds. At one point, the lights went off and we spent a few minutes in darkness waiting for the generator to be activated. To me this was a powerful symbol: on the dais with the Norwegian Ambassador, you were being praised for your work. There were also representatives of Kosovo institutions there listening to what they have to do; and after all this, a return to the everyday reality of darkness for all of us.

The entire game of symbols was taking place in its theatrical context: at the end of the year, you are the most powerful personality in Kosovo, based on the energy of your work, your intellect and commitment to the public mission. Paradoxically, your huge success could at the same time be a failure because your job description is completely the opposite: we are meant gradually to see you less and less, and for Kosovars to grow more powerful.

2. A few weeks ago, I saw you on TV when you gathered the Energy Committee together. Everyone smiling and satisfied announced that preparations for reactivating Kosovo B were going well and that our country would have more electricity very soon.

Another symbol. You, your colleagues, a Kosovar official and a KFOR commander appeared on our TV screens; and the news reader tells us that there is progress on electricity, economy, education, this or that law, decentralization, etc.

And it is always the Committee in this or that field.

Surely, we all know how we stand with electricity; and we also know that these problems didn't start when you arrived in Kosovo, neither will they stop when you leave Kosovo. However, I am interested in two things. First, a couple of days ago, I heard that your Energy Committee had announced positive results, which is now a common thing to hear every time there is a meeting of such a Committee. The second thing is that I have been thinking, whom do I have to blame for the electricity crisis, and this search turned into an analysis of the decision-making system in postwar Kosovo. In rather more normal circumstances, the citizens would always be nervous, their nervousness would reach the Assembly, the Assembly would demand an answer from the Government, while the Government would either take over changes in the management structures or the establishment of emergency measures. In case of an eventual failure, as often happens in politics, the head would roll of the respective of minister. I caught myself smiling when I thought of how all this would be applied in practice. Imagine the Assembly demanding an answer from the Government, and the Government demanding that the Minister change the situation…

Why? The Kosovo Assembly knows less about KEK than any journalist who reports on it, and the Minister of Trade and Industry has as much authority over KEK as Kosovo has control over sailing in the Arabic Gulf.

Therefore, I was left with the Energy Committee to blame. But this isn't right because Bajram Rexhepi and General Mini sit on this Committee, and they attend the meetings so that you can brief them on how things are going. Therefore, in the end it is you.

3. You did three things since lightening struck Kosovo B this summer. You said God was guilty; you brought a top-manager from Germany; and you formed an Energy Committee, which will deal not only with KEK but also in the long-term with the entire energy policy in Kosovo.

You weren't right about the first thing. Theologians and the servants of God should deal more seriously with this issue. But it seems to me that despite the efforts of theologians and servants, we can hardly expect to get instructions from the Bible, Talmud or Koran on the maintenance of lightening rods.

You handled the second thing with the same efficiency that has characterized you ever since your arrival in Kosovo. You were persistent and the expert arrived.

I leave the third thing for everyday use. The Energy Committee (whose mandate is already forgotten) is supposed to create the basis for an energy policy in Kosovo. The Committee wrote down some points, which I guess are kept on file somewhere, but in the meantime it also became the best opportunity for smiles and congratulations for the successes achieved in the development of the power supply system in Kosovo.

Therefore, the three things you did, in fact, served only one goal: let KEK be repaired and we will have electricity, as much as it can produce. In the end, let it be recorded that one success has been achieved in Kosovo.

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Savic: University in northern Mitrovica will be financed by Belgrade but won't recognize Kosovo Ministry of Education (Zëri)

Zëri carries a report from the ceremony organized in northern Mitrovica after SRSG Michael Steiner licensed the university in northern Mitrovica. Zëri quotes Dean Gojko Savic as saying, 'Even after the accreditation, the existing curricula will remain in force and these curricula will only change in accordance with university reforms in Serbia and Europe and do not depend on the stance of the Ministry of Education of the Kosovo Government.'

'This has proven that the curricula, the professors and the standards of the students fulfill the necessary conditions,' he said. 'The funds for this university will be allocated by the Serb government, while there are ongoing discussions with UNMIK on financing for those employed at the University of Mitrovica,' said added.

SRSG Michael Steiner signed an executive decision that extends the license for Serb University in Mitrovica on Tuesday. 'Michael Steiner has accredited the university in the north under a new name, University in Mitrovica, with a license to operate until 31 August 2003,' said UNMIK spokesperson Eleanor Beardsley. She mentioned the complaints made Serbs regarding higher education. 'They said that they were removed from Prishtina University. They changed the name as demanded by UNMIK and now are under UNMIK,' she said.

Beardsley gave UNMIK's arguments for the SRSG accrediting the university. 'The reason this was done is because, for Kosovo Assembly, this university does not exist,' she said.

Osmani: Serbs don't recognize Education Ministry or Kosovo institutions, only finances

Zëri quotes officials of the Ministry of Education as saying that it is unacceptable if the university in northern Mitrovica operates based on Serb curricula. 'None of the Serb officials have submitted a request for accrediting a university in northern Mitrovica. Serbs don't recognize the Education Ministry and Kosovo institutions, except for finances,' he said.

Osmani says UNMIK should have waited for a decision from the Kosovo Assembly after the bill on higher education was returned by the SRSG, and if, after this, the university fulfills the necessary conditions, they could apply for a license to the Agency for Accreditation within the Education Ministry.

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UNMIK hands over financial competencies in 24 municipalities (all dailies)

Starting now, responsibility for finances is being transferred from UNMIK to 24 municipalities certified by UNMIK administration in Prishtina. "SRSG Michael Steiner recognizes this important step, which is an essential pre-condition for transfer of financial functions from UNMIK to the municipalities. On this basis, the SRSG intends to transfer these competencies to the municipalities concerned," said Director of UNMIK Department of Public Information Simon Haselock, reported all dailies.

"The UNMIK legal advisor has examined the certifications for 24 municipalities, and he has found them to be in order and has authorized UNMIK Pillar IV to confirm this together with the Ministry of Finance," said Haselock.

"An emphasis will be given to the rightful functioning of these services, including the protection of interests and rights of all citizens and communities in these municipalities, because all have to be offered a fair share of support and financing," he said, and added that the UNMIK chief administrator hopes that there will be no misunderstandings or interventions, given the fact that municipalities must resolve these issues now.