UNMIK/PR/836
Monday, 30 September 2002

SRSG Michael Steiner visits Kamenica, Upper Orahovac

SRSG Michael Steiner today visited the mixed community of Kamenica where he met with the Albanian and Serbian deputy presidents of the Municipal Assembly Nexhat Rexha and Nebosa Simic. The SRSG visited a multi-ethnic youth centre, an ambulanta, and the new municipal court and court of minor offenses.

“These men are the avant garde in terms of people living and working together in practice. But we still need to support them,” he said of the deputies. “The main point is there is a willingness on all sides to live together and that’s very encouraging.”

The SRSG also paid an impromptu visit to primary and secondary schools for Kosovo Albanian and Kosovo Serbian children. He emphasized that progress on building respect for all communities in Kosovo is particularly important for the next generation.

In Upper Orahovac, the SRSG visited a youth center and internet café. He also listened to and spoke with residents in the rainy streets.

He encouraged dialogue between Serbs and Albanians to increase the community’s connections to the outside world. “This has to be dialogue between people who really talk in the interests of the people, not functionaries,” he said.

He expressed understanding with two women who complained of missing family members and also of lack of access to their property and lack of Serbian language television news. He explained that progress is being made on each of these issues, and that he hoped the people of Upper Orahovac would see the results of the work underway soon. He also stressed that additional funding is necessary for these efforts to proceed more quickly, and that he would be making an appeal for such support at the donors’ conference on Kosovo planned for early November in Brussels.

He also explained the privatization process to people who complained of lack of jobs and how a moribund company could possibly be revived under the Kosovo Trust Agency if it is deemed economically viable: This month, he said, the KTA will privatize 25 companies.

In both locations, the SRSG saw firsthand the situation of different communities of Kosovo Serbs and minorities in Kosovo today. He noted the steps that have been taken towards building a society in which the rights of all people are respected, regardless of ethnicity. At the same time, he called for further efforts to accelerate progress towards that crucial objective. He said he would not rest in pushing to address the concerns of minorities in Kosovo: “We are not here for show business,” he said. “We’re here to work.”