UNMIK-UNMIK Police-KFOR-EU-OSCE Press Briefing, 6 August 2002

UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel
UNMIK Police Spokesman Derek Chappell
KFOR Spokesman Wing Commander Drew Anderson
EU Spokeswoman Betty Dawson
OSCE Spokesman Sven Lindholm

UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel

Stoiber in Kosovo

Tomorrow the Prime Minister of Bavaria, Edmund Stoiber, who is also a candidate for Chancellor of Germany, begins a two day visit to Kosovo. On Thursday he meets SRSG Michael Steiner at 1300. There will be a photo opportunity then and a press opportunity after the meeting. We’ll let you know the details in a media advisory.

Tomorrow, the Energy Committee meets for the 3rd time at 3 p.m. in UNMIK HQ. Mr. Steiner will hold a press briefing here, after it is over, at about 4 p.m.

Today the UNMIK Office on Returns and Communities receives a new Director, Ms. Peggy Hicks, of the US. She was most recently the Director of Programs and General Counsel for the International Human Rights Law Group in Washington DC. She is an attorney with extensive experience in human rights law and democratization. Previously she was the Deputy High Representative for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She was also a human rights advisor for UNPROFOR based in Zagreb in the mid-1990s. She has also been a professor of human rights and refugee law at the University of Minnesota Law School.

Returns

As announced last week, 14 IDPs returned to the destroyed village of Bice near Klina and are rebuilding their homes. Residents in the area and in particular the president of the Klina assembly,-- who himself suffered greatly during the war,-- have been very supportive.

However, in the meantime some disturbing incidents have occurred in other parts of Kosovo which could serve to dissuade people from returning.

We are sure this is not the will of the majority of the people of Kosovo. But it should be known that some perverse people are still working against a multiethnic Kosovo.

The perpetrators of the Klokot explosions are not yet found. However the residents there remain terrified after the attack.

At the Archangels monastery outside Prizen where approximately 1,000 Serbs gathered to celebrate the ceremony of the Holy Archangels on 26 July, an explosion went off on the hillside above the monastery. Had all the explosives found later there gone off, the situation could have been more serious.

In Orahovac, at the end of July, a Kosovo Albanian noticed a Roma house burning. He called the local fire department, who were then harassed by a crowd of local Kosovo Albanains for putting out the fire on a Roma house. Later they set fire to the house of the man who had called for the fire brigade.

And in Gracanica last week, some RPG grenades were found hanging from a tree near the Orthodox monastery.

You should be aware of these incidents, whether they are related or not, as they send a message which is totally contrary to the goals we’re all committed to in Kosovo. However, as Mr. Steiner has said, these incidents will not discourage anyone here from pushing forward with returns and with establishing a sustained multiethnic life.

UNMIK Police Spokesman Derek Chappell

Counterfeit Euros

Last week we issued a warning about counterfeit Euro notes being circulated throughout Kosovo. Since then an additional 12 cases have been reported to police. Most involve notes of 50 Euro and most are handed to shopkeepers as payment for small purchases. On 3 August, Police in Ferizaj were called to a shop where the owner had received suspicious bills. Three men were arrested. A search of their homes recovered 500 additional fake Euro notes. The investigation is continuing and our previous warning to businesses needs to be repeated.

Human Traffickers Arrested

On 31 July, Police in Prizren were contacted by a foreign female who claimed to have been trafficked into Kosovo almost two years ago. She stated that over this time she had been forced into prostitution at local cafes.

After a thorough interview she was provided with shelter while arrangements are made to return her to her home country. We have now arrested two men and a woman, all residents of Orahovac, who face charges of Trafficking and Forced Prostitution.

Dosja e Krimit

We continue to receive calls every day on our private Dosja E Krimit telephone line from people across Kosovo giving us information on crime and criminals. I can confirm that we have received new information on a number of current investigations and we want to thank those who have called and remind you that this telephone line is now permanent.

OSCE Spokesman Sven Lindholm

The voter services period has now been going on for three weeks. Through yesterday, nearly 22,000 people have visited voter service centres. Compared to last year, the turnout for the Voter Services period continues to be low. The OSCE’s experience from last year suggests that the turnout inside and outside of Kosovo tends to be low in the beginning of the period but that it will pick up as the deadline of 17 August approaches. This is two weeks away.

Registration as a voter is an active process, offering people the opportunity to vote on 26 October. Persons who are already registered as a voter do not need to go to a Voter Service Centre. They are on the voters’ list and have been assigned polling stations. The OSCE has set us these centres for specific categories of potential voters.

Absentee voters are those who wish to cast a ballot in the municipality in which they lived on 1 January 1998. These voters need to go to a Voter Service Centre if they wish to change their voting option, otherwise they vote in the municipality where they currently reside.

Four further categories of potential voters need to visit to a Voter Service Centre. These are: persons who have civilly registered with the United Nations since the Assembly Election and need to be assigned a polling station; persons who experienced difficulties voting in the
Assembly Election; persons who moved to a different municipality since the last elections; persons who have recently turned 18 or will be 18 on election day. OSCE continues to produce and disseminate material to inform people about the Voter Services process. We hope that people are hearing this call as two weeks remain.

EU Spokeswoman Betty Dawson

An Independent Tax Review Board has been established. There will be three members of the Board, an accountant, an attorney and an experienced businessperson. The Board will review appeals from taxpayers on assessments made by the Tax Administration.

Journalists are invited to meet in the Grand Hotel at 14.00 today where they will get more details on the role of this Board

Negotiations are ongoing for the placing of a contract for the repair of Unit B2 so that the work will be completed as soon as possible. The time line is not yet totally defined and we hope to have more details after the Energy Committee meeting.

Questions

Q: Has anyone been arrested for the attack in Peja?

DC: Nobody is under arrest. On the day that this happened a vehicle was stopped some distance away by KFOR. The vehicle matched the description of the vehicle that had been seen leaving the area of the attack. KFOR stopped the vehicle, the people inside did not have adequate identity, so they were given to UNMIK Police, but they were not involved in the attack. So nobody is under attack for that attack.

Q. What about information that KFOR arrested three people and handed them to UN Police.

DA: This is all to do with misinterpretation perhaps of information that has been provided. The statement wee made was as Derek has said. KFOR did not arrest anyone in connection with this incident. As Derek explained to you, they were detained because they did not have adequate documentation and were handed over to UNMIK Police and Derek has offered the rest of the information. What was reported in the papers today, gives me an opportunity to make amends here because it was a misinterpretation of what has been offered thus far.

Q: Anything on any attack in Zubin Potok in which five or six Serbs were injured last night.

DC: We contacted the Zubin Potok police station and they said nothing had happened. It was a quiet afternoon, there were no incidents ongoing, that was around 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon…I don’t think there is anything suspicious about ambulance taking some people. I don’t think I will make any connection. (KFOR Spokesman also denied that there was any information on this alleged incident).

Q. Derek you and KFOR say you have no information in Mitrovica, But yesterday we have pictures of ambulances with injured people going to Pristina hospital.

DC: I don’t see what is suspicious about ambulances going to a hospital. I’m sorry I can’t make the connection.

Q. Sven, will Serb presidential elections be held in Kosovo?

SL: I don’t have any information on that yet.

SM: We haven’t finalized our policy or plans on that yet.

Q. Susan regarding the incident in Zubin Potok, did you contact the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs functioning in Northern Kosovo for information on that?

SM. No. Where did the information come from?

Q. For Drew, is KFOR trying to rewrite Kosovo’s architectural history? The Russian general showed us only one tunnel at Slatina, when everyone knows there is a whole maze of tunnels there.

DA: That was my first visit there as well so I have to take at face value what he’s offered. But I don’t know of any architectural changes as you call them.

SM: See you tomorrow after the Energy Committee meeting