UNMIK-UNMIK Police-KFOR-OSCE-EU Press Briefing, 16 July 2002

UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel
UNMIK Police Spokesman Derek Chappell
KFOR Spokesman Lt. Col Gottfried Salchner
OSCE Spokesman Poul Smidt
EU Spokeswoman Monique De Groot

UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel

SRSG In Albania

We now have the Albanian version of the Focus Kosovo, the latest edition, and we will have the Serb translation at the end of this week.

SRSG Michael Steiner returns from Albanian today. He has just given a press briefing there with Foreign Minister Arta Dade. Yesterday he met with President Meidani, president elect Muisiu, PM Maiko, Minister of economy Ermelinda Meksi and Ms Dade, as well as socialist party leader Fatos Nano.

Each official which he met with gave their full and unreserved support for a multi-ethnic Kosovo, for returns of displaced persons and refugees, for a multiethnic judiciary, as well as for Mr. Steiner's 'zero tolerance for crime' and his concept on decentralization. They all recognized that significant progress that has been made here.

With the minister of economy Mr. Steiner signed a Memorandum of Understanding which is to be a framework for economic and trade liberalization between Kosovo and Albania.

The two also agreed to have experts from each area meet to work out the issue of vehicle insurance to reduce prices to zero with an agreement on validity of insurance on both sides of the border.

They also agreed to give priority to economic cooperation and to enhance freedom of movement between Kosovo and Albania.

Albanian officials and SRSG Steiner also agreed that issues such as crime and trafficking should be addressed regionally.

Mr. Steiner and Mr. Majko discussed police cooperation and agreed to finalize plans as soon as possible.

Today Mr. Steiner will meet Mr. Johannes Linn, World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia at 1645 in his office.

Destruction of church

There was a very disturbing incident last weekend, in addition to the poster campaign.

In Zociste a formerly mixed village near Orahovac/Rahovec, local people set fire to the remains of the monastery of Saints Cosma and Damian which had already been destroyed after the war.

Several monks as well as Bishop Artemije had delivered a liturgy there, in recognition of plans to rebuild the monastery.

We understand the situation was confusing, but what remains a fact is that fires were set there, following the visit of the Serb clergy, at a sacred site, in an area where strenuous efforts have been made to begin some kind of tolerance. Local Albanians also reported threw stones and shoes at the priests.

Key Kosovo Albanian leaders had apparently said they would help create conditions for reconstruction of this monastery and for the return of expelled Serbs to Zociste where all former Serb dwellings are completely destroyed.

It is very encouraging that PM Rexhepi and Mr. Thaci have made moves such as this and especially their recent visit to Strpce.

These visits and their messages of tolerance, mutual understanding, the right to return and the need to rebuild are very important. These leaders see the future of Kosovo and that it must be multiethnic and tolerant. They understand and have said that Kosovo must allow displaced persons to exercise their right to return and to live decent lives.

But it is extremely disheartening that some people persist in exploiting fears that remain within the population and fueling hatred.

These kinds of actions hurt people of Kosovo from every community. They are hurting your chances for a better future.

Water

I am forced to repeat my plea from last year: Stop watering the Roads. They won't grow. Watering the roads and sidewalks is also illegal. You could be fined 50 Euro if the municipal officials were actually enforcing the law.

The reservoirs are so low they are becoming cow pastures. Despite the rain, there is a serious water shortage and cuts will worsen next month.
Why? Partly because people are wasting water spraying the sidewalks and roads in a useless and selfish exercise. Dirt is why the broom was invented.

We will have a press release today on Dosije e Crimit, Crime Watch, announcing the first episode on 26 July. This show which will run monthly on RTK, recreates actual crimes, seeks community involvement in solving those. The program is sponsored by British Office, UNMIK, KFOR and KPS.

Finally, following Thursday's meeting of the Economic and Fiscal Council, there will be a photo opportunity and brief press conference at 2 p.m. Please be here at 1:40 p.m. Thank you

UNMIK Police Spokesman Derek Chappell

Criminal Fraud

The reduction in violent crime across Kosovo is certainly good news, but as the fear of violence decreases we are seeing the emergence of a new type of criminal who uses fraud and deception to trick people out of their money.

On the 14th July, in the Prizren region, a thief took advantage of the despair that a grieving family felt for their missing relatives. He claimed to be able to find their family members and took ten thousand (10,000) Euros from two K Albanian females as his fee.

Of course he had no intention or ability to help them and was exploiting their hopes. He was later identified and arrested.

It has been established that this is not the first such deception he practiced. Previously he obtained four thousand (4000) DM from another Prizren region family with a false promise to be able to find their missing son.

In custody is a K Albanian male.

On the 11th July, in Gnjilane region, a K Albanian female was approached by a man who presented himself as a Social Worker. He promised that he could obtain more cash benefits for the woman and took the cash she had just received from the Social Centre to return. Of course, he stole the money and fled. No suspects have been identified.

These types of crimes are even more vile than robberies as they exploit peoples hopes and emotions.

If any other people have been the victims of such frauds, please contact your local Police.

Year-old murder closed by arrest

On 19th June 2001, a dispute in a coffee bar in Mitrovice South resulted in a K Albanian male being shot to death. On the 15th July 2002 this case was closed by means of the arrest of the outstanding K Albanian male suspect who had been sought for over one year.

KFOR Spokesman Lt. Col Gottfried Salchner

This week, KFOR carried out again search operations in order to ensure a safe and secure environment in Kosovo. The total number of items confiscated by KFOR includes a machine gun, 13 rifles, 9 pistols, 10 hand grenades and 9.200 cigarettes boxes.
We would like to express our thanks to the people of Kosovo for their patience, support and understanding while we are carrying out our tasks. It shows, that honest people should not fear these operations.

Today, we also wish to take the opportunity to speak about the operational rehearsal Rapid Guardian. As you are aware, this operation is conducted in Kosovo between 11 July till 11 August 2002. Till now, approximately 500 soldiers are on the ground, and they will be reinforced by one company of the United States Marine Corps on Friday.
One company from MNB East moved into MNB South and a company from MNB Center moved to MNB East. It allows the participating units to train in areas where they do not usually operate. It will also increase the MNBs ability to send and receive reserve forces should the situation demand it.
This rehearsal is used to validate our procedures to perform peace support operations and that KFOR is ready to quickly respond to any situation efficiently and effectively.

EU Spokeswoman Monique De Groot

Excessive use of water from Batllava Lake endangers Pristina water supply

Please be informed that due to the warm weather and the excessive use of the water from the Batllava Lake, the water supply for Pristina is seriously in danger.

As you water is a scarce resource and especially in Kosovo, which is a landlocked area. Kosovo has an extremely high level of water consumption per person. If you compare to Germany, one individual in Kosovo uses three times as much as an individual in Germany on a daily basis. There are already regular watercuts in Pristina during the night and it is very likely that there will be more when the weather continues to be this warm.

I would like to urge the people in Kosovo and especially Pristina to use their water wisely and not waste it on such things as watering the streets.

Questions

Q: Another protest has been announced for today and it has been said that that if no decision is made by 16 July, they would resort to violence or other methods. Do you have any information on this and have you taken any measures for stopping this?

DC: We don't respond to ultimatums. We will provide normal policing and of course wny time there is a demonstration, we have sufficient reserves to deal with violence although we fully expect that people will behave in a responsible manner. We are aware of the demonstration today. I think the demonstration in the past week have been well behaved and well organized and have not attracted huge public support. So we expect the demonstration to today to pass off peacefully. Naturally as a police agency we have made arrangements should some people wish to indulge in violence, we can protect the people of Pristina and we will do that, but we have no expectation of widespread violence.