UNMIK-UNMIK Police-KFOR-OSCE-EU Press Briefing, 20 August 2002

UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel
UNMIK Police Spokesman Barry Fletcher
KFOR Spokesman Wing Commander Drew Anderson
OSCE Spokesman Poul Smidt
EU Spokeswoman Monique De Groot

UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel

DSRSG Francesco Bastagli to Head Pillar II

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has announced the appointment of Francesco Bastagli as his Deputy Special Representative in charge of UNMIK’s Pillar II, Civil Administration. Mr. Bastagli, of Italy, began work in Pristina yesterday.

Mr. Bastagli succeeds Mr. Tom Koenigs, who joined UNMIK shortly after it was established in 1999. Mr. Koenigs has been appointed the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Guatemala.

Mr. Bastagli has spent his career with the United Nations. He has expertise in development issues, as well as in drug control and crime prevention. Over the last three years, he was UN Resident Coordinator in Iran. He began his career in administration and had assignments with in Nicaragua, Austria and Gaza. From 1991 to 1999, he worked for the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, where he became Director of the International Drug Control Programme.

Please see the press release outside for more background.

UNMIK on Arrests

Now I’d like to read the statement we issued last night in response to the Government statement on arrests: This is also available outside.

Since its arrival in Kosovo and under UNSC 1244, UNMIK has been mandated with establishing the rule of law.

Not only the Security Council and the international community, but also the people of Kosovo have demanded that we do so.

Creating a society that respects the rule of law is a benchmark which Kosovo must achieve before any discussions on final status can take place.

We regret yesterday’s statement after the Government’s meeting, which imputes a political motivation to recent arrests.

Recent arrests were the results of long and complex investigations, some begun as early as 1999, by UNMIK Police.

The judicial process is being followed as set out in the applicable law as established by UNMIK regulation in late 1999. This law is the law applicable in Kosovo in March 1989, unless superceded by UNMIK regulation.

There is no political aspect or motivation to any of the arrests. The arrests have been conducted against individuals suspected of serious crimes, not against any group or organization to which they belong or may have belonged in the past.

Independent prosecutors must prove their cases in courts, before independent judges. UNMIK officials have not and will not intervene in the judicial process.

The law will also be carried out regardless of ethnic, national or political affiliation of the suspects.

As the responsible judicial authority here, the Kosovo judicial system has the mandate to prosecute all crimes past and present for which the statute of limitations has not expired.

Several Kosovo Serbs are also imprisoned for crimes committed during the war period.

All those suspects arrested will receive all rights accorded them under law and their cases will be processed as quickly as possible, with fair and objective justice.

I would also like to add, that intimidation of witnesses or potential witnesses in these or any cases is a crime and will be investigated and prosecuted as such.

Finally, We appreciate the Government's commitment to realize its Programme and we would remind its members that authority over law and order rests with UNMIK.

We expect a similar message to be delivered to members of the Government by capitals of interested countries as well over the coming day or days..

KFOR Spokesman Wing Commander Drew Anderson

KFOR wishes to clarify two points which have been reported in the press in the last few days. First, it was reported that COMKFOR, during an interview with DPA, stated that, “ in another 4 years only 2,000 of the currently 34,000 peacekeepers will remain in Kosovo”. This report does not reflect what COMKFOR said. Answers to two different questions were apparently mixed up.

The first question was how long KFOR would stay in Kosovo. COMKFOR answered that it would be dependent on many factors over the next 2-3 years but would most likely also be affected by Kosovo’s status and the proposed Union between Montenegro and Serbia. The Commander commented that depending on the situation in the region KFOR may eventually be in a position to reduce to a much smaller number.

The second question was who would be last to leave - UNMIK or KFOR. The Commander stated that he thought it possible that KFOR would stay longer because Kosovo, irrespective of final status, would possibly request some form of international military presence. It was pointed out that this force could be as few as 2000 soldiers.

Importantly, the Commander did not link the answers and he did not say that KFOR would reduce its force to 2000 soldiers in the next four years. A full transcript of the interview is available from KFOR should further clarification be sought.

Lastly, it was reported by the media yesterday that Dr. Milan Ivanovic had stated that he remained in Kosovo, however he would not surrender to the police. KFOR would like to point out that a press release issued on the Saturday, 17 August 2002 by Bishop Artemije, clearly lists the presence of Dr. Ivanovic at a meeting on that date in the Sopocani Monastery in Serbia proper. In other words, contrary to what he states, Dr. Ivanovic has not remained in Kosovo all the time. If he had so, the arrest warrant would have been served.

Meanwhile, KFOR will be ready to provide all necessary support to the police in order to execute the arrest warrant against Dr. Ivanovic.

UNMIK Police Spokesman Barry Fletcher

Crime in Kosovo

I am pleased to be able to report that no murders were recorded in Kosovo during the past week. There have been 41 murders so far this year, which is far below the rate for last year. Police in Kosovo have investigated 47360 criminal incidents of all types so far in 2002 and solved 32631 of them, which is 69%. The crime situation in Kosovo continues to stabilize partly because we are improving our operations. However, a large factor is the increased trust that the people of Kosovo have in our officers - which results in a new willingness by victims to report crimes and by witnesses to provide information.

Unfortunately, there have been over 5500 traffic accidents reported in Kosovo so far this year, with at least 81 deaths and 1178 injuries. Most of the accidents are the result of speeding and reckless driving. We urge everyone to drive more carefully to reduce this ongoing tragedy for Kosovo.

Demonstrations

Police monitored two demonstrations yesterday: Approximately 3000 people marched in Podjuevo from 13:00h to 14:00h and about 600 people marched in Glogovac around the same time. Both demonstrations were peaceful and without significant incident. Both were also legal events as the organizers had complied with the requirement to notify police 48 hours in advance.

We anticipate more demonstrations during this week across Kosovo and expect the participants will follow the excellent examples of yesterday’s events.

We support the right of the people to demonstrate peacefully, even when they are protesting actions we have taken.

Driving Licenses

UNMIK is currently issuing driving licenses to Kosovo residents who possess an UNMIK ID card and who had a Yugoslav driving license that was issued in Kosovo and expired after 01-01-99. Police will accept the old licenses until 31-12-02, but on January 1st only the new licenses will be valid. The civil administration expects to begin issuing driving licenses to new applicants in the very near future.

Vehicle Insurance

Reminder: Vehicles in Kosovo are required to have valid insurance that covers injuries & damage caused in accidents. Drivers who are caught without valid insurance will be ticketed with a mandatory court appearance, their vehicle will be towed, and they may lose their license plates & registration.

OSCE Spokesman Poul Smidt

As you know there is the Elections Complaints and Appeals Commission (ECAC) working around any elections, also this time. Anybody can launch an appeal with this commission and tomorrow at 14:00 in the Headquarter of the OSCE we will organize a briefing concerning this system. The Chief Commissioner, Jaye Sitton will be ready to answer questions about the role of the Elections Complaints and Appeals Commission. There is be a press advisory outside.

EU Spokeswoman Monique De Groot

Power update

Last Friday the contract for the repair works of B2 was signed. Alstom/Innogy were chosen to contract for the repairs. The repair works have already started and are due to be finished in the first week of December.

Over the weekend the situation has improved and we now have the units A1, A3, A4 and the hydro-power plant in Gazivode working.

Kosovo A4 will go into maintenance this coming weekend. This maintenance is expected to last until mid-October.

What does this mean for the energy situation?

The current schedule of three hours on and three hours off will be maintained as far as possible. But variations will occur depending on levels of production, import and consumer demand.

We continue to urge the citizens of Kosovo to save energy as much as possible and not to leave electric appliances switched on when not in use.

Questions

Q: Where does the relationship between UNMIK and the government stand after yesterday’s statement by the government?

SM: Before the statement was issued, Mr. Brayshaw, General Valentin and the acting Commissioner Thom Hacker met with the cabinet. They explained their position on and the background to the arrests and the fact that they were undertaken to establish the rule of law in Kosovo, and the cabinet expressed their position on the arrests. I think, as I said about the statement issued by the government, it is an unfortunate statement because it contains some inaccuracies. I don’t think it is in the long run going to damage our relations with the government. I think that the government will be hearing from international capitals over the next few days, also reiterating the message that there are inaccuracies in the statement, particularly about our jurisdiction over arrests, over criminal cases and our jurisdiction in general over law and order.

Q: Drew, you seemed to be suggesting that Milan Ivanovic is free to travel in and out of Kosovo.

DA: As I pointed out there, we don’t know where he is. We made the point last week. We were disappointed when we did not pick him up last week when we went with the police for his arrest. The point we are trying to make is that he is making a point that he is in Kosovo and that he will not surrender. We have however clear evidence that he is not just in one place, but he is moving around.

Q: How easy is it to travel between Serbia and Kosovo without being caught by KFOR or the police.

BF: It is actually not an international border and it has not been in the past. There are hundreds if not thousands of tracks and paths across the boundary between Kosovo and Serbia, also Kosovo and Montenegro. There are even ways to go between here and there through the mines. So the answer is that it is very easy to travel across the boundary without going through an international checkpoint although when he does that he is not violating Serbian law.

Q: Yesterday Prime Minister said that the government is now ready to cooperate on crimes committed after the war. Can we now expect some investigations for the crimes committed after June 1999?

SM: The police investigate all crimes that have been committed. There is no deadline or date involved. Secondly the government is really not involved in implementing law and order. It is the job of police and KFOR. And, incidentally most of the arrests have been for crimes that were committed after the conflict’s end in June 1999.

Q: Did KFOR conclude the operation in Drenica valley?

DA: Yes, I believe that that is finished. As I understand it was finished late yesterday evening or early this morning. I don’t have a lot of information on it at the present time. It was similar to an iron fist although it was not an iron fist operation. Iron fist 6 was concluded last week. But at the present time I don’t have much details on it. It was wholly within the MNB north operational area and perhaps in the shorter term, for those who want more information quickly, it may be beneficial to go to the MNB north press and information office for details.

Q: Since the returns are partially dependent on resolving the missing issue as we saw in the recent protests, do you think you can have successful returns while identification of the missing and the issues around the missing are going slowly or will not be done soon?

SM: Both are going slowly: both returns and identification of the missing. However we continue to exhume remains around Kosovo and understandably the issue of returns in the eyes of many Albanians is tied to the missing, but we are continuing to work on both fronts.