UNMIK Police-KFOR-EU-OSCE Press Briefing, 23 July 2002

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

UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel

SRSG Michael Steiner is currently visiting President Rugova in his new office in the Government building.

At 13 00 today, Mr. Steiner will meet with the Acting Foreign Minister of Italy, Senator Roberto Antonione. There will be a photo opportunity at the opening of the meeting. The two gentlemen will give a statement to the press following the meeting outside the HQ, when Mr. Steiner will have a special announcement.

This afternoon, Mr. Steiner was to visit Kulina pass on the boundary between Kosovo and Montenegro, but due to the results of yesterday's storm, he will postpone that visit for Friday.

Instead Mr. Steiner will visit Djakova where a Kosovo Egyptian community was heavily hit by yesterday's storm. In a terrible tragedy, two children were crushed to death by a container, which was turned over by the wind.

We express our deep condolences to the families of the children, two boys aged approximately 11 and 12. A third boy is in serious condition in Pristina Hospital.

In addition, a Kosovo Roma community has been badly hit: some 30 families are without housing now and UNHCR has rushed to provide tents, sheeting and blankets.

Mr. Steiner will leave here at 1500 for Djakova.

Tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. in UNMIK HQ, the Energy Committee will reconvene to discuss the assessment of the fire at Power plant B and the prognosis and measures for the future. Mr. Steiner will hold a press briefing after the meeting here.

Today we also held a memorial service for UNMIK Police officer Michael Rau of Germany who died last weekend in Strpce. We extend our condolences to his family, colleagues and friends.

Next week, Mr. Steiner will travel to New York to address the United Nations Security Council on 30 July.

UNMIK Police Spokesman Derek Chappell

Two Children Die In Storm

A violent storm occurred yesterday evening at about 19:00h in Gjakova, with high winds, heavy rain, and lightning. A group of children took shelter under a metal container. Tragically, the container was lifted by the winds and then dropped back on to the children. Two young boys were killed, another young boy sustained severe injuries, and three other children escaped with minor injuries.

The storm also destroyed the homes of five families, and the victims were sheltered at the police station. Approximately fifty other buildings and homes are confirmed severely damaged. We are conducting a survey of the area and expect to discover more damage. The storm knocked out power and telephone service for about four hours, and fallen trees blocked the roads until about 23:00h.

Double Murder

A double murder occurred in Mazgit Village, near Obilic, yesterday at about 1840 hrs. The responding police offices found two victims - one female and one male - had been shot. A known male suspect fled from the scene and police are searching for him.

Murder

On 20-07-02, in Pec region, a 70 year-old man was murdered by his 26 year-old son during an argument. The weapon used was an axe handle. The suspect was arrested.

Death Of A Police Officer

A 29 year-old UNMIK police officer was found dead in his apartment on Saturday. Michael RAU, from Germany, had been in Kosovo since November. We offer our condolences and sympathy to his family and friends.

KFOR Spokesman Wing Commander Drew Anderson

Much has already been said about the disaster that struck Kosovo on Friday evening and the significant effect that a reduction in power output will have throughout Kosovo over the next few months. However, on a positive note the incident has highlighted that many organisations can work together effectively when necessary.

These included UNMIK, UNMIK-Police, the KPS, the KPC and KFOR. Between them they controlled the incident quickly and efficiently. Additionally, many fire fighting assets were co-ordinated from around Kosovo to bring the incident to a safe and rapid conclusion.

In conjunction with the civil authorities, all KFOR MNBs were involved to some extent. MNB(C) was at the forefront of KFOR's efforts deploying 4 fire fighting assets, 13 ambulances and a helicopter to provide a 'Nightsun' spotlight. Add to that fire fighting assets from MNB(N), MNB(S), MNB(W), HQ KFOR, 2 helicopters for casualty evacuation from MNB(E) and approximately 400 soldiers, all which were either deployed during the incident or placed on immediate standby, and a comprehensive picture of the support to this incident can be seen.

However, irrespective of the assets deployed it was the willingness of the people on the ground who made the difference. All fire fighters showed great professionalism, dedication and determination when tackling the fire and were quick to react when the incident occurred.

KFOR, UNMIK, UNMIK-Police and the KPS controlled the lines of communication effectively, co-ordinated the response to the incident and directed vehicles and manpower in the immediate vicinity of the incident. Of particular note was the very comprehensive involvement of the KPC throughout the event. Once again they displayed that they are ready, willing and able to respond effectively to a civil emergency and that they have developed the necessary skills and techniques to be considered proficient in this type of incident.

While there will always be lessons to learn when an incident of this magnitude takes place it is heartening to see that with leadership, close co-operation, co-ordination, determination and professionalism, major incidents such as that seen on Friday evening can be brought swiftly to a conclusion.

One final point, in order to ease the demand on electrically generated power from the remaining power station, KFOR is now relying on its own power generation throughout its camps in Kosovo.

Have a peaceful week.

EU Spokeswoman Betty Dawson

The big story this week has been the lightning strike at KEK.

An investigation is currently being carried out at Obiliq, by highly qualified technical experts. They are assessing the extent of the damage caused and a report will be issued as soon as these details are available. Preliminary results should be available later this week - the details will be made available and a statement will be issued.

Questions

Q: How are the experts who are assessing the damage and how much electricity is being produced at this moment in Kosovo?

BD: 230 - 246 megawatts of electricity is being produced from two the A plants and hydropower plant at Gazivode and experts have been brought in from KFOR, police, technical experts on the electricity side. There is a big team of experts doing a very comprehensive investigation.

Q: I am just asking for clarification; KFOR press update says that there were three fatalities from the storm in Djakovo; which is correct - two or three?

DC: The information that I gave you was valid as of this morning, we had two fatalities confirmed; it might well be that the severity of the injuries of to the third injured child led people to believe they were life threatening, but as of this morning there were only two fatalities.

Q: Drew, how long it took KFOR to assess it was lightning that struck Kosovo B?

KFOR: I am not sure if it was KFOR who made that assessment; I'll have to check that for you. I am not aware of who has made that decision, and Mr. Steiner has said, the lightning has struck the building; I am not sure who provided that information to him - whether it was us or perhaps the specialists who are now looking at the situation.

EU: I think it was provided by the specialists.

Q: I am speaking of the night it was struck.

KFOR: The initial report I saw was done by the Joint Operations Center on the evening of the actual incident has suggested that lightning struck the building and that was an initial assessment and believe that is what is now considered as confirmed, so I was working on when we spoke Friday evening on what has been given initially to me as initial information and I believe that has now been confirmed to Mr. Steiner.

Q: Dynamite that was found in Kosovo B in the fire extinguisher - do you have any information that it might have any connection with the explosion and the fire in the plant?

DC: I read that in the newspapers this morning - there is a lot of speculations as to what might be involved in the fire in Obilic and we are not going to respond to speculations until our investigation is complete. We are leaving nothing out, and obviously criminal actions is something we have considered. That is why the police are involved, but we are not going to respond to individual rumors or suggestions. I don't think that would be appropriate because until the investigation is complete, no facts are definite.

SM: Tomorrow afternoon all the members of the Energy Committee will report to Mr. Steiner about their findings so far, obviously the investigation will not be finished by tomorrow, but that will be sort of early term report of where the investigation is at, how much the damage is and what kind of measures will be taken from there. So we won't have much information until following that Energy Committee meeting when Mr. Steiner will give you a briefing.

DC: I would point out that this is an extremely sophisticated investigation. Even investigation a house fire is a difficult job and this is a huge complex with a sophisticated electrical systems and engineering. On top of that the fire had only been thoroughly put out in the buildings safe to enter just over 48 hours ago and still remains a high risk area with chemicals and various dangerous requiring the breathing apparatus and protective equipment. So, this is not an easy investigation to do, it is not even easy to get into the building to do that investigation. So, please be patient, while we do our best to get you the answers you want.

EU: As I said the results of the investigation are only preliminary and those are the ones that will be released after this meeting. Those are guidelines as to what is in expert's minds as they go on and continue investigation of the source of this fire. The energy production has been drastically reduced - we were talking nearly 500 megawatts from both B plants so we have to be aware of that and use the electricity sparingly, shut off all unnecessary lights or electrical equipment, please, so as to help us through this period.

Q: inaudible

OSCE: The OSCE and CEC have set a basic framework, guidelines, for the running of elections. This has allowed political parties, citizen's initiatives, which are not parties as such, coalitions and independent candidates to run. Now, this initiative, Most, has applied for certification to run in Mitrovica municipality, one municipality. They will most likely be certified, of course, if they meet all basic, same, requirements as all other political entities. If they decide to run, if they are certified, they will have to abide by all the electoral rules, which of course all other political entities also need to follow.

Q: These guys are called gangsters by the SRSG - what is the point of them participating in the election now?

OSCE: My question to you then is; are they convicted criminals now? Anyone is allowed to run, any initiative, any entity can be allowed to run if they meet the basic requirements.

Q: Unintelligible….

OSCE: The Bridge watchers is a are specific group, now this is an entity I do not know, we of course know the name who is the head of the initiative, but of course they haven't submitted any candidates list so there are no names on the list yet, because the entity is not yet certified.

Q: Can SRSG put veto on CEC decision even if they certify these guys to unable them to participate in the elections?

SM: Theoretically, he can make any kind of decisions he wants, but I am trying to remember last elections; we had two candidates who were on the Bush's black list and SRSG at that time asked for their removal from the candidates' lists.

Q: Yes, they were from LPK. What is true; that UNMIK police did use force in arrests in Glogovac or did RTK just improvise the story?

DC: I remember commenting on this day or two after the RTK broadcast and I will restate what I said then; we deny that our police officers used any excessive force, their entry into the buildings was professional and it was consistent with the threat level considering they were attempting to arrest persons who had massacred an entire family. No excessive force was used; no injuries were caused. The RTK broadcast was reenactment of something that had happened many hours before. And when they reenacted that and they were presenting something to the public as a fact that we had a strong disagreement with; in other words believed they presented something falsely to the public as that and that will be the subject of a report to the Temporary Media Commissioner.