Briefing Notes, 27 August 2002

UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel
KFOR Spokesperson Tony xxx
Police Spokesperson Barry Fletcher
Spokesperson of EU Monique De Groot

UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel

This afternoon, Mr. Brayshaw, DSRSG, along with the Mitrovica Municipal Assembly president will be viewing the Bridge we recently constructed over the Ibar. The bridge will be the avenue to the Mobile Cultural Container project which Mr. Steiner inaugurates this Saturday, 31 August 2002. You are invited to view the bridge with Mr. Brayshaw: He’ll be on the south bank at about 3 p.m. .

The Cultural Container project has been invited here by SRSG Michael Steiner in order to offer young people from both sides of the river a chance at joining in creative activities. He will be opening the project in a ceremony on Saturday at 8 p.m. Media are invited.

Young people—from 14 to 21 years old—are the target participants for the project: they’re encouraged to come via the bridge and to participate in a wide variety of activities in the cultural containers. They will take part in different workshops on theater, video, radio, newspaper publishing, photography and Internet. Discussions, movies and concerts will also take place. The cultural center will remain open until 4 October 2002.

The Mobile Culture Container is a project of the Fund in Defence of our future. Its founder is Freimut Duve, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.

The project consists of 16 containers covered by a seven meter tent-dome and will be built on the river’s south bank in front of the House of Culture.

The project’s goal is to promote reconciliation between communities. It’s also called a ‘test project for young people in post-conflict societies.”

It has taken place in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, FRY and Former Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia. Mitrovica is the ninth city to host the project

Its director is Joachim Koch and press officer is Josip Crnoja. We will get his phone number for you today. for more information on the type of activities, look at the website… : www.mobile-culture.org.

The Federal Minister of Defense of Germany Peter Struck will visit Kosovo on Saturday, 31 August 2002. You are invited to a photo opportunity at 11 a.m. in the UNMIK Headquarters, and there will be a press opportunity following his meeting with SRSG Steiner at 11:35 a.m.

Holiday

Tomorrow is a UN holiday. As most press staff are on leave, the press office will be closed tomorrow. For emergencies, call Andrea Angeli or myself on our cell phones.

Clarification’

We would like to correct a misunderstanding that has appeared recently in certain media: UNMIK cannot confirm the discovery of any new mass grave site in Suva Reka, or in the rest of Kosovo. UNMIK's Missing Persons and Forensics Unit continues to oversee exhumations and identifications of remains in dozens of sites around Kosovo, including at the UNMIK/ICTY cemetery based in Suva Reka. This cemetery contains remains of bodies exhumed by the ICTY in 1999-2000 and is well-known to forensics experts and Kosovo and Serbian authorities.The MPFU continues to receive and welcome any new information on possible gravesites. However no new mass gravesites have been discovered in the past several months. This information was conveyed to members of the Coalition Povratak caucus who met with PDSRSG Charles Brayshaw yesterday.

______? Tony ______?, KFOR

I have two main points for you this morning: First, statements on photography of KFOR installations. Recently, there have been a number of incidents of individuals photographing and filming KFOR installations. KFOR reminds anyone who is thinking of carrying out such activity that it is strictly prohibited to take pictures or to film or otherwise investigate KFOR installations or operations. Anyone caught conducting such surveillance will be arrested or detained and after the necessary investigations, if found guilty, will be prosecuted.

The second statement is about conditions at Camp Bondsteel Detention Centre. As the KFOR PIO was questioned by several journalists about the conditions of detention at Camp Bondsteel facility, and in order to avoid any speculation, here are the regulations under which all detainees in the Camp Bondsteel Detention facility are held: They have supervised full contact visits of up to three people who are allowed in the visitors’centre twice a week. Visiting days are Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Unlimited access for legal council is allowed between 08:00 and 20:00 hours as well as regular visits from religious leaders as required. The detainees are given the same food and medical aid as the KFOR soldiers at Camp Bondsteel. Physical exercise is permitted in a separate exercise yard. Other recreational activities include regular television, videos, board games and reading materials are all provided in a specific room. Last but not least, it is to be stressed that the Bondsteel Detention facility has regular monthly inspections from the International Committee of the Red Cross, with their last visit of 28 August, and the OSCE with their last visit on 6 August, receiving constantly and consistently positive reports regarding the level of care provided by the Bondsteel Detention facility and its staff.
Finally, ComKFOR has asked me to clear up a misunderstanding. ComKFOR meeting at the Binxhe/Bice press involvement: Com KFOR never rejected the Albanian journalists from his meeting with the Kosovo people at Binxhe. He merely asked them to keep silent when he was speaking with the Kosovo people. It is simply a matter of politeness. ComKFOR states that, yes, the journalists have their rights but the rights of the Kosovo people are also important.

Barry Fletcher, UNMIK Police

Unfortunately, I have to report that we recorded two murders during the last week, both of them happened on Sunday, 25 August.
On 25-08-02, at 14:20h, police were called to a village in Gnjilane Region when a body was found. The victim was a 15 year-old K-Albanian girl who had been assaulted before being killed. Two K-Albanian men, ages 23 & 21, have been arrested. The motive involved a dispute.
On 25-08-02, at about 20:00h, a-36 year-old K-Albanian male was killed with a shotgun. A 46 year-old K-Albanian man has been arrested. The victim & suspect were relatives and the motive involved a family dispute.
For further information about these cases, please call the appropriate Police Regional Press Office.

REWARD

Three men were able to escape from Dubrava Prison on 20-05-02. Their names are Bujar BASHA (23), Burim BASHA (21), and Anton ALLAKAJ ( 26). The BASHA brothers were in prison on a sentence of 10 years each for Armed Robbery, and ALLAKAJ was in prison on a sentence of 11.5 years for Murder.

Since escaping, the BASHA brothers are suspected of committing several armed robberies within the Suharcka area, attempting to murder a KPS officer, and of making a death threat against a Public Prosecutor. A 2000 EURO reward is being offered for information leading to the arrests of the BASHA brothers. Anyone with information should call 029-43-348.

Anyone who knows the location of any of the escaped prisoners should call 92, or dial 112 on Alcatel mobile phones. Citizens should not attempt to apprehend the escapees as the men are considered armed and dangerous. All information provided to the police will be treated as confidential.

DESCRIPTIONS OF ESCAPEES

Burim BASHA, DOB 15.03.81, height is appr. 170 cm, weight is appr. 70 kg, he has black hair and may wear an earring, eyes also blue-green.

Bujar BASHA, DOB 15.03.79, height appr. 175 cm, weight appr. 70 kg, he has black hair and blue-green eyes. Both Basha brothers are from Prizren town.

Anton ALLAKAJ, DOB 10.09.76, height appr. 170 cm, weight appr. 75 kg, he has brown hair and brown eyes. Allakaj is from the area of Djakova.

Monique De Groot, EU

As previously announced, A-4 has gone into maintenance as of last weekend. A schedule of 3 hours on and three hours off is maintained as far as possible. We now have a daily energy update report on the UNMIK website and it can be found on unmikonline.org. A contract, for the import of a 100 megawat until the end of the month, has been agreed upon. Yesterday, the Steering Committee for Consultation on and Preparation of a Long Term Energy Strategy and Policy for Kosovo met for the first time. The role of this Committee is to develop policy and strategy for the energy provision in Kosovo for longer term. The aim of yesterday’s meeting was to open a discussion on alternative sources of energy and further meeting are planned to discuss the options in more detail. I would like to stress that the Steering Committee is specially focusing on the long-term strategy whereas the Energy Committee, set up by the SRSG Michael Steiner, is dealing with the current energy situation caused by the lightening strike.

On Thursday, 29 September, 2002, the EU Pillar of UNMIK will launch its European awareness project called “Kosovo tuned into Europe”. The aim of this project is to bring the European idea and failures to the people of Kosovo by means of a mixture of information and entertainment. “Tuned into Europe” will be organized in six locations all over Kosovo and as I said it will starts on Thursday, in Gjilane. A press release with further details and tour schedule will be released later this week.

QUESTIONS

Q: Do you have anything more on the Algerians that have been detained, whether it is related to the KPC officer who is also detained?

Tony: KFOR has nothing to add other to that which is on the press release. A lot of people have been asking for names and affiliations but KFOR respects the rights of those individuals and will not be issuing such information.

Q: And on the Kosovo Protection Corp, the arrest that was made?

Tony: We have no further comment to that other than what was issued in the press release.

Q: Susan, I would like to ask you about the comment of Rada Trjakovic yesterday in the newspapers, in which she said that Hashim Taci, Ramush Haradinaj and Agim Ceku have to be arrested and will be arrested soon or later. What is your comment on that?

SM: Arrested by who?

Q: By UNMIK of course? Not Serbian Police, I think.

SM: Obviously, Police do not divulge to me or anyone else about their on-going investigations ,and she would have no knowledge of an on-going investigation. There is nothing I can say to her comment.

BF: UNMIK Police and the Kosovo Police Service are the law enforcement authority for Kosovo and our jurisdiction extends back into the past. So, except for jurisdiction that might be held by ICTY, we are the police that would be concerned with whatever events or complaints that might be investigated. That is all I can really say, and I think that the comment might be speculative.