United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT

UNMIK- OSCE - EU Press Briefing, 05 August 2003

UNMIK Spokeswoman Izabella Karlowicz
Police Commissioner Stefan Feller
CIVPOL Spokesman Derek Chapell
KFOR Spokesman Garry Bannister-Green
OSCE Spokesman Sven Lindholm
EU Spokesman Kris Litiere

UNMIK Spokeswoman Izabella Karlowicz

First, Police Commissioner Stefan Feller will give a statement. Afterwards he will answer some questions, then we will continue with our usual press conference. Stefan.

Police Commissioner Stefan Feller

Just one sentence, before I will be starting. This is definitely one of those moments, where words are still missing and where it is very, very difficult to find words. We have lost two officers until now in the line of duty. Don’t forget the KPS officer that we lost in December 2001 and now I have the sad obligation to offer you some information with regards to the most recent incident. Let me start.

Yesterday in India the wife of Major Satish MENON was told that her husband would not come back alive.

His two children, aged 8 and 6 years, were told that they would no longer have a father.

Major MENON had come to Kosovo as a member of the Indian Police to serve with UNMIK Police. He had arrived in May and was working with the Border and Boundary Police.

Shortly before midnight on Sunday, 3 August, Major MENON and another UNMIK Officer were ambushed as they drove their Police patrol car along the highway between Leposavic and Mitrovica.

When they slowed their car due to rocks on the road they came under gunfire from concealed attackers.

Multiple shots were fired directly into the passenger compartment of the police car. Satish MENON was struck and killed instantly.

Let me be perfectly clear – This was a cold blooded and deliberate killing of an officer who had no chance to defend himself.

The killing of any police officer is tragic, because it is an attack on the society itselfand therule of law that the police represent. Kosovo’s society receives policing both by their Kosovo Police Service officers and on an interim basis, by International Police Officers willing to serve the Kosovans.

Major Menon did not die due to his interrupting a crime – He died BECAUSEhe was a police officer - a symbol of hope. He was a target to people opposed to freedom. He died serving the people of Kosovo.

Adding to this tragedy is the fact that Satish MENON was apparently selected at random to be killed.

His killers were ready to take the life of whatever Police officer was stopped by the obstruction on the road.

I want to re assure everyone in Kosovo that the police will NOT be deterred from doing their job by such cowards and criminals. We will spare no effort to find those responsible for this murder and then we will bring them to justice. As stated yesterday, a Special Investigative team comprised of International Police and KPS officers, the best from the Mitrovica Regional Serious Crimes Squad and Police Main Headquarters, has been established.

A reward of 50,000 Euros is announced for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators.

We will continue to build on the achievements that have been made in the past 4 years BECAUSE it is our duty to the people of Kosovo and now it is our duty to our fallen brother. We will not stop serving and protecting the citizens of Kosovo.

I offer my condolences to Major MENONS family and colleagues, and I know that I offer those feelings on behalf of all the people of Kosovo in whose service he died.

To be clear: We will pay a reward of 50,000 Euros to any person or persons giving us information leading to the arrest and conviction of these killers. The telephone number to call with information is (038) 504 604 6666.Your call will be kept confidential. Thank you very much.

IK: Any questions for Stefan.

Q: Mr. Feller, can you please tell us, what is the investigation concentrating on? What are you taking into account, what are you disregarding?

SF: We are taking everything into account. It is unfortunately as usual too early to draw on any conclusion, what has been the motif behind and what precisely happened there. So, will not jump on early conclusions, we will have to find out what exactly happened there. And facilitating the assembly of all the information given to us or found by us and before that, I am not ready to offer any conclusion. I am sorry.

Q: The government of Kosovo sent out a message that it was a Serbian extremists’ act, while the Serbian deputy prime minister accused Albanian terrorist criminal groups. How do you reply to them?

SF: The Kosovo-Albanian government withdrew their statement. That is not a conclusion given by the PISG. In addition to that I have to repeat what I said. There is a multiplicity of possible motifs and everything has to be set up before we are jump on any conclusions. They have to be substantiated, because everything else would be a contribution to rumors and nothing else.

Q: How many positions were there, from which the policeman was fired on? And: Do you have any evidence of linking any one to the killings?

SF: I would not say that these are operational issues that I would not comment on. But these are issues, which we have knowledge on and the perpetrators have. Then we would lessen our possibilities to prove what they know and then to match it. No information on whatever we have found I am ready to offer here right now.

Q: All diplomatic offices in Pristina in a way have indicated that this was an attack against the rule of law on Kosovo and have linked the attack with previous attacks in Kosovo. Do you think that they are correct or that they know something that they should share with you?

SF: With regard to the current investigation I am not ready to create any link to any other incident right now, which has happened, because as I said before: It would be too early. What you can see over the last years is an increased readiness of criminal elements to disrespect the rule of law and the ones representing the rule of law. It is not only about people in Kosovo being ready to offer their knowledge as witnesses in investigations and trials. It is also a readiness to threaten and intimidate personnel within the rule of law, be it prosecutors, be it judges, be is KPS colleagues or CIVPOL colleagues. If you look at those figures, and I can remember that we offered those figures in a press conference a couple of months ago, the amount of threatening and intimidating behavior against police officers in Kosovo is definitely too high. Every incident in itself is not acceptable, but it is also a fact that Kosovo police service officers will be a target of such a threat or intimidation three times more than international police officers. But you can see clearly that there is a readiness to disrespect both my KPS colleagues and my CIVPOL colleagues by an increased amount of action and by an increased level of criminality against them. This, what I had to report now, unfortunately is the pique of those incidents.

Q: Do you have any reason to believe that – as a Guardian report claims today – has links with the Albanian National Army. It claims that there is a UN source that confirms that. Can you deny or confirm this?

SF: Neither I am the source of this. Nor can I deny or confirm it. It is much too early to draw any conclusions, so I am not offering any conclusions at all, because it would just be speculation and I am not ready to do that.

Q: But judging from their actions – Could you say that they would take responsibility, if this was ANA?

SF: I just state, what I said before: I am not offering any conclusion right now.

Q: You said the threatening and intimidating behavior is far too high. Despite that and the recent attacks on the UN Police you have not heightened the level of security that would match the threats. Why has that not been done? And did this lead to the killing of Major Manon and have you heightened security now?

SF: It is very difficult to answer that, because on the one side it would definitely be a link between something where I am not at all ready to draw a conclusion and the general situation we might be in. But for sure, a civilian police force talks about force protection in a similar way like my military friends might do that. But a police concept is a concept of civilian police officers acting out of the community for the community. So this is part of our job and this is what I would require to keep in all of our minds. We will not protect ourselves from the population, which would be the consequence of some increased security in a defensive way. We are not ready to do that. We are ready to increase security for the population from criminals and as a part of that we might do it for us, the police officers working for the society as well. But we are not doing it in a way that it will cause that what for example those actions would possibly intend: to separate us from the population. It is part of our job to take that risk and we are ready to do that, but I would like to bring that into the mind that we are doing this for the Kosovans.

Q: Did you increase the level of security for the general population or just for your officers? Has that been done? Did you have any indications that there was a threat, possibly this week to strike against UN police or against UN judiciary?

SF: The second question I will not answer. The first question is: We have not increased the level of our police security. We have increased the level of security for the population. If you travel around, be it Mitrovica or other areas of Kosovo, we will provide visible security for the population. We increased drastically the number of vehicle checkpoints again, as we are doing so often in situations like this. This is not only related to the fact that we might find information during those operations. It is our clear intention to give a visible security for the population, which might feel threatened as well. We don’t feel threatened, but we will intend and we will continue to avoid everything where the population might feel a decreased perceive of the security. We will go against that and we will not feel intimidated by actions like that.

Q: Do you believe that a lynch atmosphere has been created against UN personnel in the recent weeks? Having in mind for example the letter that the acting PM Jakup Krasniqi has written? The German office has linked these facts.

SF: I do not believe that.

Q: Do you believe that the UN Police has underrated the level of threats against the UN Police seeing the last attacks against UN Police.

SF: No, I do not believe that. We are - this is my professional opinion - pretty much on top of much information enabling us to assess in a reasonable way the security situation for us, the UN Police, but also for the communities. But whatever we would do – an ambush like this is not avoidable by any police concept, which would set us into a position where the population would feel that we are oppressing them. There is no way. Unfortunately I have to say that we are the same vulnerable persons, if we are part of the community than many others I have to moan about, because they have been brutally killed, because there is no way, neither by KFOR nor by police to ensure 100% security placing officers at the edge of every flat in Kosovo. This is unfortunately part of the reality and I can moan about that, but I will never be able to do anything against that. The information we have regarding the security situation does enable us to take the appropriate measures.

Q: Can you say, why the ambush was put in this place and not in another place of Kosovo?

SF: I cannot explain that. I am sorry.

Q: Is it normal that police cars patrol in this area late at night?

SF: There is no area in Kosovo hopefully, where you would not see a red and white or a KPS vehicle. This is part of our patrolling program. And this is a highway. Even more you can expect regular patrolling and other kind of movement entering their duty areas or whatever else. This is not a restricted area and there is no restricted area for police patrolling.

Q: How would you characterize this crime, as it is obviously not interethnic?

SF: It is targeted to disrupt the activities to provide the rule of law to Kosovo. I do not make any difference between the brutal attack killing the KPS officer in 2001 and the killing of this one. There is no difference with regard to that both of them are police officers. The difference is that the officer this weekend died just, because somebody wanted to kill a police officer. He was not engaged in any kind of duty there, whilst passing there. There was no kind of law enforcement. He just passed by and just some people used that opportunity to kill him. And this is an attempt or an attack on the rule of law with means that has never been seen in Kosovo.

UNMIK Spokeswoman Izabella Karlowicz

On behalf of the United Nations, I want to express our deepest condolences to the family of officer Menon who is survived by his wife and two children. We would also like to express our sympathy to the Indian police contingent that has lost a friend and a colleague.

In remembrance and honor of Indian CivPol Officer all CivPol Stations and UNMIK facilities will fly the UN flag at half.

Tomorrow, a memorial service will be held in the Cinema Hall, Main HQ, on the 06 August 2003 (10:00am).

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2. Recently officials in Serbia have come out with a spate of completely unsubstantiated statistics on the number of Kosovo Serbs killed and missing since 1999.

Let me put the record straight:

1999 – 150 (as of June) Serbs killed.
2000 - 75
2001 - 30
2002 - 6
2003 - 5 till 30 June 2003.

This adds up to the total of 266 Kosovo Serbs killed since the end of the conflict. Another 982 Kosovo Serbs are registered as missing. A distinction must be made between those killed and those missing.

The numbers of Kosovo Serbs murdered in 1999 and 2000 are approximate because many victims were of “unknown” ethnicity at the time. However, the total number of people murdered, of all ethnicities, in 1999 and 2000 was 680. Further, the total number of murders from the time the conflict ended to 30 June 2003, is 921. Clearly, by way of any mathematical calculation, it does not add up to the figure of 1500 Kosovo Serbs killed and 1300, as recently announced by Serbian leaders. They of course make a distinction between those killed and those who have gone missing.

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3. Inauguration of New Detention Centre at Lipjan

The new Detention Centre at Lipjan will be inaugurated jointly by DSRSG for Police and Justice, Jean-Christian Cady, DSRSG for Police and Justice and by the Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi. It will take place at 11am on Thursday 7 August 2003. On the occasion the first 10 Deputy Directors of the Kosovo Correction Service will receive their graduation certificates.

The media are invited to participate for the event to get a detailed briefing on the working of the penal management system in Kosovo. Please get in touch with Neeraj Singh.

This would be an opportunity for the media to get a glimpse of this European standard detention centre before it is closed to the public for security reasons. This is a rare opportunity to see a correction facility that is built to international standards. On the occasion there would also be a display of guard dogs recently inducted into the prison security establishment in Kosovo.

UNMIK DPI will be arranging transport for the journalists to and from the Detention Centre. Those interested in attending should contact Neeraj Singh, Information Officer for Pillar I at Extension 4316 or mobile 044/ 151 851.

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4. A/SRSG Charles Brayshaw is currently visiting NY and Washington. This visit is a regular consultation with UN representatives. He will also meet the new SRSG Harri Holkeri for a briefing. In Washington he will meet with US state department representatives.

KFOR Spokesman Garry Bannister-Green

KFOR strongly condemn the attack this weekend on UNMIK Police, resulting in the death of one of their Police Officers, Major Satish Menon. Our condolences and sympathy go to the family of Major Menon. KFOR sees any attack on UNMIK, the police or judicial system, as an attack on KFOR and the International Community. Such acts undermine all the progress and good work to date; they are attacks on Kosovo as well. In the past weeks we have witnessed a tremendous effort on the political front to overcome the intolerance towards the minorities. Yet now we witness a spiral of violence that starts from inflammatory words, intolerance towards the International Community and disregard for the rule of law. This spiral has to be stopped. Everyone who cares about Kosovo should help in this effort. KFOR will work together in support of the civil authorities and use all resources at our disposal to help in bringing the perpetrators of this crime to justice.

Over the past week KFOR operations in conjunction with UNMIK-P and KPS have confiscated

· 7 Rifles and Pistols
· 17 Grenades/Mines
· 18 Miscellaneous Military items
· 464 Rounds of ammunition.

In addition, in the month of July, KFOR Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Units dealt with 340 items of unexploded ordnance (UXO) which included grenades, rockets and mines. This was a marked increase on the average 200 UXOs dealt with normally. The majority of UXOs are found by the Kosovo population and reported to KFOR or the police. We thank the public for their co-operation. We would like to re-iterate that all types of unexploded ordnance are dangerous and so far this year, 3 people have been killed and 11 injured by such items. The correct and safe action is to contact KFOR or the police - do not touch or move the unexploded ordnance let the experts deal with them.

OSCE Spokesman Sven Lindholm

On behalf of the OSCE, I would like to offer our condolences to the family and colleagues of Major Satish Menon who was killed in the line of duty this weekend.

EU Spokesman Kris Litiere

EU does the same. We offer our condolences to the family of the murdered police officer.

I have two things for you today.
As most of you will have noticed, there has been a slight glitch in the power situation this weekend. An electrical problem in B2 required that B2 be shut down for repair work. As of Sunday evening, we were back to five on - one off.

I know it is fashionable to criticise KEK these days, but can I just point out a few things. The Kosovo power stations B1 and B2 have never been designed to be the sole supplier of continuous electricity for a designated area. They were part of a network/grid. When one power plant was down for maintenance -which happens regularly- there was an exchange and power was supplied by another plant. Amidst all of the difficulties, old power plants which suffered from 10 years of lack of maintenance, KEK is actually doing a great job, trying to get Kosovo A and Kosovo B to do what they were never designed to do.
It really boils down to the fact that people need to pay their bills: the international community and the Kosovo budget- your budget- cannot continue to bail out KEK. The collection rate is at 30-something % and we need 70% in order to have stabilized energy supply. So please pay your bills!

* The European Agency for Reconstruction has started on a project to rehabilitate the main road from the FYROM border crossing point Hani I Elezit to Pristina. This project has two phases:
The first phase of the project is the resurfacing of 12 kilometers of the road from the border crossing point to Kacanik. That has started yesterday and will be completed on the 12th of October 2003, work will be carried out from 06h.00 to 17h.00. As a consequence there will be severe traffic congestion on this major arterial route.
The second phase, the rehabilitation and strengthening of the bridges on that same route, will start in spring 2004. The EAR estimates that this phase will take 12 to 18 months. Traffic will be allowed to bypass the bridges under rehabilitation, but the fluidity will suffer.
That's all for today.

Q: Garry, who are the persons that are using inflammatory words against the international community?

GBG: I would not like to comment on specific individuals. We do take it seriously any inflammatory comments and we do look at the legal aspect and if we need to take action. I would not like to comment any further.

Q: Garry, you are blaming somebody specifically. Who is it?

GBG: As I said, we are consulting our legal people. I would not like to go into this issue any further.

Q: Can you elaborate what you have done in the villages where the policeman was killed as you consider it to be an attack also on KFOR?

GBG: As you are well aware, we fully support the UN Police and the KPS in our operations and have close working relationship with them. That has always gone on and it continues as we speak. For operational security reasons I cannot go into any details of what we are doing specifically, but I can tell you that tomorrow morning at the press conference of MNB (NE) they will probably give you more information on what measures have been taken and the resources they are putting into it.

Q: For Derek: Can you tell us, if there was a KPS car in front or behind the CIVPOL car, cause there seems to be confusion.

DC: I’ll let Barry Fletcher answer; he is very familiar with all the details.

BF: These rumors regarding a KPS car – because there is a Volkswagen in short distance in front of the police car. This was not a police car. It was not involved in the incident as to our knowledge. This is just a spun up fact.