United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT

UNMIK- OSCE - EU Press Briefing, 12 August 2003

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

UNMIK Spokeswoman Izabella Karlowicz

The newly appointed SRSG Harri Holkeri will come to Kosovo on a short visit on Wednesday afternoon and leave on Friday morning.

On Wednesday afternoon he will meet with UNMIK senior staff and Com KFOR, Gen Fabio Mini. On Thursday he will meet with political leaders of Kosovo: President Ibrahim Rugova, Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi, Assembly Speaker Nexhat Daci, as well as with party leaders: Ramush Haradinaj, Arsim Bajrami and Oliver Ivanovic.

As far as media arrangements are concerned, there will be a photo opportunity at the airport on Wednesday. A bus with the journalists interested in coming will leave at 11 AM from DPI. For security reasons we will need names of the journalists NOT LATER than 3 PM today. Please get in touch with Christian Lindmeier to give your names. If the name of a photographer or cameramen is not security cleared we will not be able to accommodate you tomorrow morning.

There will be no statement, so please just send your photographers and cameramen.

On Thursday at the start of each meeting there will be a photo opportunity for journalists. Also on Thursday, at 1715 hrs, the new SRSG Harri Holkeri will meet the press.

On Friday morning, he will fly to Belgrade to meet federal and Serbian government leaders, but we do not details of that at the moment.

He will then return to Finland to take care of prior commitments before he returns to the mission.
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Third Weapons Amnesty Program in September 2003
This morning the DSRSG for Police and Justice Jean-Christian Cady signed an Executive Decision on behalf of the Acting SRSG, declaring a Kosovo wide weapons amnesty that would be in effect for one month, from 1 September to 30 September 2003.
The Amnesty Program will allow the citizens of Kosovo to surrender all weapons without fear of prosecution. During the amnesty period any person in Kosovo who possesses a weapon without valid authorization, may surrender it to law enforcement authorities. If persons are found in possession of illegal weapons after the amnesty deadline, they will be liable to prosecution and imprisonment of up to eight years or a fine of up to euro 7,500.
KFOR and Police will designate at least one stationary weapons collection point in each of the five regions in Kosovo. There will also be mobile weapons collection units that travel to specific locations. The locations of such collection points will be made widely known before the amnesty period starts.
Weapons can be transported to the collection centers in daytime only. The specific guidelines as to the modality of handing weapons over are included in the press release, which will be distributed after the press conference.
It is important to add that persons surrendering weapons under this amnesty program are not required to give any information regarding either the weapons or themselves. All weapons collected will be destroyed.

And my last announcement regards the opening of Restelica-Strezimir TBCP

On Friday 15 August 2003, a temporary border crossing point between Kosovo and FYROM will become operational at Restelice/Restelica–Strezimir in the Dragash municipality of Kosovo. The opening is in accordance with the agreement made in the interim protocol on temporary border crossing points signed between UNMIK and FYROM on 22 May 2003.

The temporary border crossing point is being opened only for local use and therefore its use will be limited to residents of the Kosovo villages of Restelice/Restelica, Gllobocica/Globocica, Zlipotok/Zili Potok, Brod/Brod, Krusheve/Krusevo and Mlike/Mlike.Residents of the FYROM villages of Strezimir, Stirovica, Brodec, Zuznje, Nicpur, Krakornica and Nistrovo are authorized to use the crossing points to enter Kosovo.

Until 14 September the crossing point will remain open from 7am to 7pm. From 15 September to 15 November, the crossing point will be open from 7am to 5pm. From next year onward the Temporary Border Crossing Point will open from 1 April to 15 November.

To ensure use of the crossing point by authorized persons only, UNMIK is issuing Temporary Border Crossing Cards containing addresses of the holders for all inhabitants of the listed villages who hold valid UNMIK Travel Documents. The Border Crossing Cards can be collected free of cost from the Dragash Registration Centre on production of UNMIK Travel Documents.

CIVPOL Spokesman Derek Chapell

Police have recorded one murder in the past week. At 0830 on Saturday, 9 August one man was killed and two others injured near the village of Jablanica e Vogel when their vehicle was attacked by gunmen who had prepared an ambush. The van was struck by numerous shots fired by persons waiting beside the road. The motive for this shooting is believed to be a family dispute. This is NOT connected to the previous shooting in Pec and contrary to one report in the Serbian press the victim was NOT a witness in any trial.

Last night at about 9 pm an injured man was found alongside a road near Lipjian. He had suffered a gunshot to the head and was in serious condition. Police believe that the 44 year old K Serbian victim had been fishing at a nearby pond when he was attacked. He had walked to a nearby road and had been taken firstly to Gracanica Hospital and then to Mitrovice Hospital. Police are with him now trying to establish the exact circumstances.

And the last point,Police have taken a 63 year old K Albanian man into custody for the repeated sexual assault and rape of his teenage daughter. To protect the victim no further details will be given. This is the second case of incest that we have investigated. The first case resulted in an 11 year prison sentence for the father who had sexually abused his daughter.

Domestic violence and abuse is especially tragic since it is hidden within the most basic structure of human lives – the family. Often it carries on due to fear, embarrassment and a sense of guilt by the victims that is promoted by their abusers.

There is no place in a civil society for such offences. Since 9 May effective legal protection has been in place for victims. A court may now issue a

Protection Order to protect a victim whilst the police conduct an investigation into allegations of abuse. Victims are now given the support of a Victims Advocate who will assist them through the legal procedures and ensure that they receive all social and psychological support.

Respect for human rights must begin within the family. This law recognizes the special status of such victims and we encourage anyone who may be a victim to speak out and allow us to help you.

KFOR Spokesman Garry Bannister-Green

KFOR welcomes the announcement of the Weapons Amnesty, which will run from 1 to 30 September 2003. We will be fully supporting UNMIK and UNDP in their efforts to reduce the number of weapons in circulation. Our Brigades, Battalions and Task Forces are working on their plans to assist in the collection of weapons and we will be publishing details of collection points and procedures nearer to the start of the Amnesty.

Until that date, KFOR will continue its normal operations, and over the past week they have resulted in the seizure of:

· 36 Rifles and Pistols
· 26 Grenades/Mines
· 2 Rockets
· 157 Miscellaneous Military items
· 8,441 Rounds of ammunition.

It should be noted that these total figures include a significant find at Livade on Sunday, which consisted of 8 rifles/machine guns, 2 Rockets, 4 grenades and 4000 rounds of ammunition and demonstrates the success of our intelligence led operations.

This afternoon KFOR will destroy over 300 different types of confiscated weapons at the “Metal Holding (former METALICA)” factory at JANJEVO at 14:00 hours. Transport will depart from the Coalition Press Information Center (CPIC) after the end of the Joint Press Conference. The public destruction process is another step forward for ensuring a safer and more secure environment in Kosovo. The widespread availability and misuse of weapons, still represents a challenge to the security and the development of Kosovo and the Balkan region. However, through the forthcoming Weapons Amnesty Program it provides the people of Kosovo with the opportunity to help in that development and to legally remove some of these weapons from circulation.

OSCE Spokesman Sven Lindholm

Last Thursday, the Central Election Commission (CEC) gave the green light for the recruitment and hiring of a permanent Secretariat. The Secretariat will be responsible for the planning and management for Election Day operations such as selection and training of polling station staff. Other areas are certification of political parties, accreditation of observers, and election-related public information.
This independent and technical body will play a crucial role in the preparations for transparent and efficient elections.

By next week the recruitment notices for the 14 positions will be advertised, and hopefully they will be in place and working later this fall. The sooner persons are hiring and working, the sooner their will be local partner in place and functioning which will work with the OSCE
for the 2004 central election.

EU Spokesman Kris Litiere

Just one issue: on 19 August the Economic and Fiscal Council meeting will take place, but we will give you more details at the next press conference next week.

IK: Any questions?

Q: Can you explain, this time in plain English – are the next elections going to be run entirely by the Kosovars or by OSCE? You state in your press release that the elections are going to be handed over to the local institutions and now you are saying that it’s going to be both?

SL: The answer is that it’s going to be both, it will be a shared responsibility. As it has been made clear by UNMIK, the elections are a reserved power, but it is our responsibility to ensure that there is a handover of this process. The process is indeed beginning, the secretariat is being recruited and it will consist of 14 people in specialized areas, those areas are clearly described in our press release, while a number of areas will remain with the OSCE. However we will assist the CEC in running of this process. The CEC had the authority and gave the OSCE the power to run all the operations. Now a number of the operations are going to be with the Secretariat, while some others will remain with the OSCE

Q: When will the destruction of the weapons will start?

BG: The process is already ongoing at the moment and the main photo op and the briefing will take place at two o’clock today. The smelter is already fired up and working.

Q: Recently Albanian Defense Minister has joined the debate regarding the plan of approval of Serbian Constitution, which considers Kosovo to be part of Serbia. I know that Charles Brayshaw said that Kosovo’s status is not defined yet, but how do you view this inclusion of Kosovo as being part of Serbia in the new Constitution. Do you see it in the same way as the Albanian minister - as provocation, or do you think it can endanger stability?

IK: All I can say in the answer to your question is that the final status of Kosovo, as it has been stressed on numerous occasions in the past, can only be determined by UNSC, which is the only body, which can take any decisions in this matter. So the answer is therefore it is not going to affect in any way the final status of Kosovo.