United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT

Press Briefing Notes 29 July 2003

UNMIK Spokesperson Simon Haselock,
KFOR Spokesperson Gary Bannister Green
UNMIK Police Spokesperson Derek Chappell
OSCE Spokesperson Edita Bucaj
EU Spokesperson Kris Litiere

UNMIK Spokesperson Simon Haselock

There used to be a period in British politics, which used to be known as the “silly season”. And the “silly season” was the season in the summer where the prime minister went to the Silly isles for a holiday. But it became synonymous for the word “silly”, because the politicians obviously and often got silly during the summer. And of course the summer in Kosovo is not necessarily any exception from that.
And the summer rhetoric we’ve been having during the last couple of weeks is actually –to be honest- a little concerning. We talk about a healthy dialogue, about the need to develop a healthy dialogue and yet we see a sort of rhetoric, which treads of the sensitivities of both sides and doesn’t actually improve the atmosphere vis-à-vis what we’re trying to do, which you all know quite well.
We put out a Press Release recently quoting the Acting SRSG Chuck Brayshaw when he pointed out, what we constantly point out, that according to 1244 the status of Kosovo is open and that neither side can prejudge that statement or that situation before the discussion actually take place and before that status is resolved. So from the UN’s point of view neither claiming that it is one thing or the other –independent nor within Serbia- is actually something which we are in a position to endorse. Either side – no side - can prejudice those discussions beforehand, and the status question remains open in accordance with 1244. No matter whether we’re talking about 20 points or 10 points – and you know the points that I am referring to and who has made them.

Just a couple of other details:
The Acting SRSG Chuck Brayshaw is currently on his way to Peja/Pec where he will meet the Municipal President, members of minority communities living in the region and he will also visit the Patriarchic.

The final point I have is on missing persons:
The Office of Missing Persons and Forensics recently launched a campaign with an anonymous hotline number, which people can call and give any information about anybody who is still considered to be missing. He gave the information out and unfortunately there has not been a single call received about any specific cases on which the OMP has been trying to shed light.
As so many times in this sort of arena, the OMP is very often criticized for not doing enough for resolving the question of missing people. But of course just like crime investigation this requires the participation of the effected families and people and anybody who has information should give this information. And as I just have said it appears that nobody as of yet has called on this hotline at all.
So a Press Release on this issue with all the relevant numbers will be issued shortly and I ask you to make sure that you give this the widest possible publicity within your news outlets to make sure people get the opportunity to give this information if they have it. Thank you very much.

KFOR Spokesperson Gary Bannister Green

Over the past week KFOR operations in conjunction with UNMIK-P and KPS, confiscated the following illegal weapons and ammunition:
· 17 Rifles and pistols
· 24 Grenades/Mines
· 18 Miscellaneous military items
· 390 Rounds of ammunition
These figures only tell part of the story; they show you the physical results of a number of our operations. However, some of our successes are more difficult to express quantitatively as many of our operations have a deterrence effect or disrupt the activities of criminals or extremists. We continue to conduct intelligence led operations, mount patrols, mobile checkpoints and search operations, as well as targeting criminal activity such as smuggling and illegal logging with great success. Despite our successes the events of last week prove that there are still many illegal weapons of all types in circulation and there are still those who will resort to their use. Rest assured that we will continue to work with the police to target those who resort to criminality, violence and intimidation. Our focus remains on security and building on the great progress made over the last 4 years by the people of Kosovo.

Police Spokesperson Derek Chappell

Good morning.
Unfortunately we had two homicides last week:

On 26-07-03 in Gnjilane Region, two men were involved in a dispute when one of them used an iron bar to kill the other. The suspect has been arrested.

On 25-07-03 in Pec Region, a man was shot and killed by another man during a dispute. The suspect has been arrested, along with two additional suspects.

On 27-07-03 in Gnjilane Region, police conducted a search operation at a residence in a village. The search discovered approximately 18 kilograms of heroin, drug paraphernalia, two illegal weapons with ammunition, and various other evidence. Arrested were a 29 year-old woman and two men, ages 24 and 21. Investigators are searching for a fourth suspect, who was away from the village when police arrived.

Investigators believe Kosovo was a transit point for the Heroin and the drugs were intended for sale in Western Europe. The value of the Heroin, if it had been sold in a western European country, is estimated at 800,000 Euro.

OSCE Spokesperson Edita Bucaj

Good morning everyone.
A two-day conference on education for the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian (RAE) communities in Kosovo in Prishtinë/Priština just started.
The meeting, co-hosted by the OSCE Kosovo mission and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST), will discuss the major problems confronted by RAE communities. It will also serve as a starting point for the MEST to develop an education strategy, and leading to the adopting of a policy for education for the RAE communities.
Three main areas will be discussed, each which serve as a starting point for action in improving their educational situation - the low enrollment and high drop out rates of RAE students, teacher training, and the Roma language as a school subject.
The results of the meeting, which brings together representatives of the MEST from Kosovo’s Provisional Institutional of Self-Government, local experts and activities, and international experts will be presented to the public at a press conference tomorrow at the OSCE HQ at 13:15.

EU Spokesperson Kris Litiere

Good morning all, just one announcement:
In a series of meetings with Government officials KTA will meet President Rugova today at 14:00. After the meeting there will be a media opportunity.

This series of meetings started last week with the Assembly Mr Daci and Acting PM Krasniqi yesterday, on Monday, where both personalities gave their full support on the privatisation process.

Questions

Q: Just a short question for Derek – Do you have an indication where the heroin did actually come from?
Derek Chappell: No, I don’t believe we have determined where it actually came from.

Q: Derek, can you please tell us the name of the village where the heroin was confiscated?
DC: I don’t have the name of the village with me, but if you see me afterwards I can certainly get it for you.

Q: Simon, last week there were reports in certain media quoting Paul Coffees letter sent to Hague tribunal claiming that Fatmir Limaj can’t be released on bail. We don’t have the letter – can you elaborate on why he wasn’t allowed to come back and be released on bail?
Simon Haselock: I think there has been some broad misunderstanding. First of all any letter which was sent are a question for us and the ICTY. Whatever letters were in the public arena may or may not be that letter. Yes, they have written, certainly. And I don’t think the interpretation of what I see in the press represents fully our position. Our position was based upon the situation in Kosovo – doesn’t matter who we are talking about – that there is a de facto intimidation of witnesses. And we are not in a position to answer for any particular individuals intentions where they are going to live and stay. The matter as far as whether somebody should be given bail or not is a question for the particular jurisdiction which makes that decision and we leave it up to that. I don’t think we have taken a particularly firm decision, what we’ve done is as far as I understand is just taken a position based upon the current atmosphere and the current conditions in Kosovo applying to anybody.

DC: Can I just say Thanks to Refki for passing me the name of the village – it’s the village of Komoglav.
Q: Just to follow up - Are these three arrested Kosovar Albanians, Kosovar citizens?
DC: Yes, they are.

Q: Now I have a question for Simon. Are the UNMIK Administration and also the Kosovo institutions ready or prepared to give any guarantee for anyone in Kosovo, or to guarantee anyone in Kosovo to give word for anyone in Kosovo, including Limaj?
SH: First of all “guarantee” is not a word that anyone will ever use – you can never guarantee anything to anybody at anytime in any place and in any jurisdiction, it’s a simple fact of life.
Q: --
SH: Absolutely – And we would never say we could guarantee anything.
Q: So can you take any responsibility or whatsoever to make somebody to stay in Kosovo, or let’s speak now for Limaj… Can you –for Limaj- say that we can give a word or whatever that Limaj will be in Kosovo, because he’s a deputy even in the party?
SH: The only way you can give any sort of guarantee in these cases -and even that’s not a guarantee as we know from previous cases- is that you lock them up.
Q: So this means that even 10.000 forces in Kosovo cannot keep an eye on one person?
SH: What’s the point of doing that! I am sure Mr Limaj, or anybody in that case doesn’t necessarily see that their situation here would be having 10.000 soldiers following them around all the time.

Q: I have 2 questions - one for EU and one for KFOR. If people do not pay their electricity you disconnect them from the supply. What do you do in the case of the Russian forces?
And the question for KFOR – have you made a request to the Russian Defense Ministry for this, for them not paying their electricity?
Kris Litiere: In theory obviously Yes, there are disconnections. Russian KFOR is a big client so I think KEK would prefer to negotiate with them and to come to an understandable agreement. As I understand it there is still an outstanding debt by the Russian KFOR to KEK, but if you want any more details on that I suggest that you contact KEK itself because it’s an operational issue and it’s more their terrain than Pillar IV.
Gary Bannister Green: As far as utility goes for KFOR, each troop-contributing nation, whether they have their barracks or facility, they make their own arrangements with the utility companies and have their own agreements. It’s a national responsibility so this issue is between KEK and the Russian authorities.
Q: Yes, but you as KFOR, with Russia as part of KFOR,… have you made a request to the Russian Defense Ministry for this?
GBG: I don’t know – again – this is an issue between the troop-contributing nation and KEK. Again, if KEK has a problem they should have raised it with the Russians.
Q: Yes, but as I understand at the moment KEK is in discussions with KFOR?
GBG: I don’t know about that at the moment.
SH: The fact is, that we the authorities will be pursuing everybody who owes money to the KEK. So it’s a question of how the money is recovered and through what means it is recovered, but you shouldn’t take from all these conversation that nobody will be pursued and that that money will not be recovered – The answer is that it will be!
Q: Can you just give an idea of what the debt is because the figures circling around are 500.000€. And would you really believe that the Russian Government would be able to pay that, primarily because they withdrew their troops from Kosovo because of lack of money, basically?
KL: No, I don’t have any details on the amount, I think, again, therefore you would have to talk to KEK itself. As Simon said, the intention is obviously by KEK and by the authorities to recover all the money due for bills and that’s what’s going to happen. It may take a while, it may take some negotiating, but that’s the intention.
SH: I mean, I don’t know from the top of my head of what the amount is, I have heard rumours myself. But as far as what the political position of the Russian is vis-à-vis paying bills, I wouldn’t say that this was in my area to comment.

Q: Garry, isn’t it a bit strange that you take no responsibility – now the Russians are gone – 500.000€ - You urge people to pay their electricity all the time, and yet KFOR, who is a respected institution here, doesn’t pay it.
GBG: First of all we’ve got to look into how we are actually organized here. Filmcity, e.g., is a KFOR facility where all troop-contributing nations are housed and there is a direct agreement between KFOR and local utilities and local companies where we have contracts and that is guaranteed by NATO. Now where there are individual camps, e.g the Norwegians or the Americans, they make directly contracts with the local people and local arrangements. We have no direct involvement in that, it is directly between the host troop-contributing nation and lawyers and contractors they draw-up and the individual companies that they contracts with.
Q: So KFOR doesn’t take any responsibility towards this debt that the Russians left behind now that they’re gone.
GBG: Again, that was a contract between the Russians and KEK and the other utilities they’ve used.

Q: I understand the KFOR line, but what does this basically mean? That the Russians were never under COMKFOR’s control, no accountability? Could you give a clarification? It’s 500.000€! And besides, a while ago KFOR made a big deal out of KFOR being self-sufficient and not basically burdening the electricity situation in Kosovo – You weren’t here at that time.
GBG: Okay - there are two issues there – the operational control of KFOR, and also TCN-liability, troop-contributing nations. I’ve already explained that nations directly make those contracts. It’s not for us to interfere in national issues.

Q:-- question on the draft Code of Law, connected to Serbia & Montenegro, not understandable --
SH: No.

Q: For Gary and UNMIK-Police – Do you have any DNA results for the 2 bodies at the bridge explosion in Mitrovica North, and how far you got with the investigation on the last 10 days –let’s say- explosion campaign throughout Kosovo?
DC: All right, I’ll deal with the first question. I haven’t checked for several weeks, I was asked this question 3 or 4 weeks ago and at that time we did not have the results back from the lab in Sofia, which we use. I will check for you this afternoon and find out whether those results have come back.
Secondly, I take issue with your question, you talk about a bombing campaign – we had a couple of explosions but I wouldn’t characterize them as a campaign. I don’t call it a campaign. Nobody has claimed responsibility and because of the targets and the circumstances we have linked some of these explosions to the result of the recent trial. But some of the explosions cannot be linked. For example the explosion at the RHQ Mitrovica we are now exploring 3 or 4 lines of inquiry, some of which involve criminal activity, not necessarily reprisal activity or terrorist activity. Normal criminal retribution or activity between criminal groups as an active line of inquiry in this investigation. We still do have 2 people in custody from that incident and I believe they just had their detention extended by 30 days.

Q: Gary, does the fact that as you said it’s not your job to interfere in national issues, does this fact tarnish KFOR’s image in Kosovo.
GBG: Like I said before – there is the issue between the Russians and the utility companies. And as far as we are concerned that is an issue KEK has got to take up with the Russian authorities and it’s not really for me to comment on your perceptions that you may have of those people. I mean we are disappointed that people have left and let not paid or not sorted things out, obviously.

Q: When can we expect the new OSCE-report on the legal situation in Kosovo and trials and everything?
Edita Bucaj: The report will be issued as soon as we got the written verdict.
Q: How long is this “as soon”?\
EB: As I said – as soon as the official has been followed.

Q: Has a person been arrested which has actually beaten a guy on 26 July, Svetislav Jotic, was beaten here in Pristina.
DC: I believe we haven’t made an arrest in that case.

Q: Short question for the gentleman from the EU – If the Russians will not pay the money, what will you do? Impose sanctions against them?
KL: That I would guess is taking things a step further – KEK will first have to talk to Russian KFOR and I suppose if there is nothing forthcoming KEK might go to the courts.
SH: This is a spiral discussion trying to get some quote from. They owe money – they need to pay – they will be pursued for that payment. I can’t tell you how we will get it, but this is something which happens in other places where money is owed. We, through UNMIK, Pillar IV, through the utilities will pursue the debt. Finish.