CONTENTS

· DETAILS ON UNMIK LAW ON LOCAL AUTHORITY MADE PUBLIC
· THAÇI: WE DID NOT EVEN KILL CIVILIANS OR CHILDREN IN WAR!
· TUDJMAN WAS KEEN TO DIVIDE KOSOVO AND BOSNIA
· SERB LEADERSHIP ACCUSES KOUCHNER OF IRRESPONSIBILITY
· RUSSIAN KFOR DENIES RESPONSIBILITY IN HARADINAJ CASE
· REFUGEES MUST BE AWARE THAT THEY WILL HAVE TO  RETURN
· A KOSOVO SERB SENTENCED IN GJILAN/GNJILANE
· PAVKOVIC PROMISES TO RETURN MILITARY AND POLICE TO KOSOVO
· KOSOVAR VICTIMIZED FAMILIES CALLED TO TESTIFY IN SERBIA

 DETAILS ON UNMIK LAW ON LOCAL AUTHORITY MADE PUBLIC

 The draft of the Law on Municipal Authority, compiled by UNMIK Administration, has been passed to the Contact Group for reviewing at the meeting held one month a go in Berlin, reported Zëri on page one. The reactions and the remarks of the legal experts of the Contact Group member countries are now awaited, though it is expected that there won't be substantial remarks on the document. In such a case, this document would be considered and adopted by the Interim Administrative Council and later signed by Bernard Kouchner, the UN Chief Administrator in Kosovo. In this way, the legal framework for local elections in Kosovo, scheduled for October, would be set, noted the paper.

 Referring to well-informed sources from UNMIK, the paper said that the international administration has chosen a middle way regarding the level and competencies of the local authority in Kosovo. This authority won't have strong competences such as municipalities have in Sweden, but it won't also be a limited authority, such as in France.

 According to the Law on Municipal Authority, the municipal elections in Kosovo will be held in 30 municipalities, including the much contested Municipality of Zvecan, mainly inhabited by Serbs and created after the abolition of Kosovo's autonomy, and the Municipality of Malisheva, which was dissolved after the abolition of autonomy.

 The Law on Municipal Authority has reportedly nine chapters. Eight of them have to do with the regulation of the municipal authority in accordance with the will of Kosovo citizens expressed in local elections. The chapter nine is dedicated to the role of the international civil administration in the local authority.

 The paper said that UNMIK has decided that the Albanian and Serb language would be the official languages at the level of Kosovo, while the official use of the minority languages in the municipalities would depend on the percentage of minority population in the municipality. This percentage is still not set, but it is supposed that it will be five percent.

 The names of the municipalities would be written in at least two languages, respecting the ethnic composition of the municipality. So in all the municipalities where the Albanians are in majority, the name in Albanian would be the first.

 As for the budget, the Law stipulates that the municipalities would collect the taxes at the local level. However, having in mind the economic difficulties Kosovo is facing, the municipal budgets in the initial phase would be assigned by the central administrative authority of UNMIK. This would be done through the international municipal administrator, whose role still needs to be defined.

 In the area of education, the municipalities will be responsible for the primary and secondary education, including the appointments of school directors, but this has to be coordinated with the central level. 

 The municipal authorities will also be in charge of local public enterprises, but not of the public enterprises of strategic interest, such as the Kosovo power plants or Trepça mining complex, which remain at the hands of central government.

 In health care, the municipalities will be responsible for the primary level of health care, while the hospitals and the health policy in general remain with the central authority.

 The Law on Municipal Authority stipulates that the Municipality could change the names of the streets or districts with two thirds of votes at the Municipal Council. With the same procedure, the Municipal Council could change the name of a residence (village), provided that the majority of the residents agree with the proposal.

 As for the role of the international municipal administrator, the Law on Municipal Authority stipulates its presence in three aspects. The administrator will be the co-signatory of the municipal budget; he will co-administrate the municipal property and without his consent the senior municipal staff cannot be fired from job. He will also have the right to participate at the meetings of the Municipal Council or to call them.

 The international municipal administrator will have the right to propose to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General the dissolution of the Municipal Council, in case its members adopt a decision that contradicts the UN Security Council resolution 1244. However, it was noted that the Municipal Council doesn’t have competencies that could run counter to the UN Security Council resolution.

 As for the procedure for elections of local authorities, UNMIK has decided to adopt a clear proportional system. The number of Municipal Council members depends on the population. In this way, Prishtina will have a Municipal Council with 51 members, Mitrovica, Peja, Prizren, Gjakova, Gjilan will have 41, and so on. The smallest municipalities will have Municipal Councils with only 17 members.

According to the paper, it is very important politically that the unity of the Municipality of Mitrovica is reconfirmed, so there will be only one municipal authority in town.

The candidate who wins two thirds of the votes at the Municipal Council becomes the chairman of the Municipal Council. In case there is no winner in the first two rounds, then the one who wins the most of the votes becomes the chairman. The chairman can be revoked only if two thirds of the members vote for his revocation. The chairman has to appoint a person to the post of secretary of Municipality, provided that he is not a member of the Municipal Council.

The Municipality will also have the Head of Administration and the Head of the Board of Directors. They also mustn't be members of the Municipal Council and cannot be replaced by the new authorities unless they are involved in serious law violations.

 THAÇI: WE DID NOT KILL CIVILIANS AND CHILDREN EVEN IN WAR

Zëri on page three reported that in its Tuesday’s meeting, the Interim Adminsitrative Council issued a statement in which it strongly condemned the killing of three Serbs in Cernica near Gjilan/Gnjilane as well as all the other attacks against minorities, considering those as unacceptable. It was noted that this issue was the only one on the meeting's agenda.

In his statement after the meeting, Ibrahim Rugova, the chairman of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), told the media that these violent acts were taking place on the first anniversary of "NATO's victory in Kosovo, and our victory". Condemning this act, Rugova was reported to have requested from the citizens to be careful and cooperate with UNMIK Police and KFOR in order to create a more stable situation in Kosovo.

The paper noted that even though the perpetrators of the crime had not been found yet, Rada Trajkovic, a Serb observer to IAC, directly accused Albanians of this act, saying that Albanian extremists and terrorists organized the murder, adding that if this is not stopped then terrorism would win against NATO. The paper also said that she kept the source of this information as a “secret” even though the journalists asked her directly about it.

Commenting on Trajkovic’s statements, Hashim Thaçi, the chairman of the Kosovo Democratic Party (PDK), said that they did not contain anything new and were not a surprise. “This is not a new assessment of hers. She continues with such attacks. She even called Albanian mothers washing machines," said Thaçi, adding that her statements could not be taken simply as unacceptable accusations, but their nature makes them condemnable.

Otherwise, Thaçi considered that the murder of Serbs in Cernica was an act that destabilized the situation in Kosovo and will be reflected negatively for Kosovo citizens in relation with the international community, adding that this act would somehow help Belgrade to destabilize Kosovo. “We were careful even in the hardest periods. Even now, I call on citizens to be careful. Even in war we did not kill civilians, we did not kill children, but we waged a war against Serbian military and police, we waged a liberation war,” said Thaçi, adding that the such acts were condemnable because Kosovo belonged to all Kosovo citizens, regardless of the ethnicity.

TUDJMAN WAS KEEN TO DIVIDE KOSOVO AND BOSNIA

Koha Ditore on page one under the introduction "Exclusive: Mesic makes public the secret talks of Tudjman on the division of Kosovo" reported on the publication of a transcript of a meeting between the former President of Croatia, Franjo Tudjman, and the leaders of Bosnia Croats, in which the issue of Kosovo's division was discussed. The paper recalled that since assuming the post, the newly elected President of Croatia, Stipe Mesic, is making public compromising transcripts of the meetings of Tudjman with his associates, out of fear that someone might destroy them first.

The transcript to which the paper refers is from the meeting held at the Presidential Palace in Pantovcak on 13 April 1999, in which besides Tudjman, the list of invitees included Ivic Pasalic, his security advisor, Ante Jelavic, the chairman of HDZ in Bosnia, General Ljubo Cesic Reis, the former deputy Defence Minister, Milan Kovac, the Minister for relations with Bosnia-Herzegovina etc. At this meeting, Tudjman presented his associates with the "secret" of division of Kosovo, so they could start preparations to face the emerging circumstances and to take their part of Bosnia.

"I have invited you to discuss a little. What I wanted to talk to you about was that you should be prepared for a political solution, which would be different from the one we have today," Tudjman was quoted as saying at the meeting. "They will resolve the crisis in Kosovo with partitioning and destruction, they will even arrest Milosevic. Only God knows what will come out of all this. So there are good preconditions that all this will end with a compromise with Serbs, and they, so Milosevic would be given the northern part, while NATO troops will enter the southern side, but for sure not under the name NATO, but with another name, OSCE or I don't know what name. What is more important is that there isn't a single important analyst in the West, who doesn't speak for such a scenario of Kosovo's division. On the other side, they also say that Dayton in Bosnia should be regarded as, more or less, a failure, that Serbs should be brought close again and allowed to have special links with Republic of Serbia. In this way, there would be a chance offered to us to take the Croatian part".

Tudjman suggested his associates to prepare a detailed plan on division of Bosnia, and to pretend they are supporting the Dayton Accord, while on the other side to prepare for partition. However, in case the Croats would be forced to remain in federation with Bosnians, they were advised to have a prepared scenario on cantonization and re-cantonization of such a unit.

The paper recalled that a few days before the ending of the NATO campaign against Yugoslavia, Tudjman invited the Contact Group's Ambassadors to Croatia for a meeting, presenting them "an important plan" on Kosovo, which in fact was a plan for division of Kosovo. Some analysts in Zagreb told the paper that it is possible that it was a plan of Milosevic’s, but this was not confirmed.

Referring to sources close to the former authorities in Croatia, the paper reported that Tudjman was not supporting NATO attacks against Serbia, not because of some coordination with the Serbs, but out of his personal aversion for the West. According to the paper, the reason why Croatia was an official NATO ally is a result of the disobedience of Mate Granic, the former Foreign Minister of Croatia, who without Tudjman's consent gave the approval for the use of Croatian air space for attacks against Serb military targets. Though NATO's "request" had an informative nature, after giving his approval Granic left his farewell to the colleagues at the Ministry, being sure that Tudjman would fire him. However, Tudjman didn't do this out of fear of the public opinion's reaction, which was strongly backing NATO's actions and the Albanians.

SERB LEADERSHIP ACCUSES KOUCHNER OF IRRESPONSIBILITY

The Serb leadership of the Trepça mining complex and the Council of shareholders have decided to press charges against the civil and military mission in Kosovo - UNMIK and KFOR, demanding compensation for the damages caused by the fire in the Zinc Metallurgy, located in south of Mitrovica, reported Koha Ditore on page eleven, referring to a report of the Belgrade-based Beta news agency. In the joint meeting of the Trepça managing board with the council of shareholders held in Zvecan, it was assessed that the fire caused damages worth more than US$ 1 million.

According to the agency, the Serb management decided to indict Bernard Kouchner, the Head of UNMIK, on charges of "irresponsibility during performing his duty". UNMIK and KFOR was also asked to allow these two Serb associations to manage the property they claim belong to them and to repair the damages caused by the fire and create conditions for normal life and work for all the communities.

The paper noted that the fire that consumed the zinc processing plant Saturday, had burned down the hall in which the cells for production of electrolytic zinc were located, and that the firefighters had fought the fire for five hours.

According to the Serb leadership cited by Beta, this plant had started functioning in 1986 with the production capacity of 87.000 tones of electrolytic zinc, valued at US$ 150 million, and employing 930 workers. Plant's reconstruction in 1988 cost 10.5 million DM.

It was added that the production at the Trepça plants located in southern Mitrovica, the Zinc Metallurgy, the Battery Factory and the Chemical Plant, was stopped on 15 November 1999, with the decision of KFOR, noting that there were 2.000 workers employed in these three plants.

The agency cited the Serb management of the mining complex to have said that, since 15 November 1999, KFOR and 15 uniformed Albanians, who previously were not Trepça employees, were guarding the plants in the southern part of Mitrovica.

RUSSIAN KFOR DENIES RESPONSIBILITY IN HARADINAJ CASE

"General Kather of the Multinational Brigade South gave the version of the incident of Russian soldiers with Ramush Haradinaj. However, that version was carried faithfully to the public opinion only by Rilindja,” Koha Ditore on page seven cited the spokesman of the Russian KFOR Battalion, Nikolai Greichishnikov, who expressed regret regarding the incident and added that Russian soldiers were forced to resort to violence. “After one of our soldiers asked him to stop, Haradinaj caught him by the machine gun and knocked him down. A Russian officer warned Haradinaj to behave properly, whereas he hit him and made the incident unavoidable,” said Greichishnikov, adding that his soldiers were not responsible for the incident and that they were only carrying out the UNMIK Police order.

Commenting on the citizens’ protest that followed the incident, Greichishnikov was reported to have said that the situation was very tense since the people were intending to get inside the base, which he said was very dangerous. He also thanked the municipal leadership and KPC members that kept the situation under control.

Greichishnikov also said that people at the command knew about Haradinaj but the soldiers didn’t, carrying out the order of the UNMIK Police to stop him as any other citizen. Recalling that for ten months they had no incidents with the Albanians, Greichishnikov said that several attacks on Russian soldiers followed the incident, like the one in Kijeva that caused light injuries to a soldier and an officer. However, he added that Russian soldiers would continue to fulfill any demands of the KFOR Headquarters. “Even though there were others who participated in the maltreatment, all the blame was put on us, accusing us of being Serbs’ supporters. We do not take sides. There is no Serb living in Malisheva and we helped the Albanian population with all the possibilities we have,” said Greichishnikov, also denying the claims that there were Serb citizens operating in Russian uniforms.

Asked of the possible withdrawal of the Russian contingent from Kosovo, Greichishnikov told the paper that they were not the ones to decide on withdrawal, but that would be decided by the UN Security Council.

Regarding this issue, the paper asked for the comments of Gani Krasniqi, the Mayor of Malisheva, who said that the Russian Commander had requested a special meeting with Haradinaj after the incident, but that he refused since the population was irritated and he couldn’t calm them down. Krasniqi also said that Russians were currently patrolling only with vehicles and stressed that the patrolling was more tense and quite provocative, adding that, “Their behavior doesn't match the peacekeeping mission and is foreboding”.

“Any attack against Russians presents also attack against us,” a German soldier was quoted as saying at the Russian base in Kijeva, whereas the paper noted that the Albanian population looks upon Russians with hatred. However, it was pointed out that the spokesman of the Russian Battalion hoped that the relations with the Albanian population would normalize.

REFUGEES MUST BE AWARE OF THE FACT THEY WILL HAVE TO RETURN

 Joerg Schoenbohm, the German Interior Minister of the Land of Brandenburg, during a press briefing in Prishtina Tuesday said that Kosovo Albanian refugees have no longer the support of the German Government and of the European Union to remain in Germany, reported Koha Ditore on page four.

 Schoenbohm explained to the media that in the talks he had with UNHCR representatives in Kosovo, he made it clear that Germany would hold on to its program for returning Albanian refugees to their homes, adding that McNamara accepted this but made remarks that "the return must be done in cooperation with those who live here".

 Schoenbohm presented facts that until now only 800 persons were forcefully repatriated to Kosovo, while 98 per cent of them showed up voluntarily. "I am aware of the fact that those persons (800) would not be stabilized with this process, but they can no longer stay in Germany," said Schoenbohm.

 According to the paper, despite the insistence of the journalists, the German Interior Minister of the Land of Brandenburg made no comments on the statement of Head of UNMIK, calling for the deceleration of the repatriation process. "I think that if Kouchner says that there must not be such a high intensity of the returns from Germany, he can say this in a different way," said Schoenbohm, avoiding in this way a direct response to the questions.

Schoenbohm pointed out that Germany sheltered the biggest number of Kosovar refugees during the war, more than France, Great Britain and Belgium all together. He added that refugees from the countries that have the biggest numbers of refugees must be repatriated first, and then from the other countries that have a smaller number of refugees sheltered during Kosovo crisis.
 
 The paper also noted that during his visit to Kosovo Schoenbohm also met with the representative of Kosovo Serbs Bishop Artemije, COMKFOR General Juan Ortuno, with officials of German KFOR and with German police officers of UNMIK Police. Commenting on the meetings, Schoenbohm said Bishop Artemije told him he was not satisfied with KFOR's work in providing security to Kosovo Serbs. "I haven’t met Albanian leaders," said Schoenbohm, without giving any further details, but emphasizing that Germany has good contacts with the leaders of Kosovo Albanians.

A KOSOVO SERB SENTENCED IN GJILAN/GNJILANE

The District Court of Gjilan/Gnjilane sentenced Blagoje Petkovic (60), a Kosovo Serb from Gjilan, to 13 years and nine months of imprisonment, reported Koha Ditore on page seven.  Petkovic was indicted on three charges: attempted murder of his neighbor Fadil Ibrahimi, murder of Srecko Karadzic of Serb nationality and illegal possession of weapons. Ilmi Dalipi was the presiding judge at the trial, while Sabit Maliqi represented the Prosecutors’ Office in Gjilan/Gnjilane. Defence lawyers, Zivojin Jokanovic from Prishtina and Stoja Djurisic from Belgrade were the defenders of Petkovic.

After the sentence was handed down, defense lawyer Djurisic made a statement for the paper saying that he thanked God Petkovic was alive so he could defend himself in this court, since according to him, the accused person was endangered by KLA people. However, the paper noted the Djurisic didn't even mentioning the fact that Petkovic was sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment for killing the Serb Srecko Karadjic and only one year and nine months for two other penal acts.

The paper noted in conclusion that this verdict was not final since both sides have the right of complaining in the second level.

PAVKOVIC PROMISES TO RETURN MILITARY AND POLICE TO KOSOVO

Zëri on page eight reported on the interview of General Nebojsa Pavkovic, the Chief Commander of the Yugoslav Army (VJ), with the Belgrade daily Glas. In this interview, Pavkovic, stressed that the FRY was not occupied, the Yugoslav Army was not exterminated and that NATO forces did not enter Kosovo as occupying forces but as forces of the international community with the Yugoslav permission and obligations regulated by UN, adding that in this way there was no doubt that they (FRY) were the “winners”.

Pavkovic had said that Yugoslavia had kept its territorial integrity and sovereignty and this was guaranteed by international documents, which make the return of VJ and Serb police forces to Kosovo a realizable idea. “For our nation and the VJ, Kosovo is not only a territorial issue, but first of all ethic. We carry Kosovo in our hearts and nobody can take it from us. It is a resource of our country, our soul and moral strength and also witnesses that our existence is long,” said Pavkovic, adding that Great Powers had tried to separate Kosovo from the Serb nation and erase any trace of its presence, including destroying cultural monuments, but did not succeed. “Therefore, we will return to Kosovo, because legal acts of the international community, the history and the current situation there guarantee us this right,” added Pavkovic.

According to General Pavkovic, the external factor, by violating the acts of the international community, is trying to contest the sovereignty of FRY in the territory of Kosovo. He noted that they were undertaking secret measures, behind the back of the international community, to separate Kosovo from the Serbian nation.

KOSOVAR VICTIMIZED FAMILIES CALLED TO TESTIFY IN SERBIA

At a trial in Kragujevac, Serbia, against a leader of a Serb opposition movement, who is accused of public speculations for claiming that the former chief of Ministry of Interior Affairs (MUP) in Mitrovica was responsible for the murder of civilians during massacres in Likoshan and Prekaz, the defense has called as witnesses the members of families Jashari and Ahmeti, reported Koha Ditore on page five.

The request of the defense lawyer Tatomir Lekovic, addressed to the Kragujevac Municipal Court, respectively to the judge Oliver Obradovic, says: ”I request that the proposed persons are invited in a regular way through mail, because Kosovo is an integral part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia, while the war against the terrorist KLA and NATO criminals has ended in our favor, with a victory”.

The paper added that the court session against Njegos Ilic, the leader of the movement “Vojvoda Vuk”, is expected to resume on 14 June at the Kragujevac Municipal Court. Ilic is indicted on speculations for publicly claiming that Ljubinko Cvetic, the deputy federal minister for Refugees, Displaced Persons and Humanitarian Assistance and the former Chief of MUP in Mitrovica is responsible for crimes against the civilian population of Kosovo. “The defendant Njegos Ilic in his defense at the court stated that he knew Ljubinko Cvetic from Kragujevac, where he worked as the chief of the Department for People’s Defense. During February and March 1998 the defendant saw Cvetic holding a press briefing in MUP in Prishtina, during which he claimed that MUP members have murdered around 20 terrorists,” reported the paper, referring to the press release of the Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Center. Furthermore the press release noted that, “while watching a satellite program, the defendant Ilic saw MUP members with masked uniforms standing near 80 corpses, among which there were children, elderly people and a pregnant women, as well as ruined houses and killed domestic animals”. Afterwards, Ilic heard that this crime happened in Drenica and that the murdered people were members of the Jashari family, it was added.

The paper went on to explain that by the end of February and the beginning of March 1998, Serb security forces carried out attacks against the Jashari and Ahmeti families in the villages of Likosan and Prekaz, during which they killed and massacred around 80 Albanians, the majority of them women, children and elderly people. The attack against these two families marked the beginning of the war in Kosovo, which ended on June 12 with the deployment of NATO peacekeepers and with the withdrawal of all Serb forces from Kosovo.

Knowing that Ljubinko Cvetic is a person inclined to violence, the defendant Njegos Ilic made his statement with the approval of the Main Council of the Movement “Vojvoda Vuk”, accusing Cvetic of crimes committed in Drenica, because as the chief of MUP in Mitrovica “he was responsible for all police activities in the territory of that municipality”. At the same time the defendant also stressed that it is a crime to murder children, elderly people, women, animals, dogs and cats, and then proclaim them terrorists. However, Cvetic reportedly responded to the accusations saying that, “I knew about the Drenica event, but I heard about it through the media, therefore it is possible that as a chief, I wasn’t officially informed about it”.

According to the paper, defense lawyer Tatomir Lekovic has proposed that the presentation of evidences secured by the court includes the report of the Humanitarian Law Center on the events in Drenica, from 28 February to 6 March 1998. Lekovic used this report to explain the activities of Serb security forces against families Ahmeti and Jashari, as well as the murder and the mistreatment of Albanian civilians.

Lekovic has called on Dinore Ahmeti and Shahe Ahmeti from Likosan, Skenderaj, to testify that on 1 March 1998, members of MUP attacked their house and the house of their neighbors with artillery and infantry. As described in the request presented by Lekovic, Serb security forces entered the house, took out the members of the Ahmeti family and separated the men: Ahmet (49), Gani (46), Driton (24), Naim (22), Shemsi (19), Lumni (19), Basri (18) and the under-aged Ahmet (16), and executed them outside, whereas in the white walls of the house they wrote a message: “This is how you will get it the next time”.

Lekovic also called as a witness Sefer Nebiu, from Likosan, to confirm that the members of MUP entered and damaged his house with armored vehicles, while from the neighboring front-yard, from the crowd of women and children who were hiding there, they took out Rukije Nebiu, a woman in the eighth month of pregnancy, and blew her head off. Afterwards, MUP members killed his sons Xhemshir and Zahir, which were unarmed. The same witness has to testify on the murder of his neighbor Rexhep Rexhepi, Beqir Rexhepi, and Shaban Muja.

Abdije Sejdiu, from the village of Qirez, was called on to testify on the murder of her four sons: Beqir, Bekim, Nazmi, and Bedri, which didn’t participate in fighting and were inside the house along with the other members of the family.

Among the invited persons are also Shaban Jashari and Zahe Jashari, the parents of Adem Jashari, who were killed together with their grandsons by Serb security forces on the attack of 5 March 1998. They are called to testify that the same members of MUP have killed the children: Lirije, Fatime, Blerina, Selvete, Safet and Besim Jashari, their mother Feride, adding that the sole survivor of the massacre is the 11-year-old girl Besarta, who suffered shocks from the massacre. During this attack, Serb security forces also murdered the children: Kushtrim (13), Igballja (11), Elfete (17), Besim (16), Blerim (12), and Fatusha (8).
The defense has also called on Sherife Jashari from Prekaz i Ulët, to prove that MUP members first bombed her house and afterwards murdered the men of the house and persons who were sheltered there. “The men had their clothes taken off, they were forced to lay on the ground and then they were shot in the neck. Riad Jashari, Salmedin Jashari (9), Qazim Jashari and Beqir Jashari were killed during this attack,” it is noted in the presentation of the defense.
In closing, the presentation of the Serb lawyer Tatomir Lekovic noted, “If the court cannot deliver the invitations to the proposed witnesses, I request that the witnesses are called on by the UNMIK Civil Administration and the much-hated Administrator Bernard Kouchner”.