UNMIK/PR/456
PRESS RELEASE - 21 December 2000

SRSG Pays Homage to Sven Frederiksen and Welcomes New Police Commissioner

SRSG Bernard Kouchner welcomed the announcement yesterday that the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, had appointed Assistant Chief Constable Christopher Albiston as the new civilian Police Commissioner for the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Assistant Chief Constable Albiston, from the United Kingdom, is currently serving with the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

He will replace Commissioner Sven Frederiksen from Denmark, who has held the post of UNMIK Police Commissioner since July 1999

SRSG Bernard Kouchner called Frederiksen a dedicated leader who formed an international police force with a complex mandate, against great odds. First, Dr. Kouchner noted, the UNMIIK Police mandate of law enforcement was unique in UN peacekeeping missions. That meant that instead of recruiting police monitors and trainers as in a traditional UN field operation, Frederiksen had to find skilled and active law enforcers with various specialties.

UNMIK Police was originally authorized to consist of some 3,100 officers, until SRSG Kouchner and Commissioner Frederiksen protested to the UN that twice as many were needed to take over the responsibility for law and order in Kosovo from KFOR, as the UN police are mandated to do eventually.

The UN agreed to an authorized strength of 4,718, most of whom Frederiksen managed to recruit despite the reluctance of contributing countries. UNMIK Police, who currently number 4,500, have primacy for law and order in most parts of Kosovo.

"We had very hard time convincing countries to give us their skilled police,"  SRSG Kouchner recalled. "Sven Frederiksen himself had to travel frequently to beg and plead for first the manpower, then the resources, to build an entire conventional police force.

"In fact, the job of UNMIK Police is much greater than a conventional police force, as they have had to conduct criminal investigations, do forensics work, protect a traumatized population as well as vulnerable minorities, manage international borders, run jails, combat organized crime and ensure that city traffic flowed when there is no power to run the lights," Dr. Kouchner said.

"Sven did an amazing job. During his tenure, police from more than 50 countries gradually earned the respect of the public. He also should be most proud of the Kosovo Police Service who number more than 3,000 cadets and who re now seen regularly on the streets around Kosovo, taking on more and more independent police functions. This is a great accomplishment in one year and a half, and it happened more quickly than we had anticipated. It is also a truly multi-ethnic local force, with an admirable percentage of women," Kouchner said.

Frederiksen returned to Denmark on 15 December to  resume his previous function as station commander for the Glostrup Constabulary. Deputy Commissioners Michael Jorsback and Stefan Feller are serving as acting Commissioners until the arrival of Commissioner Albiston, who is expected to take up his duties in Kosovo in early January.