UNMIK/PR/457
PRESS RELEASE - 21 December 2000

Council of Co-Heads Discuss Violence

PRISTINA  -- SRSG Dr Bernard Kouchner called on Kosovo Albanians to help stop the violence in the Presevo Valley.  Speaking at the bi-weekly meeting of the Joint Interim Administrative Structure Co-Heads he also warned that continued violence meant Kosovo is getting an increasingly negative image internationally.

"This is so stupid," said Dr Kouchner. "There is no military solution for the Presevo Valley; there is no police solution, only a political solution. What is certainly necessary is that social dialogue be set up with the Albanian community there."

Dr Kouchner also touched on the violence which has haunted the north of Kosovo in the last week. This he blamed on Serbs wanting to destabilise the situation before the Serbian parliamentary elections on 23rd December.

But it was on overall violence in Kosovo that his main focus remained. The image internationally of Kosovo has shifted from a very positive one to a highly negative one. "It is a political necessity that you change that," he told the Co-Heads. "You are the best body to understand that and to convince people that democracy which is on its way is the only solution."

The responsibility on the Kosovo Co-Heads was further underlined during the meeting when the DSRSG Civil Administration, Tom Koenigs, discussed a shift in the balance of JIAS departments. Over the coming months, the Kosovar Co-Heads will increasingly take over the reins of the departments. Under their guidance, a professional civil service would be established.

The new year will also see another major shift, with work beginning on the transition to the Euro as the currency for Kosovo. In 18 months the Deutsche Mark will be withdrawn, and when the Euro is introduced in Germany, it will also be introduced in Kosovo. There will be technical preparations as the Euro is brought in as the currency unit for accounts and payments. During this time there will also likely be an intensive public information campaign to ensure that everybody understands the new currency.

 "We must emphasise the role of education in this," said Dr Kouchner. "In my country [France] it is the young people who are training their parents on the change in currency, from what they have learned at school."

The importance of young people was also emphasised in an up coming Road Traffic Safety campaign. Kosovo has one of the highest rates of deaths in road accidents in Europe. To try to reduce the numbers, the Departments of Youth, Health and Transport are working along with UNMIK police on a Kosovo-wide campaign targeting young people.

Leaflets will be distributed through schools and youth centres and posters placed in areas where young people gather. A film will also be prepared, for broadcast in schools, which graphically depicts a road traffic accident.  The campaign will gather pace through the winter.

It was not good news as far as the power supply is concerned for the coming winter. Consumption of electricity has risen dramatically over the last months; the power supply available to Kosovo at the best of times is 590 megawatts, however consumption at peak times at the moment is at 630 megawatts. The Department of Utilities is warning of continued power cuts with a four hours on, two hours off, rotation through to the end of December.

This is compounded with problems of transformers; one has broken down and the second is not in good repair. Negotiations are underway to rent another transformer from abroad but it is unlikely to arrive in Kosovo soon.

The next meeting of the Council of JIAS Co-Heads will be on 11th January 2001.