UNMIK/PR/57

PRESS RELEASE

30 September, 1999

Mitrovica Hospital under Blockade

MITROVICA- For the past week, continuous incidents culminated in a blockade of  the regional hospital, situated in northern Mitrovica, an area where residents are predominantly Serb. After several clashes, Albanian medical staff left the hospital on 29 September, taking with them the Albanian patients.

The Mitrovica hospital was hailed as a symbol of hope by UNMIK SRSG Bernard Kouchner in August, when both Albanian and Serb medical staff worked to serve both Albanian and Serb patients. UNMIK regional officials have been working with medical staff to heal tensions threatening to stop work at the health center.

UNMIK Regional Administrator Sir Martin Garrod has worked assiduosly to keep the hospital staff together, supplying armed escorts to the medical staff. However he blamed belligerence of certain key doctors, in particular Dr. Marko Jaksic, as well as rumours and distortion of facts circulated in the area for the breakdowns in multi-ethnic institutions.

Sir Martin addressed Albanian nurses who gathered outside the hospital today, re-affirming UNMIK’s commitment to establishing multi-ethnic institutions in Kosovo,  and he pledged that UNMIK would work to make the hospital multi-ethnic once again.

"The policies of a very few people have today succeeded in making the Mitrovica hospital no longer multi-ethnic," Sir Martin Garrod said. "But it will be multi-ethnic again in the future, when extremism has been defeated."