Press Briefing Transcript

4 February 2000

UNMIK Spokeswoman Ms Susan Manuel

Surge in violence

In the last three days we've witnessed a terrifying and appalling increase in multiethnic violence. Less than 2 days after the rocket attack on the UNHCR bus which killed two Serb civilians, Mitrovica experienced an extremely violent night and remains tense.

While we are still waiting for all the information to come in for the complete and factual picture--and for the order in which the incidents in Mitrovica occurred--it appears that grenades were thrown into a Serb café in northern Mitrovica injuring several people inside. Two hours earlier, an elderly couple was shot and killed. A crowd then went on a rampage, breaking into Albanian homes in northern Mitrovica. Two Albanians were killed, a man and a woman. Our latest information puts the dead at at least four and at least 20 injured. One UNMIK officer even witnessed the murder of his landlady. Large crowds gathered on both sides of the river. Seven UNMIK police cars were burned as well as a UNHCR vehicle. KFOR will provide further details after my remarks.

Today 20 UNMIK Serb local staff will be brought home to the northern side today where they will stay until further notice. Other UN and NGO staff have been put under KFOR protection.

UNMIK condemns this extraordinarily vicious outbreak of attacks on civilians. We are trying to help the people of Kosovo to heal their wounds and get on with their lives. Such hatred threatens to derail the progress the people of Kosovo have made in so many areas of their lives since the recent conflict.

We extend our deepest sympathies to the victims and their families. We appeal to the local leaders and to all people of Kosovo to end this cycle of violence, and we wish to express our deep appreciation for those local leaders who have spent many hours and much of the night working to restore calm, in particular Dr. Oliver Ivanovic in northern Mitrovica, and Mr. Bajram Rexhepi and Shyqri Kelmendi on the southern side.

Senior officers of UNMIK are going to the scene now and immediately after the meeting of the Interim Administrative Council, which is going on now at the UNMIK HQ.

We are in the process of informing and updating Dr. Kouchner who is in Japan. He has decided to cut short his trip and return to Kosovo.

IAC

With regard to the IAC meeting, we expect the first four Administrative Departments to be formally established, but I ask you to please confirm that later in the day. Those departments would be on Education, Finance, Health and Social Welfare, Budget and Finance (the name of which has been changed to Central Fiscal Authority), and Local Administration.

There was an extremely creative report in two of the local newspapers yesterday about the last press briefing. In fact, the sentence attributed to me saying that the IAC was not a government but only a parallel structure is a complete fiction. I never said that. In fact, I only said that the IAC is meeting on Friday. The IAC is the highest level administrative body in Kosovo, with only the SRSG, Dr. Kouchner, having greater executive authority. It is not a parallel structure. All parallel structures are to have ceased to exist, as of 1 February. They will either be dissolved, or they will be transformed into the Joint Interim Administrative Structure which will run Kosovo until elections.

Press briefing notes

I apologize that we do not deliver the press briefings in the local languages, and KFOR has plans to install simultaneous translation. However, for the time being, we do make available the text that Nadia Younes or I read from in English, and later in the day, we have available in our press office a verbatim transcript of the press briefing which is taken from a tape recording. We may also e-mail them if you wish. I urge reporters and fiction writers to please make use of this and to please feel free to ask any of us from the UNMIK press office any questions for any clarification.

UNMIK Police update

I also have some information from the UNMIK Police. In the Pristina Region, yesterday in the evening, a grenade was thrown into a Serb-owned house in Obilic, no injuries were reported but all occupants of the house suffered shock from the detonation. The windows and the door were damaged. On 2 February, in Prizren UNMIK Police arrested an Albanian male in connection with several murders and other crimes committed in the Orahovac area.

Slatina Airport

At the airport, currently, four commercial airlines are operating: Adria Airways from Slovenia, Albanian Airlines, Ada Air from Albania and Avioimpex from Macedonia. Montennegro Airlines will start serving Pristina on 12 February. Additional airlines are expected to start operating in Pristina, among them CrossAir from Switzerland and Tyrolean Air of Austria who had previously been flying to Pristina. Negotiations continue with other airlines to open routes to Pristina. Currently there are three flights a day on weekdays and four flights a day on weekends.

The equipment for the instrumental landing system is in place and runway lights are being installed these days. Following these installations tests will be conducted to authorize the use of the instrumental landing system which is expected for March.

KFOR Spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Henning Philipp

KFOR has bolstered the presence of its patrols on the streets and roads in and around Mitrovica as a result of the violence in the city.

The KFOR Commander, General Dr. Klaus Reinhardt, has condemned the violence and will apply all means at his disposal to stop the brutality and revenge attacks between Serbs and Albanians.

During the events last night, aggressive action was directed at KFOR soldiers, UNMIK police and UN officials. The KFOR Commander warns that such activity will not be tolerated and will be met with the firmest action.

Last night at 9 p.m., violence erupted in Mitrovica which resulted in three civilians killed and at least 21 wounded. A Kosovo Albanian couple was shot dead in their flat in the northern part of Mitrovica. The third, an Albanian woman, was shot in a separate incident in North Mitrovica on the street.

At 9.30 p.m., a grenade was thrown into a Serb café, injuring 10-15 people. At 10.20 p.m., another grenade was thrown into another Serbian café, leaving 10 people injured.

This morning, the situation is calm but tense. KFOR mechanized infantry and military police, trained in anti-riot procedures, are on the streets in force.

KFOR French General de Saqui de Sannes went to the western bridge shortly after midnight to meet with Serb and Albanian leaders. The meeting led to a dispersion of the crowd.

In another incident, yesterday evening at 5:15 p.m. in the village of Berivojce, a KFOR Russian soldier was shot in the chest as he was escorting children home after school. The children were shocked but unhurt, however the soldier is severely injured. The soldier was evacuated to the Russian hospital near Pristina where he underwent emergency surgery. He is now in stable condition.

General Reinhardt expressed his anger at this incident, he strongly condemns such terrorist action.

OSCE Spokesman Mr. Roland Bless

Although the investigation of the violent events of last night is still ongoing, the OSCE strongly condemns this violence in northern Mitrovica, which has resulted in death of at least three people and has left many injured. The OSCE hopes that the perpetrators will be brought to justice soon. Once more, these events have made it clear that violence cannot be responded or countered with violence. The only procedure acceptable is the proper police investigation, so that the perpetrators could be apprehended and brought to justice. The OSCE calls on the population in Mitrovica to assist the authorities in this effort and to refrain from further violence. The OSCE also condemns attacks on vehicles and property of the international community.

I have to inform you that the OSCE representative on the freedom of the media has paid his first visit to Kosovo. Mr. Freimut Duve met with various editors-in-chief. He stressed that there should be no such thing as deadlines in media development work, and he insisted that reconciliation through media is happening in terms of years rather than within months. Mr. Duve underlined this criterion to post-war experience in Europe after World War II and elsewhere. Mr. Duve proposed trans-border and trans-ethnic cultural activities as a remedy to overcome feelings of hatred and revenge in a post-conflict situation. And in this, Mr. Duve said, media can play an important role by providing a platform for these cultural exchanges to happen. The media situation in Kosovo, according to Mr. Duve, is quiet comfortable, and the media has so far contributed remarkably towards informing the general public.

As a follow-up to the Human Rights Conference of last December, the OSCE is opening a Human Rights Focus Point in Pristina. This office is a sort of a counseling teller where individuals and NGOs can get human rights advice both in Albanian and Serbian languages. The media is cordially inviteed to attend the opening of the office this coming Monday at 11 a.m. It is next to the OSCE HQ, in the so-called annex shop just around the corner.

The OSCE is opening another field office in Bushtrri today, and the festivities are going on right now. You are invited to join.

UNHCR Spokeswoman Ms Paula Ghedini

The violence in Mitrovica has very much curtailed our activities as well as heightened our concerns for the lives of the displaced and civilians still living in that area. And in addition to suspending all eight of our Kosovo light bus lines to provide the freedom of movement between isolated communities, we have now suspended all our operation on the north side of Mitrovica where we had three international staff permanently working and residing. These three international staff were also joined by six other international staff who would work on the north side as well as the south side in various programmes.

We found that because of the escalation of violence last night these three staff have to be relocated under KFOR escort and assistance to the south side. Unfortunately, all our three vehicles on that side were destroyed - two were burned and one was smashed.

We estimate that there are approximately 4,000 to 4,500 Albanians still living on the north side of Mitrovica. Many of them have fled to the south side. We are continuing to receive the displaced, and they come to our offices asking for assistance and refuge. We hear horrifying stories about their doors being blown by plastic explosives and that they were being threatened and physically abused in some cases, and also one that they shouldn't even breathe on the north side.

In addition to all the violence that the Albanians in the northern sector have been subjected, in the last two days specifically, we are also extremely concerned about the fate of the Serb civilians who are living in this north Mitrovica area. Yesterday, our field officers and the head of the office himself went out together with Dennis McNamara to visit not only the site of the bus attack, but also to visit the villages that were concerned. We visited Banja and also Suvo Grlo. We found that the villages remained calm despite the incident that had occurred. This, of course, was before the events of last night. What we found was that the villagers were particularly concerned by the fact that these bus lines were going to be cut. Many of them feel that this is the only normal and safe line of transport that they have between communities not only to visit other members of family and to feel integrated as part of the larger community, but also to do their shopping and to basically have a normal attempt at

life in a reintegrated Mitrovica area.

Obviously, the UNHCR is strongly outraged at and condemns the violence that has been exploding in this area that is already quite volatile. We find that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to implement our mandate to work for minorities, because as civilians are attacked and as they become more and more less able and more and more scared to move around, it is extremely difficult to reach out to them.

The attack on the Serb bus has shaken the entire Serbian population in the Mitrovica area. But we also have to remember that last year we were assisting the Albanian community that was completely isolated. And this was the first winter that Albanians felt that they would not have to worry about being expelled from their homes and displaced from their own areas of residence.

In general, what we find is that the situation is deplorable for civilians, and we are very much hoping that the local population will help us in our effort to try to at least rebuild. We have finally tackled most of the basic humanitarian needs for food, shelter and assistance. Now, what's ahead of us is the rebuilding process.

EU Spokeswoman Ms Irène Mingasson

The European Union also joins its voice in condemning this violence.

I have a couple of news from the economic front. The Hotel, Food and Beverages Regulation was signed this week. The new tax applies to restaurants, bars and hotels with gross receipt exceeding 15,000 DM per month. The tax rate is 10 per cent.

Since mid-January, the public education effort is ongoing. Seminars and interviews have been conducted throughout the region in an effort to inform potential tax payers.

During the last week, the newly sworn tax inspectors have conducted visits to potential tax payers in order to explain the law, the procedures to comply with this new obligation, and to issue the requested temporary identification numbers. Around 1,100 establishments have been contacted so far.

The European Commission Task Force for the Reconstruction of Kosovo is celebrating today its last day of operation whilst looking forward to the launch of the European Agency for Reconstruction next Manday. The EC Task Force has been operating for seven months as the provider of EU Budget funds to the reconstruction of Kosovo. It has managed to put 134.5 million euro into concrete projects, and the results are visible throughout the territory.

Questions

Q: Do you think that the UNHCR vehicles were deliberately targeted?

SM: Seven UNMIK Police cars were burned.

HP: No KFOR cars were damaged. There are reports about one Molotov cocktail thrown at a KFOR vehicle but it didn't reach the target. There were also some stones thrown at KFOR troops, but they didn't cause any injuries.

PG: The UNHCR Office hasn't been badly damaged, but the offices of some international monitoring agencies up on the north side have been quite badly damaged. S, it's not just the UNHCR that's been targeted.

Q: How many KFOR and UNMIK Police vehicles were attacked? Were there any injuries and what were the circumstances under which they were targeted? Is it true that the hospital in the north was stormed by Serbs who pushed through the KFOR cordons?

Q: Probably, it is the division of the town which is the undercurrent cause for these incidents. How would you comment on that?

SM: I cannot analyze the cause of last night's violence in general, but the motivating factor appears to have been the attack on the bus. I really cannot comment on how the division of the town can influence the violence. The situation in Mitrovica has been tense ever since we've been here.

Q: Is the situation now under control in Mitrovica? Do you have any plan to stabilize the situation?

HP: I think it's not reasonable to draw conclusions from the future. But despite the problems which we are having, we may talk about stabilizing the situation now. And from the military point of view, the situation now is under control. KFOR is on the streets, there are more KFOR troops there now. There is a curfew in force from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. tomorrow morning until further notice. We are certain that we will find a solution to this problem of violence. But this is not a short-term campaign, it will take some time.

Q: Were the UNMIK Police cars occupied at the time when they were destroyed?

SM: I have no information on that. The UNMIK Police will have a report on that later. I also advise you to check with us later the information on the number of people killed and injured, since the figures have not all been confirmed yet.