UNMIK Press Briefing - 7 June 2000

UNMIK Spokeswoman - Susan Manuel
KFOR Spokesman - Major Scott Slater

UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel

We have a guest, Guest Paul Risley, spokesman for the prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. He'll speak as soon as Major Slaten has finished his briefing.  Major Slaten will describe the incidents of Gracanica, as UNMIK police was not heavily involved.

In other security matters, overnight there was a murder in Pec, during the process of a robbery by a masked gunman.  An elderly Kosovo Albanian man was shot and killed and another wounded.  KFOR and UNMIK police responded and UNMIK police are investigating.

The IAC yesterday condemned the recent violence against Kosovo Serbs.  They issued a statement, which is part of a press release outside.  Today the Kosovo Transitional Council, which is meeting now, is also getting a briefing on the security situation and the upsurge in violence since early May.

The KTC is also discussing developments in the media and media regulation and they will be briefed on recent fires and the state of fire fighting in Kosovo.

A delegation of Kosovo Serb community leaders is leaving today for New York to meet people from the United Nations, in an effort to find ways to stem the recent upsurge of violence.  Dr. Kouchner is also on his way to New York.  He will be addressing the Security Council on Friday, marking the anniversary of our one-year in Kosovo.  He will also be discussing with the Security Council ways of stopping this trend of violence.

He will return here over the weekend.  On Sunday he will host a reception to mark the one-year anniversary.  All Press and Press Officers are invited to attend… it's at 6 p.m. here.

On Monday, 12 June at 11 a.m., Dr. Kouchner, General Ortuno and the Pillar Heads will give a major press briefing on the one-year anniversary.

Tomorrow, Mr. Javier Solana, EU Representative for Common, Foreign and Security Policy, will give a press briefing here at 12:15.

We have a warning to all businesses.  Businesses must register now, at their municipal headquarters.  This business Registration began in March, and the deadline is 30 June. However, in order to get the applications certified businesses need to apply by 20 June.  The consequences for not registering are fines as high as 500 DM and possible closure.

On the temporary closing of the DITA office, I'd like to read this statement issued by the acting Spokesman for the US State Department on 5 June:

"The United States fully supports Mr. Kouchner's decision. While freedom of the press and freedom of speech are basic American values, articles by DITA have clearly crossed the important line of incitement to violence. With inter-ethnic tensions high and violent incidents recurring, press reporting that threatens the lives of individuals cannot be tolerated. This closure was a necessary measure to stop the inflammatory articles that serve only to provoke more violence in the troubled province."

In Mitrovica yesterday, the trial against Miroslav Vukovic was postponed until Monday due to problems with the translation services.

We have a Press Release outside that is very detailed, on the Housing and Property Directorate.  I announced last week that they were beginning to take claims over property issues. 

Postage stamps

I would like to announce that UNMIK letters posted on 31 May during the inauguration of the international mail service to and from Kosovo reached places like Agra, India on 4 June, and also arrived in Europe and the United States. 

Vehicle Registration Center

Working hours for the Vehicle Registration Centers have expanded from 8 a.m. to 18:00.  We urge cars to get registered.  As of 19 June registration fees for private cars at the Pristina Registration center will increase by 25 percent. And they may get higher in July!

As we announced previously, UNMIK Police began checking cars for their registration papers.  They have not yet entered the second phase, where unregistered vehicles will be impounded and drivers fined.

There is a Media Opportunity on 8 June at 9.30 a.m.  The results of the open tender for the procurement of construction materials for reconstruction of housing in Kosovo, which is financed by the EU Agency for Reconstruction.

OSCE

By the end of this week more then half a million people will have been registered in the ongoing civil and voter registration process.  To mark this event of the 500,000 person registering, OSCE, Daan Everts, and Head of the Joint Registration Task Force, Mr. Jeff Fischer, will make a presentation.  All media are invited.

KFOR Spokesman Major Scott Slater

Shortly after 10.00 am yesterday, 3 Kosovo Serbs were slightly injured when a suspected hand grenade was thrown towards a crowd that gathered to wait for public transport near the town square in Gracanica.  Following the grenade attack, a larger crowd became agitated and began beating up Albanian occupants of cars that had driven into the town.  Approximately 6 Albanian vehicles were set on fire. 

Brigadier General Richard Schireff, Commander of the National Brigade National Center, went to the town to speak to the town and their leaders to discuss their grievances.  While the Brigadier was discussing the situation with the local community leaders, some elements of the crowd became threatening to the Brigadier and his escort. 

Approximately 500 people came forward and shots by unknown gunmen were heard.  The Brigadier's escort believed that their lives were in imminent danger from extremely aggressive people in the crowd.  They first fired warning shots, followed by one aimed shot at an individual who was armed with a weapon.  Soldiers protecting the safety of the Brigadier wounded the man in the shoulder.  The individual then received medical treatment for his injuries and was later transported to a local hospital for treatment.

After this incident, the crowd dispersed on its own accord.  There have been no reports of further injuries.  I just received a report a few minutes ago stating that KFOR soldiers are on the ground in Gracanica but the situation remains calm.

It was reported yesterday that a Kosovo Serb woman was wounded in a 60mm mortar attack, South West of the village of Gorazdevac/Gorazhdec.  As a result, the KFOR MNB West commander implemented additional security measures to prevent further mortar attacks against the village.

A KFOR Italian, Task Force Falco check point stopped a Nissan vehicle in Dakovica/Gjakove late last night.  A search of the car revealed a 60mm mortar, two hand grenades, a Yugoslavian made machine gun and a Browning 30 Caliber machine gun.  KFOR Military Police arrested the man and transported him to the detention facility for further questioning.  The investigation in ongoing.

On an Administrative note: although the press conferences are currently being held in this building, the KFOR SIPEC Press and Information Center is still operating in its old location.  We are hoping to move our offices to this new building by the end of the month. 

As far as media events, we have two listed this week…

Guest: ICTY Spokesperson Paul Risley

ICT Forensic Teams have returned to Kosovo to continue our work in exhuming the bodies of victims of the violence that took place during the period of conflict from January through June 1999. 

To give you some updates on our work: so far in this season there are approximately 440 gravesites that we are aware of presently in Kosovo.  ICTY Forensic Teams have performed exhumations at 92 of those sites since beginning our work in mid-April.  We expect the number of known gravesites to increase throughout the season, evidenced by a site that was discovered just two days ago in Gorni, Klina. 

Generally a gravesite could be anything from two or three bodies to as many as thirty or forty or even larger. 

We presently have two permanent ICTY Forensic Teams working full-time in Kosovo and one national team from Austria.  There are two additional teams, one from the United Kingdom and one from Germany, that are attached to UNMIK police but receive their directions, instructions and assignments from the ICTY.  We also have gratis personnel from Canada and Sweden.  We expect further national teams to join the efforts through the summer and early fall of this year.

Our work this year is made much more efficient then it was last year through the use of a central morgue facility that is located near Orahovac.  We are very grateful to KFOR personnel, in particular the Dutch Battalion in Orahovac, for helping us construct that morgue. At this location, permanent ICTY Forensic Pathologists are able to conduct medical autopsies when the cause of death could be determined and when evidence can be removed.  Following that, the body is then handed over to UNMIK Victims' Recovery and Identification Commission.  This Commission is able to establish identification and contact the victim's relatives if possible. 

The purpose of our work in gathering forensic evidence across Kosovo is to further and prove the indictments against Slobodan Milosevic and four members of his cabinet.  In addition to that, to consider the expansion of those indictments for additional charges and possibly against further individuals.

This afternoon journalists are invited to visit a gravesite in Gorni, Klina.  This is a site where, according to published reports in the local media over the last two days, there are at least four bodies and perhaps as many as 35 bodies of victims.  Members of the German Forensic Team began work this morning at that site.

Questions:

Q: Was General Shireff threatened by the warning shots by the Serb crowd or did anyone shoot in his direction or the KFOR soldiers'?

SS: I don't know exactly where the shots were fired earlier.  The escort of the Brigadier determined at the time, because of the threatening nature of the crowd that his safety was in danger.  There was a scuffle and an altercation involving the individual that was shot, and he was then wounded and the safety of the Brigadier was ensured.

Q: How was it possible that the person who dropped the grenade escaped from the scene, went through the KFOR checkpoint and disappeared?  As far as we know, it is about 300 or 400 meters from the place where it happened and the KFOR checkpoint.

SS: Try to understand that things happen at a very quick pace.  At a distance of 300 meters, if you are a soldier standing there you may hear something.  It takes a few seconds to see or realize whether the vehicle that then fled the scene was involved with that incident or someone was just fleeing to get away from that incident.  The report was that the vehicle did force itself through the checkpoint and disappeared.  We are currently still looking for the suspects.

Q: Can you tell us anything about the return of the Romas and is there going to be a visit by Thaci…Rugova, and Kouchner?  When is that scheduled for?

SM: There is a meeting ongoing today with Dennis McNamara.  I'm not sure which other IAC members are there.  I would have to check with UNHCR about how many exactly have returned.

Q: Where are they?

SM: They are in Ferizai, Prizren today.

Q: You said that there was an armed individual who was part of the crowd, and there were gunshots coming from the crowd… I just want to understand whether the gunshots were coming from the crowd in Gracanica or somewhere else. 

SS: There were gunshots heard.  Where those gunshots were fired from and who fired those gunshots are still unknown at this time.  That increased the tension that was occurring at that time, there was a scuffle, a weapon was presented, the escort decided at that time that the safety of the Brigadier was in jeopardy, and reacted.

Q: Do you believe now that there are different kinds of guns that are being held in Serbian places by certain individuals in Gracanica, which is a Serb enclave, and that you need to start search operations to disarm these people?

SS: If you look in the press statements for the last few weeks, you will notice that KFOR has been aggressive in all MNBs as far as searching houses, vehicles and people to confiscate as much illegal weapons as we can.  It is an ongoing operation.  So far, it has not been 100 percent effective.  We are still looking for weapons that are out there in the streets.  However, I would like to point out a fact… that the initial incident begun with a hand grenade that was thrown.  We don't know yet who the perpetrator was of that, but I just want to say that this is impacting on people all over Kosovo.  There is an infinite number of KFOR soldiers operating in this area and we already have had to pull soldiers away from SIMIC activities and community activities in order to provide more security to the Serbian communities.

Q: (Inaudible)

SS: Like I stated, if you look at what we are doing on a daily basis, we are presenting basically all our operations that are ongoing.  We are bringing in a lot of weapons, confiscating on a daily basis and both Serb and Albanian homes are being searched and weapons are being found.  It's an ongoing process and we continue to do our job in the effort to rid Kosovo of as many violent weapons as possible.

Q: NATO's Lord Robertson, when he was here the other day, said that further indictments are being prepared against (inaudible).  Could you tell us more about this, perhaps as to what ethnicity they might be?    

PR: I cannot… I learned as well as you did from the reports that Lord Robertson had said this.  All I can tell you is that we continue to gather evidence within Kosovo to prove existing indictments and to consider the expansion of those indictments towards other persons or individuals who may have been responsible for some of the violence committed last year.

Q: Can you see the temporary closure of DITA as an example that is going to be taken up for other local publications, which are found guilty of inciting hatred and ethnic tension?  DITA was certainly not the only one that was publishing names and whereabouts of the minorities here in Kosovo.

SM:  It certainly will not be the last action should this practice continue.  There is a regulation on print media that will be coming out in the next couple of days, which has attached to it a temporary code of conduct that will spell out what is expected of media regarding this practice of naming people… and there will be consequences, definitely.

Q: (Inaudible)

SS: I cannot comment on ongoing operations that we have.  The commanders on the ground will make the assessment at the time on how they will react to a perceived blockage of the roads in their area.  So far I have no reports that any roads have been blocked.

Q: Do you know exactly how many bodies have been exhumed so far since the ICTY started its work?  What's the largest gravesite that you are working on? 
PR: I don't know the answer to that because some of that information I would prefer to wait until the end of the season to give you an update.  As you know, at the end of last year we announced that 2,108 bodies had been exhumed at sites were we thought approximately 4,000 had been reported.  The number that we have exhumed so far in 92 sites is in the hundreds and many of those 92 sites are very small ones, with one or two or three bodies in them.  So that should lead you to expect that several of the sites had dozens of bodies in them.  You would be correct to expect that many of the sites we have been looking at since last year are in fact in actual cemeteries in and around Kosovo.  In cemeteries we might find several single unmarked graves and under that grave there many be multiple bodies buried at the same time.  When you add them all up, you end up with dozens or more than that.

Q: Can you clarify whether the gun that was pointed at Brigadier Shireff's bodyguard…was actually a gun that was taken away from one of his soldiers?  Can you also clarify the report that stated that a KFOR helicopter stopped the car that actually threw the grenade and occupants were being interrogated… was that a correct statement?  

SS:  For the first question: it was initially reported that during the scuffle one of the Brigadier's bodyguard's weapon was taken from him and that is the weapon that was used to threaten the Brigadier.  The remainder of the escort then responded to the situation using as minimal force as they felt necessary at the time, and wounded the man in order to calm the situation and ensure the safety of the Brigadier.  The initial report that we received yesterday was that within 20 or 30 minutes after the attack we had helicopters in the air that located a vehicle that matched the description, the vehicle was then pulled over and it was later ascertained that we are still looking for another vehicle.  I think the vehicle was released.  We are still looking for suspects at this point.

Q: Susan, you said that IAC had condemned the violence against the Serbs in the past weeks.  Did KTC or IAC condemn the violence against Albanians having in mind that yesterday six Albanian vehicles were completely demolished, and six or seven people were beaten up by civilians in Gracanica?  For KFOR, can you tell us the current situation in Mitrovica?  Are there any protests or roadblocks… or anything that you can tell us?

SM: Clearly the IAC was meeting yesterday as this was going on.  The KTC is meeting now and I don't know whether they will come out with a statement.  What happened in Gracanica is terrible, but the condemnations that have been issued in the last week refer to eight murdered Serbs in one week and I have three pages of incidents of violent attacks against Serbs since 1 May.  I don't want to get into relativity, and they may issue a statement on the incident yesterday in Gracanica.  As Major Slaten said, it began with a grenade attack against a Serb car with a small child inside.

SS: As far as information in Mitrovica, we tried to get in contact with the MNB French PIO and we have received no updated information on any incidents in Mitrovica at this time.

Q: In the statement of Bernard Kouchner earlier, he warned that in June the situation in Kosovo, especially certain parts of Kosovo, could see an increase in tension.  According to this, who do you think is interested in making the situation more tense before 12 June?

SM: As Bernard Kouchner has said, extremists on both sides might be interested and without ascribing a blame to any particular side he has definitely said that extremists and the Belgrade regime would benefit.  However, 12 June is a mythical date because the mandate continues regardless of what happens on the ground.  This was one of our theories… that leading up to the mandate anniversary there would be a lot of trouble.  We still don't know whether this is the reason for these attacks.

Q: The reports yesterday from MNB Center said that troubles in Gracanica did not start at 10.00 a.m.….it started earlier, when Serbs were attacking Swedish soldiers.  Later on the grenade attack took place. 

SS: The initial problem started around 9.00 a.m.  MNB Center put out a press release on that, where KFOR Swedish soldiers responded and enforced the area.  The grenade attack happened at 10.00 a.m.

Q: What actually happened?  Why did the Swedish soldiers have to respond?

SS: We move our forces around the AO (Area of Operation) to deal with 'hot spots'.  If it is reported that there is an incident possibly starting, we will re-enforce it with soldiers.

Q: (Inaudible)

SS: As reported by MNB Center, some rocks were thrown at the Swedish soldiers.  The Swedish soldiers then responded to the area and re-enforced it.  It was not a serious incident until the grenade was thrown.  These incidents occur across the Kosovo area.

Q: If the KFOR soldiers were mobilized in the area, how was it possible for the man who attacked to escape the area?

SS: I explained this before.  Kosovo is not locked-out… we are not stopping and searching every vehicle in Kosovo.  There was freedom of movement going through that community… there were both Kosovo Serb and Kosovo Albanian vehicles moving through that area.  We responded with reinforcement of the patrol that was in the town because of the situation earlier.  As I previously stated, it is very difficult when an incident occurs, often times in a matter of a few seconds, to ascertain exactly was is happening at that point.  If you do not have visibility of the actual event that is occurring, if all you see is a vehicle speeding away, it takes a few seconds to react.  I don't know at this point how the vehicle got through the checkpoint.  It was reported that it forced its way through.

Q: You have identified the man who wanted to shoot the Brigadier and he is now in the hospital.  Is he in the hospital under normal conditions or is he under any KFOR escort?  What will KFOR do with him?  Is he considered a suspect or will he be indicted?

SS: UNMIK could elaborate on that.  Any time someone attacks a KFOR soldier, attempts to take their weapon away from them or takes the weapon away it is considered an assault just like it would be handled in any other country.

SM: UNMIK Police considers him a suspect and he will probably be arrested. 

I have the statement by the Kosovo Transitional Council here today.  It is very much like yesterday's statement from the IAC.

"The Kosovo Transitional Council is deeply concerned by the recent upsurge of inter-ethnic violence…"

SS: One thing that I would like to highlight about this incident is that any time an event occurs, a violent activity occurs in a community be that of a Kosovar Albanian or Kosovar Serb, often times the media targets KFOR or UNMIK Police.  What is happening is that they are impeding the investigation of catching the perpetrators or catching the criminals.  It would benefit everyone if instead of attacking KFOR or the UNMIK Police, they cooperated with us to give the proper information as quickly as possible so can then apprehend the suspects and stop these criminal activities.

Q: There were reports yesterday that one of the Serbs injured was taken to Belgrade for treatment.  Have you heard anything about that?  Have you seen any evidence that the upsurge in violence is going to have a negative impact on international funding here?

SM: It is too soon to tell about the latter but we are anticipating that this would contribute to the donor fatigue that is already setting in regarding Kosovo.  I have no information about the Serb taken to Belgrade.

Q: Why did the Serbs start throwing stones at the Swedish soldiers?

SS:  I think I would have to ask them!  I do not know.  As I said, these kinds of incidents happen throughout the regions… sometimes they are minimal in nature and we respond accordingly by re-enforcing a patrol, or an additional vehicle.  I don't have the specific information of who was throwing what.

Q: In the initial report, it was said that there were three Serbs wanted by the KFOR soldiers in connection with the incident of Brigadier Shirref.

SS:  Yesterday we tried to get as much information out as possible.  As you notice at the bottom of most statements, it said "all information as reported at this time".  Obviously as the situation develops more accurate information comes out and sometimes that information is contradictory in nature.  That is why we try to clarify it the next day or as soon as possible.

Q: Yesterday the trial in Mitrovica was postponed again, for the second or third time, and it is strange that Mitrovica was that calm, even with a genocide trial against two Serbs in the process.  Everything happened in Gracanica at exactly the same time the trial in Mitrovica started.  Do you see any connection with that?

SM: We do not see any connection with that, and this is the first postponement of that trial, which was always scheduled to begin yesterday.  It was postponed yesterday for purely technical reasons having to do with the translation services.

SS: Another thing to point out is that a grenade attack could be done by anyone.  A grenade is a very small weapon and it can very easily be thrown and it only takes five seconds to explode.  The even occurs and the person drives away.  Whether that is connected with anything else is difficult to ascertain.  It is not a heavy weapon that needs a lot of support.  Anyone could throw a grenade.

SM: There will be press briefing today in City Hall at 2.00 p.m. on the presentation of the Pristina Administrative Board.