UNMIK-KFOR Press Briefing: 12 July  2000

UNMIK Spokeswoman, Susan Manuel
KFOR Spokesman Major Scott Slaten
DSRSG and head of Pillar II, Civil Administration, Mr. Tom Koenigs

UNMIK Spokeswoman, Susan Manuel

Today we have a special guest, Mr. Tom Koenigs, Deputy Special Representative to the Secretary-General and head of Pillar II, Civil Administration. He will brief you on the draft Regulation on Self-Government of Municipalities, which the Interim Administrative Council endorsed yesterday. This draft has now gone to New York for review by the UN legal office and must be signed by Dr. Kouchner before it becomes law. Together with the election law signed last week, this draft regulation will form the legal basis for the elections this fall and lets us move toward that goal.

We issued a press release yesterday on the appointment of Mr. Marek Nowicki, a human rights lawyer from Poland, as the independent Ombudsperson. That press release is outside.

KTC
Today the Kosovo Transitional Council has been meeting: SRSG Bernard Kouchner is briefing them on his trip to Prizren last Thursday with Ambassador Daan Everts to meet with leaders of Turkish community, the majority of whom have not yet registered. I will speak more about that visit in a moment. The KTC is also discussing  the Understanding signed with Bishop Artemije, and Dr. Kouchner is explaining the measures included in that Understanding. The Deputy Police Commissioner Michael Jorsbach will also brief the Council on the UNMIK Police Special Security Task Force which we will outline in a press release this afternoon. There should be a discussion on the draft regulation on self-government of municipalities, which Mr. Koenigs is about to describe.  The co-heads of the Department of Reconstruction Mehmet Hajrizi and Steven LeWarne also briefed the Council on their activities.

POLICE
From UNMIK Police, a memorial service was held yesterday for Officer Khandker Monjur Hassain of Bangladesh, who died of a heart attack over the weekend, the second police officer in recent weeks to die of a heart attack.  A Russian police officer is currently in the hospital in critical conditional, struck by a heart attack as well.

UNMIK Police in Pec/Peja report that yesterday afternoon, a  Kosovo Albanian man, Sadri Ahmed Xheqaj from Istinic village was shot and killed  by another K. Albanian in front of a restaurant in Decani. Police are seeking an identified suspect who is from the same area& and are continuing to investigate the case.

The police investigation into the Haradinaj incident continues and UNMIK police investigators are planning a trip to Germany to question Mr. Haradinaj, who is recovering from injuries at the Ramstein military base.

Turk visit
Regarding Dr. Kouchner's meeting with the Prizren Turkish community, Dr. Kouchner appealed to those who have not yet registered not to miss this opportunity to be a part of the future of Kosovo. He urges them to register now before the 15 July deadline in order to take part in the October elections. He said they must not deprive themselves of this unique opportunity to vote for their legitimate representatives in the municipal bodies which will be formed after the election. UNMIK will make a special push in those areas where the Kosovo Turks live to keep registration open for longer hours in the next three days.

The Turkish community has demanded a return to the Constitution of 1974 which allegedly made the Turkish language one of the national languages of Kosovo. 

Power
On the power situation, yesterday Unit B2, which has been the mainstay of our electricity supply currently, has developed a tube leak in the boiler screen. It seems that the unit will need to be removed from service for repairs within the next day. If lubricating oil needed to start unit A3 today arrives, that unit should be able to start production of some energy. Unless we can find a source of energy to import, the situation will be difficult over the next few days, and we will see some quite severe cuts.

French Exhibition
On the occasion of the National Day of France, the Liaison office of the French government will hold an exhibition of photographs in the National Theater, called From Rambouillet to Pristina. The photographs illustrate three themes in the French contribution to Kosovo--the Rambouillet conference, humanitarian assistace to the refugees and participation in the reconstruction.

The Exhibition opens on 14 July. However media are invited to a special press opportunity tomorrow 13 July at 1600.

Finally, the planned visit to Roma communities in Pec/Peja has again been postponed. We will let you know of any new plans.

KFOR Spokesman, Maj. Scott Slaten

Update on Shooting
An update on the accidental shooting of the six year old boy in MNB East.  A young KFOR US soldier, assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment of the 1st Armored Division, was guarding equipment and vehicles with a squad (12) other soldiers.

The unit was assisting in the construction of a fence around the perimeter of a local school located in the village of Gornja Slatina.  This operation was part of the unit. s ongoing sponsorship program with the local community.

Around 1:40 p.m. the soldier. s weapon, a M249 SAW (Squad Assault Weapon) fired a three round burst and two of those bullets struck six year old Gentrit Rexhepi in the chest and arm.

Two soldiers immediately went to the boy and began to provide first aid.  One of those soldiers was a trained Combat Lifesaver and did his best to stabilize the boy for evacuation.

The boy was then medically evacuated to the 212th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) at Camp Bondsteel.  Upon arrival at the hospital three doctors worked feverishly to perform emergency surgery on the child.  After exhaustive attempts to save his life, he was pronounced dead at 2:45 p.m.

Both Brig. Gen. Randal M. Tieszen, the Task Force Falcon commander and Lt. Gen. Juan Ortuno, the KFOR commander, expressed their sincerest condolences and profound regrets to the Rexhepi family from all the KFOR soldiers serving in Kosovo.

A funeral service was held for the family yesterday at 1:30 p.m. in the town of Zlatare.  Several KFOR representatives attended the service and spoke directly to the family extending our condolences and sympathy at this tragic accident.  The family was extremely gracious and understanding during the entire process.

Several teams of investigators from the U.S. Army are currently working on the case.  Both the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) and Safety Inspectors are checking the weapon and the circumstances surrounding the case in order to determine exactly what occurred during the shooting.  Once the investigation is concluded more information will be presented at that time.

Attempted Murder
IN MNB West yesterday, a KFOR mobile patrol stopped a man who was trying to kill his wife with a hand grenade.  He was immediately detained and transferred by KFOR Spanish Military Police to the local UNMIK Police Station.

Rape
It was reported yesterday afternoon from MNB Centre headquaters, that a Kosovar Albanian girl was attacked and raped in the village of Gornje Obrnje.  UNMIK Police requested KFOR assistance in handling the situation.

KFOR Norwegian Battalion soldiers responded to the scene and assisted in guarding the possible suspect. s family against vengeance attacks by the girl. s family.  UNMIK Police later detained a family member for questioning.  Both KFOR and UNMIK Police are currently searching for the suspect.

Bridge Repairs
The military bridge at Milosevo in MNB Centre on the road between Pristina and Vucitrn will be removed starting tomorrow afternoon.  A bypass has been built adjacent to the site and is to be used by all traffic.  The replacement of the damaged bridge at Milosevo will take 4 months and is being rebuilt with funds from the european Agency for Reconstruction.

This is the beginning of a bridge replacement program where temporary military bridges place by KFOR will be removed to allow civilian contractors to build permanent replacement bridges or to effect permanent repairs.  All the sites have bypasses constructed by KFOR.

In MNB North, 38 KFOR Frency engineers from a support and mobility unit are rebuilding the Prestovo Bridge, located 15 kilometers east of Mitrovica.  The bridge located on a road used by Kosovar Albanian farmers to gain access to their fields.

Civil engineers, financed by a Swiss NGO, will conduct the rebuilding during the next two months.  The bridge will be supported by a metal structure with a wooden floor.  This is part of an ongoing KFOR French campaign to assist the inhabitants of Kosovo improve the standard of life.

The next bridge for replacement is at Zajmovo on the road between Pristina and Pec, south of Klina.

Head of Pillar II, Mr. Tom Koenigs

The regulation on Self-Government of Municipalities in Kosovo was resubmitted for the fourth time to the IAC yesterday and it and will be submitted to the Legal Office in New York and then signed by Bernard Kouchner.  It. s about three  months to the election, so it is necessary to focus on this basic regulation on Municipal Self-Government.  I. d like to focus on five points.  The first; certainly this regulation focuses on the powers of the municipality and, as the title already indicates, this gives as much power as possible to the municipality. 

This is a regulation of decentralization.  In general terms, everything which is not regulated by the central laws, has to be done and is the responsibility of the municipalities.

The special rights and powers of the municipality are spelled out in a whole section which gives all the details.  It. s the 3.1 section.

Certainly, and that. s the second point, it points out what the election is for; it is for the municipal assembly, for the 30 municipalities and gives the numbers of those who will be members of the municipality.  In Pristina, that will be 51.  In Novo Birdo, it will be 17.  It ranges between these numbers.  It also gives the procedure to elect the President out of the Municipal Assembly.

Third, it makes provisions for the Municipal Civil Service headed by the Chief Executive Officer who is appointed by the Municipal Assembly and proposed by the President.  It also makes provision for the Board of Directors, the head of the Municipal Department.  One of these Municipal Departments will be the Community Office.  I come to that later.

The fourth focus is the committees.  There will be, as in all municipalities, one Committee for Policy and Finance.  There will be a Special Committee on Community Offices for the protection of the minorities or community rights.  And in case of conflict between the Community Committee and the Municipal Assembly there is a Mediation Committee.  These three committees will be in all municipalities.  There can be additional committees working and making the work of the Municipal Assembly easier.

In chapter IX . Special provisions for the transitory period - the period of UNMIK being here and 1244 being in place. This is to harmonise this regulation with the power the SRSG has according to the Security Council resolution 1244 which means this regulation doesn. t cut off any of the rights of the SRSG.  The sections 47-54 deal with that.

This regulation has been drafted by the Department of Local Administration, second by the Council of Europe.  That have had specialists here to draft it according with the experience they have had in different countries and municipalities.  Not only the neighbouring countries around here but also those in other parts of Europe.  And the charter on Self-Government of Municipalities is a basis of this regulation.  There was certainly very valuable input by the Quint and the Contact Group.  Obviously this regulation found great interest in all the major capitals in Europe.  So we got very valuable input there which we tried to integrate.  Several discussions in the IAC made important input and I admit that even after the regulation had been discussed in six European capitals and after so many experts of the Council of Europe, of OSCE, UNMIK working on it, there were quite a lot of technical adjustments and corrections to be made which were found out by the IAC experts.  But also political questions.

The main discussion was on the Community Offices and we made several adjustments.  These Community Offices have been subjected to comments from all over the world and the final version that you find in the regulation under section 23/11 . 23/15 says that these Community Offices are integrated parts of the Municipal Administration.  There is nothing parallel.  They are temporary as long as the security situation requires it, and the top offices are only there only as long as there is no access to municipal services.

The goal of the Community Offices is the protection of community rights and free access to public services.

The second most disputed issue in this regulation is one that you would find in the constitution in another country.  The use of languages.  This is the first law on self-government.  We integrated section 9 which deals with the languages with basically four points.  One, everyone may communicate in his own language. Second, the meetings will be held in Serb and Albanian and where there is, and this is a very disputed issue, a substantial part of the population, the proceedings will be translated, if this is necessary.   Third, official documents have to be in Serb and Albanian and where there is a substantial part of the population which doesn. t speak Serb or Albanian, the documents have to be made available in these languages.  And fourth, all officials signs, sign posts and names have to be given in the national languages, Albanian and Serb, and where a substantial part of the population where the language is neither Serb nor Albanian, it should be given in their language too.

A third, provision is the one on publicity and municipal assemblies.  All the committees will be public and will be accessible also for the press.  This is handled differently in all the countries of Europe.  Here it should be as public as possible and certainly you will find in the regulation a paragraph at the beginning on the non-discrimination that all organs of municipalities shall ensure that inhabitants enjoy all rights and freedom without distinction of any kind, such as race, ethnicity, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status and that they have a share in equal employment opportunities in municipal service at all levels.  This is a bit the declaration of human rights, but it is necessary to spell it out in the third regulation on self-government.

You will get this regulation.  I keep focusing on the fact that this is still a draft because it still doesn. t have the blessing of the Legal Department in New York and is not signed.  But it has been politically discussed with all those who wanted to intervene and legally scrutinised by the UNMIK lawyers and I don. t think that there will be great political changes in it.  Some wordings may change.  The translation into Albanian and Serb is well under way.  It is not finalised.  This is a very difficult legal matter and the official version is still the English one and the dispute over the right translation may take some days, but I think in the course of the day we will have at least an Albanian version.   In case you think something has been mistranslated, refer to the English version.  Thank you.

Questions

Q.  Can you tell us the circumstances under which the American soldier. s weapon was cocked? Is it normal procedure for US troops to leave base with cocked weapons or was his weapon cocked for a specific purpose when the accident involving the child took place?

SS: All I know at this time is the soldier that was involved in the shooting was guarding soldiers in the local area who were working on bridge repair. The investigation will determine what the exact circumstances were that caused the weapon to discharge. But it won. t  be released until the investigation is completed.

Q.  But when US troops leave any of their bases out on operational patrols are their weapons routinely cocked?

SS. It depends on the situation at the time but normally yes.

Q.  Dr Kouchner is indicating privately that he shortly would leave his position as SRSG. What. s the official line on how long is he going to stay? Can you give us some names on who might replace him.
 
SM.  SRSG has never indicated that he is going to leave.  Obviously he is going to leave but he has never indicated any time at all.

Q.  So, the official line is that he is here for another six months?

SM: There is no end point to his term here.

Q.  We have heard that there is a new battalion of British combat troops host by the German Multinational brigade& they would be an increasing phase in their strength. Can you confirm that?

SS.  Basically questions regarding increase in British troops strength should be asked to the British Ministry of Defense.

Q.  Sorry I was told yesterday by the British Ministry of Defense to refer my questions to you.

SS.  I will try to find out for you but that were my instructions this morning that if I. m getting more questions to refer straight to the British Ministry of Defense.

Q.  In the municipalities in the north of Kosovo, what are you going to do if the Serbs are not participating in the elections? How can you apply the new regulation for Mitrovica?

TK.  The regulation is meant for municipalities where everybody registers and takes part in the elections. In case of boycott of somebody, it would be very difficult but for the interim situation, we have spelled out the right of the SRSG to appoint additional members to the municipal assembly. In case we have a heavy boycott of one or the other minority he may act. So, in the municipality where everybody boycotts the situation may not change from the situation now where you have not elected but only appointed municipal assemblies or municipal councils. On the other hand, you have directors only appointed by the municipal administrator and not appointed by the municipal assembly. This regulation does not inspire anybody to boycott but makes provisions that if somebody wants to boycott the election, he does not boycott the process of administration of the municipality.

Q.  Who is going to appoint the assembly or the council in these municipalities? Is it Dr Kouchner, is it somebody else and according to what regulation, what rule is he going to do that?

TK.  At the moment, it is not clear where we have communities boycotting the municipal assembly election. The situation now where we have no elected bodies in these municipalities you mentioned in the north is that we have appointed bodies. If we have relevant parts of communities boycotting, they will continue to have only members of the municipal assembly appointed. To the question on who appoints them, the answer is the SRSG.  At the moment, there are certainly local people in the municipal council and there are appointed people who are appointed by the SRSG or, in his representation, by the municipal administrator.

Q.  The Community offices are integrated parts of the municipalities. Who decides who is in charge of the community offices in minority areas? Who decides what is in the public interest in terms of allowing cross access to the municipalities. assemblies.

TK.  The municipality itself decides on the community office. You will have that everywhere where you have a relevant part of the population which is not the majority of the population. For instance in Pristina, you will have the municipal office and it is in the municipality of Pristina. The municipality establishes this office which is responsible for community rights and free access to services. If necessary, this community office established a sub-office in areas where people can not access the municipality. In the case of Pristina, there are some villages where people can not go to the municipal hall.  This has been done by the municipality and by the same mechanism other of our departments have set up two other members of the board of directors. Here, in the transitional period, it is a SRSG. prerogative through the municipal administrator to appoint these people if the municipality is not able to do this in an impartial and balanced way.

Q.  Can you name the possible candidates to replace Dr Kouchner. The name of Paddy Ashdown is one.

SM.  We are not even aware of the topic. Of course, internally and among each other we imagine what will happen if and when Dr Kouchner leaves but there is no roster of candidates.

Q.  His office says that he is thinking of leaving after the election. So surely there must be&

SM.  (interrupting): actually . after. is an extremely long period of time& .

QU.  He is going to be here next year?

SM.  There is no official or unofficial line on Dr Kouchner. s future or on any candidate.

Q.  You said that SRSG may appoint people in these assemblies What about the villages where there are Albanians and Serbs living together. Serbs are not registering, Albanians are so they will elect their own people. So what will happen if the people they are electing win the elections?

TK.  At the moment, we are at the level of municipalities and not at the villages. level. So the basis of the next election will be the municipality. In mixed municipalities, for instance in the case where the Serbs boycott, the result will be that the Albanians, even if it is the minority have elected candidates and the Serbs don. t. In this case, the SRSG may appoint people to the municipal assembly to rebalance that.

Q.  In the regulation you chose the use of two languages Albanian and Serbian, can you explain why?

TK.  We are here in a place where different languages are spoken and UNMIK translates all official documents to those both languages. If you ask why we have Albanian as official language, the answer will be because the majority of the population is Albanian. If you ask why the Serbian language will be official language, we have a relevant fraction of the population who speaks Serbian and a big part of the population which understands Serbian . I may add one thing, if you read 1244 and to make a regulation which would not have one of these two languages as official language you would have reactions that would correct that.

QU.  Another question again regarding the power of appointment of Dr Kouchner.  Have you ever seen elsewhere this situation where you have elections of council and appointments of the members of these councils. It looks like a very strange mixture.

TK. Yes we had this sort of experience in Bosnia. And the discussion was always: . do you have reserved seats for the minority or do you have the right to put additional members. Now, I think that reserved seats would practically inspire all sorts of boycott which we don. t want. So we have chosen the other possibility to give the SRSG the right to appoint. At the moment, we have a situation where we have only appointed members. Those municipalities where you have elections and all participate, you have all the members elected. In the places where you have a minority or a community which doesn. t take part or is not able to take part, you have a mixed system. This is a transitional period. Certainly in a more definite stage, those who would boycott would have to suffer from not being represented. This is a thing we do not want and we can not want according to 1244.  We have to look at the fair representation of all minorities.

Q.  How come that Dr Kouchner enjoy so many powers. Even the French president does not have as many powers as Dr Kouchner has.  He is obviously controlling everything.

TK.  It comes from the resolution 1244 of the Security Council and they gave him that amount of powers to build up a peaceful Kosovo and to rebalance a municipal assembly which might be composed only by a very small minority of elected members. It is not an unfair procedure because in those municipalities that you mentioned at the beginning you would otherwise have a situation where one or two percent of the population hold all the seats of the municipal assembly and the other ninety-eight percent are not represented. This would not lead to an efficient and representative municipal self-government.

Q.  And the second questions is about this appointing.  How successful was it in Bosnia?

TK.   I can. t tell you.  I wasn. t in the Mission in Bosnia

Q.  I remember very well, before the registration, people were saying that according to 1244, people who do not register cannot have the rights to vote and/or be a part of the municipalities.  Now you are saying that according to 1244 there is that right for people who do not vote to take place in the municipality.  Could you tell me which was is the fake 1244?

TK.  At the moment, the Municipal Council and the Administrative Council are appointed.  They. re appointed under 1244.  In those places where there are minorities not represented, the SRSG has the right and continues to have the right to appoint people.  So, I don. t see any contradiction to 1244, if you refer to the situation that we have, a transitional situation.  Now, you are right because the final stage where we don. t have any SRSG or anybody who is able to intervene in the internal affairs of the Municipality and the Administration, this is not in place; there is still quite a bit time to come.  I think that the regulation makes necessary and workable provisions for a transitional phase, especially for those municipalities where we will certainly have problems which is those where you have heavy boycotting of a fraction of the population.

Q.  What is the motivation for the Serb appointed leaders if, let. s say a community does not   vote and has members appointed to the municipal councils and would you expect a municipal council leaders to respect the opinions of someone who has not been elected, when they themselves have not been elected?

TK.  At the moment, they have to respect the appointed authorities which are appointed by the Municipal Administrator or the SRSG. So, I suppose they will continue to respect these appointed and if not, they have to.  On the other hand, the difference might be in the sense of a self-government more interesting for the population to have elected people rather than those appointed by somebody else.  So, the whole meaning of this regulation is the self-government of municipalities and this is a high principle and this is the basis for the democratic development, especially in an area where all the democratic institutions have to be built-up.  This regulation is so important because it fills up the democratic institutions from the bottom to the top.  But who will be appointed and who will not, is not at the decision of the population if they don. t take part in the election. If they take part in the election, they themselves decide.  If not, somebody else decides.  You know, you have some cultures where somebody else decides who you are supposed to marry.  It. s better to choose yourself.

Q. Will you then have parallel structures here?

TK.  I don. t have parallel structures now, and I will not have parallel structures then.  I will have appointed structures.