UNMIK-OSCE-EU Press Briefing: 15 December 2000

UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel
OSCE Spokesperson, Sven Lindholm
EU Spokesperson, Reinhold Brender

UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel

SRSG's trip to Paris, Strasbourg and Brussels

SRSG, Dr. Bernard Kouchner, returned yesterday after talks in Paris, Brussels and Strasbourg. On Wednesday in Paris he met for nearly three hours with Mr. Hans Haekkerup, the incoming SRSG, to begin planning the handover of authority and to begin briefing him on the situation in Kosovo.

We expect Mr. Haekkerup will be here in Pristina in the first week of January for further briefings, although he will not actually take up his duties until sometimes in mid-January.

Yesterday afternoon, the SRSG attended the inauguration of the Kosovo Polje train service to Pristina, before opening the Kosovo Supreme Court in Pristina.

Explosions

Overnight from the police, we have several explosions: two unoccupied Serb houses were destroyed in simultaneous explosions at 2 p.m. yesterday in the village of Sredska outside Prizren.

Ironically, it was a couple of hours after a round table meeting had taken place in Prizren on the subject of return of displaced Serbs to the abandoned village of Sredska . So, police are assuming this was a direct reaction to that meeting.

Another unoccupied Serb house was completely destroyed in Klokot village near Vitina yesterday, while a grenade slightly damaged a Kosovo Albanian house in Novo Selo, also yesterday afternoon. There was an attempted murder of a Kosovo Albanian man driving his car yesterday in Pasjane. He was shot at six times, but was not severely injured.

A Colleague killed

On Wednesday UNMIK lost a staff member, a security guard with Civil Administration. He was Miroslav Krstic, a Kosovo Serb, 60-years-old. He was found with multiple gunshot wounds on a street in Vitina and he died en route to Pristina hospital. Police are investigating the murder but at this point do not believe that it was related to his work. We deeply regret the loss of our colleague and express our sincere condolences to his family.

Media Opportunity

There is a media opportunity Tuesday when Mr. Charles Josselin, French Minister for International Cooperation, visits Kosovo. He actually arrives on the 18th, but on Tuesday he will inaugurate an High School with Doctor Kouchner in Vucitrin. This has been rehabilitated with the financial support of the Rhônes Alpes Region and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the French CIMIC.

Sylvana can help you with the transportation, but there will be a KFOR bus leaving this Government Building at 1.30 PM on Tuesday. Ask Sylvana for further information.

The Press Briefing by General Cabiogioso, scheduled on Monday, will not take place. He will not be available. So, we will have again a regular press briefing on Monday at 11.30 hours.

OSCE Spokesperson, Sven Lindholm

This morning, the OSCE participated in a ceremony inaugurating the reconstructed Kosovo Terrestrial Transmission Network (KTTN).  The OSCE has worked hard to develop media in Kosovo, and this is yet another step, and we thank the cooperation that we had with United States and the Japanese Governments in getting this going. The system will transmit television programs for RTK, Koha Vision and TV-21 throughout Kosovo. The KTTN will soon also carry four radio frequencies. Today begins a 3-day forum for NGO's in Kosovo.  This is the first time that such a large number of NGO's have gathered together. In total over120 will participate. The main purpose of the forum is to highlight the role of civil society and to enhance self-empowerment of the NGO community.  This includes stimulating dialogue and networking among NGO's, including the sharing of experiences and lessons learnt.  The gathering also aims to facilitate creation of civil society agendas and cooperation in the democratization and development of Kosovo. A special press desk has been set up where media representatives can obtain more information about the activities of NGOs in Kosovo and the outcomes of discussions, and arrange interviews with panelists and participants. The annual NGO forum is also intended to become a traditional event of the key representatives of the Kosovar NGO community.  A full press release and schedule of the forum will be outside? Under Electoral Rule 2000/12 on Campaign Finance Disclosure and Spending Limits political entities were required to submit income and campaign expenditure statements covering the period from 1 September to 27 October 2000.  This disclosure, which is intended to make the financing of electoral campaigns transparent, included income, major contributions and campaign expenditures.  A breakdown is provided on the press release outside? The 11th class of cadets from the Kosovo Police Service School will graduate this Saturday.  This class consists of 312 cadets, now bringing the total number of police officers graduated to 2,851.  The ceremony will be at the university sports center in Pristina and will begin at 10.30? Yesterday, the Independent Students Union of the University of Pristina held elections.  The OSCE was asked to provide technical advice to the Interim Student Council on how to run elections in a transparent and fair manner.  By reports from observers, it looks as though the election went smoothly and proceeded in a professional manner.  There were a few minor problems reported, but this did not affect the opportunity for voting to happen

One announcement from the Temporary Media Commissioner.  A panel met earlier this week to decide on the award of radio broadcasting licenses for the two available Kosovo-wide radio frequencies.  After deliberation, the panel awarded the highest scores to Radio 21 and Radio Dukagjini.  This award allows these two stations to broadcast their frequencies over the KTTN.

EU Spokesperson, Reinhold Brender

Power supply:

There is currently no domestic power production in Kosovo. Power Unit A4 went down, since there are leaks in the boiler. A4 is being repaired and is expected to restart in approximately 5 days.

Unit B2 was shut down last night for a scheduled repair of a water pump and electric filters, which will be completed by Monday. Imports are being brought in to cover the loss in production.

However one 440KV transformer is down and this is limiting imports to 300 MW through that (440 KV) grid system. There are however small amounts of imports coming in from Albania and Serbia through the 220 KV line, which is alleviating the demand to a certain extent.The load-shedding regime to expect is: during the day - 2 hours off and 4 hours, and on during peak times (6-11pm) 3 hours on and 3 hours off.

Start of Water Supply Programme

The 30 million DM Programme for the Rehabilitation of Urban Water Supplies and Sanitation II has been started. It is funded by the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau and the European Agency for Reconstruction, PUD is part of the steering team. The programme aims at assuring continuous and efficient supply of drinking water in sufficient quantity and quality to inhabitants and enterprises for about 580,000 inhabitants of Kosovo. The programme includes repair and improvement of existing water supply. The duration of the programme is 18 months.
Central Fiscal Authority

Budget Preparations finished.

Preparations of the Budget 2001 are finished and the regulation is expected to be signed in the coming days. The Kosovo Consolidated Budget now provides for total recurrent and some capital expenditures of DM 739 million in public enterprises, the municipalities and the general government. This is financed from domestic revenues (taxes, fees and user charges) of more than DM 500 million and donor grants of DM about 200 million, of which DM 40 million is exclusively for electricity imports if required. As in 2000, the majority of major capital investment will be financed through donor participation.

Poul Nielson meets SRSG Dr. Kouchner and DSRSG Bearpark

Poul Nielson, the EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, visited Kosovo in the last three days, after visits in Montenegro and Serbia.

Mr. Nielson met SRSG Dr. Kouchner and DSRSG Bearpark as well as the Director of the European Agency for Reconstruction, Mr. Mingarelli and several political representatives of Kosovo, among them Dr. Rugova (LDK).

Prior to his departure Mr. Nielson highlighted this morning the fact that in the year 2000 ECHO, the Humanitarian Aid Office of the European Commission, will have allocated 40 Million Euro for humanitarian aid in Kosovo (about 80 Million DM).

In January there will be another 3,5 Million Euro (7 Million Euro) from ECHO for Kosovo. Mr. Nielson confirmed that the EU has established a long term relationship with Kosovo. There is a lasting commitment of the EU to the region, and other forms of co-operation will increasingly replace humanitarian aid.
Press opportunity

On Monday, 18 December, the Department of Reconstruction will celebrate the reconstruction of the 20,000th house in Kosovo, financed by the international donor community. To celebrate this achievement, the Department of Reconstruction invites all media and the donors to the rebuilt home of the 20,000 beneficiary family north of Podujevo. Details are provided in a media information sheet that you can get outside the pressroom.

Questions

Q: Question for Mr. Brender. Can you tell us a little bit more about where the money has came from to rebuild these 20,000 houses, which humanitarian organisation has built them, and why you've chosen the figure 20,000 to celebrate?

RB: I will give the information I've received at this moment. We will have of course all the details available at the Monday event itself. First of all, 20,000 is rather symbolic figure. If you look at the effective figure we have, effective 30 December, the number of houses reported under construction or completed totals already 23, 430 houses; 20,000 houses seem to be occupied for the moment. But as I said there is a moment where you can say it's the moment to celebrate this ongoing reconstruction and on-going commitment of donors. As to your question of donors, the total of houses funded by the European Agency of Reconstruction is 11, 210. Therefore, the European Agency is the major donor, and for the other donors, I would refer you to Christian Lindmeyer who will be to give you more details afterwards.

Q: Did the grant from the Japanese Government to UNDP that was specifically given to rebuild houses included in this announcement?

RB: I can not confirm this. I would like you to ask Christian Lindmeyer.