One of the pumps used at Batlava has been sent to Germany for repair. Any break down in the remaining two pumps could cause a reduction of 20 percent.

A reduction will certainly come around 25 June when Badovac Pumping station is stopped for upgrading for 3-5 days. Hopefully both won't occur at the same time…as water availability could be reduced by 40 percent if both pumping stations are down at once. And water quality could be effected by low pressure, causing a major health risk.

What are we doing: The water system is under repair. Water quality control has been established in cooperation with the Institute for Public Health. DFID assisted in replacing nearly all the pumps. The power supply for the Batlava pumping station and Sajkovac treatment plant was improved.

However, water consumption will have to be reduced during the summer.  The municipal instruction to come this week will describe how. But it is safe to say that hosing the streets, extensive car washing and unreasonable watering of plants, especially during the daytime, will have to stop. There will be new measures for measuring consumption, and water bills will have to be paid. also wie will increase the number of repair teams to be deployed to work on the system.
Visits/Events

Next Wednesday, there will be a seminar on emergency rescue services in the Prizren football stadium.  It will involve UNMIK police, KFOR, KPC, fire fighters, telecommunications and health officials (Details).

Carla Del Ponte Press briefing has been moved to 10:15 a.m. Wednesday here in this auditorium.

Finally, the visit by Kouchner, McNamara and the IAC to the Roma community in Peja/Pec next week has been postponed. The Obilic Municipal Council led by UNMIK Municipal Administrator Laura Dolci will visit the Ashkalia-Roma camp in Plementina Obilic, along with all the municipal council  (Details).

On Monday the executive committee of Pristina region--the pillar heads, brigadier Sherrif and UNMIK regional police commander John Middlemiss will meet with the press after their regular meeting (Details).

This afternoon, an agreement will be signed between the Municipality of Pristina and SOS-Kinderkfor International of Austria, which will build a kindergarten, children's village and social center in Velania.

KFOR Spokesman Major Scott Slaten

Two Serb men were killed and another severely injured yesterday at 10:55 a.m. when the vehicle in which they were riding drove over a mine outside the village of Lepina/Lepine, eight kilometers southwest of Pristina.

The vehicle driven by the men traveled along a small gravel road through the fields outside the village of Lepina / Lepine. Just after crossing the railroad tracks, two kilometers south of Gornje Dobrevo /Miradi e Eperme, they struck a buried mine in the road. The explosion ripped the front half of the vehicle away and scattered debris around the area.

KFOR soldiers were manning a checkpoint in the vicinity and immediately moved to the scene to render first aid and security. The injured man was taken to the KFOR Russian hospital in Kosovo Polje/Fushe Kosove.  He suffered blood loss and may lose his limbs.

Commander of MNB Centre, Brig. Gen. Richard Shirreff stated at the scene: "I am incensed at this attack which has ended the lives of two innocent people and destroyed the life of a third.  My heart goes out to the families of these men.  There is no doubt that this was a deliberate, carefully planned, attack. MNB Centre will do all it can do to prevent such attacks in the future," stated Shirreff.

He then cited the ongoing search operation in the Drenica valley as an example of positive measures being taken to attack the roots of such violence.   Currently the operation involves over four hundred KFOR soldiers, and has been running since the early hours of yesterday morning.

This is one more in a series of searches around the MNB Centre area of responsibility over the past few weeks that has removed a significant amount of weapons from life in Kosovo.

In MNB North French and United Arab Emirate soldiers conducted a joint security operation in the area between Vucitrn / Vushtrri, Gojbulja /Gojbuje and Slatina / Sllatine. The purpose of the operation is to increase the security presence in the Serb enclaves. This is the first of a series of
operations designed to reinforce KFOR presence in these enclaves.

In MNB West yesterday afternoon several Kosovar Albanian men greatly assisted KFOR in
apprehending a suspected jewelry thief in Djakovica / Gjakove.

The men first took the accused man to the KFOR Italian Task Force Falco checkpoint. Later, he was transported by KFOR soldiers manning the check-point to their compound and then to the Italian Military Police station in Pec.  UNMIK Police is investigating.

Media Administrative Notes

Transfer of Authority

KFOR's Multinational Brigade East will transfer authority of the U.S. sector from Brig. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez to Brig. Gen. Randal Tieszen on Camp Bondsteel at 9:00 a.m., June 20, 2000.  Media are invited and encouraged to attend the transfer of authority.

OSCE Spokesman Roland Bless

I would like to give you some statistics on the certification of political parties in view of the upcoming elections.  A total of 22 political parties and one coalition of six parties have applied to take part in the elections.  We are looking at a total of 28 parties competing at the polls.  Applications have been made in all thirty municipalities of Kosovo. 

The number of parties applying to contest the elections ranges from 19 in Pristina (this is the highest) to one in Zubin Potok and another in Zvecan.  Amongst the parties, we have three big ones - the LDK contesting in 29 municipalities, the AAK contesting in 29 municipalities as well and the PDK contesting in 26 municipalities. 

Six minority parties have registered - two Turkish parties, one Ashkali party, two Bosniak parties and the Democratic Reform Movement of Muslims. 

The twenty-two parties and the six coalition parties have submitted a total of 235 applications in each of the municipalities.  (As you may recall, each party had to apply in each municipality where they wanted to run).  This is an average of 8 parties per municipality. 

All these figures are preliminary.  They do not include the citizens' initiatives and the independent candidates because their deadline for submission has been extended to next Monday, June 19 2000.  All these figures are also preliminary given that the Central Election Commission has to approve all these applications and certify the parties for valid access.  This is expected to happen at the end of this month. 

Tomorrow we have another class of the Kosovo Police Service School graduating.  This is the fifth class, with 277 students - including 264 Kosovo Albanians, 10 Serbs, 2 Bosniaks and 1 Turk.  Amongst the 277 students there are 28 women graduating.  Two classes are currently running simultaneously in the school.  The sixth class will graduate in four weeks, while the seventh class, wherein 374 potential students have been identified, will start on Monday.  Press is invited to attend the ceremony... (Details).

EU Spokeswoman Irene Mingasson

I would like to add to the information that Susan Manual has just explained on the serious water situation, in particular in Pristina, and the need to save water in the coming weeks and months.

Since August 1999, major activities have been undertaken in view of rehabilitation and sanitation of water and the rehabilitation of water systems.  DM 10 million have already been spent for such projects, mainly by the European Union and the United Kingdom. 

For the future, the European Union and KFW (Germany) have engaged in very big programmes, in excess of DM 20 million, in the area of water. 
Electricity

At the moment only Kosovo A3 is running and the two units (inaudible).  The total domestic generation at the moment is 140 MW, and it will remain low until Kosovo B1 restarts - hopefully tomorrow. 

There are water leakages in both B1 and B2.  

In the meantime, increased imports are required.  We imported 150 MW from Greece last night and 80 MW today.  We are negotiating higher imports from Greece to meet the needs during the peak time today (3.00 p.m. - 1.00 p.m.).  Should this not succeed, minor shutting can be expected today.

Exemption Programme

The Public Utilities Department is continuing the review process of the applications.  A little less then 50,000 applications have been received out of 350,000 consumers.  This indicates that the remaining 300,000 consumers are expected to pay their bills as soon as possible, as disconnection measures are being enforced.

Progress in underway in regards to measures undertaken by the Power Company to improve its financial and commercial situation and to take steps towards more efficient management.  An action plan is being prepared by KEK, which should be finalized for approval at the next meeting of the Electricity Supervisory Board, on the 28th of June.  Extensive details will be available shortly after this meeting.

At the last meeting, the Supervisory Board approved KEK's proposal to increase the electricity tariffs on average of 25 per cent, starting on 1 July 2000.  This implies a major meter reading exercise before the introduction of the new tariff.  Customers are also advised to read their own meters and to keep their records, in order to avoid disputes in the future.

Customs

The revenue collection is stable at around DM 5 million per week. 

This week the first case of fraudulent use of humanitarian certificates was detected.  This was a case of falsification of a certificate that had been issued to an NGO.

As part of a confidence building strategy, UNMIK customs assisted in transiting a convoy of 10 trucks from Macedonia to Montenegro.

Tax Administration

The first seminar organized by the Tax Administration on the new presumptive tax, which took place last Tuesday, was very well attended by more than 80 representatives of the business community.  This was also the occasion of a very animated debate.

Further seminars are being organized around Kosovo - in Gjilanne and Peja today, Prizren on Monday, Mitrovica on Tuesday, Ferizaj on Wednesday and the last one will take place in Pristina on 28 June.

This educational campaign is also an open opportunity for comments and questions on the new tax and the enforcement measures.

Banking Sector

There was a meeting of the BBK Governing Board yesterday.  The Board granted Mr. Joly Dixon with honorary membership.

A preliminary banking license was granted to a new Kosovar Bank, Echo Bank.  This raises the number of banks that have received preliminary approval to operate to six.

Final approval for the establishment as a micro-finance institution was granted to BESELIDIA micro-finance.  Beselidia is sponsored by the World Relief Commission and will be authorized to engage in micro-finance activities, including extended credits and limited deposit taking.  It will start its credit activities this month and will operate from Pristina.

Questions

Q:  You mentioned the IAC's interest in parallel funds in early April.  A report said that police investigators in Gjilanne and Ferizaj had investigated a case of taxation or racketeering in which DM 80,000 per week were being sent to the PDK's so-called Ministry of Finance (the Ministry of Finance was meant to be dissolved in January).  What has happened to that investigation?  Since you are concerned about parallel funds, what also is happening to the income of state-owned enterprises that are now being run by private companies?  For example, Kosovo Petrol occupies the petrol station that were once owned by state-owned companies… there are numerous other examples.  What is happening?  Are you looking into where the income of the state-owned (formerly state-owned) enterprises is going?

SM:   The arrangement with the Kosovo Petrol was that they would pay a fee to UNMIK Kosovo Budget in return for keeping the profits.  I don't know what the arrangements have been with other similar enterprises.  There is a whole economic development plan, which Pillar IV is undertaking.

IM:  Pillar IV is undertaking it and further information will be available on what is being done to support the restart of activities in former public enterprises and find interim solutions to allow for foreign investments and for production to begin.

SM: Part of this process will be a whole definition of what is state-owned, socially-owned or private.  I would have to look into the PDK story to see what happened to those funds.  The discussion today was on 'openly collected funds' during the 1990s, primarily by Bukoshi.  This was not a matter of racketeering… it was a way that they kept their parallel institutions (schools, health services, etc.) going.  Dr. Kouchner is urging Mr. Bukoshi to dedicate those funds to the Kosovo budget.

Q:  I understand that they are two separate issues.  The Regional Police Commander handed this investigation over to the UN.  The UN was meant to look at it and decide whether to go ahead and prosecute or make further investigations.  However, he has heard nothing since then… there has been no action taken on the case.  I would like to know what has happened?

SM:  I will look into it.

Q:  In Bosnia, before their electoral process started, they threw out a couple of parties that would not accept principles of the Dayton Agreement.  Are you going to impose similar conditions (ex. Basic acceptance of Rambouillet) before parties will be allowed to participate in the elections here?

RB:  This is not similar to the Dayton incident, because the set-up here is different…  the international community is in charge of administering Kosovo.

Several questions followed on the mine attack that occurred yesterday killing two Serb men and injuring one other.  Reporters wanted to know whether it was confirmed that the mine was placed at the scene recently ruling out any possibility that it was an old unexploded mine.  They wanted to know the type of the mine and details of who exactly was being targeted.  Major Slaten and Ms. Manuel explained that the attack was a criminal attack aimed at either killing or injuring any civilians living in Kosovo.  They reiterated that the road was frequently travelled by civilians, KFOR, UNMIK and that anyone could have been a victim.

A reporter asked for further information regarding the incident in Mitrovica (North) where a call was placed regarding an illegal house occupation.   Ms. Manuel said that the information she had was based on the incident reports and that she would get more details. 

Q:  Regarding the elections: what would happen if someone in a political party is caught doing something illegal?

RB: Sanctions reside with the Central Elections Commission and as I said before fines can be given, or if it is severe, the accused candidate can be taken off the list.  A party could also be decertified from running.

Q:  So the party would not be able to take part in the elections until the following ones?

RB:  Yes… the party would be decertified from these elections.

Q:  A statement yesterday said that this "was a cowardly attack against the Serbs".  How many Albanians live there?

SM:  It is generally a Serb village but there are Albanians and Romas living there as well.

SS:  That was my point.  When someone places a mine, it becomes an issue for everyone living there.