UNMIK-KFOR-UNHCR-OSCE-EU Press Briefing: 16 August 2000
UNMIK Spokeswoman Claire
Trevena
KFOR Spokesman Major Scott Slaten
UNMIK Spokeswoman Claire Trevena
The SRSG, Dr Bernard Kouchner has gone to Zvecan today to meet with workers of the Zvecan lead smelter. We have been paying advances on their August salaries. Several have had blood tests at the plant, and we along with local doctors are offering blood tests in northern and southern Mitrovica. Otherwise, the situation in northern Mitrovica is relatively calm: There have been peaceful demonstrations both in the town and at the plant.
On Friday, we will have an in-depth briefing on the economic plans for the Trepca complex and for northern Mitrovica. SRSG Bernard Kouchner will lead the discussion. His economic policy advisor Bernard Salome, will give a full briefing on the plans for Trepca for the coming year. Alan Pearson, DSRSG Pillar IV, will describe the economic projects we plan and are implementing in northern Kosovo.
IAC meeting: Yesterday the IAC endorsed two regulations--one on the sale of pharmaceutical drugs and amending the Kosovo Consolidated Budget for the year 2000 in order to deal with new pressures on the budget. The IAC will now take a break until September.
The co-heads of the Central Fiscal Authority--Anthony Preston Stanley and Ali Sadriu, will brief you at 12:15 about the budget changes. Following their briefing, Father Sava Janjic of the Serb National Council Gracanica will give his regular weekly briefing. If he comes earlier, he will precede the budget briefing.
In the Mitrovica district court, the trial started yesterday against Vladin Vucetic 18, who is accused of being part of a group who killed 20 people last year. He was arrested in Sept 99 on genocide charges. The trial opened with international prosecutor Michael Hartmann handling the case with judge Lushta presiding.
A Kosovo Albanian man from Kosovo Polje is under arrest after police traced phone calls to his home – the calls had been bomb threats on Serb houses and a threat that a sniper would shoot an UNMIK police officer. He’s now being questioned about a number of bomb threats. In Klina a Kosovo Albanian man stopped by traffic patrol attacked a KPS officer with a knife and a gun. The officer managed to disarm him and he is now under arrest.
To remind you of upcoming events: this afternoon at 5 o’clock the OSCE will be holding the ballot lottery which determines the order political parties will appear on the ballot. Also on elections, the Council of Europe Election Observation Mission is holding its first press conference to introduce the mission here. That’s tomorrow at 3 PM in the Grand Hotel.
Tomorrow at 11 a.m., the acting executive director of the UN agency Habitat, Mr. Klaus Toepfer, will launch the Housing and Property Directorate and Housing and Property Claims Commission. This will take place in Room C301 of this building. Please arrive enough ahead of time to get your passes to the building.
Pillar IV is organising a press opportunity to launch its road rehabilitation programme. It’s going to be at the road to Llipian. A bus for the media will leave here at noon. Please contact Irene Mingasson for that.
Sadly the pool has closed due to unacceptable levels of e coli bacteria. When the electricity cuts occurred, the filtration system at the pool was operating at only 20 percent of normal. This allowed a dangerous level of e coli bacteria to develop. Once the pool is sufficiently cleaned it will re-open.
Major Scott A. Slaten
In MNB West around 1 a.m., shots were reported heard in the area south of the city of Peje / Pec. A KFOR patrol from Task Force Aquila and UNMIK Police were dispatched to the area and conducted a house search of a Kosovo Albanian man. The search revealed an AK-47 assault rifle and an empty magazine. The weapon was confiscated and the man questioned.
In MNB North, just before midnight, four Kosovar Albanians crossed the Ibar River near the area of the Dolce Vita bar where they proceeded to provoke several Kosovar Serbs. A small crowd quickly gathered and surrounded the agitators. KFOR soldiers were notified of the developing situation and responded to the scene, which allowed the four Kosovar Albanians to escape. Later in the evening the agitators were questioned by UNMIK Police.
Starting today, KFOR Passenger train service will be suspended for at least three days. The suspension came as a result of a water pipeline that burst and flooded the tracks making travel temporarily unsafe.
In the interim, six buses have been provided to transport passengers from Fushe Kosove / Kosovo Polje to Zvecan. Departure and arrival times have been published and closely replicate the normal train schedule.
KFOR engineers and maintenance personnel are currently working to fix the situation and normal train service will resume as quickly as possible.
in the area near Hodanofc / Odanovce for two Kosovo Serbs who have been reported missing since 12 August 2000. KFOR MNB East has increased security measures in the area in order to prevent interference with the search operation. Currently the town and surrounding area is reported as being peaceful.
Questions:
Q: During the last press conference you said that UNMIK was going to pay the wages for Trepca employees who are not working at the moment. Is that means that UNMIK will pay all the Trepca employees or only to Serbs who were working until two days ago?
CT: The workers who were at Zvecan are being paid, and the ones in the northern chain. I’ll have to find out for the other ones.
Q: It has been reported in the newspapers today that the Serbs workers have been paid in newly printed Yugoslav dinars. Is that legal, having in mind Mr. Kouchner’s regulation stating DM as transaction currency in Kosovo?
CT: They have been in Dinars or DM as they
wish, I don’t know whether they’re newly printed or not. DM isn’t the sole
currency for the whole of Kosovo as you know, dinar is being used.
Q:
If they are paid by UNMIK, can they be paid in Dinars?
CT: They can get paid in Dinars. They have the choice if they want to be paid in Deutschmarks of in Dinars.
Q: Can you find out how UNMIK get Dinars? How do you get Dinars.
CT: I’ll find out, yes.
Q: Do you know anything about Dr. Kouchner going to Zvecan today?
CT: I announced right at the start of the briefing, I don’t know whether you were here, that he is in Zvecan this morning talking the workers.
Q: Do you know why exactly today he decided to go there?
CT: Why exactly, no. But he was going to go up sometime this week to talk to the workers and today’s the day he’s gone up to talk to the workers.
Q: Can you explain a little bit more why UNMIK decided more than one year to intervene in Zvecan.
CT: The reason is at two levels. One is that when the plant reopened in June, the levels of lead that were eminating from the plant work were, as we all know was unacceptable high. After negotiations with the plant management, it was clear that they weren’t going to stop doing smelting. The level of the lead was continuously high; and that was unacceptable for the people of Kosovo in Mitrovica area. The other level is that it now gives us a chance to rebuild the economic foundations. If you rebuild Zvecan, we can now start rebuilding the whole Trepca complex.
Q: And how come the announcement on the pollution of Zvecan Mine and the announcement on the Consortium which is going to help managing Trepca? What’s the connection between the two.
CT: The connection is that the Consortium is going to work on the rehabilitation of the whole Trepca. It had been under discussion for some time, and by coincidence the signing of the Consortium deal came at the same time.
Q: A question on the elections. One of the Serb leaders in North of Mitrovica has said that Serbs are going to hold their own elections since they don’t recognise Mr. Kouchner’s elections as they put it. I just want to know where UNMIK stands about this. Would UNMIK allow those elections to take place, not Yugoslavia elections, not Kosovo elections, but North Mitrovica elections?
CT: I haven’t heard of their plans, but UNMIK has one set of elections here and those are the ones being organised by the OSCE on 28 October.
Q: Can you give us some updates on plans that UNMIK has to pay retrospective salaries to public sector employees.
CT: I’ll have to find out for you on that question.
Q: Are they going to be paid or are they still been blocked by Mr Salome.
CT: I honestly don’t know. We may get some details on the budget briefing that coming up.
Q: My question concerns the group that UNMIK has set up to monitor the political violence. How far are you with you evidence, and is that evidence make conclude or disagree with the interpretation on the violence that happened the last few weeks…. Is UNMIK setting up the legal criteria dealing with different claims from French and big companies claiming the ownership of the so called Trepca complex?
CT: On the second question, this is an issue I am not aware of. On the first question, we have this group tht is looking into the political violence, but they haven’t finish their examination of what happened in the past few weeks. When they have, we will be informing you about what has came out of that examination.
Q: A question on Yugoslav elections. Have planned to open a polling station here for the Yugoslav elections or have had any contact with Belgrade with regard to this?
CT: No we have no plans to open polling stations. Apparently Belgrade has no plans to open polling stations here either. From what we understand, they are putting polling stations in about three municipalities outside the Kosovo boundary where people can vote if they want to vote.
Q: A question to KFOR. Have you done anything to prevent the cigarettes coming from the plant)…; it was a couple of days ago, preventing those cigarettes be sold on the street.
SS: We always work with UNMIK. We don’t have prepondance (?)for that. This is usually UNMIK customs and UNMIK Police. We’re operating in conjunction with them to seize any illegal article that is coming into Kosovo. Cigarettes are one of those.
Q: I am talking exactly about the case of cigarettes coming from Korovica (?). Those cigarettes are still being sold on the street.
SS: I don’t know if those cigarettes have been sold on the street. I’ll have to check on that. If they were illegal and were seized, that seems strange that they are being sold on the street.