28 January
UNMIK Police Commissioner
Christopher Albiston announced his departure from the Mission. In his
farewell address to the press, he commended the Kosovo Police Service
"as a fine institution, as a fine example of what the people of
Kosovo from all different backgrounds can achieve when working together".
UNMIK was well on the way to developing an effective, credible and impartial
local police service, the Commissioner said.
Crime in Kosovo
is stabilizing as UNMIK Police and the Kosovo Police Service devote
more resources to the investigation of ordinary crime, according to
UNMIK Police. The security situation is also improving. If there were
245 murders, 275 attempted murders, 190 kidnappings, 523 arsons and
22 acts of looting Kosovo-wide in 2000, those numbers fell to, respectively,
136, 225, 165, 218 and 6 in 2001. The number of fatal traffic accidents
also went down: from 250 persons killed in 2000 to 159 in 2001.
UNMIK Police, supported
by KFOR, arrested two men suspected of having committed a series of
abductions, physical attacks and, in some cases, murders during the
period from September 1998 to June 1999. The victims in all incidents
related to those allegations were Kosovo Albanian civilians. The defendants
at the time of the alleged criminal activity were members of the former
Kosovo Liberation Army military police operating in the Podujeve/Podujevo
municipality.
The Transitional
Department of Labour and Social Welfare and the Central Fiscal Authority
announced they would introduce a modern, European pension system in
Kosovo. There will be a universal pension for the elderly, which means
that all those over 65 will have an automatic flat-rate pension funded
from the Kosovo budget. A new mandatory pension system for today's workers
will be introduced. The system will also provide the legal basis for
the operation of voluntary pension schemes which must comply with the
pension regulation of 22 December 2001.
30 January
UNMIK Police arrested
three men for smuggling arms and explosives into Kosovo and seized a
large quantity of weapons, explosives and military equipment near the
town of Ponoshevac in Peje/Pec Region. UNMIK Police officers, supported
by KFOR troops, intercepted a convoy of mules soon after it crossed
into Kosovo from Albania. Confiscated were 20 automatic rifles, two
machine guns, 15,000 rounds of ammunition, 20 kilogrammes of explosives,
30 hand grenades, and military uniforms.
A photo exhibition
by OSCE's photographer Lubomir Kotek (Czech Republic) opened at the
National Theatre in Pristina, displaying images taken over the past
two years. The show will run until 9 February, after which it will travel
to Vienna, Warsaw, Lisbon and Paris.
31 January
The European Agency
for Reconstruction announced it would begin repairs of the pumping station
at Batllava Water Company, which supplies water to most of the Pristina
region. All three pumps at the station will be replaced. The building
will also be rehabilitated. When repairs are finished at the end of
June 2002, water supply will be more efficient and reliable.
Office of the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that UNHCR Chief of
Mission, Lennart Kostalainen of Sweden, would bid farewell to Kosovo
on 5 February, after an assignment of more than two years. His successor
will be Walter Irvine of Mexico.
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