4 February
Continuing his meetings
with political leaders from the Assembly, Acting SRSG Charles Brayshaw
held discussions with representatives of Kosovo's Turkish, Roma and
Bosniac communities. The aim of these meetings is to probe for their
political position with regard to the current state of affairs in the
Assembly and to understand their current thinking.
UNMIK Police announced
that following the departure of Police Commissioner Christopher Albiston
on 31 January, Deputy Commissioner Adalbert Gross will assume command
of UNMIK Police until a new Commissioner is appointed.
5 February
Deputy SRSG Jean-Christian Cady, head of Pillar I, told the Interim
Administrative Council that all Kosovo Albanian detainees being held
in prisons in Serbia would be transferred to Kosovo, possibly at the
end of March 2002. He said the authorities in Belgrade had already handed
over files of a large number of these detainees to UNMIK. There are
presently 162 Kosovo Albanian detainees in Serbian prisons. "We
shall ... see which detainees have to serve out their detention in Kosovo
and which detainees are political prisoners and have therefore to be
released once they are transferred to UNMIK's authority," said
Cady, adding that the FRY approach in these talks had been very positive.
6 February
The United States, European Union, German, French, Italian, Danish
and British liaison offices in Pristina expressed full support for the
efforts of UNMIK and KFOR to carry out their mandate to uphold law and
order in Kosovo. "If Kosovo is to establish itself as a society
grounded in democratic ideals and respect for the rule of law, Kosovars
must be ready to condemn criminality-regardless of the perpetrator or
the victim," the statement said. The three men recently arrested
were charged with committing crimes against their fellow Albanian Kosovars,
and they will have the opportunity to defend themselves in a court of
law, it added.
7 February
The UNHCR launched a book "A Journey Home, the Humanitarian
Challenge in Kosovo", which is a visual document of about 100 black
and white photographs covering the exodus, return, displacement and
reintegration of Kosovars between 1999 and 2001. The period covered
in the book reflects some of the dramatic transformations that Kosovo
went through during the past three years: the 1999 conflict which saw
a displacement of over 850,000 Kosovo Albanians; the post-conflict phase
where pain and loss were slowly replaced by hopes and renewed beginnings;
a time when the political, socio-economic and human landscape completely
changed and the displacement and isolation of hundreds of thousands
of Kosovo's minorities and the arrival of new refugees created yet another
cycle of intolerance, hatred and injustice.
The BPK Governing Board approved licenses for four insurance
companies to operate in Kosovo. These are: Dardania, Sigueria, Dukagjini
and Insig insurance companies.
Tim O'Neil, Principal International Officer of the Transitional
Department of Trade and Industry, was appointed as the new Chairman
of the Supervisory Board of KEK.
8 February
The Kosovo Law Centre
(KLC) hosted a grand opening of its new premises in the Ulpiana district
of Pristina and presented its strategic programme for 2002. While the
KLC will continue to support legal education at the Law Faculty, it
will also be providing training to the staff of the Ministry of Education,
Science and Technology.
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