This week the KTC for the first time exercised one of the functions of the future Assembly - that of calling public institutions to account. Flamur Blakaj, Director, Forensic Institute, Pristina, was invited to address the KTC to decide on the sending of Kosovo Albanian forensic experts to Serbia to participate in the exhumation of mass graves. (The previous week the KTC had expressed surprise at the Institute's refusal to do so.) Given the recent prominent media coverage accorded the issue of Kosovo Albanian missing persons, it was perhaps no accident that the KTC assumed the mantle of a future executive body while making a decision on this important matter.

Flamur Blakaj informed the KTC that forensic experts were still willing to take part in exhumations in Serbia, notwithstanding their announcements that they would not participate. Prior to the Forensic Institute making a decision, Blakaj, however, requested UNMIK to clarify details concerning travel plans, the numbers of experts involved, their length of their stay and security provisions.

Meanwhile, the issue of Kosovo Serb missing continues to be contentious. UNMIK vehemently maintains there are no new gravesites in Suharekë /Suva Reka containing Serb bodies as was alleged in the Serb press.

Monique Fienberg, UNMIK Human Rights Officer, said that the report in the Belgrade press was a distortion of the facts. To clarify the matter UNMIK explained that out of the 1,256 unidentified bodies uncovered by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) during exhumations in 1999 and 2000, 800-900 were buried in Suhareka/Suva Reka. But UNMIK said no new mass grave site had been discovered.
For the Serb community, whose leaders assert that 1,300 Serb missing persons are still unaccounted for, such information provides little comfort. UNMIK is particularly concerned that the fate of all missing persons is brought to light so that this divisive issue is resolved. Although to date few bodies of missing Kosovo Serbs have been found, Bishop Artemije, head of the Orthodox Church in Kosovo, said on 16 July that the Kosovo Serbs would not participate in the elections as long as the fate of over 1,000 still missing persons was not elucidated. It will also be the central concern of Serbian Prime-Minister Zoran Djindjic, who has said he would like to visit Kosovo later this month. Djindjic announced that he wanted to meet with KPC leader Commander Ceku and PDK leader Hashim Thaci to discuss the fate of the Serbs who disappeared or were abducted during or after the conflict. However the two Kosovo Albanians have rejected the offer.

In the future, some of the bodies of the missing may be identified thus helping to assuage the anxiety of their families and relatives. UNMIK and the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), an organization funded by the U.S. State Department, is due to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to begin DNA testing on the unidentified bodies. Once the document is signed the ICMB will begin collecting blood samples from the families to compare them with the DNA samples.

However, comparing DNA is a laborious process which, when trying to match thousands of persons, could take several years to achieve results.

UNMIK's draft regulation seeks to curb minority property sales

UNMIK's new draft regulation seeks to limit forced sales of minority properties in mixed neighbourhoods in order to forestall minority departures from such areas. While the move has drawn a barrage of criticism from IAC, political parties and the public, the recent history of forced sales of minority properties in Kosovo provides a justificatory background for the Regulation.

For many months UNMIK has received proof that organized groups of Kosovo Albanians have been targeting and purchasing certain properties deemed "strategic" locations for Serb minority populations. UNMIK has compiled much evidence that buyers have been acquiring strategically-located properties in mixed neighborhoods, for example, at a crossroads, in a central neighbourhood, or near a church - either by paying a huge price, by intimidation, or by utilization of both methods.

The repercussions of such sales are twofold: minorities lose their sense of security and their freedom of movement. A chain reaction ensues: other Serbs in turn sell their properties at very low prices and the locality loses its mixed character.

Whilst many Serbs and other minorities left Kosovo out of fear; others were driven out; others sold their properties willingly. But another group would like to stay as long as their neighbourhoods are safe. These are the people whom UNMIK is concerned about, and whom it is seeking to protect through the draft regulation.

According to its provisions, the SRSG along with Municipal and Regional Administrators, will identify ethnically-mixed neighbourhooods, usually localities which are rapidly losing their minority populations - namely, small, mixed areas where the minority population is particularly vulnerable.

The draft regulation requires the buyer wishing to purchase a property in such a neighborhood to propose the sale to the Municipal Administrator. The MA will check the proposed transaction to ensure intimidation was not involved, and that the buyer does not represent a group or organization known to have been buying up properties to ethnically cleanse areas.

A review committee composed of UNMIK, the Housing Property Directorate (HPD), OSCE, UNMIK Police and the Municipality concerned will regularly check the designated areas to ensure they still need this kind of protection.

Although the IAC had initially accepted the idea of such a regulation a few weeks ago, several of its leading political figures voiced their concern at the last IAC meeting on 17 July after reviewing the document. Afterwards the DSRSG Tom Koenigs countered their remarks by explaining: "The regulation is meant for monitoring property sales, not preventing them."
AAK leader Ramush Haradinaj says the draft regulation represents a return to "Communism." UNMIK has emphasized that the regulation is not discriminatory, rather it seeks to protect minority rights.

With regard to Serb fears that the draft regulation may prevent genuine bona fide sales in general, UNMIK has stated that the regulation would not ban or stop sales of Serbian-owned property, rather it would be a deterrent to those involved in criminal or coercive activity. The Administration has stated it will not permit an individual or group to ethnically cleanse an area in Kosovo.

Criticism regarding UNMIK's infringement of human rights is refuted by UNMIK Spokeswoman, Susan Manuel: "The right to sell property is a basic human right - however, if the intent of a sale is to chase out a community, we are obligated to stop it."

Briefs . . .

In-person registration for the forthcoming elections for up to 190,000 Kosovars believed to be living in Serbia and a further 30,000 in Montenegro will be able to start on 30 July 2001, according to a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Serbian and Montenegran authorities. Registration, scheduled to run for six weeks in about 100 centres, will be monitored by both international personnel, organized by the Council of Europe, and local teams to ensure the process is free and fair. To be eligible to register, out-of-Kosovo voters will have to meet the same criteria as those living in Kosovo. That includes being born in Kosovo, having one parent born in Kosovo, or residency in Kosovo for five consecutive years. People also have to show that they left Kosovo on or after 1 January 1998, or that they received refugee status on or after 1 January 1995. In addition, people must be 18 or older by Election Day.

The Department of Transport and Infrastructure is considering new bus routes, including a line that will serve a Kosovo-Albanian enclave of some four villages located between Zvecan and Mitrovica South. Seven buses donated by the German Government are currently being fitted with security plexiglass and will join the humanitarian bus fleet inherited from the UNHCR. KFOR, however, announced it cannot provide constant security escorts due to lack of resources.

Police has begun fining mini-vans driving on newly-restricted routes in Pristina, primarily the Number 4 line. Mini-buses will be fined DM 50 if found operating in restricted areas. The background to the change in routes began on 6 June when the Pristina Municipal Assembly adopted a regulation restricting the urban public transport network. The decision, signed by the Municipal Assembly President, seeks to strengthen the role and rationalize the services provided by the municipal transport company, Trafiku Urbanu. The idea was also to reduce congestion on Mother Teresa and Ramiz Sadiku Streets and make the public bus service financially self-sustainable. As of Monday, 16 July, line 4 (Sunny Hill-Germija Swimming Pool) was to be used by a fleet of some 15 Trafiku Urbanu buses which would cover the entire route (approximately 10 km) every five to ten minutes. Mini-buses were to be denied access to Mother Teresa Street - which is being served by Trafiku Urbanu on a 24-hour basis-and the swimming pool area. The municipal regulation was drafted following an open procedure, including regular consultations with all parties concerned, in particular the representatives of both large and small bus companies.

Companies failing to register for the value-added tax (VAT) are now liable to a fine of DM 250, following the end of the grace period. Almost a month after the VAT was introduced, the tax authorities are satisfied at the level of registration so far, with around 3,800 businesses signing up. The registration process is ongoing and those businesses still unregistered are encouraged to do so. Those who should register for the VAT are all import/export companies and large businesses with an annual turnover of DM 200,000 or more. The first filing period for the tax is from 1 to 31 August 2001.

The Department of Environmental Protection was represented Kosovo at a conference on the Development of National Environmental Information Systems, organized by the Republic of Croatia. The conference aimed to establish a regional framework for the support and development of national information systems within Environmental Protection Ministries and other authorities, as well as to foster their co-operation. National environmental informational systems are based upon a network of institutions using state-of-the-art electronic tools and traditional mechanisms that support collection, storage and accessibility of environmental information to decision-makers and, increasingly, to the public at large. Representatives of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the European Environmental Agency, Kosovo UNEP and UNEP-GRID attended the meeting. In early November concrete needs and priorities for the development of informational systems in each of the above countries (in the form of action plans), as well as the assistance needed, will be further discussed and finalized.

Pristina University Hospital is to spend some DM 6 million on a new sewerage plant, improved sewerage system, new water mains and internal pipe routing, as well as extensive internal improvements to the main building. The project will significantly improve the hospital's water and sanitation infrastructure. A tender for the works will be financed and supported by the United Kingdom's Department for International Development.

Two developments will make life easier for Kosovo's non-residents. Persons recognized as refugees, under the terms of the Geneva Convention, and who have received German travel documents, which used to permit them to travel anywhere except to the country from which they had fled, will now be permitted to travel to UN-administered areas of the FRY, including Kosovo. Secondly, Germany will recognize FRY passports even with expired dates. After the conflict ended, the Yugoslav authorities declared that they lacked the ability to renew all FRY passports, and hence considered even passports with expired dates valid for the time being. Germany's recognition of such passports extends to the end of 2001.

An EU-financed project will give Kosovo complete digital network coverage by September 2001. International access and connections will be rerouted on the European fibre optic network. By the end of the year, internet services will be widely available. Minority coverage in these programmes is a priority and an officer has been appointed expressly to address this issue. Recorded messages will soon be in Albanian, Serbian and English.

Cafa Prusit has been opened as a legal crossing point from Kosovo into Albania. However, it is not a crossing point for commercial traffic which must go through Customs. All commercial traffic must use other points, usually the crossing at Morini.