President George W. Bush's visit to Kosovo on 24 July, the second time a US President has come to Kosovo since the end of the conflict, must be seen as a reaffirmation of US support to the province. After calling for a unilateral withdrawal of 9,000 US troops stationed in Bosnia and Kosovo during his presidential campaign, during this week's visit Bush restated the US military commitment to Kosovo asserting that the US and its allies "came in together, and we will leave together." Such American military support provides the requisite backdrop of stability for the continuation of the political processes in Kosovo. Diplomats had feared that any early US withdrawal would encourage extremists.

Bush met with the SRSG Hans Haekkerup, COMKFOR General Thornstein Skiaker, OSCE Head Daan Everts and DSRSG Andy Bearpark at Camp Bondsteel. Topics discussed at the meeting included the security situation in Kosovo and the region at large, the election process, and the post-election scenario. The SRSG briefed Bush on preparations for the elections, and the U.S. President endorsed UNMIK's plans for self-governing institutions to be established after the elections. "Our goal is to hasten the day when peace is self-sustaining, when local, democratically-elected authorities can assume full responsibility and when NATO forces can go home, " Bush said.

The KTC evaluated Bush's visit to Kosovo on Tuesday as a sign of backing for the political developments in this part of the region. The SRSG told KTC members that the US President had given his support for the processes that have already been initiated, such as the building of democracy and establishment of the rule of law.

Serb delegation from Belgrade visits Suva Reka/Suharekë

On Wednesday, 25 July, members of the Belgrade-based Contact Group on Missing Persons, accompanied by Serbian journalists, visited one of UNMIK's burial grounds for unidentified persons located in Suva Reka/Suharekë. The visit was organized by the UNMIK Office of Human Rights and Community Affairs (OHRCA) in an effort to dispel a rumour circulating in the Serbian press that a new mass grave containing up to 800 bodies of Kosovo Serbs had been found at Suva Reka/Suharekë.

The fact is that the 188 graves at the UNMIK gravesite in Suva Reka/Suharekë contain unidentified bodies exhumed and reburied in 2000 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The Suva Reka/Suharekë gravesite contains no new bodies and no new mass grave has been uncovered in Kosovo.

Of the 3,900 bodies exhumed by ICTY, 1,256 remain unidentified. These bodies have been reburied in the municipalities where they were found, either in UNMIK graveyards like the one at Suva Reka/Suharekë or in municipal graveyards. The visit to Suva Reka/Suharekë allowed the Serbian delegation to see the situation for themselves.

Susan Manuel, UNMIK Spokesperson, who accompanied the delegation, assured them that the bodies were at no risk. "Each community knows that these bodies could belong to them so they are very respectful of the graves," she said.

Gradimir Nalic, Advisor to the President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on the issue of missing persons, was part of the delegation that came from Belgrade. "I'm glad that UNMIK allowed us to come see the site and we see that it has a fence and the graves are marked and mapped," he said. "The new government of Yugoslavia is trying to raise the level of cooperation with UNMIK on the issue of missing persons. Whether these unidentified people are Albanian, Roma or Serbian, is not the point. What's important is finding out who they are and letting their families know," he continued.

Finding Kosovo's missing is one of UNMIK's top priorities. On Tuesday, 24 July, SRSG Hans Haekkerup signed an agreement with the Sarajevo-based International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), an organization funded by the US State Department, to begin working together and using DNA testing to further efforts to match unidentified bodies with their families.

The collaboration with ICMP will give UNMIK access to DNA testing and sophisticated computer software to match post-mortem and ante-mortem data. The matching of post- mortem data (items collected from the body) with ante- mortem data (information taken from families) is how bodies are identified.

From now on all work on identifying missing persons will be handled by UNMIK Police's Missing Persons Unit (MPU), who will work in tandem with the ICMP. In addition to the 1,256 ICTY bodies, the MPU and ICMP will work on identifying bodies from 33 soon-to-be-excavated gravesites in Kosovo and bodies from recently discovered mass graves in Serbia.

"Although we will have sophisticated new methods at our disposal for identifying bodies, this is still not a guarantee," says Monique Fienberg, Officer-in-Charge at OHRCA. "The most important step remains for each family missing someone to come forward to the police and give as much information as possible about their loved one. This information, called ante-mortem data, is the key to identifying bodies. Without this, even the most sophisticated methods in the world won't work."

In an appeal to those in Gracanica to stop their hunger strike over missing persons, Susan Manuel said: "We have heard your message and we are doing all we can. It is slow-going, but there is no conspiracy."

Briefs . . .

On Monday 30 July OSCE will open 75 Voters' Service Centres across Kosovo for a six-week period. The aim: to update the Voters' List. Teams will visit 125 different locations to enable the disabled and homebound, and those living in small enclaves to register. A similar registration process is being organized through the International Organization of Migration (IOM) in Serbia and Montenegro where 51 teams will be working in 100 locations. Those who should register are those who have reached 18 years, people who have moved in the last year, or those who have returned to Kosovo. To be included in the voters' list a person has first to have registered civilly with UNMIK.

JIAS Department of Democratic Governance and Civil Society (DDGCS) is continuing to hold briefing and training programs for JIAS departments and other institutions on a variety of issues, including ethnic communities, political party registration, women in politics, NGO laws, and taxes. On 18 June DDGCS conducted a briefing for the Special Task Group mobile units, which are providing election information to IDPs, refugees and persons with restricted mobility. The briefing covered equal opportunity concepts in JIAS, and an overview of recent policy recommendations for including all ethnic communities in governance.

The Statistical Office of Kosovo is officially up and running and ready to record all of Kosovo's births, deaths and marriages. The recording of a country's vital statistics are crucial for estimating changes in population necessary for the planning of health care and medical research, infrastructure and roads, education, the national budget, etc. After the 1999 conflict Kosovo's system for recording statistics, in operation since 1946, was in ruins. Thanks to funding from the United Nations Population Fund and with the cooperation of the UNMIK Department of Health and the Central Civil Registry, the guidelines and the structures for the new system are in place.

A delegation from UNMIK's Department of Non-Resident Affairs visited Serbia from 16 to 18 July 2001. Meetings were held with officials of the UNHCR, OSCE and UNMIK offices in Belgrade, NGOs dealing with IDPs, and IDP associations. All interlocutors, including the Serbian NGOs and IDP associations, warmly received the delegation. It was repeatedly pointed out that the Kosovo Serbs in Serbia felt neglected by both international organizations and the Serbian authorities. The Kosovo Serb IDP representatives expressed the hope that the Department would fill a gap by providing a link with the administration in Kosovo. The association, "Gazimestan," in Krusevac even stated that the delegation was the first international group to visit them.

In Pejë/Pec, OSCE organised and chaired a meeting with six representatives of the Women's Coalition, a local NGO, and UNIFEM in the Democracy House on 19 July where the project proposal "Women Vote for Women" was discussed. The proposal includes financing and co-ordinating a project aimed at increasing women's participation in the political arena. With OSCE and UNIFEM logistical support, the Women's Coalition has organised four roundtables in Pejë/Pec, Klinë/Klina, Istog/Istok and Decan/Decani munipalities. OSCE also met separately with UNIFEM representatives to discuss facilitating the participation of non-Albanian women, including Turkish, Bosniac and Gorani, in the forthcoming elections.
The Institute for Civil Administration (ICA) conducted a one-day seminar on "Urban Planning and Development" for 14 Kosovo Serb participants from three municipalities (Zvecan/Zveçan, Leposavic/Leposaviq and Zubin Potok) in Zvecan/Zveçan on 19 July. The seminar included topics such as technical planning skills, an overview of master plans, building regulations and case studies organized for the Chief Executive Officer, members of the Municipal Policy and Finance Committee, departmental directors, and other senior staff.

OSCE held its third training seminar for advocates and representatives of Legal Aid NGOs on the implementation of a project entitled "Legal Aid to the Victims of Trafficking". The training, held on 18 July, consisted of three sessions: general information on the problem of human trafficking in Kosovo; the legal aspects of Regulation 2001/4 and criminal acts associated with trafficking before the Regulation on the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons in Kosovo entered into force; and practical training for defence attorneys of trafficking victims. The IOM also participated in the seminar, presenting information on the socio-economic implications of trafficking, psychological issues, as well as the reintegration of trafficking victims.

A branch of the New Bank of Kosovo (BRK), with its headquarters in Pristina, will start operating in Mitrovica in a month"s time. The branch -- the first to be established there after the war -- will commence business with 14 employees. At present preparations for staff training and refurbishment of the facility are underway. The bank is expected to contribute substantially to the economic development of Mitrovica and its region, and act as a strong financial agent for businessmen from all areas of the province.

The Kosovo Serb community engagement at the municipal level appears to be in the process of improving. The Pristina Regional Office and the Public Utilities Department agreed to create a combined technical office of the water, electricity and sanitation companies in Kosovo for the Kosovo Serb community in Gracanica. However, Kosovo Serb leaders in Mitrovica and the Education Committee of the Serbian Assembly demanded that Kosovo Serb education has to remain under the Serbian Ministry of Education. UNMIK has given its assurances that it would continue to respect Kosovo Serb education criteria and would consult with Serbian education experts on educational reforms.

The Department of Education is making final preparations for the upcoming teacher training seminars in the Mitrovica region. For three weeks in August a seminar will be held for the Kosovo Albanian teachers in the Temporary Faculty Facility (TFF-Mitrovica south), while the Serbian program will be organized in north Mitrovica or Leposaviq/Leposavic. Some 50 Serb teachers from all the regions are expected to participate.