UNMIK Newsletter No. 34
NATO confirms use of depleted
uranium
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has confirmed
that depleted uranium was used during the Kosovo conflict, the UN Environment
Programme (UNEP) said in a statement on 21 March.
NATO used some 31,000
rounds of depleted uranium ammunition throughout the province in more than 100
bombing missions. The Balkans Task Force (BTF) says that the information
provided by NATO so far is not detailed enough to facilitate an accurate
assessment of the environmental and human health consequences.
BTF was set up
by UNEP and the UN Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS/Habitat) in May 1999 to
assess the environmental and human settlement consequences of the Balkans
conflict. Last year, a BTF report concluded that the Kosovo conflict did not
cause an environmental catastrophe affecting the Balkans region as a whole, but
that pollution detected at four environmental “hot spots” was serious and posed
a health threat.
After reviewing the data provided by NATO, BTF concluded
that information was needed on the exact location of the depleted uranium
ordnance to carry out a comprehensive, objective and scientifically based
environmental and human health impact assessment in Kosovo.
The conclusions
of the BTF scientists have been forwarded to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and
the heads of other concerned UN agencies, including UNMIK.
KFOR closes boundary
crossings
KFOR has started sealing secondary and minor border
crossings between Kosovo and eastern Serbia to guard against cross-border
violence, a KFOR spokesman said on 22 March. He said that troops have commenced
operations to close the Podujevo border crossing and all other unofficial
crossings between Kosovo and Serbia. The main border crossings will, however,
remain open. He said the purpose of this operation was to prevent Kosovo being
used as a base for the export of violence into Serbia’s volatile Presevo Valley,
where an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 ethnic Albanians still live. He said that
KFOR will carry out strict ID checks of people crossing the
boundary.
Explosion damages railway bridge near
Mitrovica
An explosion heavily damaged a railway bridge near
Mitrovica on 22 March, blocking the main railway line from Mitrovica to Lesac. A
KFOR spokesman said that bomb disposal experts and police were investigating the
incident.
In a statement a day later, KFOR said that its engineers had
assessed the damage to the bridge and predicted it would take at least two
months to repair it.
KFOR Belgian and Danish engineers conducted an
extensive examination of other road and railway bridges in the area and found
another cluster of explosives ready to destroy a road bridge
nearby.
UNICEF warns against war and
sanctions
One year after the start of NATO air strikes against
Serbia and the extensive humanitarian relief effort that followed, UNICEF
declared on 21 March that the children of the Balkans region “remain the most
endangered children in Europe”.
In a statement issued in New York and
Geneva, UNICEF’s Executive Director, Ms Carol Bellamy, said poverty had almost
doubled since last year’s conflict and almost two-thirds of the population,
mostly Serbs, lived at or below the poverty line.
The agency also reported
that shortages of heating fuel had forced schools to shorten their hours,
weakening an educational environment in which schools closed three months early
during air strikes last spring and reopened late last fall because classrooms
were used to house internally displaced families.
Ms Bellamy said the
youth’s long-term prospects remained dreary unless “adults throughout the region
fulfill their moral duty to end the ethnic hatred and violence that so
insidiously shadow every new generation”.
What’s on in the regions
Pec
Pumps, pipes and
fittings for the waterworks of Pec and Klina were delivered to the region last
week by the MTZ Company. These supplies are being installed as part of the water
project funded by the European Union.
The construction of the generator
house at the Klina Water Company is almost complete. A generator will be
transported from the Portuguese KFOR premises and installed in the generator
house.
Pristina
After lengthy
negotiations with the Serb community, an agreement was reached on 22 March to
relocate almost all the 42 internally displaced Serbs from the Sveti Savas
School in Kosovo Polje to a hotel in Bresovica in the Stroce municipality. The
Serbs were moved the same day in cooperation with the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees and KFOR and in agreement with Mr. Andjelkovic, president of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Committee for Cooperation with UNMIK. Plans are
being made to relocate the few Serbs who still live in the Sveti Sava School,
which has not been used as a school because of their presence in the
building.
Mitrovica
UNMIK has
received 500,000 deutsche mark from the Government of San Marino. The money will
be used to fund four projects in the health sector: the purchase of three
ambulances, a generator for the health house in Leposavic, the rehabilitation of
the immunization centre in Mitrovica and the rehabilitation of the health house
in Zubin Potok.
Gnjilane
More than 4
million deutsche mark has been disbursed to 91,640 beneficiaries under the
Emergency Financial Assistance Programme in Gnjilane. This social assistance
programme is run by the Social Welfare Department of UNMIK, through which
families without any source of income are provided 25 to 100 deutsche mark each
per month.
Prizren
KFOR will shortly
formulate a security plan that will enable Albanian and Serb farmers of the
Orahovac municipality to safely engage in farming activities. Farmers of both
communities recently expressed their concerns over the security situation. The
decision to formulate a new security plan was taken after a meeting between the
Orohavac municipal officials and KFOR representatives.
In other
developments, the municipality of Suhareka is going to start imposing fines for
traffic violations. The revenue from these fines will be allocated to the
municipal budget.
Briefs . . . .
Pressure on to find missing persons: During his visit to Djakova on 22 March, the Head of UNMIK met with members of the Missing Persons Association, who asked for help in finding about 1,500 people who have been missing from Djakova since the war began a year ago. Dr. Kouchner said he had given a list of missing persons to the UN Security Council and that he had asked the UN Secretary-General to appoint a human rights representative to investigate the cases.
Asbestos-using factory remains closed: UNMIK’s Department of Trade and Industry announced on 22 March that the Sharr-Salloniti factory at Hani I Elezit, near the Blace border, would remain closed for environmental reasons. The factory was using asbestos in the manufacture of roof tiles until it was closed down last month. The co-head of the department, Mr. Ian Fletcher, said the decision was accepted by the plant’s management.
Police to check vehicle registration: UNMIK Police will conduct traffic controls to check vehicles for their registration papers in Pristina starting on 31 March. Drivers need proof of insurance and a document verifying payment of customs duty for recently obtained vehicles. The fee for customs clearance documents has been reduced from 100 to 30 deutsche mark.
Bulgarian Prime Minister offers help: During his
visit to Kosovo last week, Bulgarian Prime Minister Ivan Kostov offered to help
promote the dialogue between ethnic Albanians and Serbs in the province. Mr.
Kostov made the offer during a meeting with the Head of UNMIK in Pristina on 19
March, when he also offered to increase the number of Bulgarian police
officers serving with UNMIK.
Balkans Task Force created: In Lisbon last week
the European Union (EU) created a new Balkans Task Force to coordinate policy on
the former Yugoslavia and ensure efficient delivery of aid to the region,
including Kosovo. The task force will be headed by EU High Representative for
Foreign Policy Javier Solana and External Affairs Commissioner Chris
Patten.
UNHCR Head visit: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Ms Sadako Ogata, expressed cautious optimism on 26 March about the situation in Kosovo, saying it still fell short of the goal of a multi-ethnic and tolerant society. On the last day of her visit to Kosovo, she said, “This is not an inter-ethnic Kosovo that we see here today and this is not what the international community was committed to.” Yet she added that she was encouraged by the “words of moderation” from the local Albanian leaders. Ms Ogata also appealed to European leaders not to force thousands of Albanians to return home, saying that a new mass influx could make the province unstable.
IAC meets in CFA office: The Interim Administrative Council (IAC) met for the first time at the premises of the Central Fiscal Authority on 21 March. The IAC intends to meet at the different administrative departments in order to get first-hand information of the day-to-day work of the joint administration.
EU calls for end to violence: The 15 foreign
ministers of the European Commission on 20 March condemned “the extremism on
both sides” of Kosovo’s ethnic divide. They appealed to Kosovo’s ethnic
Albanians and Serbs “to reject the violence and extremism” and urged political
leaders “to use their influence to take urgent action to prevent further
incidents and disorder”.
OSCE distributes children’s books: The
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has started
distributing children’s books in schools throughout Kosovo last week. The OSCE
announced that 10,000 books are to be distributed. The books, which include a
play, poetry, short stories and two novels, were printed with funding from the
non-governmental organization Capanamor.
US opposed to partition of Mitrovica: The United States is resolutely opposed to any ethnic partition of the town of Mitrovica, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright declared in a press conference in Geneva on 23 March. “It's not possible because it would go against all the things we’ve started to do in Kosovo,” she added. Ms Albright also voiced her opposition to breaking up the province into separate districts.
UNMIK Police Facts*
Authorized strength: 4,718 Deployed: 2,550
Pristina: 618 Main Headquarters:
150
Prizren: 312 Border police: 195
Pec:
129 Training staff: 37
Mitrovica: 536 Kosovo
Police Service: 105
Gnjilane: 343 At the training centre:
88**
* As of 26 March 2000 ** Awaiting deployment