TThe international community's writ will really run in northern Kosovo, right up to the boundary with Serbia proper, the North Atlantic Council (NAC) has decided.
 
The parallel systems that continued in Mitrovica north, Leposavic and Zubin Potok after they were stood down by agreement elsewhere in Kosovo sixteen months ago will be removed-now (as then, it is hoped) by mutual agreement. The joint administrative system, UNMIK and KFOR will have full control. 

However, the might of KFOR and the resources of UNMIK Police will not be the main instruments. The key, the NAC agreed with SRSG Hans Haekkerup and KFOR Commander Lt. General Thorstein Skiaker during their Brussels meeting last week, has to be sustained engagement and substantive dialogue with Belgrade. But to launch such a dialogue, Haekkerup has already indicated to Belgrade, there will have to be an authoritative and representative principal interlocutor, with whom UNMIK and KFOR can engage on all the issues at first hand.
In a candid assessment of the situation, the SRSG underlined for the NAC the fundamental issue: that neither KFOR nor UNMIK had ever taken adequate control of either security or civil administration in the northern part of Kosovo since the beginning of the Mission.
 
This was particularly due, NATO ambassadors fully agreed, to the existence of alternative Kosovo Serb security structures. The "bridgewatchers" in other words, will have to go. 
 In UNMIK's view, the road to a solution, had to come through measures addressing the security situation, even if it meant replacing the "bridgewatchers" with UNMIK and KFOR approved and controlled guardians. It had been such structures that had continuously hindered the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1244: impeding the work of both KFOR and UNMIK Police, and of UNMIK in establishing civil administration functions in throughout the northern municipalities.
 
The NAC supported the principle of focussing on setting up an internationally acceptable security structure where KFOR, UNMIK Police and the Kosovo Police Service-including Kosovo Serbs recruited from the north-would replace the current parallel security structures. Conversely, the ability of UNMIK, Police and the KPS, supported by KFOR to provide security for Kosovo Serbs in the north and the enclaves elsewhere would be the key to building confidence in that community. In turn these would encourage those displaced from Kosovo to return.

Other confidence building measures discussed included freedom of movement and access to public services, efforts to locate those missing and detained, and promotion of economic recovery. An under-performing economy, however, was a Kosovo-wide problem and should be treated as such, Haekkerup advised NAC members. Specifically in Mitrovica, benign security was a precondition for private capital investment: this would have to be tackled before any improvement in economic circumstances could be expected, he warned. 
  
NAC members also agreed with the SRSG that, while Belgrade should become involved in addressing the Mitrovica question, any solution had to come from UNMIK, supported by KFOR and with the cooperation of the Belgrade authorities-and not the other way around. The change of leadership in Belgrade coupled with the forthcoming Kosovo-wide elections were a window of opportunity for all stakeholders to move forward on key components of the Mitrovica question. Hans Haekkerup noted the first encouraging signs in his contact with the FRY authorities to address Mitrovica's problems in a constructive fashion.

 Reporting subsequently to the KTC on his talks with the NAC, the SRSG emphasized the need to replace the alternative Kosovo-Serb security structures with an internationally accepted security structure comprising KFOR, UNMIK Police and Kosovo-Serb KPS officers. NAC had supported this formula for a solution support, he said. NAC had also encouraged UNMIK's working relationship with Belgrade in resolving the question of Northern Kosovo.

JIAS Departments commit to helping refugees

The Council of Co-Heads will meet for an extraordinary session this week to tackle the longer-term issues presented by the needs of FRYOM refugees. A number of JIAS departments as well as several municipalities have been impacted by existing numbers of refugees and their budgetary resources are rapidly being stretched.

While UNHCR has the lead coordinating role, and WFP is distributing emergency food aid, the JIAS Department Heads are commited to coordinating a concrete scheme to help ease the situation and work together to make the most effective use of available resources. The Department of Civil Security and Emergency Preparedness will be the focal Department in coordinating the joint system response.

The Department for Health and Social Welfare has an emergency preparedness plan in response to a possible influx of large numbers of refugees which outlines plans to provide the necessary health care through the existing system to those who stay with host families. Should UNHCR establish permanent refugee camps the DHSW will cooperate with UNHCR, WHO and NGOs to provide health services for the refugees.

Recently, a UNHCR transit centre was opened for refugees in Kacanik where it registers 500 to 600 arrivals daily. The centre can accommodate up to 14,000 people if needed.  More than 72,000 refugees have been registered to- date and the Kosovo Red Cross reports total numbers of up to 100,000 arrivals in the province. The majority stay with local host families or with members of their extended families .

Briefs . . . .

The Central Election Commission (CEC) has extended the deadline for political parties to allow those wishing to do so,  form coalitions ahead of the November elections. Political parties, coalitions, citizens' initiatives and independent candidates, which are at present going through the certification procedure to be represented in the elections, must submit applications before 20 July. However, at its recent meeting, the CEC-which is made up of nine representatives from Kosovo's political parties and civil society, and three internationals-agreed that between 20 July and 3 August political entities which have applied for certification will have an additional period to consider formation of coalitions. If a group of such entities does decide to form a coalition, the DM 2,000 deposit will be refunded for all but one of the parties. The coalition members will have to agree which party leaves its deposit with the CEC. Coalitions are an opportunity for smaller parties to join ranks and maximize the impact of their support. It gives them a greater chance of gaining the estimated 10,000 votes needed to win a seat in the Assembly.

The future health policy of the Department of Health and Social Welfare is set out in a new document-"Health Policy for Kosovo". Replacing the "blue book" issued in September 1999, the new version covers the entire health care system and specifies the broad directions into which the Department would like to develop the sector. While the policy document has been almost exclusively prepared by Kosovar experts, two projects, financed by the World Bank, contain more detailed plans to turn the policy into reality. One of them deals with the financing of health services, and the other defines regulation of the private sector and services profile of hospitals.

An antiviral drug, Ribavirin,  which can be used to fight the Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) is now available to be administered to specific cases which meet the protocol for the drug's use. The drug is manufactured in California by a Serbian owned company and is not licensed against CCHF but has proved successful in combating the disease in other parts of the world. The rise in numbers of refugees from Macedonia, many of whom bring livestock with them and the onset of the summer months are both conducive to possible increases in CCHF. However, the Department for Health and Social Welfare expects that the use of the drug along with precautionary guidelines for inhabitants of tick infested areas will help keep the numbers stable.

The Department of Trade and Industry has successfully completed its sixth commercialisation deal. A ten-year contract for the commercialisation of the Beton Jerka factory in the Mitrovica region was signed between UNMIK Pillar IV (Economic Reconstruction) and the Albanian "2k Group". The Beton Jerka factory, equipped to manufacture concrete element, has not functioned properly since 1980 and was heavily damaged during the 1999 conflict. The expected investment of the "2k Group" of more than DM 1 million will help revitalize the plant. Currently without any employees, the factory will be able to employ some 30 workers. DTI says, commercialisation-the tendering of long-term leases on socially owned enterprises-has a key role to play in ensuring future sustainability of the province's economy and the creation of jobs and does not prevent prospective privatisation.

The registration of businesses required to pay the new Value Added Tax (VAT) has been completed. All import/export companies and businesses with an annual turnover greater than DM 200,000 should have been registered for the tax. Companies that failed to do so by 1 July deadline, will be fined DM 250. From now on, businesses looking to import and export who do not prove their VAT registration to Kosovo's tax authorities will not be allowed to enter or exit goods to/from the province.

More than 70 law students will be awarded certificates on 2 July upon completion of a semester of commercial law studies on "Contemporary Business Transaction". The Commercial Law Development Group of the Department of Trade and Industry has been running courses based on the four new commercial laws-those on foreign investment, business organizations, pledge, and contracts for the sale of goods. The purpose is to bring  the new legal community fully up-to-date on the latest economic legislative processes and to position it to use and implement the new laws.

Constraints facing the municipal economy in Zubin Potok have been highlighted in a preliminary labour market assessment by the Department of Labour and Employment. The local labour market was traditionally based on the employment generated by the large local industries. Presently, two metallurgical factories are not functioning, and other units connected with the processing of agricultural products and the manufacturing of furniture, textiles, and biscuits are operating at a very low level, struggling with the lack of market for their products. Apart from the industrial sector, 44 small businesses were identified, the large majority being coffee shops and mini markets. Altogether, these economic activities represent employment for only approximately 410 people. Besides the reduced dimension of the market, the severe and persistent lack of co-operation of the local entrepreneurs constitutes a serious constraint in conducting a more in-depth survey. An awareness campaign on the objectives of the study is being implemented by the Serbian staff assigned to the Department in the region, in order to try to improve the level of interaction.

Housing reconstruction needs will continue into 2002, with some 10,000 to 12,000 families still requiring housing reconstruction assistance. This includes internally displaced persons. Full figures will be released soon in the official 2002 Housing Needs Assessment currently awaiting approval by the Co-Heads of the Department of Reconstruction. For this year, 6,143 houses are identified for reconstruction, of which 1,589 houses are in categories II and III (40 to 60 per cent destroyed) and 3,618 in category IV (more than 60 per cent destroyed). The goal for 2001 is to reconstruct 8,000 houses. The Municipal Housing Committees have approved 2,906 beneficiary households for housing reconstruction.

UNMIK's efforts to revitalize Trepca have taken two small but significant steps forward. Firstly, Trepca has opened a bank account to receive revenue from the sale of selected assets which include primarily lead ingots reprocessed from lead wastes on site and other scrap materials, and not new production. The effort represents a first step in the transition of Trepca to a commercial enterprise. Proceeds from the sale of the materials will be used to fund both revitalization of industrial operations (which are not donor funded) and to capitalize a hardship trust fund that will be used to support Trepca workers in hardship. Second is the de-scaling of the Stari Trg shaft pipeline, with the result that flow rates have increased by 50 per cent. The shaft pipeline is a key component in the system used to pump water from the mine. The successful de-scaling is an important step in reversing the neglect of the past 10 years.