UN RADIO IN KOSOVO

Week in review – April 1, 2005

Hello and Welcome to Week in Review for April 1st, 2005 from the studios of UN Radio in Kosovo….

1. UNMIK chief Soren Jessen-Petersen started last week intensive diplomatic activities in Belgrade and Pristina

2. Serb authorities handed over mortal remains of 43 Kosovo Albanians found in mass graves

3. RTK journalist beaten up in Vucitrn/Vushtri, media claim

This weeks’ top news….

UNMIK chief Soren Jessen-Petersen started last week intensive diplomatic actions in order to speed up and facilitate the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

Top Belgrade officials agreed with the SRSG on the need to immediately resume dialogue on technical issues. Serbian leaders also proposed to the SRSG to hold dialogue on other issues, such as energy and returns. Petersen stressed again the need for Kosovo Serbs to participate in Kosovo’s political institutions.

After his two days visit to Belgrade early this week Pristina press quoted Jessen-Petersen as saying that “Serbia will have its seat on the table of talks’.

…mid this week

The SRSG continued his activities visiting IDP collective centers in Serbia. During his stay in the southern Serbian town of Bujanovac Jessen-Petersen expressed confidence that a major step forward could be achieved in return of displaced persons in the next six months.

After meeting displaced Kosovo-Serbs and Romas, the UNMIK chief stressed he understands their anger but also expressed confidence that most of them will be able to return, an issue he views as one of the main priorities in the implementation of standards.

“The good thing is that six years after the situation has improved in such a way that I see a lot of good opportunities for people to return if we address the real problems which are not so much security but they are linked to property and for example employment”, Jessen Petersen said.

…other items in the news this week

Serb authorities on Thursday handed over mortal remains of 43 Kosovo Albanians, killed during the conflict in 1999 and found in mass graves in Serbia.

The mortal remains will be sent to the Orahovac/Rahovec Morgue for identification purposes. For the first time the Kosovo protection corps was involved in receiving the bodies.

In mid March the working group for missing persons in Kosovo, consisting of representatives of the authorities in Belgrade and Pristina, agreed to use a unified list of missing persons - the list was created by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

According to ICRC almost 3,000 people are being considered missing, of whom 2,300 are ethnic Albanians whereas the rest are of other nationalities.

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On Monday morning Nedelko and Nevenka Vucic were battered in front of their house in Cerkolez village in Istog municipality

The spokesperson for UNMIK, Neeraj Singh, said that the police could not yet determine the motives of the attack.

Kosovo’s Government condemned the attack stating that although it’s not clear yet who the perpetrators are, such violent acts damage the image of Kosovo internationally.

…and some economical news

After a pause that lasted for more than 15 months, the new Kosovo Trust Agency Board finally met on Thursday to discuss the privatization process.

EU-pillar head Joachim Ruecker will be the new head of the board. Other new members are Ministers Bujar Dugolli for Trade and Industry and Haki Shatri for economy and finance. Bahri Shabani, the head of workers union-BSPK is the only member also there under the previous mandate.

Meanwhile Kosovo’s Post and Telephone company PTK announced an extension of its landline phone-network with an extra 11.000 connections.

PTK officials in the press conference held on Wednesday said that this extension is part of a bigger plan as they will issue more than 60.000 extra phone extensions until the end of this year.

And at the end

All Pristina dailies report that Radio Television Kosovo’s journalist Behxhet Begu was beaten up by the Kosovo police service (KPS) in Vucitrn/Vushtrri on Wednesday after an argument over wrong parking.

No details were released by the police, but Koha Ditore writes that ‘illegal parking’ led to the police brutality, and quotes the journalist as saying that he got injuries as a result of violence used by police officers against him.

The Association of Professional Journalists of Kosovo called for a protest against the beating up of their colleague in front of Police Head Quarters in Pristina and in the regions.