UNMIK ON AIR

WEEK IN REVIEW

By Andrea SAULA and Zoran CULAFIC

The Head of UNMIK, Soren Jessen-Petersen said last Monday that his organization is seeking a place for high level talks between Pristina and Belgrade.

Recently Serbia’s President Boris Tadic invited his counterpart in Pristina, Ibrahim Rugova, for direct talks on the political future of Kosovo. Rugova responded negatively to the invitation.

Then also the chairman of the ‘Coordination Center for Kosovo’, Nebojsa Covic announced that Serbian Prime minister Vojislav Kostunica will soon send an invitation to Kosovo’s Premier Bayram Kosumi for talks.

The Kosovo Government rejected the option of having direct political talks with Belgrade, but left open the possibility for such talks in the setting of an international conference.

Information Director Hua Jiang confirmed that UNMIK encourages a direct political and technical dialogue between Kosovar and Serb authorities.

Also the European Union favors direct talks between Pristina and Belgrade. EU Commissioner Olli Rehn called on President Rugova to revise his stance and accept President Tadic’s invitation as he sees it as an important step in implementing the standards in Kosovo.

-------

The SRSG, Søren Jessen-Petersen will have a joint meeting today with institutional and party leaders in Pristina. The two main topics to be discussed will be the relations between the Government and the opposition and the preparation of Kosovo for the upcoming status talks.

US Head of Office Philip Goldberg held a meeting last week with Prime Minister Kosumi and PDK leader Hashim Thaçi. Goldberg criticized Kosovar leaders for the recent political tension and called for constructive cooperation between all political forces.

Two opposition parties in the Kosovo Assembly, PDK and ORA, walked out of the assembly session last week. They protested against what they call ‘political discrimination by the ruling coalition’ and ‘procedural violations by Assembly Speaker Nexhat Daci’.

Daci and opposition leaders Hashim Thaci and Veton Suroi exchanged last week heavy accusations. Even street protests against Daci were announced.

In an interview with Zëri , PDK leader Thaçi voiced his belief that economic and political crime are clearly present in the Kosovo Government. Thaçi says that a document, which his party recently submitted to UNMIK will shed light on these claims.

‘Facts are facts. Almost half of the government cabinet is under investigations now. This is a unique case in modern Europe, when a country in democratic transition is governed by a government suspected of involvement in criminal activities,’ Thaçi was quoted as saying.

-----------

SRSG Søren Jessen-Petersen allocated €150,000 from the reserve fund to relocate Roma currently living in camps in northern Kosovo. The allocation came after it was established that the level of lead in the blood of these refugees is alarmingly high.

Also an agreement was reached between UNMIK and Mitrovica municipal authorities that foresees the return of the Roma to the south part of the town. However, Roma representatives expressed dissatisfaction with the agreement, as they want to have their land back and not be compensated with flats.

Until June 1999, 8,000 Roma lived in a quarter in the southern part of Mitrovica. It was one of the largest Roma settlements in the Balkans.

-----------

SRSG Jessen-Petersen issued an Executive Order last week declaring the Decan canyon a ‘special zoning area’. This means that no construction and no industrial or commercial activity will be allowed in the canyon. Nor will any natural resource exploitation be permitted.

‘The Decan canyon is unique in its natural beauty, and cultural heritage […] it contains the Decan Monastery, designated by UNESCO as a world heritage site. The SRSG has become increasingly concerned by illegal construction, unregulated woodcutting and speculative activities which risk damaging the area’s unique cultural and natural value,’ it was said in a press release.

-----------

Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski said that he has asked his government to immediately put into place a visa regime for citizens of Kosovo.

‘We have more motives than them (Kosovars) to introduce a visa regime and this way enforce a better control of the border which is a precondition for an efficient battle against infiltrations of individuals or radical groups’, Macedonian President was quoted in Pristina press.

-----------

Express reports on the front page that former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj is expected to get a positive reply from the ICTY for freedom on bail. The paper also quotes Kosovo institutions as saying that they have received promises for his release.

‘UNMIK is willing to provide guarantees and it can do so this week,’ the paper added.

------------

A former Yugoslav army chief of staff Gen. Nebojsa Pavkovic, wanted by the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia for war crimes committed in Kosovo in 1999, surrendered voluntarily to the court on April 25.

Pavkovic's departure to The Hague was a condition set by the EU Council of Ministers to back the adoption of a positive feasibility study for Serbia and Montenegro at the April 25 meeting in Luxembourg.