Hello and Welcome
to Week in Review for February 25, 2005 from the studios of UN Radio in
Kosovo….
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Kosovo’s top
administrator addresses the UN Security Council
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Soren
Jessen-Petersen also meets with EU leaders in Brussels
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And…Kosovo
President steps down as party leader
1 topping this week’s news…
UN Mission head,
SRSG Søren Jessen-Petersen presented the quarterly report on the political and
security situation in Kosovo to the United Nations Security Council yesterday.
The visit comes on the heels of a report released last week by the Secretary
General which cites several problems in Kosovo in the lead up to a preliminary
assessment of the province’s future status – set for mid 2005.
Among the things Jessen-Petersen stressed to the Security Council yesterday, was the growing ethnic divide between majority Albanians and minority Serbs – but he praised what UN officials have called the growing maturity of Kosovo’s provisional institutions.
Jessen-Petersen was supported by several Security Council speakers in condemning the lack of Serb participation in Kosovo’s provisional institutions. Serbian representative, Nebojsa Covic asserted that Jessen-Petersen was glossing over Kosovo’s problem areas. The next step is a three-month assessment by UNMIK of progress made in implementing the 8 standards propelling Kosovo towards talks on status in mid-2005.
2
Coinciding with US President George W. Bush’s visit to Brussels…
SRSG
Jessen-Petersen also met this week with European Union foreign ministers. On
Monday, he stressed that territorial division was not an option in resolving
Kosovo’s final status. Although some EU countries supported his stance,
Jessen-Petersen left Brussels without a solid commitment from all of the EU foreign
ministers on the issue of territorial division. The SRSG also called on the EU
to “speed up its actions in Kosovo” to operate in tandem with US efforts –
which he characterized as precedent-setting.
Jessen-Petersen
also met with the EU’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana – who said without a
reinvigoration of the Pristina-Belgrade dialogue, it would be difficult to hold
negotiations later this year on Kosovo’s future.
3 In other news…
Department of
Justice Director, Judge Thomas Monaghan announced at a press conference on
Wednesday, that the DOJ’s international prosecutor was dropping the case
against former members of Kosovo’s Telecommunications and Postal Company being
investigated for corruption. Citing insufficient evidence, Monaghan said that the
defendants, who included former UNMIK Pillar 2 head, Gerard Fischer, senior PTK
official, Rainer Lessar, and former PTK director, Leme Xheme – were not
sufficiently linked to allegations that they used their influence to sign
illegal contracts. UN Radio will follow this case.
4 On Wednesday…
Ibrahim Rugova
resigned from his post as leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo [LDK]. The
Constitutional framework that is the guiding document behind Kosovo’s
provisional institutions, does not allow for a party leader to hold the post of
interim president. Contact Group members and UNMIK officials repeatedly called
on Rugova to step down as LDK party leader since last October’s elections. LDK
spokesman, Lulzim Zeneli did not indicate who the possible successor will be,
although the Kosovo press suggests that the new leader will likely be “acting”
head until such time as Rugova leaves public office.
5 In other news…Jean Dussord was appointed
over the weekend to post of UNMIK Pillar 1 head for Police and Justice. He is
expected to start his duty in the first half of March and will replace former
head,
6 In ICTY news…Former Bosnian Serb general Milan Gvero surrendered yesterday to face war crimes charges at The Hague. Gvero was wartime deputy to Ratko Mladic, one of the Tribunal's most wanted, accused of genocide and war crimes. The Serbian government has been under pressure to hand over war crimes suspects. Serbian sources indicate that general Gvero gave himself up voluntarily.
Meanwhile the former commander of the Bosnian Muslim army Rasim Delic announced this week that he is ready to turn himself over to The Hague. Delic was indicted over war crimes against ethnic Serbs committed by foreign Islamic fighters under his command in the 1992-95 war. Delic is scheduled to travel to the Netherlands on Monday.
And officials with the European Union have said that if
Croatia fails to hand over former Croatian army General Ante Gotovina.by 17
March, EU accession talks due to take place on that day will be canceled. Gotovina is Croatia’s top war crimes suspect.
And this concludes
this edition of Week in Review. Stay tuned to this channel every week at this
time for UN Radio’s weekly wrap-up of news in and around Kosovo.