Hello and Welcome to Week in Review for January 14, 2005 from the studios of UN Radio in Kosovo….
ü UN Mission Head, SRSG Soren Jessen-Petersen meets with Slovenian Foreign Minister and Kosovo Serb leaders
ü UN Police Officer killed in car bomb
ü And…Kosovo villages are still without electricity
1 Topping this week’s news…
A UN police officer was killed in Prizren yesterday, in what preliminary reports are saying was a car bomb.
The victim, a Nigerian logistics officer in the area, was driving to work when the incident occurred at around 8:20 in the morning. Witnesses say that the car was ripped to shreds by the blast.
Condemnation of the incident was universal from international and local sources, and SRSG Soren Jessen-Petersen issued a statement saying an investigation would establish exactly what happened.
Local media is quoted as saying that the explosive device was most likely planted underneath the vehicle before it was detonated.
UNMIK Police Commissioner Kai Vitrrup said the police would “spare no efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice.
2 In
other news…on Monday
SRSG Soren Jessen-Petersen met with the Organization for Security and Cooperation’s acting Chairman in Office, the Slovenian Foreign Minister, Dimitrij Rupel.
Serb participation in Kosovo’s Institutions continued to be a top agenda point, and Rupel stressed the need for all ethnic divisions to be put aside where Kosovo’s governance is concerned.
At a UN press conference on Wednesday, questions of the OSCE’s role in Kosovo’s decentralization process were brought up, after what were said to be announcements by Serbian Prime Minister, Vojslav Kostunica, that the OSCE would be spearheading the process.
OSCE spokesperson, Bernard Vrban, said the organization would certainly have a key role, but denied any knowledge of the OSCE leading decentralization efforts.
Slovenian Foreign Minister Rupel enforced the idea that Kosovo must eventually move towards European Union integration, and SRSG Jessen-Petersen reiterated that minority inclusion into Kosovo’s governance must be accelerated.
Responding to questions of territorial division in Kosovo, Jessen-Petersen made it clear that such division was not an option.
2 Also on Monday…with Kosovo Serb leaders still
refusing to take part in Kosovo’s institutions
Representatives of
the Serb List for Kosovo and Metohija or SLKM, met with SRSG Jessen-Petersen in
an effort to bridge the political divide between Belgrade and Pristina.
Serbian leaders in
Belgrade insist that Kosovo Serb leaders not participate in Kosovo Institutions
until conditions are met that would insure autonomy in areas of local
governance.
One representative
of the SLKM Dragisa Krstovic said he thinks UNMIK and the interim Kosovo government
were losing patience with Kosovo Serb representatives on the issue.
During his visit
to Belgrade next Monday, SRSG Jessen-Petersen plans to home in on Serb
participation in Kosovo’s institutions and Missing persons issues.
3
In related
news…on Wednesday
Jessen-Petersen
met with representatives of the Kosovo-based Association of Families of Missing
Persons. After the meeting, he said the missing person’s issue was of primary
concern, assuring he would stress the urgency of moving forward on the direct
dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade as an area of mutual humanitarian
concern.
Meanwhile, this
week the SRSG formally introduced the new Senior Advisor on Minority Issues,
Craig Jenness, who met with representatives of Kosovo-Serb Families of Missing
Persons yesterday.
5 In other local news…
The Kosovo Energy
Corporation’s new management policy continues to ruffle feathers – with some 70
villages in Kosovo cut off from electricity as KEK attempts to increase
collection rates for electricity consumers in Kosovo.
Power black-outs
to Serb villages have caused security concerns in recent weeks. KEK maintains
it is making every effort to provide energy to everyone. But, KEK management
maintains – it will not restore service until the bills are paid.
According to KEK
statistics, roughly 30% of energy is paid for by Kosovans, but critics charge,
there is no consistent policy between geographic regions in Kosovo, with
regards to bill collection habits.
KEK management
says foreign investment is less likely to emerge if electricity distribution
does not allow for more stable bill collection.
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.