UNMIK
on Air
Hello and Welcome. This is UNMIK on Air’s Week
in Review,
This week’s headlines are….
1. UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed Norway's diplomat Kai Eide as his
special envoy to Kosovo
2. Enough
progress has been achieved in meeting standards, US administration believes to
3. Ramush
Haradinaj got provisional release
Today, UNMIK’s chief Soren jessen Petersen is in
Belgarde where he’s supposed to meet Serbian president and the prime minister
Boris Tadic and Vojislav Kostunica. It is also planned for the SRSG to meet
ambassadors of Contact group countries.
UN. Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed Norway's Ambassador to NATO Kai Eide as his special envoy for the evaluation of the implementation of democratic standards in Kosovo.
Eide is to conduct a complete assessment of whether Kosovo has achieved the eight standards of a democratic society defined by the UN as a prerequisite for starting talks on the province's future status.
After the appointment Eide said to BBC that in
addition he would also report on political conditions in the province.
He announced that his mission in Kosovo will begin on June 13th, and
that he will act independently, although he will cooperate with all the involved
parties. He also said that his task would include a number of visits and talks,
especially in Belgrade, the Contact Group countries, and neighboring countries.
- US administration finds that enough progress has already been
made in meeting standards in Kosovo, said the US Under-Secretary for State
Nicholas Burns
|
Burns is in a three-day Balkan tour during which he
visited Sarajevo, Belgrade and Pristina. The American
delegation in Pristina held meetings with the head of UNMIK, Soren
Jessen-Petersen, with the President Ibrahim Rugova, Prime Minister Bajram
Kosumi, Parliament Speaker Nexhat Daci and representatives of Serbian List
for Kosovo. |
“My government believes that enough progress has already
been made in meeting standards, and if Kai Aide comes to the same conclusion,
we will encourage UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to call negotiations on the
final status this autumn, Burns said.
At the beginning of this week the UN Deputy
Secretary General, Louise Fréchette said in Prishtina on Monday that the
assessment of the processes in Kosovo will be made in the upcoming months,
which would pave the way to the process for determining of Kosovo’s future
status.
Frechette made these comments on Monday in Prishtina, after a meeting she had
with the President Ibrahim Rugova, the head of UNMIK, Soren Jessen-Petersen,
Parliament Speaker Nexhat Daci, and the Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi.
- Working groups on missing and returns
continued their work
The meeting of the working group for the missing
in Kosovo, within the dialogue between the authorities in Belgrade and
Pristina, was held on Thursday in Pristina. This was the third meeting of the
working group for solving the fate of people who went missing in Kosovo in the
period from January 1998 to December 2000.
There are 2,960 names on the list of the missing created by the International
Committee of Red Cross, of which 2,300 are Albanians.
Today, working group on returns is meeting in
Pristina. United Nations High Commission for Refugees is charring the meeting.
- Finally,
the first meeting of Forum happened on Wednesday in Pristina
The four largest political parties in Kosovo, LDK, PDK,
AAK and ORA agreed at this meeting for Soren Jessen-Petersen to chair the
Forum. They said that they agreed to determine the modalities for determining
of mechanisms to prepare the status talks.
But the President Rugova and the Prime Minister Kosumi said that they are
against participation of Belgrade as a negotiating party in the possible talks
for Kosovo's status.
- The trial chamber of the Hague tribunal decided in favor of the provisional
release of Ramush Haradinaj
The former Kosovo premier, Ramush Haradinaj,
indicted by the Hague tribunal, is supposed to arrive in Kosovo from the
tribunal's detention unit on June 8 or 9, the coordinator of his defense team,
Mike O'Riley, stated.
- and other news
- On Monday KFOR
handed over the responsibility on Ibar River to the Kosovo Police Service. KPS
Albanian and Serb police officer are stationed there, whereas KFOR soldiers
will conduct mobile patrols.
- On the same day ,
a civilian protection brigade that will operate as part of
the Kosovo Protection Corps was inaugurated in Pristina. Its purpose is to
respond when the population in the province in endangered. The commander of the
brigade that will have 300 active and 100 reserve members will be Xhevahir
Geci.
That was all for today from week in review.
Thanks for listening and good day.