UNMIK on Air

Week in review

By Andrea Saula

 

Hello and Welcome. These are this week’s top news:

Special UN envoy for standards implementation finished his first visit to Kosovo. The European Union will play a key role in defining Kosovo's status, EU foreign ministers concluded. Kosovo K Serbs protested against UNMIK's decision to free for traffic west Mitrovica bridge

 

UN Special Envoy for Kosovo Standards, Kai Aide paid his visit to Kosovo

 

Upon his arrival at the Prishtina Airport Aide said that his report would not only focused only an evaluation of standards, but also on the situation in Kosovo in general.
 
At the beginning of his visit Aide met with the head of UNMIK, Soren Jessen-Petersen, COMKFOR Yves de Kemabon, and UNMIK Coordinator on Standards, Sara Mackintosh.

On the second day of his stay in Kosovo, Annan’s special envoy held separate meetings with President Ibrahim Rugova and Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi.

 

The Comprehensive Review will then be submitted to the Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, in New York. 

 

The special Envoy will return to Kosovo at the beginning of July.

 

The European Union will play a key role in defining Kosovo's status, EU foreign ministers concluded.

 

A return to the situation before March 1999 has been ruled out by the document on Kosovo, which EU foreign ministers adopted in Luxembourg, on Monday June 13.

 

Ministers repeated that there will be no change to the current territory of Kosovo, or any division of it, or its integration with any state or part of a state after its status has been resolved.

 

The document on Kosovo will serve as a basis for a declaration on Kosovo, which EU heads of state and government are expected to pass mid June at the next session in Brussels.

 

Montenegrin Foreign Minister paid a visit to Kosovo

 

The status issues of Kosovo and Montenegro are not related, but their settlement will have an impact on regional stabilization and will allow both countries to focus on their integration into Europe, said the chief of UNMIK Soren Jessen-Petersen on Monday after his meeting with Montenegrin Foreign Minister Miodrag Vlahovic.

 

On the same day Kosovo’s Prime Minister met with his Macedonian counterpart, Vlado Buckovski. Buckovski and Kosumi said after the meeting that they agreed the Free Trade Agreement negotiations embark on political level, as well as in the level of experts.

The third meeting of the Working Groups on Energy between Kosovo and Serbia was held in Pristina.

 

Jolly Dickson, the chairman of the meeting, said on Tuesday that the groups discussed two major documents: a document on the environment prepared by Belgrade and the one on energy prepared by Pristina.

“We have had constructive talks. We agreed to establish a better monitoring mechanism for the environment. The document on energy was deemed very professional. It represents the basis for further work,” said Dickson.

 

Meanwhile PristinaBelgrade dialogue has continued on an informal level

 

In their final declaration, the participants of the conference, organized by Belgrade branch of Helsinki Committee for Human Rights called on political players on both sides to accept reality in Kosovo as a starting point for negotiations, bearing constantly in mind the legitimate interests of the Serbs, Albanians and other communities in Kosovo.

 

Representatives of the international community, of Kosovo institutions and political parties, political representatives of the Kosovo Serbs, of non-government organizations and several civic-oriented parties attended the two-day conference

 

 

 

 

 

K Serbs protested against UNMIK's decision to free cross over the Mitrovica bridge

 

A few hundred citizens in northern Mitrovica rallied at the beginning of the week near the main bridge over the Ibar River, to protest against UNMIK's decision to allow people and vehicles to freely cross the main bridge. The protesting citizens said the rallies would continue.

 

Finally

A former member of the Serbian State Security Special Unit, Goran Veselinovic, was charged with killing four persons in Mitrovica, in 1999.

 

The Kraljevo District Court sentenced him to the maximum prison term of 40 years on Wednesday.

 

Veselinovic, from the Jagodina municipality, was accused of a premeditated murder of Milan and Mirjana Peric, and Mohamed and Sabrineza Selaj in Kosovska Mitrovica on May 15, 1999.

 

That’s’ all for this weeks week in review, thanks for listening and stay tuned to UNMIK ON AIR.

 

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