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Last update: 11 September 1999
UN Special Representative for Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner (Press conference, 15:00 hrs EDT, 10-Sept-99)
Kouchner reports on the UNMIK's progress in Kosovo: "We have been criticized by the press for being too slow but this has been the fastest intervention of the United Nations..... But it is always too slow, for the people -- to protect them and to rebuild. We have to build administration in Kosovo from nothing...."
Kosovo: Secretary-General's Special Representative for Kosovo briefs Security Council.
Kosovo: The Security Council "condemned violence against the civilian population, in particular against ethnic minorities, as well as against KFOR personnel. They demanded such acts cease immediately...."
Tour of high risk areas: UN Special Representative for Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, toured high risk areas being patrolled by UN police. He was accompanied by the United States' Permanent Representative to the UN and the UN Police Commissioner in Kosovo.
Kosovo: "UNMIK is establishing itself at a very rapid pace under very challenging circumstances...... In the next few weeks, we will see UNMIK covering the entire province of Kosovo.
Environmental damage in Kosovo: "Our primary findings: We have found that on many of these targeted sites there are serious environmental consequences and probably also serious health consequences ..."
Massacre in Kosovo: "Members of the Security Council strongly condemn this criminal act and call for a speedy and through investigation and to bring to justice all those responsible ..."
Kosovo: "I was horrified by the massacre of the defenseless farmers [in Gracko, Yugoslavia]. They were peacefully harvesting hay in their fields just when, and perhaps because, we were just taking significant steps towards stability and democratic self-government in Kosovo. The world did not intervene to make Kosovo safe for revenge and intolerance again. The killers must be brought to justice. KFOR is leading an urgent and far-searching investigation ..."
Reconstruction of Kosovo: "Economic activity is occurring outside any regulatory framework, that is, with no customs regime in place, no taxation, civil administration structures have to be reinvented. Meanwhile, forces not always representative or legitimate, have moved into the vacuum left by the departing civil servants and the general administrative collapse ..."
Financing of UN mission in Kosovo: "It is clear from the mandate of UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] and the reports of the Secretary-General that UNMIK is a very complex operation, one that will require a significant level of resources ..."
UN Mission in Kosovo : "It was never planned that the UN operation would be fully operational within six weeks of the Security Council resolution. That would have been humanly impossible ..."
Kosovo: " Rebuilding of Kosovo: "People have often asked me how long will it take and I have been hesitant to give a date. I know we will be on the ground for several years and that the reconstruction of Kosovo and the region, in my judgement, will take at least 10 years..."
(Press Conference, 16:40 EDT, 2-Jul-99)Kosovo: " Reconciliation may come. Sometimes it comes quicker that it is expected..."
(Security Council Stakeout, 13:00 EDT, 2-Jul-99)Kosovo: " Council Members had useful change of views on the subject of efforts taken on the ground to carry out the mandate. And Council Members express their support for the work that has been done by the interim Representative Mr. De Mello..."
(Geneva Press Conference, 2-Jul-99)Kosovo: "There are still houses still set ablaze as the peacekeepers are deployed. And there is little often that they can do about the looting and burning..."
(Press Conference, 10:30 EDT, 1-Jul-1999)Kosovo: " In the course of two weeks 1/2 million refugees have returned to Kosovo. This is in itself evidently a positive news. It clearly shows that people want to go back and re-claim their land, property, they want to go back and rebuild and prepare for what will undoubtedly be a difficult winter..."
(Press Conference "Friends of Kosovo", 12:00 EDT, 30-Jun-99)Kosovo: " Our collective objective is a multi-ethnic Kosovo in which the people, all the people regardless of ethnicity come live their lives in peace and hope..."
(Geneva briefing, 25-Jun-99)Kosovo: " the humanitarian evacuation will be suspended as of the beginning of July because with this kind of number of people going back to Kosovo the raison d'être for the humanitarian evacuation essentially expires..."
Kosovo: "This meeting gave me the opportunity to thank him for the role the Russian Federation played in the recent crisis and I think without the crucial role of President Yeltsin, Foreign Minister Ivanov and Mr. Chernomyrdin, we will perhaps not be where we are today with the political settlement pushing ahead with the implementation of Security Council resolution..."
Balkans: "Around 17,000 Kosovars returned home yesterday from Albania;
3,000 from Macedonia. This brings the total returns durng the week to almost
50,000 ..."
(Security Council Stakeout, 13:30 hrs EDT, 17-Jun-99)Kosovo: "I think there is a general agreement that the implementation of the
demilitarization of (the) KLA [Kosovo Liberation Army] is important, that it has to be done as quickly as possible ..."
(Security Council Stakeout, 13:00 hrs EDT, 17-Jun-99)Kosovo: "Today many delegations, including permanent members, raised the
issue that KLA should be demilitarized and that resolution 1244 must be fully
implemented in all its aspects ... "
(Security Council Stakeout, 13:00 hrs EDT, 16-Jun-99)Kosovo: "We are concerned by reports that as the Serbs withdraw, the KLA moves in and takes positions and refuses to demilitarize and are making
statements publicly that they will be running the area and nobody else ... "Kosovo: "The spontaneous return of Kosovar refugees has been gaining
momentum all day. At Morini the main crossing point from Albania 9,000 people had crossed over by 3:00 p.m. and UNHCR [UN High Commission for Refugees] was predicting that the total would well exceed 12,000 by the end of the day ..."
(Press Briefing, 11:15 hrs EDT, 14-Jun-99)UN presence in Kosovo: "I have had discussions with them [Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe and the European Union] but clearly there are a number of substantive points that have to be clarified as to the division of responsibility. Also there are a number of administrative responsibilities, who pays for what, how do we organize ourselves, who supports what.''
(Security Council Stakeout, 14:00 hrs EDT, 10-Jun-99)Kosovo peace plan: "What matters most was the end of the aggression, the war of mass killing of innocent Yugoslav citizens by NATO bombs ..."
(Security Council Stakeout, 11:42 hrs EDT, 10-Jun-99)Kosovo peace plan: "We are not going to block the resolution ..."
(Security Council Stakeout, 11:00 hrs EDT, 10-Jun-99)Kosovo peace plan: "The resolution sets peace going. That's what's important. It
brings the UN into the forefront of the civilian action on the ground in Kosovo ..."
(Security Council Stakeout, 11:00 hrs EDT, 10-Jun-99)Kosovo peace plan: "I say that we still have some difficulty with the text ..."
(Security Council Stakeout, 11:00 hrs EDT, 10-Jun-99)Kosovo peace plan: "This will restore the authority of the United Nations ..."
(Security Council Stakeout, 14:00 hrs EDT, 08-Jun-99)Security Council resolution on Kosovo peace plan: " No resolution can be seriously discussed and adopted until the bombing stops ..."
(Security Council Stakeout, 14:00 hrs EDT, 08-Jun-99)Security Council resolution on Kosovo peace plan: "Let's keep our fingers crossed ..."
(Security Council Stakeout, 14:00 hrs EDT, 08-Jun-99)Security Council resolution on Kosovo peace plan: "The military agreement and the beginnings of the implementation of that agreement will have to be made simultaneous with the passing of the resolution. Clearly, with the arrangements that I have sketched out for you, if there is a synchronization of all these things, then it looks as though China will be supportive of the resolution ..."
(Security Council Stakeout, 14:00 hrs EDT, 08-Jun-99)Security Council resolution on Kosovo peace plan: "The Security Council is not a rubber stamp and we hope we can have full consultations on the text ..."
(Security Council Stakeout, 14:00 hrs EDT, 08-Jun-99)Security Council resolution on Kosovo peace plan: "China needs a little bit of time but I think eventually the text will be supported by them ..."
(Security Council Stakeout, 14:00 hrs EDT, 02-Jun-99)The Balkans: "The humanitarian crisis which we
witness is rooted not only in the policies of the
Belgrade government but also in NATO action ..."
(Security Council Stakeout, 14:00 hrs EDT, 02-Jun-99)The Balkans: "[Mr. de Mello was] able to get good documentation of the campaign of ethnic cleansing that is going on in Kosovo ..."
(Security Council Stakeout, 14:00 hrs EDT, 02-Jun-99)The Balkans: "I have indicated to the Council that more important than humanitarian assistance is protection, is safety, is security, is confidence for those who remain in Kosovo and for those who have been obliged to leave the country. Therefore the need for a strong and credible international presence in Kosovo is as far we are concerned priority number one ..."
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