Head of United Nations in Kosovo visits field areas to assess security; encourages Kosovar role in civil reconstruction.
AUGUST 20 -- The head of the United Nations Kosovo operation, Dr. Bernard Kouchner, visited the Gnjilane and Ferizaje sector Thursday to assess the security situation, meeting with local officials and the commander of the KFOR security force in the area.

The Secretary-General's Special Representative was briefed by the commander of the United States KFOR contingent in Gnjilane, General Peterson, on KFOR efforts to create a safe and secure environment.

In addition to KFOR troops, 25 UN civilian police officers serving with the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) are in the area to help strengthen the rule of law.

Dr. Kouchner assured General Peterson that some of the additional 200 UN civilian police scheduled to arrive in Kosovo during the next week would be sent to Gnjilane to enhance the team there.

In Ferizaje, Dr. Kouchner met with representatives of the local community and the political parties and praised local authorities for establishing a communal council, saying he would use it as a model for setting up a council in the provincial capital, Pristina.

Saying the role of UNMIK, as interim civil administrator, was to facilitate the work of the people of Kosovo, Dr. Kouchner stressed the need to involve the Kosovars in any UN decision-making process.

"Consulting them is not enough," he said, "my goal is to help them get a consensus in all kinds of fields."

Dr. Kouchner invited doctors from the two towns to join some 250 health professionals meeting with UNMIK in Pristina on Sunday to discuss the future healthcare system in the province.

United Nations to begin voluntary return of Albanians to their homes in Mitrovicia.
AUGUST 20 -- The United Nations will begin the voluntary resettlement of Kosovar Albanian families to their homes in Mitrovica on Friday, a UN spokesman announced.

Speaking at a press briefing in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, Nadia Younes said the first group of seven Albanian families would be moved back to the northern part of Mitrovica beginning Friday afternoon.

Mitrovica has been the site of high tension and violence, with the large Serb and the Albanian populations remaining divided on either side of a bridge that separates the city.

"Under the resettlement project a number of families are to return to their homes in the northern part of Mitrovica everyday," Ms. Younes said.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, that leads UNMIK's refugee and humanitarian effort in Kosovo, will implement the programme.

The KFOR international security force will provide transportation and security for the returning Albanians.

United Nations in Kosovo appoints Albanian and Serb experts to help build democratic media.
AUGUST 20 -- The United Nations mission in Kosovo has chosen both Albanian and Serb experts to help the international community build professional and democratic media in the territory, a UN spokeswoman said Friday.

Announcing the appointments to the UN-supervised Independent Media Board at a press briefing in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, Nadia Younes said the group would strive to identify reconstruction priorities for media infrastructure.

Mahmut Bakalli, a well-known Albanian intellectual and former politician, was appointed as the Board's chairman.

The head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Dr. Bernard Kouchner, accepted Mr. Bakalli's appointment along with four other local intellectuals and activists whose names were chosen during consultations between the UN and Kosovar media experts.

Aca Rakocevic, of the Serb Resistance Movement, and Lirije Osmani, a lawyer and human rights activist, were appointed to the Board. Also chosen were Rajazit Nushi, President of the Council for the Defense of Human Rights, and Shkelzen Maliqi, publicist and Counselor of the Open Society.

The work of UNMIK to facilitate the indigenous growth of pluralistic media in Kosovo is being spearheaded by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). As the leader of UNMIK's institution-building component, OSCE supervised the resumption of limited radio broadcasts by Radio Pristina in late July.

UN and OSCE representatives will serve on the Independent Media Board as ex-officio members.

In a related development, UNMIK and the Swiss Government have finalized a plan by which Switzerland will provide and finance radio production facilities in Pristina.

Under the agreement signed in New York on Thursday, the Swiss have agreed to give the UNMIK radio operation a complete and functioning radio studio.

The radio studio will be operated under the authority of UNMIK, which will have full editorial responsibility for the programming produced.

In addition to supplying equipment and technical support personnel, the Swiss will cover some of the studio's operating costs.

Kosovar and international legal experts elected to bureau of advisory group on legal reform.
AUGUST 19 -- Kosovar and international legal experts have been elected to the bureau of the legal Council formed this week to advise the United Nations operation in Kosovo on legal reform in the territory.

During its first meeting on Wednesday, the Council elected Kosovar legal expert Blerim Reka and UN Legal Advisor Hansjoerg Strohmeyer to co-chair the Council's Executive Board, which is made up of five local and two international experts.

The Joint Advisory Council on Legislative Matters was established to counsel the UN Interim Administration Mission (UNMIK) on how to purge Kosovo's legal codes of discriminatory elements.

During its meeting at UNMIK headquarters in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, the Council adopted its terms of reference under which it will work to identify existing discriminatory laws with a need for immediate suspension. It will also focus on creating new legislation, in cooperation with international experts identified by UNMIK.

The other Kosovar experts elected to the Board are Fazli Balaj, Nekibe Kelmendi, Ismet Salihu and Esat Stavileci. International expert Charles Rudnick was also elected.

The Council also decided it would be composed of no more than 25 local legal experts with extensive experience in the practice or administration of the law. In addition, it established working groups that will consider criminal law, property law, economic and financial laws, administrative law, civil law and other matters.

The Council will convene in its entirety every two months and the Executive Board will meet on a weekly basis. The next meeting of the Board will be held Wednesday, 25 August, at UNMIK headquarters.

UN mission in Kosovo and KFOR take extensive measures to protect minorities.
AUGUST 18 -- Condemning as unacceptable the continuing acts of intimidation and murder of minorities in Kosovo, the leaders of the United Nations operation and the KFOR international security force in the territory said Wednesday the UN and KFOR were together taking extensive measures to protect those communities.

In a joint statement issued in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General Dr. Bernard Kouchner and KFOR Commander Lt. Gen. Mike Jackson said "the primary aim of the international presence in Kosovo is to provide a secure environment for all Kosovars, whatever their ethnic origin."

"We are not standing still," they said in their statement. "We are continually reviewing the security situation and improving our response."

Describing efforts to protect Serbs and other minorities throughout Kosovo, they said soldiers were living in apartment blocks and at the Roma camp near Kosovo Polje to ensure round the clock protection. Also, KFOR troops were escorting convoys of Serbs returning to work and accompanying doctors on their rounds in high-risk areas.

In addition, the deployment of UN international civilian police continues, as part of the overall effort of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to restore civil order and normalcy in the territory.

Some 700 UN civilian officers are already in Kosovo, with nearly 200 already conducting patrols in the capital.

According to the statement, measures to strengthen the rule of law were already improving the situation. In Pristina alone, 40 individuals had been recently arrested for acts of intimidation. They remained in custody and would be tried and punished appropriately.

The UN and KFOR chiefs emphasized that the international effort to protect all individuals in Kosovo and help build a free and democratic society for all would only succeed with the full cooperation of the local population.

To that end, they welcomed a recent statement issued by General Ceku, of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), condemning the crimes, and instructing all KLA members to respect human rights.

At a press briefing in Pristina Wednesday, during which the joint statement was read out, UNMIK spokeswoman Nadia Younes pointed to actions being taken by the UN and KFOR to respond to continuing tensions in Mitrovica.

She said the joint strategy in Mitrovica included measures to marginalize and exclude extremists and to strengthen moderates. It also envisaged creating an environment to facilitate negotiation, to encourage economic life and to enable managed two-way return.

A key to the joint strategy, Ms. Younes said, was the recent UNMIK administrative order -- known officially as Regulation No. 2 -- giving KFOR authority to remove individuals or prevent access to a specified location in Kosovo.

Regulation No. 2, which was signed last week by Dr. Kouchner, authorizes actions in situations where the public peace is jeopardized, including threats to the rule of law or to the human rights of individuals.

United Nations to convene second Kosovo Transitional Council meeting on 21 August.
AUGUST 18 -- The United Nations will bring together Albanian, Serb and other political leaders when it convenes the second meeting of the Kosovo Transitional Council on Saturday, 21 August, a UN spokeswoman said Wednesday.

At a press briefing in Pristina, UN spokeswoman Nadia Younes said the Council's composition will be the same as at its first meeting, which was held on 16 July in Pristina. However, Ibrahim Rugova, leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo , who was absent in July, will attend the 21 August meeting.

The exact time and place of the Council meeting remains to be determined, Ms. Younes said.

The meeting will be chaired by the head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) Dr. Bernard Kouchner. In addition to members of the Democratic League of Kosovo, participants in the Council will include political leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army and the United Democratic Movement. Representatives of the Serb, Bosniac and Turkish communities will also participate in the Council, as will several independents.

The Transitional Council is the highest political consultative body under UNMIK. While the UN, as the interim administrator, holds executive authority over judicial, legislative and other civil activities in the territory, the Council gives the main political parties and ethnic groups an opportunity to have direct input into UNMIK's decision-making process.

It is also a forum for achieving consensus on a broad range of issues related to civil administration, institution-building and essential services.

Other UN officials and the Commander of the KFOR international security force are also expected to attend the meeting.

Kosovar Advisory Council on legal affairs holds first meeting.
AUGUST 18 -- A newly formed group of Kosovar legal experts assisting the United Nations in drafting a legal code for the territory free from discrimination met for the first time Wednesday, the UN operation in Kosovo said.

The Joint Advisory Council on Legislative Matters was set up this week by the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and Kosovar legal representatives to review existing legislation in Kosovo and to draft new laws.

Specifically, the Council will advise UNMIK by identifying areas in need of legal reform and identifying discriminatory laws with a view to their immediate suspension. The Council, working in cooperation with UNMIK legal experts, will draft new legislation.

Announcing the meeting during a press briefing in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, UN spokeswoman Nadia Younes said, "the first task is to immediately purge that system of all discriminatory law". The Council would then turn its attention to reviewing the existing legal system as a whole.

During its first meeting, the Council was to elect five Kosovar experts to serve on an Executive Board, along with two international experts.

The Council will constitute itself into five working groups considering: criminal law; property and housing law; administrative law and local administration; and civil law and related matters; and other matters.

The Executive Board will meet weekly. The Council will convene in its entirety every three months.

Serb minorities evacuated from Kosovo only as "last resort" -- UNHCR.
AUGUST 18 -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Wednesday said it was evacuating Serb minorities in Kosovo only as a last resort in "urgent life-threatening" situations.

At a press briefing in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, UNHCR Spokesman Ron Redmond said the agency's policy was to provide safe passage, on a case-by-case basis, for people whose lives are in danger. "Though we have no intention of conducting any large-scale evacuation, sometimes we have little or no choice but to take some vulnerable individuals to safety and we will continue to do so when necessary," he said.

Only 13 people have been escorted out of Pristina and the overall number was only about 400, Mr. Redmond said, adding that half of them were Croatian or Bosnian Serb refugees who were settled in Kosovo during the fighting in their countries.

According to Mr. Redmond, the vast majority of the estimated 180,000 Serbs who have left Kosovo departed on their own. "Of the remaining minority population, the UN, KFOR and other organizations are still doing everything we can to provide the necessary conditions to allow them to stay in their homes," he said.

To spur indigenous build-up of public services in Kosovo, UN begins ad hoc payments to local health professionals.
AUGUST 17 -- In an effort to spur the indigenous build-up of public services in Kosovo, the United Nations began making payments to healthcare workers in the provincial capital, Pristina, Tuesday.

More than 2,000 health professionals, who have not been paid in months, will receive ad-hoc payments from a UN trust fund established to finance the rebuilding of the civil administration in Kosovo.

Dr. Bernard Kouchner, head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), told health workers gathered at Pristina Hospital for the launching of the initiative: "You are doing this work for the people and we, at the United Nations, want to show you that you are not alone in your efforts."

Dr. Kouchner also said he would begin broad-based consultations with representatives from all sectors of the health system to gain their input on how best to shape the future healthcare system in the province.

"Being a doctor myself, I fully understand how crucial a health system is for a society and how crucial it is that it truly reflects what the people of Kosovo want and that it meets its expectations," he said. "We will work together on this, as we are working together on other issues."

Payments to health workers follow an earlier series of payments made by the UN mission in Kosovo to judges, prosecutors and customs workers. The payment programme for public employees will expand to other parts of Kosovo in the coming days.

Also at the ceremony on Tuesday, Dr. Kouchner officially launched the "I love My City - Pristina" beautification project, which includes garbage collection and cleaning of the city's green areas. Jointly funded by UNMIK and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the project will create more that 300 jobs for people in Pristina.

It will continue until 15 November when a more sustainable, self-financed operation is expected to begin. The international security force, KFOR, will provide logistical support for garbage disposal, including dumping the waste in a landfill on the outskirts of Pristina.

UNHCR voices concern over continuing violent attacks against Serbs in Kosovo.
AUGUST 17 -- Extremely concerned over continuing violent attacks on Serbs in Kosovo, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been taking protective measures, including evacuation of some at risk, an agency spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Speaking at a press briefing in Geneva, spokeswoman Judith Kumin said while UNHCR made all efforts to enable people to stay in their homes, measures to assist those at "extreme risk" can include evacuation.

Despite what Ms. Kumin described as "extensive measures" by the UN and the KFOR international security to protect them, violence continues against the shrinking Serb population in the province. She reported, for example, that a 78-year-old woman had been beaten to death in her apartment in the Kosovo capital, Pristina, on Sunday night.

"Tragically, she had been identified by UNHCR protection staff as a vulnerable case for possible evacuation," Ms. Kumin said.

It is estimated that no more than 2,000 Serbs remain in the city of Pristina, which had a Serb population of 20,000 before the end of the NATO bombing and arrival of KFOR in June. During the past two months, nearly 130,000 Serbs have fled Kosovo, mostly for other parts of Serbia and Montenegro.

Last week, the head of the humanitarian "pillar" of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Dennis McNamara, met with high-level government representatives in Belgrade to discuss UNHCR's assistance programme for the displaced from Kosovo.

Also during that trip, Mr. McNamara visited sites in central Serbia where many of the displaced Kosovo Serbs, as well as Roma who have fled the province, have congregated.

UN mission in Kosovo to review province's legal codes; invites participation of local experts.
AUGUST 16 -- The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) is to review, in consultation with local experts, the legal codes of the province with a view to excluding both civil and criminal provisions not in line with international law, a UN spokeswoman said Monday.

At a press briefing in Pristina, UN Spokeswoman Nadia Younes said Dr. Bernard Kouchner, who heads UNMIK, met Sunday in Pristina with local judges and prosecutors and invited them to "establish a partnership with UNMIK" for "reviewing the existing legal framework and the laws applicable in Kosovo with a view to purging it of all provisions which are inconsistent with the standards recognized in Europe and the rest of the world."

Following the meeting, a special advisory group -- including 19 Kosovar legal experts -- was established to work in consultation with UNMIK to refine both the criminal code and laws on property, customs, social welfare and the judiciary.

UNMIK, which has been working to restore the judicial and legislative systems in the province, will assign UN legal experts to work with the Kosovo experts for this purpose.

Dr. Kouchner told the 50 members of the local legal community, who had come to voice concerns about the way in which new regulations were being promulgated in the region and raise questions about the laws applicable in Kosovo, that all the people of Kosovo must be shown that the new legal system would be open, democratic, accessible and responsive.

He said the main task of the special advisory group was to review existing legislation and to draft new laws, which would eliminate all elements of discrimination; that is, the notion of apartheid. He noted as an example the present law that prohibits Albanians from participating in property transactions.

In a broader sense, Dr. Kouchner said Sunday's meeting had helped to establish a model for UNMIK's overall effort to restore civil society and develop democracy in Kosovo.

"I also intend to follow this same procedure" -- consulting with Kosovar representatives and experts -- in all administrative areas under the UNMIK mandate, such as health and education," Dr. Kouchner said.

Describing the results of his meeting on Sunday as "a turning point for the people of Kosovo", Dr. Kouchner said he had instructed his advisers and experts that no important decision would be taken without the involvement of the people of Kosovo and its experts.

UN clean-up programme in Kosovo's capital will spur job creation while providing vital public service.
AUGUST 16 -- In another step towards restoring normal life to Kosovo, the United Nations began Monday a programme for garbage collection and disposal in the provincial capital of Pristina.

Announcing the start of the programme at a press briefing in Pristina last Friday, UN spokeswoman Nadia Younes said the new operation will meet many of the civil administration goals of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), which has been working to re-establish social and municipal services throughout the province.

"It will spur job creation for Kosovar Albanians, Serbs and other minorities; and it will provide a vital public service by cleaning up the town of Pristina and laying the foundation for a self-sustaining system of garbage collection and disposal," Ms. Younes said.

Working under the motto of "I love Pristina" -- which will adorn trash bins in the capital -- some 300 local Kosovars will collect garbage from five zones in the city and dispose of the waste at an ecologically suitable dump, Ms. Younes said.

UNMIK Civil Administration in Pristina will directly oversee the effort, with the initial participation of the KFOR international security force that has been providing some trash collection services in the city.

The programme is being funded by a UN trust fund to support civil administration activities in Kosovo and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), which is contributing $200,000 for the first three months.