"Within the next few weeks, UNMIK will be covering the entire region of Kosovo" -- UN Balkans envoy.
AUGUST 27 -- The United Nations was establishing itself throughout Kosovo at a very rapid pace, even under challenging circumstances, the UN Balkans envoy said today.

Speaking at a press briefing in New York, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Balkans Carl Bildt said the UN interim administration was stretching well beyond the capital of Pristina and would soon be in all 29 communes of Kosovo.

"Within the next few weeks, UNMIK will be covering the entire region of Kosovo," Mr. Bildt said.

UNMIK -- formally known as the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo -- is charged with maintaining a civil structure while facilitating the development of a democratic, multi-ethnic Kosovar administration to govern the territory.

Responding to questions from the press about the likelihood of Kosovo returning to a multi-ethnic state, Mr. Bildt said that the aim of the UNMIK was to improve the security situation so that minorities could return to their home.

While at present the human right situation for minorities in Kosovo was not satisfactory, he said UNMIK and the KFOR international security force were doing their utmost to protect Serbs and other groups.

The idea of creating cantons or "ghettos" for minorities was not the solution, Mr. Bildt said. Although it was natural for minorities to gather together into groups for protections, the international community must work to preserve an element of multi-ethnicity.

Parallel to effort to enhance security, UNMIK civil projects, such as those to re-open schools and restore public services, would support the development of a multi-ethnic Kosovo, he said.

In addition, the UN-supervised Kosovo Transitional Council had succeeded in bringing all the key political parties to the table to address security concerns and other vital matters, he said.

The Transitional Council, which is the highest political body under the UNMIK executive authority in Kosovo, is designed to facilitate Kosovar participation in UN decision making.

While the Council had gotten off to a bumpy start, Mr. Bildt said, the recent agreement by Council members to meet once a week was an important and positive development.

Kouchner urges action to secure release of Kosovar Albanians held in Serbia.
AUGUST 27 -- The head of the United Nations Kosovo operation, Dr. Bernard Kouchner, today urged the international community to exert pressure for the release of political prisoners still being held in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Speaking in Pristina at a rally for more than 5,000 Kosovar Albanians still believed detained in Serbia, Dr. Kouchner also called on international human rights organizations to help seek information on those still missing.

Dr. Kouchner told hundreds of demonstrators that he had received detailed information on 1,924 detainees held in Serbian jails whom representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had been allowed to visit. Most of them were being held without trial and have been charged with terrorism, he said.

Stressing that it was a violation of international law to hold prisoners without providing information to relatives, Dr. Kouchner said he was attempting to coordinate a high-level meeting of human rights representatives in Pristina to confront the matter of prisoners and missing persons.

He also said the Kosovo Transitional Council -- the highest Kosovar political body working with the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) -- would create a special working group, made up of the ICRC, human rights activists and family members, to address this issue.

UN in Kosovo pushes to restore rail service before winter; returning 1,000 rail workers.
AUGUST 27 -- To help restore Kosovo's rail network before the onset of winter, the United Nations is bringing back to work more than 1,000 former railway employees, a UN spokeswoman said today.

Speaking to the press in Kosovo's capital Pristina, Nadia Younes said the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) is reintegrating some 800 Albanian former employees -- many who lost their jobs in 1989 -- with another group of 640 Serbs and Albanians who have already returned to the job.

"UNMIK considers the registering of more than 1,000 former employees as a milestone en route to restoring the much-needed rail service," Ms. Younes said.

The railroad system -- a vital transport means for food, shelter material and other critical supplies to Kosovo -- was damaged during the NATO bombings that ended in June.

Last week, UNMIK oversaw the return of more than 120 Serb rail workers who had fled to Serbia during the past two months, Ms. Younes noted. They joined another 220 to 230 Serbs who had remained mainly in Kosovo Polje, which is the site of a major railway station in Kosovo.

UNMIK is now leading negotiations on how Serbs and Albanians will divide the railroad management positions, an issue hotly contested by the two communities, Ms. Younes said.

To that end, the UNMIK-supervised Joint Civilian Commission on Transport plans to appoint a committee on railways, with representation from both Serb and Albanian communities. In turn, the committee will manage the railway system under an international director yet to be appointed.

Already, minimal rail service between Kosovo and Macedonia has been restored, with three trains running daily on the Skopje/Pristina line. However, due to a lack of trains and locomotives, only a limited amount of supplies are now being transported from Macedonia.

UNMIK and Kosovar academics set plan to re-open universities to all students.
AUGUST 27 -- After weeks of negotiations, the United Nations in Kosovo and Serb and Albanian academics have set a plan for re-opening universities to all students, the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) announced today.

The plan envisions a fair, secure and practical sharing of university public facilities, according to time-sharing arrangements to be worked out by the parties themselves.

As a first step, the proposal outlines the conducting of "catch up" exams for students whose educations were interrupted last spring.

Under the plan, faculty, administrative staff and students from both Serb and Albanian "language streams" would immediately gain access to all university facilities, so as to prepare for and conduct examinations for the disrupted 1998-99 school term.

Briefing the press in Pristina, capital of Kosovo, on the new proposal, UN spokeswoman Nadia Younes said, if successful, this plan will be applied simultaneously in all university branches around Kosovo.

"The principles are that the communities in Kosovo must be able to share the facilities and opportunities which belong to them, without discrimination, segregation or the exclusive use of any institution or area by one group or another," she said.

Due to the security situation in the territory, specific modalities for implementing the plan are still being worked out, Ms. Younes said. A working group of Serb and Albanian representatives, UNMIK and the KFOR international security forces has been established to design an implementation plan.

First Kosovar recruits to begin UN-supervised training for multi-ethnic police force.
AUGUST 26 -- In a step towards building a multi-ethnic police force in Kosovo, the first group of 200 Kosovar recruits will start their training on Monday, 30 August, a United Nations spokesman said Thursday.

Speaking to the press in New York, Manoel de Almeida e Silva said the first course, operated under the overall supervision of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), will run until October.

The course work will be conducted by international police instructors at a new police training center established in Kosovo by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). OSCE is charged with carrying out UNMIK's institution-building activities.

A second group of Kosovar recruits will begin training on 15 September.

Following the course instruction, each Kosovar officer will participate in 19 weeks of field training, under the supervision of UNMIK international civilian police.

Each officer of the new Kosovar police force will be evaluated after the initial course, the field training and every 12 weeks thereafter, to ensure professionalism and impartiality. International personnel will monitor the behaviour of the local police throughout the term of UNMIK.

So far, some 19,500 Kosovars have applied to join the new force.

Kosovo Transitional Council considers measures to protect minorities.
AUGUST 25 -- Kosovar political leaders and the head of the United Nations Kosovo operation today discussed how to improve security throughout the territory, in particular, the protection of minority populations.

Speaking to the press in Pristina after the meeting of the Kosovo Transitional Council, which he described as very difficult but constructive, UN Special Representative Bernard Kouchner said new proposals on protection of minorities had been made today, in light of the proposal to move Serbs into "cantons" for their protection tabled earlier by the leader of the Serb Resistance Movement.

Reiterating that he was not in favour of "cantonization", Dr. Kouchner said other means of improving security for all Kosovars, Albanians as well as minorities, were under consideration.

In a meeting in Pristina yesterday with Dr. Kouchner, the Foreign Ministers of France and Germany had also voiced their disfavour of the cantonization proposal, saying it was not the optimum solution to the situation. Both Ministers had said it ran counter to the international effort to create a unified, multi-ethnic Kosovo.

The Transitional Council agreed the issue of protecting minorities would be again considered next Wednesday, when the Council will hold its next meeting.

The Council -- which is the highest political body operating under the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) -- also reviewed matters relating to reconstruction, economic development, and efforts to reopen schools and universities. The question of housing was also raised, with discussions centering on emergency measures by UNMIK to ensure minimum shelter is provided before winter.

Dr. Kouchner, who chaired the meeting, proposed that the Council establish executive directorates to facilitate participation of the Kosovo public in UNMIK decision making. He suggested that co-directors, one Kosovar and one from UNMIK, be chosen to lead each of four directorates addressing housing, education, health and public utilities.

Today's was the first meeting attended by both leaders of the two main Albanian parties: Ibrahim Rugova, of the Kosovo Democratic League; and Hashim Thaci, of the Kosovo Liberation Army. In addition to Serb leaders, representatives of the Turkish and Bosniac communities also attended.

UNMIK to take charge of Kosovo utilities.
AUGUST 25 -- As part of the overall effort to restore public services in Kosovo, the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) will take over control of the territory's utilities on 1 September, a UN spokeswoman said Wednesday.

UNMIK is assuming supervision of energy, water and sanitation services from the KFOR international security force, which carried out much of the emergency repair of utilities after the end of the NATO bombing in June, Daniela Rozgonova told the press in Kosovo's capital Pristina.

As a first step, UNMIK, on Thursday, will for the first time chair a meeting of the Kosovar commission overseeing management of the public utilities. In addition to helping to manage services, the Joint Civil Commission on Energy and Public Utilities is charged with ensuring that the utilities are staffed by a multi-ethnic work force.

As interim administrator in Kosovo, UNMIK is responsible for helping to build self-sustaining multi-ethnic governmental structures to provide services to the people of Kosovo.

In a related development, the electric power link between Kosovo and Macedonia has been re-established. The power grid between Kosovo and Macedonia was repaired as off last week, Ms. Rozgonova said.

Kouchner discusses Kosovo security with Foreign Ministers of Germany and France.
AUGUST 24 -- Dr. Bernard Kouchner, head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), discussed the prevailing security situation with the visiting Foreign Ministers of France and Germany, in Pristina today.

Speaking to the press after his meeting with German Minister Joschka Fischer and French Minister Hubert Vedrine, Dr. Kouchner said their discussions had also touched on to the work of the Kosovo Transitional Council and the holding of future elections.

On Monday, Dr. Kouchner had travelled to the Drenica region, meeting with people who had suffered loses during more than a year of conflict in the territory.

He visited the Jashari family that had lost 23 members during a massacre by Serbian police in March 1998. Paying tribute to the heroism of the family, Dr. Kouchner urged them to show tolerance and forgiveness, despite the tremendous violence they had endured.

Dr. Kouchner also met the Muqualli family, which had suffered great loses in April 1998. Fifty-eight members of the family -- mainly women and children -- had been burnt alive when the Serbian police threw a hand grenade into their home.

Also Monday, Dr. Kouchner met with a family recently repatriated to Kosovo from Macedonia. The family, which was living in a tent camp in the area, told Dr. Kouchner of pressing problems such as lack of water and basic sanitation. They also spoke of their fears of not having proper housing before the winter.

Secretary-General appoints new UN deputy representative in Kosovo in charge of civil administration.
AUGUST 24 -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan has chosen Tom Koenigs of Germany as the new United Nations deputy representative in charge of the public administration and civil affairs "pillar" of the UN operation in Kosovo, a UN spokesman said in New York Tuesday.

As the Secretary-General's Deputy Special Representative for Civil Administration, Mr. Koenigs will guide the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) effort to build an indigenous civil structure in the territory.

Mr. Koenigs will also take charge of UNMIK's interim civil administration, which has been established in the capital and the outlying regions to help provide public services until a sustainable Kosovar system has been put in place.

Mr. Koenigs will replace Dominique Vian, who will return to his duties with the French Government. Mr. Koenigs is expected to take up his post in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, during the first week of September.

Mr. Koenigs is currently head of the Environmental Protection Department for the city of Frankfurt. Prior to that posting, Mr. Koenigs was the Treasurer of Frankfurt from 1993 to 1997, during which time he worked to modernize the city's administration.

UNHCR evacuates number of vulnerable Serbs from Kosovo.
AUGUST 24 -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has evacuated 28 elderly Serbs from Kosovo to Serbia, an agency spokesman said Tuesday.

At a press briefing in Geneva, spokesman Kris Janowski said the Serbs were taken Tuesday from the city of Prizren and reunited with their families.

"Virtually all of the 28 had received verbal threats," Mr. Janowski said. "They were terrified and asked to be taken out."

Kosovo Transitional Council discusses ways to improve security situation.
AUGUST 23 -- Albanian, Serb and other Kosovar political leaders discussed ways to improve the security situation at the second meeting of the United Nations-chaired Kosovo Transitional Council on Saturday. Reconstruction efforts and wider economic measures were also discussed.

Dr. Bernard Kouchner, who heads the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and chaired the meeting in Kosovo's capital Pristina, said UNMIK would fully consider the many concrete proposals made, but cautioned there would be no quick-fix to the security problems in Kosovo.

During the meeting, the leader of the Serbian Resistance Movement, Momcilo Trajkovic, proposed separating Kosovar Serbs into "cantons" for their protection.

Dr. Kouchner said he was not in favour of the idea, noting UNMIK international civilian police and the KFOR international security force were making all efforts to control the situation and enhance security without taking such action.

"Please don't believe that confidence and goodwill will come in just days or weeks," he said. "There is a fantastic density of hatred here, but the answer is not the police; the answer is not soldiers. The answer is development, peace and democracy. The answer is jobs for young people."

Dr. Kouchner proposed a number of initiatives on Saturday to build unity in Kosovo. Among them, he suggested sending teams of young Kosovars to damaged areas to rebuild homes and repair other damage.

Although the United Nations in Kosovo had the money and the technicians to guide reconstruction in the area, Dr. Kouchner said the work and the goodwill of the Kosovars was needed.

The Saturday meeting is the second of the Kosovo Transitional Council, which is the highest political body under UNMIK. The Council provides local political parties and ethnic groups a means for direct input into UNMIK's decisions on civil reconstruction and democratic development.

Ibrahim Rugova, of the Kosovo Democratic League (LDK), who had been absent from the Council's first meeting on 16 July, was among Albanian political representatives at the weekend meeting. Hashim Thaci, the political leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) did not attend, but others of the KLA were there.

Participants agreed to meet weekly, scheduling the next Council meeting for Wednesday, 25 August.

United Nations international civilian police in Kosovo assume law enforcement powers in Pristina.
AUGUST 23 -- In a first step toward assuming direct responsibility for law and order in Kosovo, United Nations international civilian police have begun taking on law enforcement duties in Kosovo's capital city, a UN spokeswoman said Monday.

At a press briefing in the capital, Pristina, Nadia Younes said that at 8 a.m. Monday the UN police contingent, numbering some 200 officers, took over "jurisdiction for enforcing criminal codes, conducting, investigations, making arrests for criminal offences and interfacing with the community."

The UN police force in the capital, which has been carrying out patrols alongside KFOR for the past several weeks, will continue to receive support from the security force. KFOR military police will continue to be responsible for policing tasks in the remainder of the Pristina region.

There are now more than 700 UN civilian officers -- deployed as part of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) -- working to enhance the rule of law in the area. The UN police force, which will number more than 3,000 at full strength, will also help train an indigenous Kosovar police force.

United Nations secures arrest of three Serbs suspected of war crimes in Kosovo.
AUGUST 23 -- In an effort to bring to justice individuals responsible for war crimes in Kosovo, the United Nations has secured the arrest of three suspects and launched in-depth investigations, the UN in Kosovo said Monday.

Acting upon a request from the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), KFOR security forces arrested three Serbs in the area of Orahovac on Friday, a UN spokeswoman said during a press briefing in Kosovo's capital, Pristina.

UNMIK police investigators have also seized a great amount of documents, photographs and other items from the suspects' homes that may serve as potential evidence in court, Ms. Younes said. Several weapons and hand grenades were also found.

International police investigators and legal experts have begun interviewing the suspects, under the supervision of the competent domestic authorities.

A first hearing of the cases was held on Monday morning in the District Court of Prizren. Ms. Younes said that although the matter was being considered in domestic criminal court, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia was closely following the cases.

UN refugee agency urges Kosovars to accept emergency shelter kits for onset of winter.
AUGUST 23 -- Emphasizing this may be the only reconstruction help they receive before the onset of winter, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Pristina today urged Kosovars who are turning down shelter kits to make the best possible use of the materials to fix one warm and weatherproof room.

Reports have come in of a number of people refusing these kits in the hope that a more substantial package would become available later to totally rebuild their homes. The distribution of these materials is not meant as a permanent solution, but as a temporary measure to get people through this first difficult winter, UNHCR added.

UNHCR's shelter rehabilitation programme is now in full swing, with 5,800 basic shelter kits distributed so far aimed at the most vulnerable groups. These kits are designed to provide enough material to allow homeowners to temporarily weatherproof one room per house before winter. They contain reinforced, heavy-duty plastic sheeting for roof repairs, as well as translucent plastic to cover broken windows. The kits also include timber, plywood, nails, staples, tape and tools.

Given an estimated 47,000 non-repairable homes, UNHCR is also mounting a programme of assistance to host families to encourage them to take in the homeless this winter, drawing lessons from the trend that refugees who fled to surrounding countries stayed with host families, not in refugee camps. For those who have nowhere else to go, UNHCR is also identifying temporary community shelters, to be used as a last resort this winter.

UNHCR places high priority on its shelter programme, a collective effort that includes major players such as the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Responsible for providing a third or less of the total volume of shelter kits, UNHCR is to distribute 16,000 basic shelter kits and another 4,400 roofing kits. ECHO meanwhile, is providing 20,000 basic kits, while USAID is contributing 19,300. In all, the kits from the three agencies will benefit an estimated 387,000 people. At least four other organizations have pledged kits or prefab houses, bringing the total number to more than 75,000 kits.

Since mid-June, UNHCR has delivered more than 750 truckloads of aid to Kosovo, much of it being shelter material. After the lifting of customs inspection fees in early August by the government of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, there has been a steady flow of aid trucks bringing in urgently needed shelter materials, including improved roof repair kits.

Kouchner urges Kosovar health workers to be guided by patient needs, not politics.
AUGUST 23 -- Dr. Bernard Kouchner, head of the United Nations in Kosovo, on Sunday urged health professionals from around the territory to be guided only by the needs of patients and to keep politics out of the debate on how to rebuild the health system.

During a frank and, at times, tense and emotional exchange with 120 health workers who had gathered in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, Dr. Kouchner said points of concern must be limited to issues such as practitioners qualifications, fighting disease, financing health services and restructuring facilities.

"For various reasons, the health care system in Kosovo is sick and we must approach it as a patient," Dr. Kouchner said.

During the meeting B billed by the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) as the first step in overhauling Kosovo's health system B participants established working groups on human resources development, health policy and transmittable diseases. It was agreed that these groups, scheduled to begin work Monday, will invite patients and other members of civil society to participate in their efforts.

Also on Sunday, Dr. Kouchner raised the UN flag in front of the hospital in Mitrovica, where an international team has recently begun management of the clinical health services, in cooperation with both Serb and Albanian medical staff. They have established the 700-bed hospital as a "neutral zone", open to all communities.

While Mitrovica has been the scene of recent ethnic tensions and violence, with the large Serb and Albanian populations remaining separated on either side of a bridge which divides the city, UNMIK and KFOR security forces have been taking extensive measures to improve the security situation there.

On Friday, under a UN-led initiative, six Albanian families moved back to their homes in northern Mitrovica. They remain there under KFOR and UN protection.

During his visit to Mitrovica, Dr. Kouchner also met with 250 Roma camped in a former Serbian school. The Roma population in the area B which was until recently 20,000 -- has dwindled to 500.