United Nations in Kosovo selects first 200 local recruits to begin police training.
SEPTEMBER 3 -- After weeks of screening, the United Nations in Kosovo today finalized selection of the first group of 200 local recruits to be trained as officers for the territory's new indigenous police force.

The premier class, set to begin training early next week, was chosen by the UN Interim Administration Mission (UNMIK) from among nearly 20,000 applicants.

"The four-week vetting process was public and transparent," said UNMIK Police Commissioner Sven Frederiksen. "Candidates were considered on their individual merit, to ensure the best possible quality of future police officers," he said.

All applicants were evaluated on criteria including their understanding of democratic and humane policing concepts, and their ability to be fair and impartial.

After conducting interviews and background checks of 400 candidates, the UN selected the first trainees, 80 per cent of whom are Albanian, 13 per cent Serb, the rest other minorities. Twenty per cent of the recruits are former police officers that were forced from their jobs when the Yugoslov Government stripped Kosovo of its autonomous status.

Commissioner Frederiksen noted that a substantial number of former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) soldiers qualified for the police training, on the basis of their individual merit. "That representation reflects highly on the qualifications and distinction of the KLA soldiers," he said.

The new recruits will be trained by international police instructors at the new Kosovo Police Service School, operated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSEC). OSCE is charged with carrying out UNMIK's institution-building activities.

Following the course instruction, each Kosovar officer will participate in 19 weeks of field training, under the supervision of UNMIK international civilian police. International personnel will monitor the behaviour of the local police throughout the term of UNMIK.

The formation of the first class marked a major step towards establishing the force that will help and, in the end, maintain law and order in Kosovo, said Dr. Bernard Kouchner, who leads the UN in Kosovo. "It shows how far we've come in working with Kosovars to rebuild institutions – institutions that will lead us to a stable and secure Kosovo," Dr. Kouchner said.

United Nations legalizes use of foreign currencies in Kosovo.
SEPTEMBER 3 -- In another major step to restart the economy of Kosovo, the United Nations has legalized the use of foreign currencies for payments and contracts in Kosovo.

The new legislative act -- signed yesterday by the chief of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Dr. Bernard Kouchner -- allows the use of all currencies, including the Yugoslov dinar, while lifting past legal restrictions on the use or possession of all foreign currencies.

"This is an important first step towards the creation of functioning banking, payments and fiscal systems in Kosovo," said Joly Dixon, the UN Deputy Special Representative in charge of economic reconstruction in Kosovo.

The UN, as interim administrator, will maintain its books and accounts in Deutsche mark. UNMIK payments to civil servants and other stipends will be made in marks. While obligatory payments to authorities such as duties, taxes and fines, will be accepted in all currencies, a handling fee will be added to payments not received in marks.

Speaking to the press today in Kosovo's capital Pristina, Mr. Dixon said although the regulation did not impose the use of the Deutsche mark or outlaw the use of the dinar, it legally recognized the mark as the commonly used currency in Kosovo.

The terms of the new regulation reject the issuance of a separate currency for Kosovo, Mr. Dixon said. "There is absolutely no question of creating a new currency," he said.

UNICEF in push to repair more than half of Kosovo's schools.
SEPTEMBER 2 -- With more than half of Kosovo's schools damaged, many seriously, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is helping in a major push to ensure that all schools will be ready for the start of the normal school year on 1 November.

Of Kosovo's 1,000 schools, UNICEF estimates that at the end of the conflict in the territory nearly 668 were in need of repair, with 45 per cent severely damaged or destroyed. The majority of school facilities have been looted; some schools still have to be checked for landmines and unexploded ordnance.

To ensure that all facilities will be fully functional when some 310,000 students return in the autumn, UNICEF, along with dozens of partner organizations, has already completed repair of 34 schools and is working to restore 263 other. Rehabilitation of 371 more damaged facilities is soon to begin.

Where facilities will not be completed by the start of the school year, UNICEF is providing 700 winterized tents for use as temporary classrooms.

Already this week, some 250,000 school children began "catch up" classes, to complete coursework interrupted last spring. Some classes are being convened in repaired or nearly repaired school; others are simply being held outdoors.

Parallel to efforts to restore school structures, UNICEF is pushing to revamp the old Kosovo school system which often physically separated Albanian and Serb children. At the Dardania School in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, for example, walls have been knocked down which in the past were used to divide children of different ethnic groups.

To accommodate the language differences among students, schools will operate on a time-share basis, with Albanian-language instruction for half the day and Serbian instruction during the other.

Kosovo faces food gap, UN agencies say.
SEPTEMBER 2 -- Even with 143,000 tons of emergency food aid planned for this year, Kosovo still faces a projected shortfall in available food supplies, two United Nations agencies report.

A special report released this week by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), projects a 85,000 ton import gap for wheat this year.

The agencies estimate that recent hostilities and mass displacement have disrupted agricultural production to such an extent that this year's wheat production will fall by 65 per cent from earlier years, to about 113,000 tons.

The 1999 maize crop will also be sharply reduced, to 20 per cent of normal production, and this season's vegetable production will be almost zero. In addition, widespread looting and slaughter of livestock have reduced Kosovo's cattle by half, and the small stock by roughly 25 per cent.

Since it may be a year before even initial recovery of the agricultural sector will be seen in Kosovo, FAO and WFP say, it is likely international food aid to Kosovo will be needed for the next six months, and possibly longer.

During the next four months, WFP plans to help feed 900,000 people, or half the population in Kosovo. Its longer-term assistance programme will strive to reduce the risk of hunger and malnutrition, while replacing lost crops and livestock.

FAO and WFP, reporting findings of their joint Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission which visited Kosovo from 2 to 8 August, say also that Kosovo's rural economy, already depressed by a decade of restrictive policies, will suffer due to the absence of cash sales of surplus food products.

Last year, some 60 per cent of rural cash income was derived from the sale of crops, livestock and related products, the agencies' preliminary field data suggests. The strain of declining incomes will only be compounded by the fact that the Kosovar rural population will face greater expenditures, particularly on reconstruction.

Kosovo Transitional Council establishes commission to help enhance security.
SEPTEMBER 1 -- Kosovar political leaders, meeting today in the United Nations-supervised Kosovo Transitional Council, agreed to form a commission to assist in efforts to enhance security throughout the territory.

During its fourth meeting, held in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, the Council decided to form a new security group of Kosovar experts to advise the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the international security force, KFOR, on how best to resolve specific security concerns and to help set priorities for UN international civilian police deployment.

Also during the meeting, which was chaired by UNMIK chief Dr. Bernard Kouchner, it was agreed that UNMIK would deploy a group of international police to the city of Orahovac. The UN officers will be sent to help defuse tensions and meet security concerns of the local population which is opposing KFOR deployment of a Russian Federation contingent.

UNMIK reported to the Council on measures it has taken which have already improved the security situation in Kosovo, including the establishment of UN police authority in Pristina. Nearly 750 UN civilian police are now in Kosovo.

Dr. Kouchner said "tremendous progress" had been achieved at the meeting, during which he put forward further proposals for transforming the Transitional Council into an "interim governing council". Discussion will continue next week on changes that would give a Kosovar political body more executive responsibilities than held by the current Council.

In addition to discussing the budget for Kosovo's civil administration, Council members considered what to do with funds of the "Government of the Republic of Kosovo". Those funds were raised over the past several years by Kosovo Albanian residents and in the diaspora.

Dr. Kouchner also today urged the Council to name by week's end a commission to address the matter of detainees and prisoners still being held in Serbia. As proposed by Dr. Kouchner, the commission would be chaired by the Office of the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights, and include representatives from families of detained or imprisoned people.

The Council met today without the participation of the Serb delegation, which UNMIK said did not attend due to technical reasons.

Attending the meeting were Ibrahim Rugova of the LDK (Democratic League of Kosovo); Hashim Thaci of the UCK (Kosovo Liberation Army); Rexhep Qosa and Mehmet Hajrizi of the LBD (United Democratic Movement) and Independent Veton Surroi. Sezair Shaipi represented the Turkish people of Kosovo and Numan Balic, the SDA (Bosniaks).

United Nations in Kosovo to launch new customs service.
SEPTEMBER 1 -- In a major move to restart the economy of Kosovo, the UN will launch a new customs service and begin collecting customs duties on Friday, under a new regulation signed into law by the chief of the UN Kosovo operation, Dr. Bernard Kouchner.

The new legislative order, which went into effect today, renders the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) Customs Service the sole institution in Kosovo with the authority to perform customs functions. Fees on all goods imported into Kosovo will be deposited into the Public Payment Service to support civil functions in the territory.

Dr. Kouchner will officially open the UNMIK Customs Service on Friday afternoon at the Hani I Elezit/Djeneral Jankovic border crossing with The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The new UNMIK regulation -- known formally as Regulation No. 3 -- establishes customs rates, excise duties and sales tax on imported goods for the transitional period in which UNMIK holds executive authority in Kosovo.

Dr. Kouchner has already named a Director-General of the Customs Services.

UNMIK has also appointed 40 customs officers from Kosovo, all with previous customs experience, who will operate three authorized international border crossings on the Kosovo border with The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania. Additional border crossing points will be opened later in the month.

Kosovo's schools re-open to complete interrupted 1998-1999 courses.
SEPTEMBER 1 -- In a major step towards restoring Kosovo's education system, more than half of its 1,000 schools were to re-open today and resume classes that were interrupted earlier this year, the United Nations reported in Kosovo.

The "catch-up classes" will allow students to complete the 1998-1999 course work before the official start of this school year, expected in late October, UN spokeswoman Daniela Rozgonova told the press today in Pristina.

To facilitate the quick resumption of classes, the UN-supervised Joint Civil Commission on Education conducted a rapid review of textbooks to vet them for hate language. The Commission is now working to establish an entirely new curriculum for the 2000-2001 school year.

Efforts continue to repair nearly 200 additional school facilities that have been damaged. The UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) estimates that 130 Kosovo schools have been completely destroyed, with 150 severely damaged. Another 132 sustained moderate damage.

Humanitarian efforts can house vast majority of Kosovars through winter, says UN refugee agency.
AUGUST 31 -- Parallel measures to repair structures in Kosovo and to place people in temporary housing should ensure winter shelter for all of the nearly 700,000 people whose homes have been damaged or destroyed, the UN refugee agency said today.

UNHCR, which leads the humanitarian efforts of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), estimates that some 50,000 homes in Kosovo are beyond repair, with an equal number of houses damaged.

In the case of homes that are deemed repairable, UNHCR has launched an emergency rehabilitation programme to help reconstruct at least one warm room per home before the onset of winter. Through the distribution of shelter kits, stoves and other building materials, UNHCR and its partners -- the European Community Humanitarian Office and the US Agency for International Development -- is on schedule to help house some 380,000 people.

For the additional 300,000 whose homes have been completely destroyed, UNHCR has been working to provide temporary accommodations. Already most have been placed with host families, where they will likely remain through winter.

In addition, the international humanitarian community in Kosovo is undertaking contingency measures to create housing capacity for some 90,000 more people, including establishment of community temporary shelters and the distribution of all-season tents.

Vital to the success of these humanitarian efforts, UNHCR says, is the civil administration work to reconnect electricity and other utilities throughout the province. Beyond emergency humanitarian efforts, additional long-term reconstruction and development will be necessary in the spring to permanently repair and rebuild Kosovo, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Pristina said.

Noting that the rebuilding projects will be beyond the scope and capacity of UNHCR, the refugee agency has called on the donor community and other agencies with experience in reconstruction to begin planning for spring now.

UN in Kosovo appoints Serb and Albanian judicial officers for Mitrovica.
AUGUST 31 -- The United Nations in Kosovo, striving to restore civil order in areas of high tension, today appointed nine judicial officers in the city of Mitrovica.

Dr. Bernard Kouchner, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Kosovo, travelled to Mitrovica to name the seven new judges, five of whom are Albanian and two Serb; and two additional prosecutors, 1 Serb and 1 Albanian.

Mitrovica, a city with large Serb and Albanian populations, has been the site of high tension and violence.

Speaking at a ceremony where the new officers read their oaths in their own languages, Dr. Kouchner said the appointments marked another important step towards building a new, independent and multi-ethnic judiciary for Kosovo.

Dr. Kouchner told the new judges and prosecutors that together with the UN they would develop a legal system compliant with international human rights standards, and based on the principle of non-discrimination.

Under the executive authority of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), a Joint Advisory Council on Legislative Matters has been formed to guide legal reform in Kosovo. The Council's tasks include drafting new non-discriminatory legislation.

UNMIK has now appointed more than 30 judges and prosecutors.

Security Council members condemn violence against ethnic minorities in Kosovo.
AUGUST 30 -- Members of the Security Council on Monday condemned violence committed against ethnic minorities in Kosovo and the international security force, KFOR, and demanded that such acts stop immediately.

In a press statement, Council President Martin Andjaba of Namibia said the members reaffirmed their full support for the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and its leader, Dr. Bernard Kouchner, and welcomed the steps already taken to implement the resolution (1244 of 10 June 1999) that set out the UN's mandate in the territory.

Council members urged UNMIK and KFOR to continue their efforts to ensure the resolution's full implementation and called on UN Members States to provide the UN Mission with the resources necessary to carry out its functions, Ambassador Andjaba said.

The Council was briefed earlier Monday by Assistant Secretary-General for Peace-Keeping Operations Hedi Annabi, who gave a comprehensive report on all aspects of UNMIK as well as the activities of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

US fully supports United Nations work in Kosovo -- visiting US Ambassador Holbrooke.
AUGUST 30 -- Stressing the immensity of the United Nations task in Kosovo, the newly appointed United States Ambassador to the UN, Richard Holbrooke, told the press in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, Sunday that the US Government fully supported the important work of the UN Kosovo operation and its chief, Dr. Bernard Kouchner.

During Mr. Holbrooke's visit to Kosovo over the weekend and into today, he and Dr. Kouchner met several times to review the work of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to enhance security and return normalcy to Kosovo.

Highlighting the difficulty the UN must address when attempting to bring stability and democracy to an area where ethnic tensions have been long-present, Mr. Holbrooke said: "The damage here is less then in Bosnia ... but the complexity of dealing with the problems are in many ways deeper and the animosity may be deeper."

Dr. Kouchner, also addressing the press Sunday, said UNMIK was making step-by-step progress to better protect all Kosovars. He said even in the most troubled areas, such as Mitrovica where the presence of large Serb and Albanian populations had led to high tensions and violence, the situation was improving.

Saying he was "optimistic" about the progress being made to return ethnic Albanians to their homes in Mitrovica, Dr. Kouchner said "some days ago it was impossible to think that they would even be returning. Now they are getting back and they are being protected."

Today, Dr. Kouchner and the UNMIK Police Commissioner, Sven Frederikson, took Mr. Holbrooke to tour high-risk areas of the capital, where UN civilian police are patrolling in an effort to enhance security for all citizens.

They visited the Ulpiana area -- a complex of buildings with an ethnically mixed population -- where there have been high incidents of harassment and crimes against ethnic minorities, particularly Serbs. Here UNMIK police have established an around the clock presence, allowing the UN police to quickly respond to any complaints from residents.

UNMIK Police Commissioner Frederikson reported that the local residents have welcomed the UN police presence.

United Nations continues work to restore customs services in Kosovo.
AUGUST 30 -- In an important step to help restore customs services and generate much-needed public revenue in Kosovo, the United Nations will tomorrow begin registering all forwarding agents, as well as importers and exporters of goods.

Later this week the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) will publication new regulations on customs for Kosovo, UN spokeswoman Nadia Younes told the press in Pristina today.

"Sometime after the regulations are finalized and disseminated, new customs services will become operational at the borders of Kosovo and Macedonia and Albania," Ms. Younes said. "This will generate much-needed revenue to support public administration in Kosovo."

To ensure optimal screening, UN postpones start of Kosovar police training.
AUGUST 30 -- To ensure optimal screening by the United Nations of the first class of recruits for a new multi-ethnic Kosovar police force, training of the first group of 200, set to begin tomorrow, has been postponed by one week.

UN spokeswoman Nadia Younes told the press today in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, that the course work at the UN-run Kosovo police school would instead commence on 7 September.

"The Police Commissioner and the head of the police academy feel that it is better to delay the opening rather than bring in the wrong or unsuitable people," she said.

Nearly 20,000 Kosovars have applied to join the new police force, being formed under the overall supervision of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

The academy itself is being run by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is charged with carrying out UNMIK's institution-building activities.