UN mission in Kosovo reports progress in work on new administrative structures.
JANUARY 28 -- Kosovo's Interim Administrative Council today named a Kosovar engineer to co-head the Department of Post & Telecommunications with a United Nations official.Post & Telecommunications is one of the 19 proposed departments of the Joint Interim Administrative Structure in which Kosovars share the provisional administration of the province with the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).
A statement issued by UNMIK said Mr. Zef Morina, an engineer and member of Kosovo's Christian Democratic Party, will manage the department with Mr. Pascal Copin, head of Postal Services and Telecommunications in UNMIK.
The Council also discussed preparations for the establishment of the first four departments -- Health and Social Security, Education and Science, Local Administration, Budget and Finance -- which will become operational on Tuesday, the statement said.
"The co-heads are working well together on creating the regulations that will be needed in order to govern the work of these new departments, " said Jock Covey, Principal Deputy of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General. "We were able to discuss these regulations briefly and will continue to work on them over the weekend."
Kosovo's wheat harvest expected to be lower than pre-1990 levels: FAO.
JANUARY 28 -- Kosovo's winter wheat harvest will be lower than the pre-1990 levels and similar to 1997/98 at 2.75 tonnes per hectare, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today in a report issued in Rome.Wheat is the basic cereal staple of the province and planning relief assistance in 2000 will depend greatly on the outcome of the wheat harvest from July, the UN agency said.
An FAO crop assessment mission in Kosovo estimated that the area planted to winter wheat in 1999 is about 79,000 hectares, the bulk of which will be harvested in 2000.
But there is potential for increased yields if good applications of nitrogenous fertilizers can be assured in the spring, the mission noted.
The mission also found that farmers intended to plant about 100,000 hectares of maize -- Kosovo's primary feed cereal -- this summer. FAO said plans were in hand to supply seeds and fertilizers to a targeted group of the most vulnerable farmers.
Given the abundance of weeds in last year's harvested and unharvested cereal crops, reduced cultivation practices where tractors were in short supply, and the lack of herbicide use in the autumn, weeds are expected to be a major problem this summer, the FAO report said.
Excessive weed competition would reduce yields even lower than those currently estimated by the mission and international support for spring weed control on winter wheat and summer sown maize should be a priority for the coming months, the report concludes.
Expanded Kosovo Transitional Council to be inaugurated on 9 February. JANUARY 26 -- The new expanded Kosovo Transitional Council (KTC) will be inaugurated on 9 February, the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) announced today. The KTC is the highest level political consultative group to the UN mission.
Meanwhile, the proposed list of new candidates is being discussed by the KTC which met today to discuss the expansion of its membership to include more minority representatives, political parties and members of the Kosovo civil society.
The KTC will resemble an "interim parliament" until elections are held, the head of UNMIK, Dr. Bernard Kouchner, told members.
He said the KTC will also serve as the popular "consciousness" of Kosovo, with the ability to take initiatives to be enacted by the Joint Interim Administrative Structure and to propose alternative solutions to decisions by the Interim Administrative Council with which it may disagree.
The Joint Interim Administrative Structure and the Interim Administrative Council were launched on 15 December to allow Kosovars to share in the provisional administration of Kosovo with UNMIK.
Kosovo's first tax inspectors sworn in.
JANUARY 26 -- The first 34 tax inspectors in post-conflict Kosovo were sworn in today after graduating from a rigorous one-week training programme.The inspectors were selected from over 700 applicants from around Kosovo since recruitment began in November 1999, the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) said in a press statement issued today in Pristina.
The Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Economic Development, Reconstruction and Recovery Project in Kosovo, Mr. Joly Dixon, told the new tax inspectors that their task would be extremely difficult as they will have to work hard to change peoples' views and thinking.
The first task for the new tax inspectors will be to educate owners of large establishments on their tax obligations. The tax on hotels and restaurants with gross revenues of over 15,000 deutsche marks (about $8,000) per month goes into effect on 1 February.
Meanwhile, Dr. Bernard Kouchner, the head of UNMIK, has signed two regulations on excise and sales tax collection which will authorize tax inspectors to collect taxes for imported goods at depots inside Kosovo. The sales tax will be equal to 15 per cent of the taxable value of all goods.
Kouchner to visit Japan.
JANUARY 26 -- Dr. Bernard Kouchner, the head of UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), leaves tomorrow for Japan to discuss additional funding for the budget.UNMIK spokeswoman Susan Manuel said in a statement today that Dr. Kouchner will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and Foreign Minister Yohei Kono and other political leaders.
En route to Japan, Dr. Kouchner will stop in Brussels where he will meet with the President of the European Commission, Mr. Roman Prodhi, and the European Union Commissioner for External Affairs, Mr. Christopher Patten, to discuss the Kosovo budget and fundraising.
In Japan, he will also visit the United Nations University and give a lecture at the Japanese Institute of Foreign Affairs.
Serbs could join Interim Administrative Council within 12 days: Kouchner.
JANUARY 25 -- Serb community representatives plan to join the Interim Administrative Council (IAC) in 10 to 12 days, Dr. Bernard Kouchner, the head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), told journalists today in Pristina.Responding to questions from the media, following today's meeting of the IAC, Dr. Kouchner said that the representatives of the Serb National Council told him that they planned to join the Council in 10 to 12 days. They had indicated a wish to vote on the subject of joining the IAC in a meeting in Gracanica yesterday, he said. However, representatives of the Serb community in Mitrovica had been unable to attend due to heavy snowfall.
Today's IAC meeting discussed the subject of Serb participation on the Council. One of the four Kosovar seats in the IAC is reserved for a Serb, who has yet to be named.
"If the Serbs will participate, this will be a huge success," Dr. Kouchner said. "All those who have not been working together, should be together in the IAC and in the administrative departments. My wish is a united body representing all the communities of Kosovo going into elections."
Dr. Kouchner re-iterated UNMIK's invitation to the Serbs to co-head two administrative departments of the Joint Interim Administrative Structure and participate in other aspects of the provisional administration.
UNMIK plans to improve security and to locate essential services closer to minority communities. But this does not mean UNMIK is endorsing any form of local self-government or "cantonization", Dr. Kouchner stressed.
Co-heads for three more administrative departments in Kosovo named.
JANUARY 25 -- The Interim Administrative Council (IAC) today named co-heads for three more administrative departments in Kosovo, the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) announced today.The three co-heads are Dr. Pleura Sejdiu, a medical doctor and member of the PPDK (Democratic Party of Kosovo) for the Department of Health and Social Security; Mr. Hydajet Hyseni of the LBD (United Democratic League) for the Department of Non-resident's affairs; and Mr.Gjergi Rapi, a sociologist from the LBD, for the Department of Utilities.
The co-heads will share the responsibility of running the departments with counterparts appointed by UNMIK under the new Joint Interim Administrative Structure which allows Kosovars to share responsibility with the UN mission in governing the territory until elections are held.
The IAC also decided today that all co-heads for the 19 administrative departments so far agreed upon should be named by the end of this month, when at least four departments will be fully operational. These are Education & Science, Health & Social Security, Local Administration and Budget & Finance.
At its regular meeting, the IAC also finalized the list of the expanded Kosovo Transitional Council -- an advisory body to UNMIK -- which will be made public once all the candidates have been notified. The expanded KTC should should also be in place by end of the month," Head of UNMIK Dr. Bernard Kouchner said.
