In meeting with head of UN mission in Kosovo, German Chancellor pledges additional police for UN operation.
JULY 23 -- The head of the United Nations mission in Kosovo Bernard Kouchner met in Prizren today with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who pledged an additional 100 police to some 200 his country has already committed to the UN operation.

During the meeting with Dr. Kouchner, who as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General leads the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Chancellor Schroeder reiterated his country's commitment to provide personnel for service with the UN International Police.

In accordance with a plan outlined by Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 12 July, the UN civilian police force is being now rapidly deployed in numbers that a high-ranking UN official has described as "unprecedented" in terms of UN deployment under these circumstances in any previous mission.

In their discussions, Dr. Kouchner and the German Chancellor focused on progress in setting up of UNMIK, establishing its authority and in assessing requirements for the civil administration. They also discussed rehabilitation and reconstruction in the province.

Chancellor Schroeder is the first Western head of government to visit Kosovo since the end of NATO's bombing campaign.

Top UN humanitarian official says UN on track in setting up its operations in Kosovo.
JULY 23 -- Stressing that the United Nations was facing an unprecedented task of "immense" proportions in Kosovo, a senior UN official said on Friday that the Organization was doing all it could to move forward quickly with the deployment of its operations in the province.

Sergio Vieira de Mello, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs who until recently led the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), was speaking at a news conference in Geneva where he briefed the Economic and Social Council on the latest developments in Kosovo.

Highlighting some of the challenges the UN Mission was encountering in Kosovo, he said the UN civilian police was not a classic UN monitoring force, but one that would wield executive power. Some countries, he noted, were unwilling to deploy police forces that performed executive tasks and bore arms.

"It is a combination of factors and it is unfair to say the UN has been slow," Mr. Vieira de Mello said, commenting on reports that the Organization has not been deploying international police fast enough.

Unlike the military, the United Nations did not have standby regiments of civil police, civil administrators or lawyers who could be deployed in short order, he said, adding that policemen would be arriving at the end of the week at the rate of 100 every five days.

Briefing the Economic and Social Council earlier in the day, Mr. Vieira de Mello said despite the challenges in Kosovo he was optimistic about the prospects for peace and democracy in the province.

The Council also heard from Dennis McNamara, Deputy Special Representative for Humanitarian Affairs with UNMIK, who described the rapid return of more than 700,000 refugees as an unequivocal vote of confidence in the future of Kosovo. He said more effort was needed to deliver materials to repair some 70,000 damaged or destroyed houses, but the most important need was to stem the cycle of violence and revenge in Kosovo.

Head of UN Mission in Kosovo urges parties to take part in Transitional Council.
JULY 22 -- The head of the United Nations mission in Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, on Thursday urged the party of Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova to take part in the next meeting of the Kosovo Transitional Council.

Mr. Rugova's party, the Democratic League of Kosovo (DLK), was absent from last week's inaugural meeting of the Council, which is the highest political consultative body in the province under the UN, which holds executive authority in the territory.

In a meeting today with the LDK presidency, Dr. Kouchner, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, emphasized the importance of the Council, which gives political parties and ethnic groups input into the decision making process of the UN. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, 26 July.

As a follow-up to the Council's first meeting, Dr. Kouchner, together with Albanian and Serb leaders, visited yesterday buildings in Pristina where Serbs' apartments had been occupied by Albanians. Urging tolerance, Dr. Kouchner said that all in Kosovo must demonstrate the willingness to live together for democracy to grow in the province.

Meanwhile, the UN World Food Program (WFP) has reported that Pristina airport is currently receiving an average of 10 to 12 humanitarian flights daily, and that this figure is due to increase to 20 flights every day.

United Nations outlines plans to revive independent media in Kosovo.
JULY 22 -- The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) has begun laying plans to revive an independent media in the province.

In a statement, Bernard Kouchner, the Secretary-General's Special Representative in Kosovo, said on Wednesday that protection of basic human rights, and economic and civic reconstruction in Kosovo will not be possible without a modern, democratic media.

UNMIK is acutely aware of the growing concern among media professionals and Kosovo's people about the future of Radio-Television Pristina (RTP), said Dr. Kouchner. "We wish to assure the people of Kosovo that broadcasting at RTP will resume in the very near future under international supervision," he said.

The UN Mission will appoint a Regulatory Commission to oversee such matters as the issuance licenses and the allocation of frequencies. It will also establish an Independent Media Board to consult with media professionals and civil society on all media-related issues.

The Special Representative said the institution-building pillar of UNMIK, led by the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), is laying the foundation for RTP to become a genuine public service broadcaster that serves all the people of Kosovo

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UN budgetary committee authorizes $200 million for financing of UN mission in Kosovo.
JULY 22 -- A budgetary committee of the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday authorized Secretary-General Kofi Annan to enter into commitments of up to $200 million for the financing of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), with $125 million of that total to be apportioned among Member States, as an ad hoc arrangement.

In a resolution adopted without a vote, the Assembly's Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) urged all Member States to make every effort to ensure payment of assessed contributions to the Mission in full and on time.

The Committee emphasized that all future peacekeeping missions shall be given equal and non-discriminatory treatment in respect of financial and administrative arrangements. It also stressed that all peacekeeping missions shall be provided with adequate resources for the effective and efficient discharge of their respective mandates.

By other terms of the text, the Committee emphasized that no peacekeeping mission shall be financed by borrowing money from funds from other active peacekeeping missions. The Secretary-General was requested to submit to the Assembly, as a matter of priority, a comprehensive report on the financing of UNMIK, including full budget estimates and information on the utilization of resources at the earliest opportunity.

Deployment of UN civilian police at unprecedented rate, says top UN official.
JULY 21 -- United Nations civilian police are being deployed to Kosovo at an   unprecedented rate for a mission of this type, with the whole 3,110-officer unit to be on the ground by November or December, according to John Ruggie, Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General.

Briefing correspondents at UN Headquarters on Wednesday, Mr. Ruggie said a system was now in place to rapidly deploy and train the civilian officers being sent to the province to help maintain civil law and order.  There were already 156 UN officers in Kosovo, with an additional 100 scheduled to arrive every five days. Within a month, the rate of deployment would double.

The lightly armed UN officers were fully cooperating with the international security force (KFOR), which stood at 34,000 heavily armed troops, but each side was carrying out very different tasks assigned to them by the Security Council, Mr. Ruggie said. The KFOR was handling security and public safety, while the job of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) was to get up and running and to coordinate civilian operations, including humanitarian relief, institution-building and economic reconstruction.

Asked when the UN would take over responsibility for security and public safety from KFOR, Mr. Ruggie said it was never intended that the UN civilian police -- even when fully deployed -- would be responsible for establishing a secure environment. Instead, the Security Council had clearly assigned that job to KFOR. The lightly armed police could make only a marginal contribution to the efforts of the 34,000 heavily armed troops working to ensure security and public safety.

The situation on the ground must be secured before the UN civlian police could assume responsibility for law enforcement, Mr. Ruggie continued.  The Security Council, in adopting resolution 1244 (1999) establishing UNMIK, had clearly assigned KFOR the tasks of establishing a secure environment and ensuring public safety.  The facts and realities on the ground would dictate when the civilan police would fully assume responsibility for police functioning and law enforcement.

The UN and its partner organizations in Kosovo now had 700 personnel on the ground, Mr. Ruggie said.  Nearly 200 more were en route, with an additional 400 personnel expected by late August.  UN officials had presided over the first meeting of the Kosovo Transitional Council on 16 July.  Efforts to construct the judiciary were also under way; and Dr. Kouchner, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Kosovo, had recently sworn in seven judges and three prosecutors, raising to 19 the number of judicial personnel in the province.

Nearly 100 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were working with the United Nations in Kosovo, Mr. Ruggie continued. As for UN agencies, UNHCR was assisting more than 700,000 returning refugees; the World Food Programme (WFP) was feeding 650,000 internally displaced; the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) was carrying out intensive programmes to meet the needs of children. Projects were under way to repair schools, so the school year could begin on time in September. Teams of investigators from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia were gathering evidence from some 200 sites of alleged war crimes.

Meanwhile, at a press conference in Geneva, Carl Bildt, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Balkans, said UNMIK was fully operational with additional personnel arriving in the region daily. The UN was now addressing the immediate task of stabilizing and normalizing the province, restoring economic life and facilitating the return of refugees.

There was simply no way the UN could succeed in Kosovo if it failed in the region, Mr. Bildt said. Since Kosovo was a small place in a region of instability, it was an open question whether the situation was now on a trajectory towards stability or whether it was just a pause before a new storm broke out over the region in a couple of years. It was, therefore, imperative to try to take the political actions now which made the former course more likely, he said. Transcript of press conference

Core functions of UNMIK in place -- Bildt.
JULY 21 -- All core functions of the UN operation in Kosovo were now in place, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Balkans, Carl Bildt, said at a press conference in Geneva on Wednesday.

He stressed that all four pillars of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) -- civil administration, humanitarian assistance, institution-building, economic reconstruction -- were operational. All of the five regional administrators were in place, with additional personnel arriving in the region daily. The UN was now addressing the "immediate" needs of stabilizing and normalizing the province, restoring economic life and facilitating the return of refugees.

There was simply no way the UN could succeed in Kosovo if it failed in the region, he said. Since Kosovo was a small place in a region of great instability, it was an open question whether the situation was now on a trajectory towards stability or whether it was just a pause before a new storm broke out in the Balkans in a couple of years. It was, therefore, imperative to try to take the political actions now which made the former course more likely than the latter, he said.

Secretary-General calls on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to help democracy in Kosovo.
JULY 20 --Secretary-General Kofi Annan Tuesday called on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to work closely with the United Nations to help secure democracy and prosperity in Kosovo. Addressing the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, the Secretary-General said: Our aim is clear, to help create a secure, multi-ethnic, prosperous and democratically governed society for all Kosovars, regardless of   ethnicity. 

Also today, the Secretary-General met with OSCE Secretary-General Jan Kubis, to review the democratization and institution-building role the OSCE will play in the United Nations Missions in Kosovo (UNMIK). The institution-building task in one of the four pillars of civilian rehabilitation and reform the United Nations is overseeing in Kosovo.  The other pillars are civil administration, to be undertaken by the United Nations itself; humanitarian assistance, led by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; and economic and reconstruction, managed by the European Union.

In other developments, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, met in Pristina Tuesday with the Supreme Commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Wesley Clark. Wednesday, Mr. Kouchner is scheduled to meet with the President of the World Bank, James Wolfenson, to discuss efforts needed to assist with reconstruction of the region.

United Nations Controller calls on General Assembly to provide funds for Kosovo.
JULY 20 -- The United Nations Controller, Jean-Pierre Halbwachs, called on the General Assembly Tuesday to quickly provide funding for the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) met in New York to consider the Secretary-General's request for $200 million to cover preliminary costs of UNMIK, Mr. Halbwachs said the United Nations Mission was a very complex operation and would require a significant level of resources.  While it was not possible to submit a full operational budget for the Mission before late September or early October, he said we cannot wait that long before contributions start coming in to meet UNMIK's expenses.

In his 2 July report on financing of UNMIK, the Secretary-General had noted that the timely deployment and effectiveness of the United Nations operation would depend on the availability of sufficient and sizeable case resources. The requested funds are to meet the preliminary operating costs of UNMIK from inception until a full budget is presented to the Assembly in the fall. The amount is inclusive of $50 million already authorized by the Assembly.

The representative of Finland, addressing the Fifth Committee today on behalf of the European Union and associated countries, said the European Union was determined to play its full part in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Kosovo and to contribute to its long-term economic development. The Union would bear its fair share of the overall burden of reconstruction in Kosovo. Since the physical reconstruction and rebuilding of Kosovo fell outside the scope of the UNMIK budget and financing for reconstruction, he said that funding would be raised through international donor conferences.

Members of the Fifth Committee continued consideration of the request for funding of UNMIK. They are expected to formally make its decisions on the allocation of those funds Wednesday.

700,000 Kosovar refugees successfully repatriated, says UNHCR.
JULY 20 -- With nearly 700,000 Kosovar refugees already repatriated, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Tuesday reported that  fewer than 100,000 refugees in the region still waited to go home.   Yesterday, just 2,500 persons returned from asylum countries in the region, prompting the UNHCR to say the return from neighbouring countries was winding down.

During the past weekend, from 16 to 18 July, more than 9,000 refugees returned to Kosovo, many coming from countries outside the area.  More than 20,000 refugees have returned from abroad to date, with 14,000 returning from Turkey alone. In addition to refugees returning via The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, a growing number of Kosovars are coming through Albania, mainly on the ferry from Italy to the port of Durres. All efforts are being made by UNHCR staff, working with partners from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Albania, to help those refugees return to their homes safely.

Secretary-General says events in Kosovo underscore indispensability of United Nations.
JULY 19 -- Events in Kosovo had critically underscored the indispensability of the United Nations, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Monday.

Speaking to reporters in Vienna, after meeting with Austrian Chancellor Viktor Klima, Mr. Annan, said that although the Security Council had been ignored in the beginning and military activities were undertaken without seeking its approval in the end, the Council was needed to find a solution.

"One needed the Council to establish the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and to deploy KFOR forces," said the Secretary-General.

In response to a question about NATO and UN cooperation after events in Kosovo, Mr. Annan said the two organizations were living side by side and cooperating very well. "I think we went through a bumpy period there, when the NATO alliance undertook military action without specific Security Council approval," said Mr. Annan. However, in the end, they did come to the UN in search for a solution, and that move underscored the indispensability of the Security Council and the UN, he added.

When it came to peace and security, the Security Council had the primary role and must have a say in any decision to use force, and NATO's own Charter made the same point, the Secretary-General stressed.

Ethnic tensions continue to be problem in Kosovo, says UN refugee agency.
JULY 19 -- Ethnic tensions continue to be a problem in Kosovo with members of different minority groups being attacked on a daily basis, sometimes fatally, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported on Monday.

In the provincial capital Pristina, the Serb population is systematically harassed, with one Serb on average killed every night and elderly Serbs regularly thrown out of their homes, according to UNHCR.  In Mitrovica, the divide between Serbs and Albanians is widening and two large groups of Roma, also known a gypsies, numbering 200 and 400, have taken refuge in a school house. Some 280 Serb families still in Prizren are afraid to leave their homes, even for basic errands, and the town's monastery is sheltering more than 180 Serbs in precarious conditions.

In a positive development on Sunday, 75 Roma who had sought protection from UNHCR and KFOR, the international military force, decided to return to their homes in Landovica outside Prizren. Last week, Roma homes in the village were burned and others looted and vandalized.

According to UNHCR staff, many residents, especially in western Kosovo, increasingly blame the poor security situation in the province on gangs from Albania.

Meanwhile, Bernard Kouchner, the head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), swore in seven new judges and three prosecutors while in Prizren, which he visited as part of a familiarization tour that also took him to Pec and Mitrovica.

Judges appointed by UNMIK have been travelling around Kosovo in a mobile court, according to a UN spokesman. So far, they have heard 90 cases involving 198 persons in detention -- 95 of whom have been released. The Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is overseeing institution-building under the UNMIK mandate, has interviewed 253 potential judicial candidates.