"Over the past months, the level and frequency of attacks on humanitarian staff, damage to vehicles, and threat to humanitarian operations in north Mitrovica has been totally unacceptable." Dennis McNamara, UNHCR Special Envoy said in a statement released today in Kosovo's capital Pristina. "As we made clear last month, we are not prepared to continue to have the safety of our own staff and our agency partners put in constant jeopardy."

The initial 48-hour suspension period began at midnight on Thursday, 22 June. All UNHCR staff and vehicles have been relocated to the south and the UNHCR office closed in northern Mitrovica. The suspension will be reviewed after the initial 48-hour period following assessments of the security situation on the ground with the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), UN Police, the KFOR security force and field staff. UNHCR is also requesting that Mr. Oliver Ivanovic, self-proclaimed leader of northern Mitrovica, publicly denounce this violence and to take more vigorous action to prevent it from recurring.

Since 2 February, when a clearly-marked UNHCR bus was attacked by a rocket-propelled grenade, five UNHCR vehicles have been burned and two others badly damaged. UNHCR and international and local staff of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been threatened and in some cases had to be evacuated from extremely dangerous, life-threatening situations. Yesterday, these attacks continued despite a well-coordinated response by both KFOR and UNMIK, with at least five vehicles totally destroyed, over 20 vehicles damaged, six separate reported attacks on UN international residences in north Mitrovica and the physical assault of an international aid worker.

UNHCR, with implementing partner NGOs, provides food and non-food aid in the area of north Mitrovica, both to the larger displaced Serb population and the isolated ethnic-Albanian population who make up a small minority in the divided municipality. Additionally, UNHCR has built a camp for the displaced Roma community living in the north Mitrovica, managed by Norwegian Church Aid. These vulnerable populations will not be affected by the initial suspension because they recently received assistance, the agency said.

According to UNMIK, the riot followed an effort by a UN patrol to arrest a group of Serbs who had been throwing stones at police cars. In response, a crowd of some 300 to 400 Serbs turned violent and torched a UN police car, prompting UN police and members of the KFOR security force to fire warning shots. The UN police reported that shots had been also fired by unidentified persons.

The crowd then began to throw stones and set fire to other vehicles, and then moved on to the Albanian enclave in northern Mitrovica, UNMIK said. Before calm was finally restored, five vehicles, including two police cars, were completely destroyed, and ten other police cars damaged. Nine UN police officers received minor injuries.

Amidst reports that farmers plan to destroy their crops instead of harvesting the wheat in the coming days, the administrative departments of agriculture, forestry and rural development and environmental protection have declared that the crops are safe, according to a statement released today by the United Nations Interim Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

Urging farmers to harvest the wheat, the co-head of the Department of Agriculture, Maurizio Fairinelli, explained that the crop had been grown from seeds imported from abroad, and there was no truth in reports of contamination, which come mainly from Klina, Malishevo, Skendraj and Glogovac.

The head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Dr. Bernard Kouchner, who led the KTC members through Mother Teresa Street where the shooting occurred, told the people gathered there that "all of us, members of the KTC, are here to express our outrage and our determined opposition to the continued violence in Kosovo."

"Stop the violence," Dr. Kouchner said, as he expressed his sympathy for the victims of the brutal attack. "Let us work towards a Kosovo based on justice, tolerance, freedom and democracy."

Also taking part in the ceremony was Carla del Ponte, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Carla del Ponte, who is visiting several areas in the region. Mrs, del Ponte told the Transitional Council today that her investigators would continue their forensic work in Kosovo to gather additional evidence on indictments, including that of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. She told reporters in Pristina that she had "no intention" to withdraw that indictment.