UNMIK staff held by Serbian authorities released.
OCTOBER 1 -- Three United Nations staff held by Serbian authorities since Monday have been released, the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) has reported.

The three -- an Australian, a Portuguese and a Kosovo Serb - returned to Mitrovica on Wednesday night after being detained by Serb police for reportedly entering Serbia without Yugoslav visas.

A preliminary UNMIK investigation has determined that the UN staff inadvertently crossed out of Kosovo and into Serbia while conducting official communications work. When they crossed a bridge near the village of Vitkovici, they were detained by Serb police.

After spending two nights in jail, being charged with illegally entering the country and paying a fine of 100 DM, the UN staff were escorted by Serb authorities to the border on Wednesday evening and crossed back into Kosovo at approximately 7 p.m. that night.

UN launches plan to strengthen health system in Kosovo.
OCTOBER 1 -- The United Nations today presented goals and guidelines aimed at rebuilding an efficient and modern health service for Kosovo using international humanitarian aid.

The six-month action plan -- developed by the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the World Health Organization (WHO) -- strives to guide immediate relief efforts, while also focusing international aid towards long-term development of a system to be sustained by the future Kosovo government.

"UNMIK is firmly committed to leaving behind a better system than it found when it assumed the responsibility for the interim administration in Kosovo," Dr. Hannu Vuori, UNMIK head of health and social services, said today as he introduced the programme.

A key aspect of the strategy, crafted in consultation with Kosovar officials, is to reorient the current "hospital-driven" system towards one focused on family medicine and preventive care. It also lays out targets for improving children's services and maternity and mental health care.

Meanwhile, continued tensions between Serb and Albanian staff at the Mitrovica hospital led Albanian medical workers to leave the hospital on 29 September, taking the Albanian patients with them, UNMIK reported.

Since August, UNMIK has attempted to maintain a multi-ethnic staff at the hospital. Responding to incidents during past weeks, UNMIK began providing armed escorts for some workers.

UNMIK Regional Administrator Sir Martin Garrod said the belligerence of key doctors at the hospital caused the deterioration of the situation and the breakdown of the multi-ethnic institution.

Addressing a group of Albanian nurses who gathered outside the hospital yesterday, Sir Martin said UNMIK would work to restore the multi-ethnic character to the hospital.

UNMIK "Blue Sky" radio begins broadcasts.
OCTOBER 1 -- The United Nations "Blue Sky" public radio went on the air in Kosovo today, with a 24-hour mix of news, music and features.

News bulletins, produced entirely by local journalists, will be broadcast daily in Albanian at 7:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m., and in Serbian at 8:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. UNMIK news and features, in both Albanian and Serbian, will follow the news at a quarter to the hour.

"Blue Sky" radio - on 96 FM - is operating with mostly local staff, under the editorial supervision of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). The Swiss Government has donated studio facilities and technical support staff.

The station plans to expand news coverage to include debates, press reviews and phone-in programmes. Programmes will also cover women's issues, youth, culture and humanitarian topics. Programmes in various minority languages will be added, as will English lessons.

UN tells donors of plans for economic renewal in Kosovo.
SEPTEMBER 30 -- Privatization of some publicly owned industries in Kosovo will help spur economic revival in the territory, the United Nations told major international donors gathered in Washington this week.

In a report presented to finance ministers meeting on 28 September to consider reconstruction throughout South East Europe, Joly Dixon, who leads the UN reconstruction effort in Kosovo, said that the privatization of some small and medium businesses, notably food processing and construction, could contribute to economic growth by next spring.

The report, outlining a medium-term plan for economic renewal in the territory, highlights the need for private sector development to build the Kosovo economy constrained by restrictive policies for a decade and starved for international investment. In addition, development of the banking system and regulatory framework were vital to transforming the currently cash-based system, into a modern and thriving economy.

Mr. Dixon reported to the governments financing much of Kosovo's reconstruction that already public revenues, in the form of customs duties and tax payments, were flowing into Kosovo's coffers, thanks to the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) efforts since July to restart the Kosovo economy.

While Kosovo will clearly remain reliant on international assistance for some time, public revenues, which are projected to be under DM 50 million this year, could next year jump to above DM 200 million, according to tentative budget figures in the report.

UN Tribunal to vigorously prosecute Kosovo war crimes.
SEPTEMBER 29 -- The new Prosecutor of the United Nations Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia said today she will vigorously prosecute those responsible for war crimes committed in Kosovo during recent armed conflict.

Carla Del Ponte said her priority will be building cases against Yugoslav leaders. "The primary focus of the Office of the Prosecutor must be the investigation and prosecution of the five leaders of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia, who have already been indicted", she said in a statement released from The Hague.

Ms. Del Ponte said those investigations would focus on gathering additional evidence relevant to events on the ground, as well as substantiating the chain of command linking the accused to crimes committed during recent conflict in Kosovo.

Other high-level civilian, police and military leaders thought to be responsible for war crimes in Kosovo would also be investigated, said Ms. Del Ponte, who took over the post of Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on 15 September.

In further charting her efforts in Kosovo, Ms. Del Ponte said individuals suspected of "particularly serious crimes" in the territory could also be investigated and prosecuted, on a case-by-case basis.

However, she said the scope of cases pursued by her Office would be limited due to the jurisdiction of the United Nations Tribunal - established to prosecute individuals for grave breaches of international law and crimes against humanity - and resource constraints.

Thus, the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the newly established judicial structure in Kosovo would be responsible for investigating and trying others accused of criminal acts in the territory. She noted her Office would cooperate with UNMIK and judicial offices in Kosovo throughout the investigation of cases.

UN in Kosovo demands release of staff being held by Belgrade authorities.
SEPTEMBER 29 -- The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) is demanding the release of three UNMIK staff currently being held by the Belgrade authorities in the central Serbian town of Krajlevo, a UN spokesman said today.

The three -- an Australian, a Portuguese and a Kosovo Serb -- were detained Monday while travelling in a white UN vehicle from Mitrovica to survey communications installation sites, spokesman Fred Eckhard told the press in New York.

UN officials have received no explanation for why Serb police are detaining the three UN staff who were taken while performing official tasks inside Kosovo.

This is the third detention of UN international staff by the authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in three weeks, Mr. Eckhard said.

Two weeks ago, five staff of the World Food Programme (WFP) were detained at a checkpoint installed inside Kosovo by police of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. A week later a senior WFP official was held for several hours by Serb police.

Kosovo Transitional Council condemns grenade attack killing two Serbs.
SEPTEMBER 29 -- The Kosovo Transitional Council today strongly condemned yesterday's grenade attack on a marketplace in Bresje, near Kosovo Polje, which killed two Serbs and injured more than 40 others.

In a statement issued during a meeting in Kosovo's capital Pristina, Council members, including local Albanian leaders, said they were "determined to stop those cowardly acts of violence against civilians". Members of the United Nations-supervised Council, pledging their commitment to a multi-ethnic society in Kosovo, said those responsible for yesterday's incident must be brought to justice.

Briefing members of the Council, Dr. Bernard Kouchner, who heads the UN in Kosovo, said the KFOR international security force was taking steps to further increase security in the area of the attack, although civilian police assigned to the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and KFOR were already "strongly positioned" there.

Earlier in the day, Dr. Kouchner had visited victims of yesterday's attack in a hospital in Kosovo Polje.

Updating earlier reports, an UNMIK spokeswoman said today that in addition to the two killed, 47 people had been injured during the explosion, six seriously. All victims were Kosovo Serbs and most were elderly.

As part of the ongoing investigation, UNMIK police had detained two suspects for questioning in the incident, who were later released. Reports yesterday of four arrests were inaccurate, the spokeswoman said.

Head of UN humanitarian effort in Kosovo urges international support through winter.
SEPTEMBER 29 -- International support for Kosovo must be sustained to prevent a worsening of the economic, humanitarian and security situation during the coming winter, the leader of the United Nations humanitarian effort in Kosovo said today.

Speaking to the press in New York, Dennis McNamara, UN Deputy Special Representative for Humanitarian Affairs, said the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and other international actors were racing against time to complete minimal housing repairs and provide material to civilians before the onset of the cold weather.

The continued goal of UNMIK's humanitarian pillar was to ensure adequate housing for some 800,000 Kosovars who had returned to the territory in June to find their homes damaged or destroyed, he said.

Responding to questions from the press, Mr. McNamara said the vast majority of Kosovar Albanian homes had been "systematically" damage by members of the Serb military and militia. Very little, if any, damage had resulted from NATO bombing.

Subsequently, some Serb homes were destroyed in Kosovar Albanian revenge attacks, Mr. McNamara said, noting that violence attacks against minorities still continued. Due to the violence, he said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates some 100,000 Serbs and several thousand Roma have fled Kosovo for other parts of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

UN Head in Kosovo strongly condemns grenade attack in marketplace near Pristina.
SEPTEMBER 28 -- The UN Head in Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, strongly condemned the "outrageous act" in which two grenades were thrown into a marketplace today in the predominantly Serb town of Bresje, close to Kosovo Polje and Pristina. Two people were killed and more than 35 others injured.

Kouchner warned that it "puts in danger all efforts at democracy in Kosovo" and retaining a multi-ethnic society.

Four arrests have been made in connection with the attack. Two Kosovar Albanians were arrested by UNMIK police, and KFOR detained two others of undetermined ethnicity. Kouchner called for calm in the community, which lies just outside Pristina. Demonstrations erupted following the incident, and KFOR troops and UNMIK police moved immediately to contain the crowd.

"I plead with the people of Kosovo to put aside their weapons and their anger," said Kouchner. "We are helping you to build a system in which justice prevails." Dr. Kouchner also expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and promised to work with the people of the town to "ensure that the assailants are prosecuted".