UNMIK/PR/491
PRISTINA--- The Kosovo Transitional Council was briefed today on local Self-Government by the co-head for the JIAS Department for Local Administration, Ms. Blanca Antonini.
The KTC also issued a statement condemning the recent violence in Kosovo and the murder of one Kosovo Serb (Press Release 493).
According to Ms. Antonini, considerable progress has been made since the municipal elections 3½ months ago, with an assembly president elected in all but one of the elected municipal assemblies. All 27 elected assemblies have elected a deputy president, and five assemblies have elected an additional deputy president. 27 assemblies have set up their Policy and Finance Committees, 21 have set up Mediation Committees, and 10 have set up a Communities Committee.
Several of the KTC members expressed their concern over the way the appointments of Chief Executive Officers in the municipalities were conducted, implying that only members from one political party were appointed. Ms. Antonini responded that the procedures were clear and transparent, and DSRSG Tom Koenigs added that the appointments were based on professional merits, but they also needed the consent of the majority of elected members. SRSG Mr. Hans Haekkerup expressed his willingness to discuss the matter, but emphasized that he needed concrete examples the practice implied.
Mr. Koenigs also responded to the complaints of slow progress in the local self-government, saying that this is in the hands of the municipal assemblies, not the internationals. He said that the functioning of local self-government relies on the ability to compromise, over ethnic or other barriers.
COMKFOR, Lt Gen Carlo Cabigiouso briefed the panel on the security situation in Kosovo, with particular emphasis on the Presevo valley. He urged the KTC members to support the talks for peace which he expected would start in a few days. He then laid out the severe consequences if the negotiations should end in failure: a long break between the Albanian people living in the area and the Serb government; an influx of as many as 40,000 to 50,000 refugees into Kosovo and the Gnjilane-area in particular; losses of lives on both Serb and Albanian side; and instability in Kosovo when groups from the UCPMB would withdraw into Kosovo to reorganise.
General Cabigiouso also talked about the situation in Mitrovica, which he described as quiet but tense for the moment. He stressed that only KFOR, UNMIK Police and KPS were responsible for security in Kosovo, and that he would not respect any other parallel structure, questioning the legality of the ‘bridge watchers’. He said that KFOR has deployed a higher number of troops than normal in the area to safeguard minority areas in Mitrovica.
Adding to the security brief, UNMIK Police Commissioner Christopher Albiston reported on the activities of the police during the last week, with particular emphasis on the last 24 hours where a number of serious incidents had occurred, including the attack on a Serb convoy in Strpce which killed one man.
Several members stressed the importance of a solution to the problems in Mitrovica, linking those to the incidents of violence and other crimes in the rest of Kosovo.
Finally the SRSG briefed the KTC members on the issues discussed at the last Interim Administrative Council meeting. He mentioned the upcoming regulation on weapons control, and the discussion on the preconditions for the implementation of the joint declaration on Mitrovica. Mr. Haekkerup urged patience, saying it was vital for the declaration’s success that the work is done in such a way that the Serbs living in the north of Mitrovica feel secure.