UNMIK/PR/349
PRISTINA—Talking to a crowd of more than 1,000 mainly young people in Skenderaj yesterday at his fifth Town Hall Meeting, Bernard Kouchner, Special Representative of the Secretary General said the international community needs to see tolerance and democracy in order to invest in Kosovo.
“In Skenderaj/Drenica, you were the first to fight for a free Kosovo, you should be the first to open your hands to the others as a symbol of tolerance”. Skenderaj, a Municipality in north-central Kosovo, counts 52 villages that constitute the core of the famous Drenica Region, a place with a long history of Kosovo Albanian defiance of Serbia authority.
The SRSG said that the war was over and that it was time to think of what people of Kosovo could do for the future of their children. As he has been stressing in his previous town hall meetings, Dr. Kouchner said that free and fair elections as a result of a political dialogue was the most important test for the future of a peaceful Kosovo, without violence.
People of Skenderaj told the SRSG that their main concerns were the reconstruction of their economy and the improvement their life conditions. Many factories have not been reactivated and many people are still without jobs. The reconstruction programme is taking time to start although Skenderaj is one of the most destroyed parts of Kosovo. More than 800 families fear spending another winter without homes. Five schools are still running in tents. Dr. Kouchner promised to call a meeting of partners working in Skenderaj to discuss how to accelerate reconstruction activities in order to prepare for winter.
SRSG also met Kosovo Serb representatives in Devic Monastery. They expressed to him their concerns about living totally isolated with no freedom of movement, no jobs and no access to the surrounding lands they used to cultivate. Two of 52 villages in the municipality are inhabited by Serbs, Suvo Grlo and Banja. Kosovo Serb representatives said they wish to see the international community helping other Kosovo Serbs to return to Kosovo, as a sign of its commitment to make Kosovo a place to live for all communities.
In Skenderaj, Dr. Kouchner also opened the new Municipal Assembly Hall, funded by the Government of Japan, and a youth centre funded by UNICEF.