UNMIK/PR/214
The Kosovo Transitional Council today welcomed the return of Serb representatives, as Mr. Randel Nojkic, Mr. Dragan Velic and Dr. Rada Trajkovic joined as observers.
"Everyone welcomed the return of the Serbs," SRSG Bernard Kouchner told the media following the meeting. "We are now hoping the Romas will be the next to join. Then the KTC would represent all communities of Kosovo."
Deputy COMKFOR General Lemiere and UNMIK Police Commissioner Sven Frederickson briefed the KTC on the security situation. They described Mitrovica as calm, with 180 Kosovo Albanians having returned to the north part of town and 12 Kosovo Serbs to the south side. The second phase of the strategy for co-existence was being implemented, and the confidence zone was being expanded on both sides of the river to eventually encompass the entire city center, creating an area where people can move, live and work safely.
UNMIK police, at the request of the KTC, provided crime statistics from the period since January, 2000, in which 6,323 crimes were reported. These included 90 murders, 35 kidnappings, 308 assaults, 510 cases of intimidation, 26 attempted murders and 18 attempted kidnappings. Data indicate that one major crime is committed each hour in Kosovo, and one murder per day. The ethnic breakdown of the 90 murder victims is 42 Albanian, 23 Serbs, 6 Bosniaks, 5 others-including Roma- and 6 of unidentified ethnicity.
The KTC also discussed the issue of missing persons, detainees and kidnapped persons, and they condemned the practice of demanding payment for the release of prisoners from Serbian jails. SRSG Kouchner briefed the KTC on his efforts to appoint a special envoy for missing persons, and he suggested the work of the Sub-commission on Detainees and Missing Persons be re-inforced.
DSRSG Tom Koenigs and UNHCR deputy chief Wilbert van Hovell briefed the KTC on the repatriation of Kosovars from abroad, noting that UNMIK favors the responsible return of all refugees and ensuring that the necessary absorption capacity exists along with the necessary security conditions.
At a conference on returns in Geneva, UNMIK had insisted that returns be phased, coordinated, humane and if possible voluntary. Governments agreed to slow down the repatriation from the 250,000 envisioned for this year to a maximum of 100,000 to 150,000. This will be closely monitored by UNMIK.
Representatives of the Serb community raised the issue of some 200,000 Serb internally displaced people and asked for a program for their return, while acknowledging that most do not want to return at this moment due to the security situation.