UNMIK/PR/134
PRISTINA--The Interim Administrative Council for Kosovo today named the first co-heads for five of 19 departments by which the United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK) and Kosovar political leaders will manage Kosovo until elections later this year.
Following the sixth meeting of the IAC in UNMIK headquarters, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General Bernard Kouchner also announced that he had signed the UNMIK regulation legalizing the Joint Interim Administrative Structures.
At its meeting last Tuesday, IAC began allocating the 19 proposed departments among the three Kosovo Albanian political parties on the IAC and various national communities and independent political leaders. It was then decided that the LDK (the Kosovo Democratic League) would co-head the department of Finance & Budget, and Justice. The PPDK (Democratic Progress Party of Kosovo) would co-head Trade & Industry and Local Administration, while the LBD (United Democratic League) was given Reconstruction, and Education & Science.
Today the Council named the LDK's Isa Mustafa, the former 'finance minister' under the self-appointed government of Bujar Bukoshi, and Alan Pearson, UNMIK's chief of the Kosovo Central Fiscal Authority, as co-heads of Finance & Budget. Mehmet Hajrizi (LBD), former 'deputy prime minister' of the self-appointed government of Hashim Thaci, and Stephen Lewarne, chief financial consultant of UNMIK's Pillar IV, will co-head the Department of Reconstruction. The Department of Local Administration will be co-headed by the PPDK's Rame Buja, former 'minister of local government' under the self-appointed government of Hashim Thaci and Blanca Antonini, UNMIK's chief of staff of Civil Administration. Education will be led by Agim Vinca, professor of literature at the University of Pristina, and Steffie Schnoor, head of UNMIK's education and culture division. The co-heads for Justice will be Mrs. Nekibe Kelmendi, a Pristina lawyer and secretary-general of the LDK and Ms. Sylvie Pantz, head of the UNMIK judicial affairs division.
Noting that the proportion so far of women co-heads was 40 percent, Dr. Kouchner said this was an unprecedented achievement for Kosovo.
Names for the co-heads of Trade & Industry are pending as PPDK leader Hashim Thaci had not yet confirmed his party's representative.
Dr. Kouchner also re-iterated that three departments including Democratization & Civil Society--whose candidate will be confirmed Monday-- will go to independents. The IAC today decided that four departments will go to members of national minorities--two to be co-headed by Serbs, one by a Bosniak and one by a Turk. The allocation of those departments has not been established.
Asked whether the Serb community had agreed to participate, Dr. Kouchner said UNMIK was still in the process of talking to them, but their participation remained crucial.
"Without the Serbs the IAC is not complete. It does not have the same strength or ability to look towards the future, which must be done by all the communities," he said.
The enlargement of the Kosovo Transitional Council, which has been under discussion for two weeks, was also discussed, but no conclusion was reached on the final list of candidates.