17 November-01 November 1999

Donors pledge over $1 billion for the first phase of reconstruction in Kosovo.
17 NOVEMBER -- Donors today pledged over $1 billion to kick-start the first phase of the reconstruction of Kosovo, which will cover recovery needs until December 2000, the European Commission and World Bank said in a press release issued in Brussels.

At the Second Donors' Conference for Kosovo held in Brussels, co-chaired by the European Commission and the World Bank, senior officials from 47 donor countries and 34 international organizations discussed Kosovo's medium-term reconstruction programme. The programme was prepared jointly by European Commission and World Bank experts in support of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

In Brussels, Dr. Bernard Kouchner, Head of UNMIK, urged the international community to provide the necessary means to fulfil its commitment and bring Kosovo to peace, stability and democracy.

The First Donors' Conference for Kosovo, which took place in July 1999, focused primarily on humanitarian needs and refugee return.

 

UNMIK establishes banking and payments authority for Kosovo.
17 NOVEMBER -- The UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) has taken steps to establish a sound banking system in the territory with the signing by UNMIK head Dr. Bernard Kouchner of two regulations establishing a banking and payments authority in Kosovo and a regulatory regime for commercial banks.

A press statement issued by UNMIK in Pristina today said the newly created Banking and Payments Authority of Kosovo (BPK) would act as a depository for the Central Fiscal Authority (CFA), established earlier this month to manage the territory's consolidated budget, and other parts of the interim civil administration.

BPK will have most of the powers of a central bank, its Interim Managing Director Nick Brentall told a press conference, including bank licensing, supervision and regulation, but without the power to issue its own currency. BPK will oversee the payments system of Kosovo, provide settlement of deutsche mark payments, and temporarily to provide depository and payments services for deutsche marks.

BPK's Bank Supervisory and Regulatory Department will be responsible for issuing licences to commercial banks and will develop rules and provide the overall supervision of banking activities in Kosovo.

"From today, commercial banks that agree to follow international standards of prudence in their conduct may apply for licences to open in Kosovo," Mr. Brentall announced. Banks currently operating in Kosovo have 30 days from 15 November to file for a licence or must cease operating in the territory.

Mr. Brentall said banks would provide opportunities for enterprises to apply for credits to establish new businesses and refurbish existing industry. "With this activity comes an expansion in the economy with creation of new jobs and new skills," he said.

Dr. Kouchner has also signed a regulation prohibiting the establishment and operation of casinos in Kosovo. The regulation, which went into force on 16 November, will allow enforcement authorities to close casinos and seize assets and moveable property involved in illegal gambling.

 

World Bank launches project to help Kosovars rebuild their lives.
17 NOVEMBER -- The World Bank and the Kosovo Foundation for Open Society (KFOS) yesterday announced the establishment of a new initiative to help the people of Kosovo rebuild their lives by supporting the development of Kosovo's local government and communities.

The Bank said in a press statement issued in Washington DC that the Kosovo Community Development Fund - the first operation financed by the World Bank in Kosovo - will provide rapid, targeted support to assist communities rebuild their shattered infrastructure and improve community services.

It will also support the development of local governments to allow them to serve their communities in a transparent, fair and accountable manner.

The Community Fund will finance small-scale projects - identified by communities themselves - up to a maximum of $75,000, the Bank said. Eligible projects will include small-scale infrastructure, community services and business development activities.

The Community Fund will finance projects in communities all over Kosovo. However, resources will be especially targeted towards poor and marginalized communities where investment is most needed, the Bank said.

The Fund will operate in partnership with KFOS, the Pristina-based foundation that is part of the philanthropist George Soros' network of non-profit foundations based throughout Eastern Europe.

Project financing is expected to total $20 million, dependent on available financing, including $1 million from the Bank's Post Conflict Fund and $3 million tentatively committed by the Japanese Post Conflict Fund.

 

UNMIK introduces new authority to oversee abandoned housing and settle residential property disputes.
17 NOVEMBER -- The Head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Dr Bernard Kouchner, has signed a regulation establishing a directorate to oversee abandoned housing and settle residential property disputes.

A statement issued by UNMIK in Pristina today said the Housing and Property Directorate will conduct an inventory of abandoned private, state and socially owned housing and supervize its use or rental.

The Directorate will also mediate residential property disputes or refer them to the Housing and Property Claims Commission, an independent and impartial organ of the Directorate.

The Commission will initially be composed of a panel of two international and one local experts in housing and property law. It will have exclusive jurisdiction to settle claims by people who lost property as a result of discriminatory legislation, people who entered informal contracts since 1989 and want to have them regularized, and people who lost property as a result of the recent armed conflict.

The UNMIK statement said the Directorate is the first step in the process of resolving the complex issue of contested residential property ownership, which will be guided by UNMIK and the UN Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat).

 

Kosovo Transitional Council told of decreasing violence and crime.
NOVEMBER 16 -- Violence and crime in Kosovo decreased during the past week, security officials told the Kosovo Transitional Council (KTC), the highest-level advisory board of Kosovars.

The officials, from the Kosovo international peace-keeping force KFOR and UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) Police were addressing the regular meeting of KTC in Pristina today.

The past week had been the most stable period since KFOR arrived in Kosovo on 12 June, Head of UNMIK, Dr Bernard Kouchner, also told the KTC.

"It's not enough but it is better than before," he told the media after the meeting.

Dr. Kouchner, who was leaving for a European donors conference on Kosovo in Brussels, said the continuing problem of violent crime in Kosovo would be an issue at the conference.

"The donors must understand that if they want us and the Kosovars to decrease the level of violence, we need money for salaries, money to re-establish the administration and money to re-establish industry," he said.

In Brussels, Dr. Kouchner would be seeking some 200 million deutsche marks for the 2000 Kosovo budget, to make up for an expected shortfall in domestic revenues.

More than 390 million deutsche marks will be needed for the 2000 budget, according to the European Union representative who briefed the KTC. Salaries, for 64,500 people expected to be employed in public administration, will take up much of the expenditure.

 

Registration of Kosovo population to start before end of year.
NOVEMBER 16 - Registration of the Kosovo population will start before the end of the year, the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) said today in a statement issued in Pristina. Identity cards will be issued and a voters' list prepared in order to hold elections as soon as possible.

In registering the population and providing them with identity cards, UNMIK will "re-establish the public order that was seriously disturbed by the systematic destruction of identity cards during the recent conflict," the statement said.

The registration, which will take four to five months, will start in Pristina and then be expanded to the rest of Kosovo in January.

So far, 90 registration centres, to be managed by UN Volunteers and local staff, have been identified. In addition, there will be 30 mobile centres.

 

Investigations begin into cause of Kosovo plane crash.
15 NOVEMBER -- Investigations have begun in to the cause of Friday's crash of a UN plane in which 21 passengers and three crewmembers perished.

Investigators from France -- where the plane was registered -- arrived in Pristina on Saturday and will be joined by a team from the Italian civil air administration and two officials from the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) said today.

The plane, an ATR-42, chartered by the World Food Programme (WFP), was on a flight from Rome when it crashed on a mountain near Pristina, just before it was about to land. Those on board included three WFP staff, members of the UNMIK police, a Canadian official and representatives from non-governmental organizations working in Kosovo.

"It is our understanding that there will be a preliminary report of the investigation within one month and that a final report will be ready sometimes within the first half of 2000," said Ms. Maryan Baquerot, chief of staff to UNMIK head Bernard Kouchner.

Dr. Kouchner, along with KFOR Commander General Karl Reinhardt, visited the crash site on Saturday. "The loss of all these people, who were coming to help Kosovo, is a terrible tragedy for all of us," Dr. Kouchner said. "We needed people who were so committed to come to a place that has experienced so much torment. A place that is still in a state of turmoil," he told families of the victims.

Bodies of the victims were flown to Rome on Monday where the Italian government was to organize an airport ceremony attended by family members, the Italian Prime Minister and WFP Executive Director Catherine Bertini, WFP Deputy Director Jean Jacques Graisse said in Pristina.

 

Provisional registration of vehicles in Kosovo to begin 30 November.
15 NOVEMBER -- The UN Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK) will undertake a provisional registration of vehicles in the territory beginning 30 November.

Speaking in Pristina today, the UNMIK Head of Civil Documents and Registration, Mr. Albrecht Conze said the move was to help meet law and order needs. "Police have difficulty doing their jobs when cars have no number plates," he explained.

Under the new system, UNMIK will provide "a certificate of possession, not ownership", as many cars circulating in Kosovo were "unlawfully" acquired, Mr. Conze said. However, drivers will have to show insurance to acquire the licence plate.

A more permanent system will be established in the second half of 2000.

Also today, Mr. Pascal Copin, UNMIK Head of Post and Telecommunications announced further plans for enhancing communications in the territory, with the signing shortly of an agreement with Alcatel to provide a mobile telephone system.

The network will operate in the seven main cities of Kosovo as well as in the airport within 12 weeks of the signing of an agreement and will be extended to the whole of Kosovo within one year, Mr. Copin said.

 

Secretary-General deeply saddened by fatal crash of UN plane in Kosovo.
12 NOVEMBER -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan was shocked and deeply saddened by the news of Friday's fatal air crash in Kosovo, his spokesman in New York said today.

A United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) aircraft crashed Friday morning just before it was due to land in Pristina, killing all 24 people on board. According to WFP, the flight was carrying 21 passengers - aid workers, UN staff and government representatives - and three crew members.

In a statement issued late Friday, Spokesman Fred Eckhard said the Secretary-General extended his deepest sympathy "to the loved ones they have left behind" and that the colleagues of the 24 victims "will remember them with great sorrow and affection."

"Once again men and women of many nationalities have had their lives cut short in the service of the United Nations, on a mission to bring relief to the suffering and peace to a war-torn community," the statement said.

 

UN Mission in Kosovo to cost $456 million.
NOVEMBER 12 -- The annual cost of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) would be some $456.4 million, according to a proposed budget for the period from its inception on 10 June 1999 to 30 June 2000, contained in a report of the Secretary-General to the General Assembly.

This amount includes the $200 million already authorized by the General Assembly and $585,500 in voluntary contributions in kind.

The UNMIK budget covers a Mission strength of 39 liaison officers, 4,719 civilian police, 1,269 international staff, 3,566 local staff, 18 National Officers and 203 United Nations Volunteers. Fifty per cent of the budget relates to civilian personnel costs and 42 per cent to operational costs.

UNMIK expenditures from inception to 31 August 1999 amount to $37,011,500.

The General Assembly had already authorized assessments totalling $125 million for the Mission. So far, Member States have paid less than three-fifths of this amount, or $74.8 million.

 

Humanitarian agency supplies firewood to vulnerable families in Kosovo.
NOVEMBER 12 -- The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) plans to deliver 60,000 cubic feet of firewood to vulnerable families throughout Kosovo -- enough to fill a football stadium -- and has already provided 3 cubic metres to 2,000 families, the agency said today.

It also plans to distribute 650,000 blankets out of 850,000 planned through its partner agencies, UNHCR spokesman Peter Kessler said. "These materials will be crucial in getting Kosovars through the winter, " he said.

But humanitarian aid trucks are still encountering long delays at the Macedonian border. "One truck recently reported taking eight days to get through the border, " he said.

"If this continues, many truck drivers will refuse to carry the humanitarian loads because they cannot make money with such a long wait. These delays are having an immediate impact on the distribution of materials and food in the province," Mr. Kessler added.

 

UN plane crashes in Kosovo with 24 people on board.
NOVEMBER 12 -- A World Food Programme (WFP) plane with 24 people on board crashed on Friday morning just before it was due to land in Pristina, Kosovo, UN officials have confirmed.

UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said a search and rescue operation was launched just after 12 noon Pristina time, using helicopters and airplanes, ground troops and personnel from the international peacekeeping force in Kosovo, KFOR, and the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

"The search by land is being hampered by the heavy presence of landmines and unexploded ordnance in the area," he said.

In Rome, WFP said in a statement that the plane carried 21 passengers - aid workers, UN staff, government representatives -- as well as three crew members.

The plane was due to land in Pristina at 11.30 a.m. but the last contact with the pilot was at 11.15 a.m. At that time the plane, an ATR-42 twin-engine turbo propeller aircraft, was near Vuciturn, some 20 kilometres northeast of Pristina.

The WFP flies daily from Rome, where its headquarters is located, to Pristina, carrying personnel of UNMIK, UN agencies and other international aid organizations.

 

UN war crimes prosecutor reports 2,108 bodies exhumed from gravesites in Kosovo.
NOVEMBER 10 -- Investigators have exhumed 2,108 bodies from gravesites in Kosovo, the newly appointed Prosecutor for the UN Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, Ms. Carla Del Ponte said today in New York.

She told the UN Security Council that this figure did not necessarily reflect the total number of actual victims from the sites so far investigated because there was evidence of tampering with graves. There were also a significant number of sites where the precise number of bodies could not be counted.

In the sites that were examined, "steps were taken to hide the evidence" and "many bodies have been burned", Ms. Del Ponte said.

After five months of investigation by forensic specialists from 14 countries, the Tribunal has received reports of 11,334 bodies in 529 gravesites, including sites where bodies were found exposed. Approximately 195 of those sites have been examined to date.

Ms. Del Ponte also stressed the importance of the Council's support for the Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda "The effectiveness and strength of international criminal justice ultimately lies in your hands," she told the Council. "I therefore urge the Council to put its full weight behind our efforts when we ask for your assistance, and to be creative in finding ways to bring to bear the sort of pressure that will produce results."

Citing Yugoslavia's "total defiance" in surrendering indicted accused persons, Ms. Del Ponte said she feared Serbia was becoming a safe haven for indicted war criminals who have been accused of serious crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo. "This situation cannot be allowed to continue," she said.

 

Kosovo Transitional Council demands from Yugoslavia information on the whereabouts of missing persons.
NOVEMBER 10 -- The Kosovo Transitional Council (KTC) has demanded from Yugoslavia information on the whereabouts of missing persons.

The Council said in a statement issued today, following its weekly meeting, that the KTC Commission on Prisoners, Detainees and Missing Persons would submit a list of missing persons to the authorities in Belgrade.

It also urged the release of all Kosovars held as political prisoners in Serbia, including Ms. Flora Brovina, a well-known humanitarian activist.

KTC urged the international community, in particular the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe summit to be held in Istanbul on 18-19 November, to call on Yugoslavia to report on the whereabouts of missing persons, stop political trials immediately and release all political prisoners.

 

Aid agencies in Kosovo express alarm over long delays in getting aid through Macedonia border.
NOVEMBER 10 -- Humanitarian agencies today expressed alarm on the long delays they are experiencing getting food aid and shelter supplies to Kosovo through the border with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Last week the Macedonian police began requiring that all humanitarian traffic join the line of commercial trucks at the main border-crossing with Macedonia, causing lines stretching up to 10 kilometres, Mr. Peter Kessler, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said today in Pristina.

The drivers are also being required to pay a fee of 200 deutsche marks on top of the 0.1 per cent fee on the cargo value. "This presents another delay at the border," Mr. Kessler said. "Normal delays at the border for trucks has been five to seven days."

He said the Head of the UN Interim Administration for Kosovo (UNMIK), Dr. Bernard Kouchner, is following the situation very closely and other diplomats are working with the Macedonian government to address these concerns.

"In the meantime, UNHCR and the World Food Programme are exploring possibilities of getting food aid in by rail. But that also will take time," he said.

 

A $66.5 million budget approved for Kosovo, with 70 percent coming from donors.
NOVEMBER 8 -- Head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission for Kosovo (UNMIK), Dr Bernard Kouchner today approved the 1999 budget for Kosovo totaling 125 million deutsche marks (approximately $66.5 million), nearly 70 percent of which is financed by international donors.

The Central Fiscal Authority (CFA), which has been created by regulation signed by Dr Kouchner, also came into effect. The CFA gives the administration the legal right to collect revenues and make expenditures, a statement released in Pristina said.

The CFA is responsible for the overall management of the Kosovo budget and the budgets of the municipalities that together form the Kosovo Consolidated Budget. It is intended to develop a Kosovar component of the CFA, whose functions will remain long after UNMIK ends its civil administration responsibilities.

The approval of the budget makes it possible for UNMIK to use local revenues from customs, excise and sales taxes as well as donor grants to provide major public services such as health, education, police and fire services, water and assistance to the needy.

"This budget that we have produced and that we will be implementing for the remaining months of 1999 is only for the benefit of Kosovar people. There will be no money spent on UNMIK or international people from this budget," said Mr. Alan Pearson, head of the CFA.

 

Coordination is "decisive" for success in reconstruction, says senior UN official in Kosovo.
NOVEMBER 8 -- Coordination of efforts on the ground is "one of the most decisive" elements for success in international reconstruction said Tom Koenigs, the UN Deputy Special Representative for Interim Civil Admistration in Kosovo.

"This means the coordination of the military, the UN agencies and the NGOs," he said in an address to the media in New York on "Lessons of Kosovo for East Timor".

He said coordination, which is important for East Timor too, is basic because it will not only be the UN undertaking reconstruction on the ground but also several agencies including the non-governmental organizations.

Mr. Koenigs said it was found useful in Kosovo to have a meeting every week with all the players at the local, municipal and regional levels to ensure coordination of efforts.

He said another Kosovo experience, useful for East Timor, is that it is important to focus on the municipal level of government so as not to "create or tolerate a power and administrative vacuum at the local level".

Mr. Koenigs listed other "lessons learned" in Kosovo that would be useful for East Timor, including a decentralized structure of administration which allows qualified international personnel to do their best, a transitional strategy and capacity building involving the local people so as to avoid "staying for too long or being inefficient".

 

Russian Ambassador urges more consultations between UNMIK and UN Headquarters on Kosovo.
NOVEMBER 8 -- The Russian Ambassador to the United Nations, Mr. Sergei Lavrov, today urged for more consultations between the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

"It is very difficult to act in a situation where you don't have the full consultations with the United Nations," he told the press in Pristina.

Ambassador Lavrov, who is visiting Kosovo to meet with the heads of UNMIK and local political leaders, said he would like to see UNMIK receive support from all the members of the Security Council "and we would be providing this support in all aspects".

Russia would like to make sure that UN Resolution 1244, which established UNMIK, "is fully implemented", including the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia and the creation of conditions of safety and security for all people, he said.

"I would certainly be unfaithful to the facts if I would say that all these issues are being resolved. No, and nobody expects them to be solved easily. It's a very tough job."

He said some of the actions taken by the international peacekeeping force, KFOR, and UNMIK's leadership "were not entirely helpful regarding the creation of better security and safety, from the point of view of keeping the multi-ethnic nature of this place".

However, Ambassador Lavrov said he was gratified that representatives from all communities in Kosovo spoke about the same goals -- "a multi-ethnic, democratic Kosovo, which will be able to enjoy the assistance of the international community under the goals of Resolution 1244."

 

Head of UN mission in Kosovo appeals to Security Council for more funding.
NOVEMBER 5 -- Head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) today appealed to the Security Council for more funding for the administration of the province, warning that without money stability could not be achieved.

Briefing the press after his address to the Security Council in New York, Dr. Kouchner said he needed an additional $25 million before December this year to pay salaries for Kosovars working in public administration and a further $110 million for next year.

"Without this money it is impossible to convince the people not to go back to the black market or to the Mafia", he said.

Dr. Kouchner said the appeal for more money was his main message to the Security Council and it was "very well perceived." All members of the Security Council, including China and the Russian Federation, "supported our efforts" in Kosovo, he said.

Dr. Kouchner said "the spirit of revenge is very high in Kosovo" and security could not be achieved without resolving the issue of missing persons, estimated at between 3,000 and 6,000.

He noted the successes achieved by UNMIK, including the opening of virtually all the schools in Kosovo last Monday. "Ninety percent of all schoolchildren and teachers are working," he said.

Another achievement, he said, was securing peace in certain areas, including the area controlled by the American force, where 700 Serbs have returned.

 

UN agricultural agency completes major project to help farmers in Kosovo.
NOVEMBER 4 -- The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported today an early completion of a major project to assist farmers in Kosovo.

The Rome-based agency said today that the $6.7 million project to supply seeds and fertilizers to help farmers restart agriculture in Kosovo had been completed ahead of the coming winter. Some 14,500 metric tonnes of winter wheat seeds and 9,000 tons of fertilizers have been handed out to more than 70,000 farming families.

"The distribution of seeds is the first step for farmers and their families in Kosovo to become self-sufficient again. This will finally start to reduce the dependence on external aid," said Daniele Donati, FAO Emergency Coordinator for the Balkans."

FAO said strengthening agriculture is one of the best options for a quick recovery in rural areas of Kosovo. "We expect the number of farmers in need to be reduced by half to 35,000 in a year's time," said Donati.

FAO will establish a laboratory for seed quality control and plans a vaccination campaign in order to reduce and limit further losses of livestock. In addition, the agency will start a programme to renovate and repair agricultural machinery in Kosovo and has launched an emergency appeal for $25 million. More than 50 percent of the tractors in the province were stolen or destroyed during war.

 

Situation of ethnic minorities in Kosovo remains extremely precarious, report says.
NOVEMBER 3 -- A report, which has just been completed, says the situation of ethnic minorities in Kosovo remains extremely precarious.

The report, the third review carried out by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the territory notes that while the number of violent incidents has declined, there is a climate of violence and impunity as well as widespread discrimination, harassment, and intimidation against non-Albanians.

Deputy Special Representative for Humanitarian Affairs (UNHCR), Mr. Dennis McNamara expressed serious concern about the situation and renewed calls on Kosovo's leaders to improve the security situation and to speak out against the violence.

The report, however, pointed out that KFOR, the international peacekeeping force, has deployed troops which are playing a preventive role and giving rural minorities more confidence. Other methods aimed at increasing security and access to humanitarian aid, health care and education are being pursued, including the startup of UNHCR inter-regional bus lines. The UN Civil Administration has also deployed Civil Affairs Minority Officers in selected communities to improve security and facilitate contact among the various actors.

Mr. McNamara chaired the Ad-Hoc Taskforce on Minorities which produced the report, undertaken as part of a joint UNHCR-OSCE monitoring and reporting initiative.

"This report is a disheartening account of ethnic violence continuing to take place against ethnic minorities everyday", said Mr. Daan Everts, the Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, in a statement read by the Head of OSCE Human Rights Section, Sandra Mitchel, in Pristina today.

"The situation calls for a massive, joint, Kosovo-wide effort by the international community and Kosovo's leaders to end this cycle of violence," Mr. Everts added.

"The international community intervened in Kosovo to protect human rights and not to pave the way for a new wave of ethnic harassment and violence."

The Kosovo Transition Council at its meeting today strongly condemned Monday's brutal attack on Kosovo Serb leader, Mr. Momcilo Trajkovic, who was shot and wounded by unknown assailants.

Unknown suspects killed a male Serb and a 70-year-old Serb woman on Monday and Tuesday, deputy UNMIK spokeswoman Daniela Rozgonova reported today.

 

Kouchner and European Foreign Ministers meet to discuss funding for the rehabilitation of Kosovo.
NOVEMBER 3 -- Head of the UN Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK), Dr Bernard Kouchner met today in Strasbourg with the foreign ministers of the member states of the Council of Europe to discuss funding for the rehabilitation of Kosovo.

A pledging conference for Kosovo is scheduled for 17 November in Brussels and UNMIK is preparing a detailed document on funding needs.

Meanwhile, UNMIK and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission in Kosovo officials expressed concern that violence against members of the minority communities in Kosovo might affect donor sympathies.

A report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the OSCE made public today notes that the overall situation of ethnic minorities in Kosovo remains extremely precarious.

The violence "jeopardizes the international standing and reputation of Kosovo" and "is likely to affect door sympathies and support at a time when important donor meetings are coming up", said Sandra Mitchell, Head of OSCE Human Rights Section, in a statement today.

The negative reports "certainly do not help" or "inspire confidence for future investments by governments or private institutions", said Daniela Rozgonova, deputy UNMIK spokeswoman.

 

UN condemns attack on Kosovo Serb leader.
NOVEMBER 1 -- The head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Dr Bernard Kouchner, today condemned the attack Sunday night on Mr. Momcilo Trajkovic, the President of the Serb Resistance Movement and member of the Kosovo Transitional Council.

Mr. Trajkovic was shot at 2.30 a.m. in his home by unknown assailants but was not seriously injured.

"To terrify and attack minorities and their leaders to the point of an exodus will leave Kosovo a morally weak and internationally scorned place," Dr. Kouchner warned.

"Kosovo will risk losing assistance and respect from the outside world. I ask all the people of Kosovo to end these ruthless attacks now."

"Mr. Trajkovic is one of our most important allies in our efforts to build a tolerant and multi-ethnic Kosovo," said Dr. Kouchner. Mr Trajkovic had worked not only at great personal risk, but also at great political risk to ensure that the Serb minority has a secure and vital place in Kosovo and, more importantly, to ensure that Serbs and Albanians can find a way to live together, he said.

UNMIK police investigating the attack are searching for two Albanian suspects.

In other incidents yesterday, a Serb couple were injured when a grenade was thrown at their house in Zubin Potok, Mitrovica, and the car of a former Kosovo Liberation Army leader, Ishmet Tara, was damaged by a grenade in Orahovac.