Press Briefing Notes 31 October 2007

UNMIK Director / Division of Public Information Alexander Ivanko KPS Spokesperson Veton Elshani KFOR Lt. Col. Valerie-Claire Bermond OSCE Spokesperson Sven Lindholm EU Pillar Spokesperson Mechthild Henneke

UNMIK Director / Division of Public Information Alexander Ivanko

Good morning everybody. I have a couple of points for you. The SRSG met yesterday in Vienna with the OSCE Secretary General Ambassador Marc Perrin de Brichambaut to discuss cooperation between UNMIK and its OSCE Pillar here in . The SRSG also held informal talks with Stephen Lehne, EU Representative to the Kosovo future status process, and some Balkan Directors at their invitation regarding EU questions concerning elections’ preparations and the general political, economic and security situation on the ground. On a different issue, UNMIK would like to thank KFOR for evacuating four of its staff from the Prizren Municipality building on Monday during the fire under very difficult circumstances. I also have a statement on behalf of the KPC Coordinator Maj.-General Martin Rutledge. The KPC Coordinator would like to take this opportunity to publicly disassociate his office and the KPC from remarks made in a recent political party broadcast that seem to have implied that KPC owed a debt of gratitude to one particular party. The KPC acknowledge the help provided by a wide range of individuals, from across the whole political spectrum, at the time of their formation but do not identify any one particular individual or group for special gratitude. KPC have shown professionalism through total commitment to their legal obligation not to engage in politics. The KPC Coordinator would request all political parties to respect that integrity by not seeking to draw KPC into their campaign agenda. That’s all I have.

KPS Spokesperson Veton Elshani

It is very bad that Mr. Mazllum Bajraktari wants to complain even after the support that was provided to him by the Service and the Ministry of Interior. This is even more concerning since on the most critical day, Mazllum Bajraktari has been sent together with his colleague to Turkey on a special flight and we have spent to rehabilitate him around 12.000 Euros. From the budget of the Kosovo Police service at the moment when they return from Turkey we have allocated 5000 Euros. The Trade Unions of the Kosovo Police Service had allocated 10.000 Euros. It is true that the KPS has a lot of problems such as social security for its members but this is not a justification to be involved in the elections campaign. KPS has around 9000 members and obviously has members of all political parties. Due to the nature of the job that we carry out, we can not get involved in the different campaigns. I have nothing else.

KFOR Lt. Col. Valerie-Claire Bermond

Good morning, no points from KFOR today.

OSCE Spokesperson Sven Lindholm

Good morning! Few statements about elections and one about one event that we are having today. First, elections they are about democratic consolidation, they are about choice. The CEC and OSCE are making every effort to ensure the right to vote is respected. This means ensuring that people who have the right to vote, to cast a ballot, to have their voice heard, can do so. And then the choice whether to vote or not is an individual choice. Last week, UNMIK stated that the minimum expected is that Kosovo Serbs would not be hindered from participating in these elections. For the November 17 elections, 33 Kosovo Serb parties and entities have been registered: eight are certified for the Assembly Elections and 25 are certified for the Municipal Elections only. This was to give Kosovo Serbs a legitimate voice in democratic governance, as they have had particularly at the municipal level for the last five years. People had a choice. In the meantime, there have been warnings of financial sanctions and reported individual threats towards Kosovo Serbs who run or vote in the elections. The CEC and OSCE have been informed by a number of Kosovo Serb political entities of their desire to withdraw from the election process, to be taken off the ballot. In fact it appears that in Štrpce/Shtërpcë all certified political entities have requested withdrawal from the process. Technically speaking, the deadline to remove political entity names from ballots has passed. However, this desire for non-participation sends a bad signal to those who might vote. Instead of the voter having a choice to vote, this action frustrates the individual voter and does not give the voter a chance to decide if they want to participate or not. Their democratic right of choice is being interfered with; it is like a wave of non-desire to be included in the democratic developments in Kosovo. This is unacceptable We keep hope that all people, including Kosovo Serbs, turn out for the elections. Participation means that your voice is heard. The consequences could likely be far greater if there is no participation. If you don’t vote, others will vote for you. Election observation is a key part of making elections that are considered as genuine and credible. In 2004, there were approximately 12,700 domestic observers from political entities, NGOs, and other interested group. To date, the CEC has only accredited 230 domestic observers. Organizations – including political entities – that intend or wish to observe the 17 November elections should contact the CEC Secretariat or any Municipal Election Officer the deadline is tomorrow November 1 in order to fill out necessary forms and be accredited to observe the elections. Now, also I just wanted to give a sample. We do have a sample of what the ballot and the booklet look like. I will simply show here the Central Assembly one. The ballot will be in A4 size, as you can see it is actually a good size, you see the names of all political entities running in that election down in the left side and on the right side just a listing of numbers. The booklets which will be in each and every polling station will be this size, which is good. The first page inside will have the table of contents, so the voter can find out which page the entity which they voted for is. Then they go to the page, one page for political entity listing all the different candidates, certified to run on that list. And one about, not about elections. To conclude “Trafficking Awareness Month”, the OSCE is today presenting an assessment of the anti-trafficking identification and referral mechanisms in Kosovo from the operational and strategic points of view. It aims to be a useful tool for the PISG in creating a future National Referral Mechanism (NRM) for victims of trafficking in Kosovo. Comments will be given by Ibrahim Selmanaj (PISG Minister for Labor & Social Welfare), Habit Hajredini (Prime Minister’s Advisory Office on Good Governance), and Hamijete Dedolli (NGO “Protection of Victims and Prevention of Trafficking’). Media are invited for this event today, October 31, at 1300 in the OSCE Headquarters. Thank you very much!

EU Pillar Spokesperson Mechthild Henneke

We will have a KTA Board meeting tomorrow and the press point is at 12:30 at KTA HQ. Thank you!

UNMIK Director / Division of Public Information Alexander Ivanko: Any questions?

Express: Why are Mr. Rücker, Mr. Schook and Mr. Olivier being investigated? What are they being investigated for?

Ivanko: You probably know, but I will repeat it again, as a rule we never comment on what the OIOS does or does not do. UNMIK has not been provided any information about any ongoing OIOS investigations. If you have any further questions, I would refer you to UN Headquarters in NY or to OIOS directly. That’s all I have to say on this matter.

Kim Radio: RTV 21 in is for a while, in the upper part of the corner shows a graphic which symbolizes a countdown to December 10 until eventual proclamation of independence of Kosovo. The director of this TV said that this is a countdown till the 10th of December when the Contact Group will submit its report to United Nations regarding Kosovo. Question for UNMIK, do you see this as a threat if the report of the CG is not in favour of Kosovo and question for OSCE, which are the legal mechanisms or sanctions which you can apply in this case towards a Television which publicly promotes one national point?

Ivanko: Well first of all we wish the Troika well. We hope that there will be a negotiated solution. But as you know UNMIK is not part of the period of engagement, so let us wait until the 10th of December. I don’t think we should jump to any conclusions right now.

Sven Lindholm: And all I can add is that if you have any complaint regarding a TV broadcaster, you must talk with the Independent Media Commission who are licensing broadcasters but also give me a chance to say, don’t forget that December 10 is International Human Rights Day.

Express: Mr Elshani,, which are the sanctions foreseen by the regulations and for Mr. Lindholm you mentioned that some Serb entities have requested to withdraw. Will you enable them to withdraw due to the threats expressed, because you have mentioned that the deadline has passed?

Veton Elshani / KPS: The Kosovo Police Service has its internal rules of procedure, according to which we carry out our job. Always based on the law and the criminal procedure code. However, within the rules of procedures it is mentioned that KPS members can not promote anything or any product, saying, for example, that this summer was better than the last one. Because the public opinion needs to know that the police are always dealing with operations. Maybe we know much more than somebody else. We have to be perceived as impartial, this is our intention. KPS has nine thousand members and the vast majority of them belong to different political parties obviously, however, there are measures to be undertaken against the Police officer in question. Mr. Mazllum, the senior management of KPS shall deal with it. And if the KPS has to investigate further, it shall.

Sven Lindholm: This will be a matter for the CEC to deal with but secondly political entities were aware of an October 4 deadline, if they wish to withdraw from the electoral process. This deadline was set in particular for printing the ballots, so anyone who is certified went to the ballot lottery, did not request to be withdrawn beforehand, the names will still be on the ballots.

Blic: A question for Sven, UNMIK and Mr. Elshani. Since you have said that you have the final list from Sterpce, how many from this list have announced the withdrawal from the election process. Question for UNMIK, how far is this investigation, that you said 7 days or 8 days ago, that due to threats, such and such lists have withdrawn and question for KPS, have you concluded any investigations so far?

Sven Lindholm: Officially we have received notifications from four of the entities but as I say there are reports that all entities have withdrawn but we have not received notification.

Ivanko: We have several cases, for example the CCK Coordinator in Klina, when he called those people who are planning to vote, as traitors, he called them traitors and threatened them with lynching. We have intimidation in Viti/Vitina where one of the Senior Kosovo Serb representatives said that whoever is involved in elections activities will be taken off the payroll. We have also a person, one of the leaders of a Kosovo Serb entity from Klina, who was physically threatened in northern Mitrovica, while he was having coffee there and we also have telephone messages threatening one of the leaders of a party in Gracanica and this case has been reported to the KPS.

Veton Elshani: I can confirm only one case that took place and we are investigating this case right now. Most probably if there are more details about this case in particular and if there are any other cases, I can give you information after the press conference. What Alex said about the Gracanica case.

Reuters: Two questions for Alex. Are these threats being coordinated from Belgrade, is that your assumption or your conclusion and secondly you talked a couple of weeks ago about UNMIK repositioning itself in the North. Has UNMIK taken any steps or plans any steps to reposition itself in the North?

Alexander Ivanko: The second one, which is easier, we are still working on it. The first one is a good question. We have heard a lot of statements made by senior officials, especially from the Ministry for Kosovo that can be described as intimidating and threatening. Are the activities by the local Kosovo Serb leaders coordinated with Belgrade? I don’t know, but I think most of us can assume that they probably are.

Forum Macedonia: What is your information regarding the attacks in Tanushevc, where one police officer was injured and two were killed. Has this attack been conducted by ANA?

Veton Elshani: What we have to say regarding this case is that at the moment when this happened in Tanushevc, in the village of Tanusha, KPS was informed three hours later, around 12:30. We immediately went to the whereabouts, and together with some of our patrols that were already there, we called KFOR units. With regard to our part, we’ve had no suspicious movements or any other problems, otherwise we have very good cooperation with the Macedonian side, when it comes to the exchange of information, but we can not speculate who these members were or these persons, one or more, that shot the Macedonian police officer. We are obviously very interested to know more, but this investigation is ongoing and we are trying to exchange information.

Lt. Col. Valerie-Claire Bermond: I think I have no more to add, I can just confirm that we are going to be vigilant and continue to cooperate with KPS and UNMIK Police in this case.

Kosova Press: In some of the media we have seen that some members of KPS are involved in crime, more particularly with Enver Sekiraqa. I would like to know, have you interviewed this person, do you know where he is and why aren’t you interviewing him?

Veton Elshani: Your question has two parts. When it comes to the memo that was published in the media, in Infopress in fact, I said earlier that we would conduct a special investigation regarding this letter and the information provided there. Two investigations are already ongoing, on the murder of Triumf Riza and the explosion in Dardania. This letter shall be part of the investigations that are being conducted. With regard to Enver Sekiraqa, this depends on the investigators. At the moment, if they find it necessary to interview him, they will. Until then, we have nothing to say more. We could have called him to interview him, but the investigators shall decide.

Blic: What will happen to the people who do not participate in the elections on 17th of November?

Sven Lindholm: Well, I‘ll just go to the last sentence of my statement. If you don’t vote others will vote for you. You will not be deciding your future; others will decide it for you. That’s a simple democratic principle.

Alexander Ivanko: Fully agree with Sven.

Follow up: Isn’t that a threat or intimidation not to participate in the elections?

Sven Lindholm: No, it is not a threat. As I said you have a choice, whether you want to vote or not. That is a democratic right. The fact what OSCE and CEC are doing is, ensuring that anyone who wishes to vote is able to vote. But when entities decide to pull out, and say, we are not participating, it sends a bad signal to the voters, who might want to wish to vote for them and that just sends a bad signal.