UNMIK ORC - Kosovo Returns Activities Newsletter No. 40
Week 17 - 23 April 2004
Regional Developments
Humanitarian Relief coordination meeting was held 20 April in Zvecan. The displaced community representative from Svinjare expressed disappointment that the SRSG had not yet responded to the written communication outlining priorities requested on behalf of the displaced. Their requests are as follows: unveiling of the perpetrators and organizers of the crimes and their subsequent prosecution, damage assessment and immediate reconstruction to the level it was before 17 March, compensation for losses and damage to properties, provision of prefabricated houses placed in their village for displaced to be accommodated for the duration of the reconstruction period, "absolute" security for residents. RRU reassured them that a response would be forthcoming from the highest level in due course.
A general consensus emerged from this coordination meeting to have the containers placed in Svinjare as opposed to setting containers up in the Zvecan Municipality (where displaced are staying presently). A representative from Zvecan Municipal Assembly informed the coordination meeting that the present temporary accommodation allocated to the recently displaced in Zvecan is untenable as the formerly displaced (1999 and refugees from Bosnia, Croatia) claim ownership of the houses constructed for them hence the discord between the two groups of displaced and the priority to return the most recently displaced to their villages as soon as possible.
UNHCR, backed by UNMIK RRU, requested to stall any decision by the Municipal assembly on evicting the recently displaced as this would be counterproductive and hamper the combined efforts of International Community and PISG structures to return the recently displaced to their places of origin in a sustainable way.
In conclusion RRU assured the displaced that updated information would be communicated to them after the ORC - RRU meeting, planned for 21 April.
RRU is assimilating information on the Svinjare IDPs and coordinate with Police in order for UMCOR to be able to plan their GSV action .
A meeting with the Obilic displaced was held in the technical school in Mitrovica North - RRU, UNHCR and UNMIK-UAM, KFOR were all present.. There are 98 displaced persons from Obilic, 40 held in the Branko School and 58 in the technical school in Mitrovica.
RRU clarified the tasks of the Brajshori Commission and the procedure to be followed for reconstruction of houses to the Obilic displaced. Some of the IDPs have already visited their houses by independent means and have reported that UNMIK representatives there communicated that reconstruction efforts would get under way on the basis of the technical assessments delivered from the Municipality but that NO security would be provided. UNMIK Mitrovica (RRU and UAM Head of Office) reassured the community that quite contrary to that information, a directive had been issued by the SRSG that security arrangements would be provided by KFOR and UNMIK Police as well as KPS for the entire duration of the reconstruction process, however long that would take. The general consensus of the Obilic displaced at the time of reporting is that they do not wish to return, however, in light of the above mentioned information about security, they would be willing to reconsider at some point in the future, with more assurances for their security.
The Obilic displaced informed UNMIK that none of their elected representatives from the local institutions in Pristina had visited them to date and urgently request that RRU organize a meeting in the near future with those representatives as well as members of the crisis management committee to address any unresolved issues regarding their return to place of origin. Finally, the imperative message relayed by the IDPs was that it was the responsibility of the International Community and the PISG structures to reinstate the former demographic make-up of Obilic prior to 1999. From that message one could conclude that these IDPs would consider a return to Obilic at some future date. RRU reassured the commitment of ORC Pristina and informed the IDPs that the bi-weekly ORC-RRU meeting would convene on Wednesday 21 April and would discuss the problems of the newly displaced which must be addresses and resolved on a priority basis.
RRU continues to assimilate information and to coordinate with Police in preparation of an organized GSV on the behalf of all Obilic IDPs currently in Mitrovica region.
Mitrovica
DRC organized and facilitated an Interagency Coordination Meeting to discuss dialogue and interethnic activities on 21 April. DRC, RRU, CBM, Nansen Dialogue, Danish KFOR, and FUTURA were all present. The topic of discussion was ways forward with dialogue and interethnic activities concerning Roma Mahala and how the many NGOs with expertise in these areas can contribute. RRU and the Nansen Dialogue repatriation team will resume activities as was previously planned, i.e. to work on a house-to-house basis with the Albanian community in the nearby neighbourhoods as instructed by the IDPs as well as to later on participate in inter-ethnic dialogues.
DRC Urban Planning team continues working on the land survey, property survey, and draft Urban Plan. A new Director of Urbanism has been appointed to the Mitrovica Municipality and will hopefully prove more cooperative on this Roma Mahala planning.