UNMIK Headlines 24 March
Civil Protection to disband once local authorities established (Koha Ditore)
Officials from the Kosovo Government said that the Civil Protection formation in the north will close its premises and hand over uniforms and operational equipment once local authorities in the northern municipalities are up and running. The majority of the Civil Protection members are expected to integrate into the emergency response and firefighting departments.
Bekim Qollaku, advisor to the Kosovo Prime Minister, said the implementation dynamics of the 19 April Agreement will depend on many factors and is bound to face challenges. “One such obstacle that was not overcome is the disbanding of the so-called Civil Protection, which is an illegal Serbian mechanism operating in the north of the country,” said Qollaku, who added that the disbanding process is unavoidable.
“Neutrality” is not allowed for northern municipalities (Tribuna)
Northern municipalities have a three-week deadline to change and harmonise their statutes with the Kosovo legislation if they want to avoid heading to new elections. “If northern municipalities don’t hand over municipalities’ material according to the laws, they could go to new elections for municipal assemblies,” said a senior official from the Kosovo Ministry of Administration and Local Governance.
Everyone is being hacked! (Zeri)
On the cover page, the daily reports that the Kosovo Government is laying the foundation for the Kosovo Intelligence Agency (KIA) to begin hacking telephone conversations between citisens, social networks, and email correspondences. The draft law on the matter has been prepared by the Government and, if approved, would allow the KIA to carry out said hacking without a prior order from the court. The law is considered to be in breach of human rights as it grants competencies to the KIA as an institution that does not guarantee that the hacking will not be misused.
Rexhep Selimi, deputy chairman of the Assembly’s Commission on Internal Affairs and Security, said the Government has been pushing the idea since 2011 but previous versions of the draft law were sent back for review for being deemed undemocratic.
Tribunal’s history (Tribuna)
According to international sources in Pristina, the establishment of a special court to address alleged war crimes has a particular history, reports the daily on its front page. When the Special Investigative Task Force (SITF) began investigations into allegations of organ trade made by Council of Europe’s rapporteur, Dick Marty, it came across a number of other cases that UNMIK and EULEX claimed had remained unsolved. Though unrelated to organ trade, these were also considered war crimes cases.
International investigators concluded that security conditions in Kosovo do not exist to carry out trials and protect the witnesses. They also believed that, although Kosovo has a somewhat decent legal infrastructure, it lacks the political environment to try members of the KLA. All of the above reasons brought forth the idea to set up a special tribunal to deal with the crimes believed to have never been properly addressed.
West had no role in establishment of Kosovo Armed Forces (Koha Ditore)
Koha Ditore’s front page quotes German analyst Bodo Weber, an expert on the Balkans, in the Democratization Policy Council saying that the establishment of the Kosovo Armed Forces (KAF) is part of the pressure that Pristina is placing to obtain full sovereignty, but also part of the unpleasant truth that Kosovo can only achieve this with the help of the West. Weber said the western capitals were not involved in the decision to establish the KAF, ahead of general elections. According to him, the support by Berlin authorities towards the KAF will depend on the impact the establishment of this force will have on other political issues that are relevant for Germany, particularly in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue.
Pacolli: Kosovo and Crimea cannot be compared (Epoka e Re)
During a visit to Sweden, Deputy Prime Minister Behgjet Pacolli, in an interview for Swedish newspaper Expressen, rejected comparisons made between Crimea and Kosovo. “The ethnic cleansing that happened in Kosovo cannot be compared by Putin with the situation in Crimea,” said Pacolli.
Shterpce/Strpce mayor with veto right on Brezovica project (Koha Ditore)
The development of the Brezovica ski resort cannot move forward without the consent of Shterpce/Strpce Mayor Bratislav Nikolic, who has veto power in making decisions that have to do with the Brezovica project. Except for him, the right of veto is also enjoyed by Finance Minister Besim Beqaj. The veto issue is determined in the Rules of Procedure of the Steering Inter-ministerial Committee. This committee decides on the Brezovica project, in which at least 300 million euros are expected to be invested to achieve the development of a year round, world class destination for tourists.