Civil administration
Kosovo political leaders and UNMIK
agree on drafting rules for new departments: The Kosovo Interim Administrative
Council (IAC) agreed yesterday that its Secretariat, in cooperation with
the legal office of UNMIK, would begin drafting regulations to define the
competencies of 19 departments to be created under the new joint administrative
structure. The Kosovo-UNMIK Joint Interim Administrative Structure, in
which political leaders participate in the administration of the province
with UNMIK officials, was established on 15 December.
The IAC, meeting for the fourth time, also discussed the process of selecting department heads, as well as which departments to activate first. "We have a huge number of departments to be created. This will be done step by step by 31 January," said Dr Bernard Kouchner, Head of UNMIK, who chaired the meeting. He said the first appointments of UNMIK and Kosovo department co-heads would begin next week. The 19 departments agreed upon are: Budget and Finance, Reconstruction, Trade and Industry, Education and Science, Youth and Sport, Culture, General Public Services, Justice, Transport and Infrastructure, Post and Telecommunications, Utilities, Health and Social Security, Labour, Agriculture, Environment, Civil Security and Emergency Preparedness, Democratization, Local Administration, and Non-residents' Affairs.
Dr. Kouchner also reiterated his call to members of the Serb community to take up their seat in the IAC along with the three major Kosovo Albanian parties and to ensure their participation in the various departments. He said he will further this, along with the protection of Serbs in Kosovo, when he meets with Bishop Artemije, a Serb Orthodox religious leader, in Gracanica this evening.
The IAC also discussed the widening of the membership of the Kosovo Transitional Council to include new political forces, members of civil society and more minority representatives.
UNMIK reports three murders over the past two days: UNMIK police today reported that there have been three murders over the past two days including that of a 52-year-old male whose body was found in Stimle, Pristina, yesterday afternoon with multiple gunshot wounds to the head. In Pec yesterday, an Albanian man was shot and killed while travelling in a vehicle by two Albanian suspects. One of the suspects was arrested and is charged with murder. On Monday in Kamenica, in the Gnjilane region, a Serb was shot in the head and killed.