Developments today, 15 August 2000, Updated
3:30 p.m. EST
Civilian administration
Kouchner reiterates call for tolerance in town hall meeting with Kosovars: The head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Dr. Bernard Kouchner, has reiterated his call for tolerance as he continued a series of town hall meetings with local people around the troubled province. "We have to build democracy with confidence and with tolerance, and to fight against violence in order to create conditions for a multiethnic Kosovo," Dr. Kouchner told yesterday a packed meeting in the cultural centre of the Suva Reka municipality, southwest of the capital Pristina.
Dr. Kouchner, who held a similar encounter on Saturday in Vishtri, said that security conditions should be established to allow all minorities and all communities to return to Kosovo.
Interim Administrative Council endorses budget changes: Kosovo's Interim Administrative Council (IAC) today endorsed a regulation amending Kosovo's current budget, so as to re-allocate resources to accommodate "emerging pressures" on the budget, UNMIK said in a statement. "The budget is a highly political matter, se we discussed it for a long time," the head of UNMIK, Dr. Bernard Kouchner told the media following the IAC meeting. "After consultations with the administrative departments and Central Fiscal Authority, we have decided how to distribute among the different departments the 430 million deutsche marks ($200.64 million) in the Kosovo Consolidated Budget."
Public health officers call for the closure of Pristina pool: Public health officers have called for Pristina's public swimming pool to close because of high bacteria levels, UNMIK said today in a statement. The officers said the reopening of the Germia pool -- one of Europe's largest --will have to wait for the bacteria levels to drop. To help speed up the process, sodium chloride and chlorine are being added to the water of the 28 million-litre pool. The pool has been packed with youngsters since it re-opened last month after extensive repairs, UNMIK said.
For further information, contact the Spokesman's Office: tel (212) 963-7161/2; fax (212) 963-7055.