Civil administration
Security Council concerned over continuing
violence in Kosovo: Security Council members today expressed their
concern over continuing violent incidents in Kosovo and urged the communities
there to "take a different approach to reconciliation," Council
President Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock of the United Kingdom said after
a private formal meeting. Council members condemned the latest such incident
-- the throwing of a grenade into a Serb café in the northern town of Vitina,
he told journalists after the meeting. "The majority of Council members
are firmly in support of what UNMIK and KFOR are doing in trying to bring
Kosovo back to normal life," he added.
The Council was briefed on Kosovo by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hédi Annabi, who highlighted several positive developments, according to the spokesman for the Secretary-General. These included an agreement on an UNMIK-Kosovo Joint Interim Administration Structure, the complete demilitarization of the Kosovo Liberation Army, the distribution of more than 57,000 emergency repair kits, the resumption of limited railway services resumed, the restoration of power and telecommunications and the opening of schools. However, Mr. Annabi had also underscored the challenge of developing an effective social system in Kosovo, where an estimated 50 per cent of the population is expected to be unemployed for the foreseeable future.