Shattered Cities, Seared Souls.

Following the resolution of the Kosovo conflict, the Security Council on 10 June adopted resolution 1244 (1999), authorizing the Secretary-General to oversee a comprehensive peace-building operation to restore a multi-ethnic civil order and the rule of law in the war-ravaged province. So far, UNMIK has deployed a total of 880 international personnel on the ground, including about 430 UN civilian staff. The Mission will unfold in several integrated phases towards a final settlement of the status of Kosovo. UNMIK will first set up administrative structures, deploy international civilian police, provide emergency assistance for returning refugees and displaced people, restore public services and train local police and judiciary. It will also develop a phased economic recovery plan and seek to establish a self-sustaining economy. It will then focus on administration of social services and utilities, and consolidation of the rule of law. Administration of such sectors as health and education could be transferred t o local and possibly regional authorities.

What are the constraints and problems the United Nations and its partners faced so far in establishing UNMIK's authority throughout the province?

The conflict led to the exodus of some 850,000 residents--nearly half of the 1.7 million population. Destruction and damage was widespread. The three-month conflict devastated Kosovo's infrastructure, left the economy in shambles and led to the total collapse of all civil administrative functions in the province. The immediate concern for the international community was to quickly establish a security presence on the ground through the multinational peacekeeping force, known as the Kosovo Force (KFOR). At the same time, in order to assess and develop a durable peace-building and reconstruction effort, the Secretary-General sent an advance team to Pristina on 13 June; within 20 days, it had set up UNMIK and finalized a comprehensive operational concept for the four substantive components, or "pillars", of the Mission: civil administration, led by the United Nations; humanitarian affairs, coordinated by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); institution-building, overseen by the Organizat ion for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE); and reconstruction, carried out by the European Union. In order to advance the peace process, UNMIK will prepare for and conduct free and fair elections for the Kosovo Transitional Authority. It will then help Kosovo's elected representatives set up provisional institutions for democratic and autonomous self-government. As these are established, UNMIK will transfer its remaining administrative responsibilities while continuing to support the consolidation of Kosovo's provisional institutions. In the concluding phase, the Mission will oversee the transfer of authority from Kosovo's provisional institutions to institutions established under a political settlement.

On 28 July, the General Assembly authorized the Secretary-General to spend up to $200 million for the Mission's operations, which includes the $50 million already allocated to fund UNMIK's initial operations. As of 27 September, some $34.5 million had been received. The European Union and the World Bank chaired a Donor's Conference for reconstruction and development in Brussels on 28 July. More than $2 billion were pledged for long-term economic development.

Civil administration is the direct responsibility of the United Nations. The Special Representative has appointed regional administrators in the five districts of the province-Pristina, Prizren, Pec, Mitrovica and Gnjilane-who oversee the reintegration of workforces in public institutions, as well as their smooth functioning.

* For the first three months, UNMIK will pay the salaries of government employees and other civil servants. Initial payments will come from the UN Trust Fund for Kosovo until a self-supporting system of customs, taxation and other sources of revenue has been set up. The Fund aims to pay up to 50,000 public employees, including firefighters, teachers and transportation workers. In an important step toward creating a self-sustaining budget, customs service became operational on 3 September at four border points between Kosovo and Albania, and FYRM, respectively. Within two days, custom revenues totaled more than DM 1 million.

* Since 16 August, the United Nations has been managing a $250 million waste collection and disposal project in Pristina, funded jointly by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Trust Fund for Kosovo. Garbage had not been collected since the conflict began, posing a serious threat to the health system, which also urgently needed solid financial footing. A major step was to secure the salaries of some 2,000 public health workers. WHO, along with UNICEF and partner organizations, has distributed drug kits throughout the territory and has been instrumental in the reintegration of the Pristina hospital.

* Working with partner organizations, UNICEF has begun to rehabilitate hundreds of school buildings and supply schools with notebooks, pencils, chairs and desks. On 1 September, 383 schools opened and over 100,000 students turned up for "catch-up" classes. UNICEF's back-to-school programme hopes to have most of the 300,000 Kosovo children back in school by 25 October when the new school year starts.

In August, a democratic plan for Pristina University was negotiated between UNMIK and the university faculty. The Special Representative reassured students that the university system would be open to all ethnic groups.

* On 2 August, the post and telecommunications building reopened, followed a week later by other main post offices in the Pristina district. These offices are crucial to some 25,000 pensioners reliant on payments through postal order. Many have not been paid since February. UNMIK is pushing to restore rail service before winter and bring back some 1,000 employees into active service. Encouraging progress has been made in the reintegration of workers in the Kosovo Railway Enterprise--350 Serbs have rejoined the workforce, of whom some 120 returned from Serbia. Minimal rail service has already been restored between Kosovo and FYRM; and electricity transmission between them has also resumed. On 17 September, UNMIK finalized securing Kosovo's heat and electricity supply for the coming winter months.

* The demilitarization of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was completed on 21 September. UNMIK has begun recruiting former combatants to join a new civilian force, known as the "Kosovo Protection Corps".

* One of the most urgent goals is reconciliation among the divided ethnic groups. UNMIK established on 16 July the Kosovo Transitional Council (KTC) as a forum to involve the local political leadership in all phases of the democratic process leading to a final settlement. Since 21 August, all major political parties and ethnic groups in Kosovo have participated in KTC's weekly meetings. On 9 September, the Council agreed to form a joint Security Committee with the participation of UNMIK, KFOR and representatives from the different ethnic communities.

Institution-building

Under the umbrella of UNMIK, OSCE is responsible for democratization and institution-building, including the establishment of a new police service, human rights monitoring, media development and the organization of elections.

Registration of all residents of Kosovo is expected to start on 1 October. The issuance of identification cards by the end of October will be an important first step towards future elections.

Rehabilitating the mass media is central to the Mission in Kosovo. It enables the United Nations to coordinate humanitarian activities and broadcast vital information to the people of Kosovo. A new independent and balanced media is also crucial to fostering reconciliation among the divided ethnic groups. For that reason, UNMIK has taken steps to ensure that the multi-ethnic local staff representative of the population is operating the radio and television facilities.

On 20 August, an Independent Media Board composed of five local journalists was constituted to provide advice on media issues. UNMIK and KFOR also set up an informal Joint Consultative Council to coordinate work on media matters. Radio Television Pristina resumed radio broadcasts on 28 July. It airs a 90-minute programme in three languages produced by the OSCE-administered staff. UNMIK Radio also produces 30 minutes of programming and has started broadcasting on Radio Prizren a one-hour programme called "UN Hour". The Government of Switzerland agreed to provide the United Nations with a complete and functioning radio studio. Radio Television Kosovo was launched on 19 September. Employing both Albanians and Serbs, it is operated by the European Broadcasting Union.

Reconstruction

An enormous amount of funds will be needed to repair the damage of the recent conflict and years of neglect in Kosovo. UNMIK's reconstruction component, headed by the European Union, consults with representatives of Kosovo's communities on reconstruction needs and acts as a channel for development assistance.

The World Bank has sent a team to Kosovo to assess 15 sectors of the economy in order to determine future investment requirements. A separate UNMIK trust fund has also been created for small-scale "quick impact projects" that will help Kosovo's residents return to normal life. These could include immediate repairs to local facilities such as street lighting.

Law and Order

One of UNMIK's first actions was to establish a new and independent judiciary system. At its request, legal experts from the Council of Europe began reviewing Kosovo's legal framework to establish whether it is in conformity with international human rights standards.

Currently, courts served Pristina and other districts, such as Prizren, and two mobile courts hear emergency cases. The Special Representative has appointed over 50 judges and prosecutors from Kosovo's main ethnic communities. On 15 September, Mr. Kouchner appointed five judges to sit on the province's newly re-established Supreme Court, known formally as the Ad Hoc Court of Final Appeal. An interim Public Prosecutor's Office has also been set up.

The first contingent of international civilian police arrived on 27 June. To date, UNMIK has some 1,400 police officers stationed in all regions of the province and at four border crossings. It plans to have all 3,110 police officers in Kosovo by November. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 16 September requested an increase in UNMIK police of up to 5,100.

For the first time in a peacekeeping operation, UN police will have executive powers and be armed. Headed by UN Police Commissioner Sven Fredricksen, 1,800 officers will have normal policing duties, 1,100 will perform public order functions such as crowd control and 205 will serve as border police.

On 21 August, UNMIK took over the primary responsibility for law and order in the city of Pristina, and on 13 September expanded policing duties beyond the capital to include the entire Pristina region. In other high-risk areas, UN civilian police continue to patrol jointly with KFOR until an adequate civilian police presence has been established.

Besides maintaining law and order, UNMIK is also helping OSCE to create a new Kosovo Police Service. At the new police academy in Vicutrn, some 150 police instructors from 11 countries will train future Kosovo police officers in internationally-recognized policing methods and human rights.

Response to the public recruitment process was positive. Selected from a pool of nearly 20,000 applicants, the first batch of 200 recruits, who began training on 7 September, comprised all ethnic communities in the territory. Twenty per cent of the recruits are female. Eventually, the Kosovo Police Service will equal the number of international civilian police.

The United Nations Mine Action Coordination Centre (UNMACC), operating under UNMIK, is responsible for mine clearing and awareness campaigns, and serves as the point of contact for coordination between all organizations working to eliminate the threat. So far, some 1.2 million square metres have been cleared across the province, including more than 3,000 homes and 500 schools. UNICEF has also trained some 850 teachers and social workers to carry out mine awareness education programmes.

Despite warnings by the United Nations and its agencies of the danger of landmines and booby traps, tens of thousands started streaming home once the peace agreement was announced in June. Landmines and unexploded ordnance continue to pose a long-term threat. In the three months since, there have been some 233 recorded landmine casualties, 40 of these fatal.

An enormous reverse exodus of Kosovo refugees began with the entry of KFOR troops on l2 June. Within days, some 50,000 spontaneously left refugee camps in neighbouring Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYRM) and returned to Kosovo; another 220,000 arrived the next week. By the end of July, 90 per cent of the 850,000 refugees and internally displaced persons had returned home.

The massive flow, however, posed an enormous challenge to relief workers trying to secure food and shelter for returnees. UNHCR is coordinating humanitarian assistance and immediate rehabilitation of housing with other agencies of the UN system, such as the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO).

Forty-five non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are also involved with UN agencies. With more than 350,000 people lacking adequate accommodation, UNHCR and partner organizations in the summer began to distribute 75,000 shelter kits and building materials to ensure that all families would have at least one weatherproof room before winter. By 15 September, nearly 8,000 shelter kits and 15,000 all-weather tents with stoves, as well as 800,000 blankets, had been distributed. WFP has already helped deliver food to about 1.5 million people.

FAO and WFP on 10 September estimated that Kosovo's agricultural and livestock output would drop by 65 per cent this year. Even with 143,000 tons of emergency food aid planned for the year, the people of Kosovo would still face an uncovered food gap of 85,000 tons.

Kosovo lacks basic services and an efficient civil administration to support the new institutions of democratic, autonomous self-government. In many areas, electricity, heat and water supplies need to be restored; schools and clinics, radio and television facilities, as well as the transport and communication system, have to be rehabilitated. UNMIK helps to ensure that these institutions meet universal human rights standards and reflect the multiethnic character of Kosovo's communities.

Human Rights

UNMIK monitors and advisers cooperates closely with UNHCR and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Mission has established a focal point which supports efforts by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the ICTY to resolve questions concerning persons missing since the conflict.

UNMIK will establish an ombudsman's office in Kosovo to receive complaints about abuses of authority by the Interim Civil Administration, local institutions or other claiming to exercise authority. This office will have jurisdiction over allegation of human rights violations by any person or entity in Kosovo. It will have the authority to conduct investigations and take action to address violations by directly intervening with the related authorities.

Security Concerns

The first KFOR contingents arrived on 12 June and, by the end of the month, some 25,000 troops had been deployed. By 27 July, its strength was nearly 43,000.

However, critical problems including the massive exodus of Kosovo Serbs, remain. Within two months of the ceasefire, an estimated 180,000 non Albanians, among them over 130,000 Serbs and Roma, had left Kosovo; and as of l0 September, only an estimated 97,000 Serbs and 73,000 other minorities remained.

With tensions high, more than 190 civilians were killed since KFOR's entry into Kosovo until the end of July. The rising violence against vulnerable minorities was highlighted by the massacre on 23 July of 14 Serb farmers in Gracko. Condemning the slayings, the Special Representative announced that UNMIK, KFOR and ICTY would cooperate in the investigation. On 4 August, he reaffirmed that UNMIK gave top priority to minority protection. He has travelled with Albanian and Serb leaders to tension spots in the field, including Pec and Mitrovica. In joint statements, UNMIK and the local leadership have appealed to the people of Kosovo to refrain from violence. In early September, attacks against Kosovo Serbs were reported to have decreased for the first time.

UN officials on 1 August estimated that the nearly 200 sites of mass graves being investigated by forensic teams from 13 countries working for ICTY mightcontain up to 11,000 bodies. Thousands remain missing. UNMIK has sought to ensure that the revelations of atrocities against Albanians by Serbian forces will not escalate into large-scale revenge killings against Serbian civilians. It has also formed a special working group to initiate and expedite the release of an estimated 5,000 Kosovo Albanians held in Serbia.

"I have an agenda," Benard Kouchner, the Secretary-General's Special Representative in Kosovo and head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), announced upon his arrival at UNMIK's Pristina headquarters on 15 July 1999. "First, to make sure that immediate humanitarian needs are met. Second, to ensure essential public functions, specifically law and order. And third, to lay the foundation for economic recovery and development. It's simple, but ambitious. The job can be done."