Peacewatch.

• Author: Rutsch, Horst

KOSOVO

Coalition talks continue

The 17 November provincial-wide elections in Kosovo failed to give any single party a majority, and negotiations in forming a coalition government and electing a President remained inconclusive. Despite two rounds of voting on 10 January, the sole candidate, Ibrahim Rugova, failed to attain a majority. The first round required two thirds of the 120-member Assembly for victory. In the second, which required a simple majority of 61, Mr. Rugova received 51 votes. After that round--the third since December 2001--Assembly President Nexhet Daci adjourned the session. A new date has not yet been set.

On 23 January, Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Michael Steiner, a former Foreign and Security Policy Adviser to the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, as his Special Representative for Kosovo and head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission (UNMIK). He is the third Special Representative since the Mission was established in 1999, succeeding Hans Haekkerup of Denmark, who left for personal reasons at the end of 2001, and Bernard Kouchner of France.

On 21 January, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guehenno briefed the Security Council on developments in Kosovo since the November elections. UNMIK continued to work to create an environment in which minorities would feel secure to participate in public life, Mr. Guehenno said, adding that, overall, the last three months had been calm. He also underscored that a more robust and active approach by UNMIK and the international security force in Kosovo (KFOR) had also helped to decrease the level of violence in Mitrovica. However, Mr. Guehenno also pointed out the murder in the Pec region of Assembly member lsmael Hardaraj of the Democratic League of Kosovo. The motivation for the killing still remains unclear.

On 17 January, the Secretary-General said that the elections represented an important step forward in the implementation of the 1999 Security Council resolution, aimed at ensuring a gradual transfer of power to the provisional institutions of self-government. Noting that the elections compelled the political forces to work together to overcome the legacy of the past and contribute to the building of a common future, Mr. Annan said: "The time it is taking to elect a President and form a government is an indication of the difficulties that will have to be overcome."

On 30 January, UN police arrested three men for smuggling weapons and explosives from Albania. Two days earlier, KFOR arrested two men suspected of committing war crimes against the Kosovo Albanian population from September 1998 through June 1999.

Single Trial for Milosevic

On 1 February, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia decided that one trial would be held for alleged crimes committed by Slobodan Milosevic in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. The decision follows an appeal by the Tribunal's Prosecutor to hold a single trial for all three indictments against Mr. Milosevic, who faces charges of genocide and other war crimes. The Appeals Chamber also decided to set 12 February as the start date for the trial, beginning with evidence relevant only to the charges relating to Kosovo.

EAST TIMOR

UN mission extended until independence

On 24 January, Secretary-General Kofi Annan invited the leaders of all 189 UN Member States, as well as the Holy See and Switzerland, to attend the 20 May ceremony marking the independence of East Timor.

The Security Council on 31 January extended the mandate of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) until the territory's independence. The day before, the Council held an open meeting to review preparations in the territory for nationhood, including work on a constitution and plans for a successor mission to the current one. During the day-long meeting chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mauritius, Anil Kumarsingh Gayan, over twenty Member States expressed their support for East Timor.

UNTAET head Sergio Vieira de Mello told the Council that East Timor's Constituent Assembly had reviewed and approved most of the draft constitution, with the full text slated for adoption on 9 March. The transfer of power from the UN to the East Timorese people would be completed with the election of the President on 14 April, he said.

The successor mission, Mr. Vieira de Mello said, would aim to ensure that operational responsibility was fully devolved to the East Timorese authorities as soon as possible without jeopardizing stability and progress. The UNTAET head said that he was committed to ensuring a "wind-down" of the Mission to minimize trauma, but the downsizing process had been particularly difficult as the Government bodies were in dire need of international staff everywhere. The Government would also require international support for social and economic development and poverty reduction, he said.

Also addressing the Council, Jose Ramos-Horta, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation for East Timor, said the process of designing a blueprint for economic development in the territory had been a unique experiment. It was one of the few exercises in planning and development where civil society provided an input to a governmental process before the plan was approved and put into effect. East Timor, he added, expected to accede to several human right treaties at independence, and the Constitution was being drafted accordingly. The territory would also like to loin the United Nations, either on the day of independence or soon after.

On 31 January, the East Timorese Constituent Assembly in Dili voted overwhelmingly to transform itself into the country's first legislature upon final approval of the Constitution. The idea of transforming the 88-member Constituent Assembly, elected on 30 August 2001 to create the Constitution, was first proposed in late 2000 by the National Council of Timorese Resistance--an interim legislative body, which is an umbrella organization of political parties and civic organizations formed in 1998. The proposal, supported by UNTAET and adopted by the National Council was included in the draft constitution, of which 25,000 copies had been distributed on 21 February for a territory-wide public consultation before the final vote and signing ceremony on 16 March.

SIERRA LEONE

Disarmament complete

The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) on...