UN launches probe of mid-March violence in Kosovo
A United Nations special investigations unit, named by Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, arrived to Kosovo over the weekend in an attempt to clarify circumstances and events which led to an alarming outbreak of violence in the Serb-dominated northern part of province in mid-March, UN diplomats told KosovoCompromise.com.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Monday, April 28, 2008
Ugandan law professor Francis M. SSekandi will head the investigation which will cover province's capital Pristina, Kosovska Mitrovica and, in early May Belgrade, as UN finally launched a probe of a day-long violence which resulted with a death of a Ukrainian policeman and some 150 Serbian demonstrators and international policemen injured.
An unexpected delay of investigation was explained with by Ban's desire to name an unbiased expert to head the probe into the worst outbreak of violence since the Kosovo Albanians unilateral declaration of independence on February 17.
Francis SSekandi, 68, is the former official of the African Development Bank, law professor at the New York's Columbia University, deputy chief of UN legal department and adviser to several UN agencies.
In addition, the UN department of peacekeeping (DPKO) dispatched three officials to Kosovo to help Mr. SSekandi's investigation, which will include top Serbian leaders in the northern part of province, but also UNMIK officials, including the chief of the mission Joachim Ruecker, his deputy Larry Rossin and Mitrovica regional administrator Gerard Gallucci.
The mid-February's violence was triggered by the UNMIK police controversial decision to storm the local court house, which was the scene of protest by Serbian judges, who had been fired following the deployment of international missions in 1999.
UN police arrested 32 demonstrators which provoked Serb riots in already tense Kosovska Mitrovica.
SSekandi'ss investigation will cover a set of topics, including the use of lethal ammunition, banned rubber bullets, a controversial decision to strike the court house on the anniversary of the massive Albanian rampage in 2004, and a series of disputes at the helm of UNMIK.
