Tasks in Kosovo, E. Timor keep UN busy

By J.T. Nguyen

NEW YORK (DPA): In 1999 the United Nations was faced with two major challenges: rebuilding Kosovo and leading East Timor towards independence. But while it rose to the challenge in East Timor, the task in the Balkans is far from over.

Kosovo and East Timor have one aspect in common -- they are both governed primarily by the United Nations. But otherwise, they are worlds apart, geographically, ideologically and in the problems each region faces.

Kosovo is a Serb province governed by a UN mission that lacks proper resources and has no clear-cut idea as to whether Kosovo will become an independent state or remain part of Serbia.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said at a year-end news conference that 1999 was "extraordinary and has brought unexpected new responsibilities to the United Nations," but he conceded that the situation in Kosovo will remain "very difficult."

In Kosovo the United Nations has to compete with ethnic forces for prominence, particularly the Kosovo Liberation Army, which, though disarmed, still holds onto ambitions to lead Kosovo in the future as an independent state. Despite the UN's designation of itself as the only legal authority in Kosovo, it is constantly challenged by independence-minded Kosovars, who also boycott the United Nations if they cannot have they way.

The UN mission has had to defend itself regularly since it was sent to Kosovo by the UN Security Council to create a multi- ethnic society. While progress has been made on several fronts in rebuilding Kosovo, the goal of a multi-ethnic society will be elusive. Violence between Kosovar Albanians and Serbs cannot be stopped because of centuries of mistrust and hatred.

The UN special representative in Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, said in December after months of effort that "it is hard to transform the feelings of revenge into the culture of tolerance."

"I am not giving you an excuse, this is just a fact," the French diplomat said.

By contrast, East Timor, a former Portuguese colony that was occupied from 1976 until this year by Indonesia, is sailing towards independence with the local leadership cooperating actively. The UN mandate in that country is clear, lasting for two to three years.

Another primary difference between Kosovo and East Timor is the weather. The international community is struggling and spending large amounts of money to winterize homes in Kosovo and house hundreds of thousands of people who lost their homes. But East Timor, with its tropical climate, has no such problems.

In both places, however, the United Nations has the unenviable tasks of rebuilding infrastructure and training new government cadres and police. It works to create new administrative services from the post office and garbage removal to providing health care, feeding the population and rebuilding their homes.

The UN special representatives in Kosovo and East Timor function as semi heads of government, named by and accountable to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The one thing those representatives need most is money, but the funds aren't flowing in according to plans. The European Union and the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe are committed to the reconstruction and institution-building in Kosovo. East Timor will rely on donor countries and Japan is the leading fund-raiser.

The UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) began when North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) stopped raining bombs on Yugoslavia. The first UN employees arrived in Pristina, capital of devastated Kosovo, a few days after the NATO stopped its airstrikes on June 10.

The UN Security Council, kept at bay by NATO during the whole military campaign against Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, decided on the same day NATO halted the bombings to set up UNMIK. Kosovo then was a territory without law and order and torn by decades of deep-seated ethnic violence.

NATO led an international military force with the responsibility of securing a peaceful environment for the normalization of Kosovo, working together with the UN mission to fulfill a mandate that Annan described as "enormous in scope and complex in execution."

By the end of 1999, Kouchner was chairing meetings of the Kosovo Transitional Council, sometimes without the former KLA, though the body was supposed to have multi-ethnic representatives to discuss their problems.

By December, six months after the UN mission arrived in Kosovo, 86 percent of children were back in schools, hospitals and basic health services were functioning and some 50,000 salaried public workers had been employed. The United Nations issues marriage, birth and death certificates, all on UN letterhead, and appoints hundreds of judges.

Security is the main problem in Kosovo, though no one can really blame the mission. NATO has more than 35,000 troops, known as KFOR, working to create a secure environment. But many governments that promised to send a total of 4,800 international police had sent only 1,800 by December. A corps of 4,000 Kosovar police is being formed, but they will take months to train.

UN and military officials acknowledged there exists a "climate of insecurity" in Kosovo. But compared with six months ago, it could be said that parts of the region are safer than before. In any case, while the United Nations may be able to leave East Timor in two or three years, it will have to remain in Kosovo for years to come.