Expert in development, crime prevention named deputy of UN Kosovo mission

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has announced the appointment of a senior United Nations official as the deputy head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) in charge of civil administration.

Taking up his duties with the Mission yesterday in Pristina, Francesco Bastagli succeeds Tom Koenigs, who joined UNMIK shortly after it was established in 1999. Mr. Koenigs left the Mission to become the Secretary-General's Special Representative in Guatemala.

Mr. Bastagli has expertise in development issues, as well as in drug control and crime prevention. Over the last three years, he has served as the UN Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Iran.

From 1986 to 1991, he was Chief of the Executive Office of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and from 1991 to 1999, he worked for the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention in Vienna, where he became Director of the International Drug Control Programme.

In another development, UNMIK has expressed its regret over a statement by the Government of Kosovo that alleged a political motivation to recent arrests carried out by the Mission.

"There is no political aspect or motivation to any of the arrests," the Mission said in a statement released late on Monday. "The arrests have been conducted against individuals suspected of serious crimes, not against any group or organization to which they belong or may have belonged in the past."

The Mission noted that under Security Council resolution 1244, UNMIK has been mandated with establishing the rule of law. "Not only the Security Council and the international community, but also the people of Kosovo have demanded that we do so," the statement said.

The Mission pointed out that the recent arrests were the results of long and complex investigations, some begun as early as 1999, by UNMIK police.

"The judicial process is being followed as set out in the applicable law as established by UNMIK regulation in late 1999," the statement said. "All those suspects arrested will receive all rights accorded them under law and their cases will be processed as quickly as possible, with fair and objective justice."