KPS Serbs to be paid by UNMIK

Serb KPS officers from northern Kosovo will soon start receiving their pay from the UNMIK budget, says the UN police commissioner. Asked by a journalist whether and when Serb members of the Kosovo Police Service (KPS) would receive their back pay, Tor Frigaard told B92 that it would happen “very soon”. KPS Serbs to be paid by UNMIK “Wages for the last three months will be paid. There were some bureaucratic problems, their bank accounts were shut down. We’ll do everything we can for them to receive their wages for those three months on new accounts, but that’s bureaucracy—it will take a bit of time to get it all done, but they will get paid,” pledged Frigaard. Northern Kosovo Police Chief Milija Milosevic said that the Serb KPS officers had closed down accounts where they used to receive pay from the Kosovo government. “In the meantime, we’ve opened new accounts with foreign banks where we’ll receive our wages from the UNMIK budget,“ Milosevic told B92. Serb KPS officers are still refusing to work under the control of MUP Kosovo, and coordinate on the field exclusively with UNMIK police. After a number of incidents this week in ethnically mixed neighborhoods in northern Kosovska Mitrovica, the UN police commissioner said that there was no cause for concern, and that police in northern stations had the situation under control. “I think the local police station and local police commander have good control over the situation. These things happen over the summer, and it shouldn’t mean that they’re ethnically motivated. I’m not worried about it,“ said Frigaard. After a meeting with his UN colleague, Milosevic said that he expected police in the north to be able to maintain law and order in the coming period. “I can say that the situation is under control. We’ve had those three incidents, sadly they happened here. However, the situation was quickly brought under control and we didn’t have any bigger, more significant problems, although the problems weren’t that small themselves. We’re here, we’ll protect the whole population that lives in northern Mitrovica,“ assured the Serb police chief. One Serb was seriously injured, and several civilians and a UN police officer were slightly hurt in a series of isolated physical confrontations between ethnic Serbs and Albanians in the ethnically mixed neighborhoods in the northern part of the town known as Bosnjacka Mahala and “The Three Tower Blocks“. During and after the clashes, police arrested a number of suspects who were released after questioning. KPS Serbs (FoNet, archive)

KPS Serbs to be paid by UNMIK

“Wages for the last three months will be paid. There were some bureaucratic problems, their bank accounts were shut down. We’ll do everything we can for them to receive their wages for those three months on new accounts, but that’s bureaucracy—it will take a bit of time to get it all done, but they will get paid,” pledged Frigaard.

Northern Kosovo Police Chief Milija Milošević said that the Serb KPS officers had closed down accounts where they used to receive pay from the Kosovo government.

“In the meantime, we’ve opened new accounts with foreign banks where we’ll receive our wages from the UNMIK budget,“ Milošević told B92.

Serb KPS officers are still refusing to work under the control of MUP Kosovo, and coordinate on the field exclusively with UNMIK police.

After a number of incidents this week in ethnically mixed neighborhoods in northern Kosovska Mitrovica, the UN police commissioner said that there was no cause for concern, and that police in northern stations had the situation under control.

“I think the local police station and local police commander have good control over the situation. These things happen over the summer, and it shouldn’t mean that they’re ethnically motivated. I’m not worried about it,“ said Frigaard.

After a meeting with his UN colleague, Milošević said that he expected police in the north to be able to maintain law and order in the coming period.

“I can say that the situation is under control. We’ve had those three incidents, sadly they happened here. However, the situation was quickly brought under control and we didn’t have any bigger, more significant problems, although the problems weren’t that small themselves. We’re here, we’ll protect the whole population that lives in northern Mitrovica,“ assured the Serb police chief.

One Serb was seriously injured, and several civilians and a UN police officer were slightly hurt in a series of isolated physical confrontations between ethnic Serbs and Albanians in the ethnically mixed neighborhoods in the northern part of the town known as Bošnjačka Mahala and “The Three Tower Blocks“.

During and after the clashes, police arrested a number of suspects who were released after questioning.