6/6/2003
Serb Family’s Murder Is Heinous Crime Against Multi-Ethnic Society

The top United Nations official in Kosovo this week denounced the murder of a Serbian family in a town that had made “great progress” in co-existence between the Serbian and Albanian communities, calling it “the most despicable, barbaric and heinous crime” against a multi-ethnic society and announcing the establishment of a special police squad to investigate.

“This is a heinous crime directed against our joint efforts to create a multi-ethnic Kosovo,” Michael Steiner, chief of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), said after rushing to Obilic, a few kilometres outside Kosovo’s capital of Pristina as soon as he heard of the murder of the three Serbians. “We need to find those who are responsible.”

Announcing that there would be an international autopsy, observed by a Serbian doctor, Mr. Steiner said security would be strengthened in the town. “We will reinforce police and KFOR (Kosovo international force) as requested by the community,” he said.

“I am particularly angry because in Obilic we had great progress in the past,” Mr. Steiner, who was accompanied by Kosovo Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi, told reporters. “We had returns and the communities living together. It is clear that this act is aimed directly against the communities living together – and totally against our own intentions.”

Mr. Steiner, who met with municipality leaders, both Kosovo Albanian and Kosovo Serbian, and with members of the Serbian community, urged all Kosovans to help police investigators find the perpetrators. “Justice must be done. Those committing such unspeakable crimes are acting against the future of Kosovo,” he declared.