U.S. Reportedly Will Send 75O to Police Kosovo

The United States is prepared to contribute 750 officers to an international police force to help bring stability to Kosovo as part of the U.N. plan unveiled Monday to govern the separatist province.

Eventually, as many as 3,000 police officers will be sent by various nations to Kosovo to replace international peacekeepers now arriving there. The extent of the U.S. police presence was not contained in the plan released by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, but sources gave the number as 750.

Under a Security Council resolution, the United Nations will be the prime civilian authority in Kosovo, a province of Yugoslavia’s dominant republic, Serbia. A special representative named by Annan, with the consent of the Security Council, will be the temporary civilian governor.

The mandate of the special representative is enormous, encompassing not only police and courts but financial planning for the province, public health, education and culture, the creation of a civil service and the development of political parties and an independent media, among a daunting spectrum of tasks.

Over the weekend, Annan appointed Sergio Vieira de Mello, a veteran U.N. civil servant with extensive peacekeeping experience, to serve as interim representative. A spokesman said Annan could name a permanent representative by the end of the week.

Under the U.N.’s detailed plan, Kosovo’s police commissioner will report to the special representative. And a U.N. agency, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, will oversee the return and care of up to 1 million ethnic Albanians who sought asylum elsewhere and an estimated 600,000 displaced people inside the province.

The international police force will have a border unit to help ensure the orderly return of refugees once land mines and booby traps are cleared. Because Serbian authorities seized and destroyed so many personal documents, U.N. officials believe that returnees should be admitted whether or not they possess identity papers.

The 15-nation European Union will lead what will be a massive effort to rebuild the “physical, economic and social infrastructure,” including housing, agriculture, utilities, transportation and communications, and other vital services.

The 54-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will monitor human rights and conduct elections as part of its mandate.

Close coordination with international peacekeepers is central to the U.N.’s efforts, and the special representative will have a military liaison office.

“This is a new type of mission for the U.N.,” said Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette. “The military contingent has its own reporting chain of command, which distinguishes this from other types of missions we had in the past. . . . There has to be very close coordination between the special representative and the military contingent.”

She said the exact number of civilian police, who will be armed, will depend on the situation on the ground in Kosovo.

“We have approached a number of countries to see if they were willing to make available police to perform some of these functions,” Frechette said. “At the same time, we will be creating a local police force, and there is the question of training and selection.”