§ Mr. BluntTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the decision was taken to withdraw the OSCE verifiers from Kosovo in March. [98558]
§ Mr. VazThe decision to withdraw the OSCE verifiers from Kosovo was made by the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Norwegian Foreign Minister Knut Vollebaek, on 19 March.
§ Mr. BluntTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when, and in what form, he received the application that the OSCE verifiers were unable to do their job owing to the escalating violence in Kosovo before 19 March. [98559]
§ Mr. VazThe decision to withdraw the OSCE verifiers was made in Vienna on 19 March by the OSCE Chairman-in-Office following a full meeting of the Contact Group plus the then OSCE Troika (Austria, Poland) under the chairmanship of Norway, as Chairman-in-Office.
The decision to withdraw the OSCE verifiers was made in the light of the failed negotiations in Paris and, in particular, the deteriorating situation on the ground in Kosovo caused by the Serbian military offensive.
§ Mr. BluntTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his estimate of the number of Kosovo Serbs killed in Kosovo(a) since 11 June and (b) between 23 March and 10 June. [98567]
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§ Mr. VazThere have been 124 reported murders of Kosovo Serbs between KFOR's deployment on 12 June and mid-October.
There are no figures available for the number of Kosovo Serbs killed in Kosovo between 23 March 1999 and 11 June 1999, ie in the period prior to KFOR's deployment.
§ Mr. BluntTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his estimate of the number of Kosovo Albanians killed in Kosovo between(a) 23 March and 10 June, (b) 1 January and 22 March and (c) since 11 June. [98568]
§ Mr. VazWe estimate that at least 10,000 Kosovo Albanian civilians were killed between June 1998 and 12 June 1999. Of these, we estimate that around 500 were killed before 20 March 1999.
There have been 135 reported murders of Kosovo Albanians between KFOR's deployment on 12 June and mid-October.
§ Mr. WorthingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made on improving access to Kosovo through the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. [100326]
§ Mr. VazSignificant delays continue to be encountered by traffic, including humanitarian aid convoys, at the major crossing point on the Kosovo/Macedonian border at Blace. The United Nations interim administration in Kosovo has set up a task force to take matters forward and negotiations continue with the Macedonian Government to relieve the bottleneck at the border.