Another 300 UNMIK personnel to leave Kosovo by month's end

PRISTINA, June 9. (Hina). Another 300 members of the UN Mission to Kosovo (UNMIK) will leave Kosovo by the end of this month, Pristina media said, adding that only 500 UNMIK members would remain in Kosovo as of July.

"This is the last restructuring round which envisages that only the absolutely necessary UNMIK personnel will stay in Kosovo," UNMIK spokesman Aleksander Ivanko said.

UNMIK was set up in June 1999 and has been downsizing since Kosovo declared independence on 17 February 2008 and the deployment of the EULEX mission, which took over many UNMIK powers late last year and which has been established to help Kosovo build the rule of law.

Although considerably downsized, UNMIK will remain in Kosovo as long as UN Security Council Resolution 1244 is in force, the mission's representatives said.