The terrible suffering of the people here is obvious. But what is inspiring is to see how they are already fixing their homes, how schools and health clinics are reopening even with unpaid staff. But staff will need to be paid as quickly as possible, if this is to be sustainable. Surveying the impact of months of conflict at first hand, including burnt-out homes, shops, and mosques, Mr. Wolfensohn said that getting the economy going again will be a major challenge. Beyond that, it will take considerable sums of money to resuscitate and eventually modernize Kosovo.
Economic hope is a basic foundation of peace.
The World Bank and the European Commission are currently gathering damage assessment reports for Kosovo to brief a special meeting of international donors in Brussels on July 28 to pledge financial support for Kosovo. Meeting with ethnic Albanians in the northern city of Kosovska Mitrovica, and later in Dzakovica to the west, as well as in the main city of Pristina, Mr. Wolfensohn heard first hand accounts of their traumatic experience over the last several months of conflict. It is not only burned houses and destroyed schools that have to be fixed, but also people s psychological wounds that have to heal. We have a responsibility to help them especially the children to mend their broken lives. Special Representative of the Secretary General Bernard Kouchner.