August 9, 2001
A top Serb official demanded the resignation of the United Nations chief administrator in Kosovo, accusing him of working in the interest of the province's ethnic-Albanians, newspapers reported Wednesday.
In an open letter, Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic blamed Hans Haekkerup for a "tragic situation in Kosovo," where Serbs live in isolated enclaves and often face attacks from ethnic-Albanians. "Haekkerup has openly sided with the Albanian terrorists," Batic told the Belgrade daily Glas. "That is why he should resign."
Batic's letter followed two recent attacks against Serb civilians in Kosovo in which several people were wounded, as well as a UN police takeover of a building used by a Yugoslav government liaison office in Kosovo. Serbian authorities also are facing increased pressure from the relatives of some 1,300 Serbs civilians missing from Kosovo, who want to know what happened to loved ones who were abducted during the war in the province.
Batic accused Haekkerup of turning a blind eye to the crimes committed against Serbs in Kosovo. Batic has repeatedly demanded that former ethnic- Albanian rebel leaders, who are now prominent politicians, be charged with war crimes against Serbs. "Kosovo always has been, and will be, part of Serbia," Batic wrote in the letter. "Because you do not accept that, you should leave Kosovo as soon as possible."
UN administration in Kosovo was established in 1999, following nearly three months of NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia. The air war was launched to force former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic to end his crackdown against ethnic-Albanians in Kosovo, but the arrival of international peacekeepers has failed to end violence.
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