November 3, 2001
Haekkerup, head of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), met with Belgrade's representative in Kosovo, Nebojsa Covic, at the start of a round of talks in the Yugoslav capital that is also scheduled to include President Vojislav Kostunica, officials said. The former Danish defense minister met last week with Kostunica, who demanded UNMIK provide additional guarantees for Kosovo's Serb minority, who have been the target of attacks by Albanian extremists. The UN-administered province in southern Serbia, the largest of the two republics that make up Yugoslavia, is to hold elections for a 120-member parliament on November 17, despite continuing uncertainty over whether the Serb minority will agree to take part.
Although some 170,000 Serbs - 60,000 in Kosovo and 104,000 displaced in Serbia and Montenegro - have registered to vote, both Belgrade and Kosovo Serb leaders have linked their participation to a return of refugees and an improvement in security and living conditions for minority groups. After NATO troops swept into the province in 1999, more than 200,000 Serbs fled ethnic Albanian attacks there, and the 80,000 to 100,000 who remain live mainly in NATO-guarded enclaves for their own safety. Belgrade is also demanding UN guarantees that Kosovo does not declare independence from Yugoslavia after the vote.
An opinion poll commissioned by UNMIK revealed Thursday that less than 20 percent of Serbs living in Kosovo who are registered for the elections are likely to vote.
"We are prepared to make the necessary effort to reach an agreement and we hope our interlocutors will do the same," Haekkerup said following talks in Belgrade on October 25.
No progress was reported on the issue during a meeting between Haekkerup and Covic in the Kosovo capital of Pristina on Wednesday. Yesterday's round of talks came amid stepped-up pressure on Belgrade from the international community.
In a letter to Kostunica earlier this week, US President George W. Bush appealed to the Yugoslav leader to encourage the Kosovo Serbs to vote. "As a leader who has strongly defended the rule of law and democratic values, I encourage you to urge their participation in the November elections," the letter said.
French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have sent similar letters to Kostunica, the Yugoslav daily Politika reported yesterday. Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since June 1999, after NATO's 11-week bombing campaign ended a crackdown on ethnic Albanians by then Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
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