http://202.84.17.11/english/htm/20001123/233809.htm

U.N. Council Condemns Kosovo Bombing
2000.11.23 09:47:22


UNITED NATIONS, November 22 (Xinhuanet) -- The U.N. Security Council on
Wednesday evening voiced its strong condemnation of " the criminal attacks"
on the home of Yugoslavia's representative in the Serbian province of
Kosovo, and called for "an immediate and full investigation to bring the
perpetrators to justice."

The condemnation was contained in a statement, read by the president of
the 15-nation council at an open Security Council meeting.

"The Security Council expresses its shock at, and strongly condemns, the
criminal attacks perpetrated on the home of the head of the liaison
committee of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" in Pristina, the provincial
capital of Kosovo, the statement said.

"The council demands that all those concerned refrain from any act of
violence, in particular against ethnic minorities, and cooperate with" the
U.N. Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the international peacekeeping force,
known as KFOR, the statement said.

"Fully aware of all the measures already taken to provide security for
all inhabitants of that region, the council calls on KFOR and UNMIK to
continue to make all necessary efforts, including along the ground safety
zone, to prevent further attacks, " the statement said.

The UNMIK and KFOR were sent to Kosovo under a Security Council
resolution in June last year at the end of the 78-day unilateral air
strikes on Yugoslavia by NATO. They were accused by the international
community of failure to protect all ethnic groups in Kosovo, where the
ethnic Albanians make up a majority of the population.

Also Wednesday, Bernard Kouchner, head of the UNMIK, deplored the
predawn bomb attack against Stanimir Vukicevic, representative of the
Yugoslav government in Kosovo.

"I am completely outraged by the contemptible attack," said Kouchner. He
called the explosion part of a wave of premeditated violence which appeared
to be the work of the extremists.

"The wave of violence is a warning to UNMIK and through UNMIK to the
international community: the extremists are now ready to step up their
targeting of the Serb community," said Kouchner, who traveled to the site of
the bomb attack to express his "sympathy and disgust."

While pointing out that Kosovo remains in crisis, Kouchner said that the
United Nations would not be dissuaded or deterred from its efforts to bring
peace and security to the area. He pledged that the UNMIK, along with the
international peacekeeping force, would "find the perpetrators of this
barbaric act."

The powerful blast, taking place at 4:45 a.m. on Wednesday in Pristina,
destroyed the residence building in a university campus, in which seven
staff members of the Yugoslav Committee for Cooperation with the UNMIK were
sleeping at the time of explosion, reported the Yugoslav news agency Tanjug.

Two of them were seriously injured, one died after being taken to
hospital, Tanjug said.

Vukicevic condemned the bomb attack as a "heinous terror." " This is a
heinous terrorist act aimed against the people who worked together with
UNMIK and KFOR in the interest of all the inhabitants of Kosovo," he was
quoted as saying by Tanjug.