Subject: Kostunica appeals to Kosovo leadership for dialogue on status
Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2000 9:50:06 PST
From: C-afp@... (AFP)
Organization: Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
Newsgroups: clari.world.europe.balkans,clari.world.europe,biz.clarinet.sample
Followup-To: biz.clarinet.sample


BELGRADE, Nov 25 (AFP) - Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica
appealed on Saturday to a moderate Kosovo Albanian leader to begin
dialogue as soon as possible on the status of the breakaway Serbian
province, currently under United Nations administration.
In a letter quoted by the Beta news agency, he told ethnic
Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova: "I believe it is necessary to begin
talks because I am convinced that it is possible to find a
solution."
"A start should be made as quickly as possible since too much
time has been lost," Kostunica added, after days of clashes between
ethnic Albanian rebels and Serbian police on Kosovo's southern
administrative boundary with Serbia.
He said a solution imposed from outside would not be
appropriate, either for Kosovo, Serbia, Yugoslavia or the Balakns in
general.
Kosovo must remain a "multinational region" if there was to be
lasting peace and stability.
"There's no point in hiding the problem, we've got to tackle
it," Kostunica warned.
On a conciliatory note the Yugoslav leader offered his
condolences to Rugova on the assassination of the latter's
right-hand man, Xhemajl Mustafa, this week.
The letter was released after Belgrade gave NATO three days to
end the ethnic Albanian guerrilla attacks in the demilitarised
buffer zone between Kosovo and Serbia, warning its forces could
otherwise return in breach of a military accord with the alliance.
At a EU-Balkans Summit in Zagreb, Kostunica had earlier dubbed
the Kosovo issue the biggest problem in Europe, and called into
question the future of last year's ceasefire agreement between NATO
and Belgrade.
The renewed fighting in the border zone comes against the
background of increased violence in Kosovo itself, as suspected
ethnic Albanian extremists target minorities, Yugoslav officials and
moderate ethnic Albanian leaders who won last month's local
elections.
Rugova's political aide was shot dead Thursday outside his
apartment. On Wednesday a bomb attack on the home of Belgrade's top
representative in Pristina killed a member of his staff.