Friday July 27 9:38 AM ET
Kostunica Blasts UN Kosovo Chief, Has Poll Doubts
BELGRADE (Reuters) - Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica (news - web
sites) lashed out at Kosovo's U.N. governor on Friday for thinking of
only the welfare of Albanians when Serbs were facing worsening condition
in the province.
He said Hans Haekkerup's policies made it difficult to countenance Serb
participation in elections in the province.
Kostunica accused Haekkerup, a former Danish defense minister, of being
scared of extremist elements among Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority.
``In his work, he is only motivated by fear of Albanians,'' Kostunica
told the Belgrade daily Blic in an interview.
``Haekkerup's day starts and ends with the question of whether he may
have insulted Albanians -- and not the moderate representatives of the
Albanians, but the extremists in Kosovo.''
His comments were published a day after a top United Nations (news - web
sites) official appealed to Yugoslav authorities to urge Serbs to take
part in elections for a Kosovo assembly scheduled for November this
year.
Kosovo has been under international rule since the end of NATO (news -
web sites)'s air war in June 1999 to stop Serb repression of Albanians
during the rule of Kostunica's predecessor Slobodan Milosevic (news -
web sites).
But the province legally remains part of Serb-dominated Yugoslavia and
United Nations officials had been hoping for far better ties with
Belgrade after Kostunica replaced Milosevic following a mass uprising in
October last year.
While relations have improved to an extent, Kostunica's remarks show
Belgrade and the U.N. administration remain far apart in their
assessments of the situation in Kosovo.
Kostunica made clear he saw no sign that conditions had been fulfilled
to allow Serbs to take part in the election.
Belgrade cites for better security for Serbs and the return home of some
of the 180,000 who fled Kosovo amid a wave of Albanian revenge attacks
after it came under international rule as key conditions for taking part
in the polls.
``Our intention was to support the elections in Kosovo, but at the same
time we cried out for some changes in Kosovo regarding the Serbs'
position,'' the president said.
``But, aside from an icy silence from Haekkerup, we didn't get anything
else. The fact is that the situation is even worsening,'' said
Kostunica, a Serb who describes himself as a moderate nationalist.
Many of the Serbs who remain in Kosovo live in enclaves heavily guarded
by NATO peacekeepers.
Serbs boycotted municipal elections in Kosovo last year in protest at
their living conditions and international officials have been anxious to
avoid another mono-ethnic election when their goal is to build a
multi-ethnic Kosovo.
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