2 Serbs are killed in Kosovo, ending long
lull in violence
By Nicholas Wood
International Herald Tribune MONDAY, AUGUST 29,
2005
BELGRADE Two Serbs have been killed and
another wounded in a shooting in Kosovo, ending a year-long lull in
violence in the UN-administered and mostly Albanian province.
The United Nations' top
official in the region and its predominantly ethnic-Albanian
government condemned the shooting and called on the police to find
the killers quickly.
"I am shocked and
appalled by this senseless and tragic crime," the head of the UN
mission, Soren Jessen-Petersen, said in a statement.
Prime Minister Vojislav
Kostunica of Serbia attributed the shooting, late Saturday night, to
ethnic Albanians and criticized the UN mission, saying it had failed
to protect the province's dwindling Serb minority.
In the attack, four men
were traveling in a car near the Serbian enclave of Strpce when
shots were fired at them from a passing car.
The attack came as UN
officials tried to decide whether ethnic relations had improved
enough to open negotiations on the future of the province. Kosovo
has been administered by the UN since Yugoslav troops were forced to
withdraw in 1999 after having been accused of committing widespread
atrocities against the majority Albanian community.
Kosovo is formally a
part of Serbia, but most Albanians, who make up 90 percent of the
population, are seeking independence.
Jessen-Petersen said he
had called on the Kosovo Police Service to search diligently for the
perpetrators. "I am shocked and appalled by such a senseless and
tragic crime," he said.
The shooting was the
worst incident of apparent interethnic violence since June 2004,
when a Serb teenager was killed in the Serbian-dominated enclave of
Gracanica, again by gunmen in a passing car. Two Albanian youths
were charged with that murder.
The shooting could
inflame tensions in the region. The Serbian government has accused
the international community of rewarding ethnic Albanian extremists
by moving toward talks on Kosovo's future without restraining
Albanian extremists.
But UN officials assert
that ethnic relations have improved over the last year. "Incidents
may happen from time to time, but that does not establish a trend
really," said a UN official, Neeraj Singh.
