FUTURE OF KOSOVO IS 'MULTI-ETHNIC,' TOP UN ENVOY SAYS

FUTURE OF KOSOVO IS 'MULTI-ETHNIC,' TOP UN ENVOY SAYS New York, Feb 21 2008 7:00PM It is crucial that Kosovo, which declared its independence from Serbia on Sunday, be "multi-ethnic," a top United Nations envoy said today.

"I think it's very important that the Kosovo Serbs are perceived as part of the future Kosovo," the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Joachim Rücker, told UN Radio.

Ethnic Albanians outnumber Serbs and other minorities by nine to one in Kosovo, which was administered by the UN after Western forces drove out Yugoslav forces amid inter-ethnic fighting over eight years ago.

Mr. Rücker, who also heads the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), said that the two sides must cooperate and engage in dialogue.

"We all have to be careful, understanding, sensible and sensitive to the need of each community and to build on that," he noted.

Both Mr. Rücker and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have in recent days emphasized the need for everyone in Kosovo to exercise calm and to respect UNMIK and the NATO-led Kosovo Force, or KFOR.

Other than violent attacks earlier this week by Serb fringe groups on two boundary crossings in the north, the situation has remained generally calm since the Assembly of Kosovo's Provisional Institutions of Self-Government adopted a resolution on Sunday declaring its independence from Serbia.

Belgrade and Pristina were unable to reach agreement on Kosovo's status, which had been the subject of months of negotiations led by the troika, comprising the European Union, Russia and the United States. That group was set up after a stalemate emerged over a proposal by Mr. Ban's Special Envoy, Martti Ahtisaari, for a phased process of independence for Kosovo.
2008-02-21 00:00:00.000

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