UN report says security worsening in Kosovo AFP

UN report says security worsening in Kosovo
AFP - October 3, 2003

NEW YORK -- The security situation in Kosovo has worsened in the past few months, according to a new report to the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

The report comes ahead of the next week's talks between Serbian and ethnic Albanian delegations in Vienna, the first such discussions since the end of the war in 1999.

The report said that the southern Serbian province was stable but "less secure" since the middle of the year due to "a large number of shootings and grenade/bomb attacks."

It also cited a high level of organized crime, including groups it said "oppose the strengthening of any state institutions dealing with law and order."

Next week's talks will not touch on Kosovo's eventual status, the province's most politically and emotionally sensitive issue.

Although Kosovo remains part of Serbia, its ethnic Albanian majority has been calling for independence. The United Nations has been effectively running Kosovo since the war's end.

On Thursday, Kosovo's multi-ethnic assembly postponed a vote on its possible delegation for the talks, rebuffing a request from Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi to approve the meeting.

The talks, set to begin October 14, will focus on transport, energy, missing people and the return of those displaced by the conflict, when Serb forces clashed with ethnic Albanian separatist guerrillas.

More than 22,000 international peacekeepers are currently in the province.