KOSOVO: RUGOVA ATTEMPTS RESCUE OF PEACE PROCESS

(12 Jan 1999) Eng/Albanian/Nat

The race is on to try to rescue Kosovo's collapsed peace process.

The new chairman for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (O-S-C-E), Knut Vollebaek, on Tuesday met with representatives from both sides of the conflict to speed up peace negotiations.

The meetings come as hope for a lasting peace in Kosovo is fading, after increased violence in the troubled province.

Vollebaek spent the day in talks with the Albanian political leader Ibrahim Rugova.

After the meeting Rugova praised the Kosovo verification mission, a large part of which is provided by the O-S-C-E.

He said he had discussed with Vollebaek the urgent need to stop the violence in Kosovo.

SOUNDBITE: (Albanian with English translation)
"We discussed about the situation in Kosovo and about ways to end the ongoing violence in Kosovo. We also pointed out the very positive role the O-S-C-E verification mission has been playing in Kosovo. And of course we have pointed out the necessity to accelerate the political process."
SUPER CAPTION: Ibrahim Rugova, Ethnic Albanian leader

Vollebaek said violence was counterproductive to a solution for the region, a point which he said he had stressed to president Milosevic on Monday.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"But I also underlined that the role of the K-V-M (Kosovo Verification Mission) will be to provide an environment, the possibilities for negotiations, because we are looking for a durable, lasting, political solution to this problem. We have seen the escalation of violence and this, of course, will be counterproductive to any kind of political move. And I made this very very clear to President Milosevic yesterday, that the Yugoslav side had to show restraint now."
SUPER CAPTION: Knut Vollebaek, Chairman of the O-S-C-E

Vollebaek also expressed his condolences to Rugova on the assassination of his close aide and head of the Kosovo Information Centre, Enver Maloku, who was killed on Monday by unknown gunmen.

Vollebaek then met with the Serbian representative for Kosovo, Zoran Andjelkovic.

Vollebaek's visit comes at a particularly tense time.

Apart from Maloku's death, condemned as an attack on the freedom of speech, there is the matter of eight Yugoslav soldiers being held captive by Albanian separatists.

Despite Monday's assassination, the U-S head of the international monitoring team, William Walker, said in Pristina there were «positive signs» in the negotiations to released the captives.

The negotiations are seen as key in preventing a return to all-out war in the turbulent province.

The rebel Kosovo Liberation Army, which had indicated it would free some of the hostage soldiers by Tuesday, demands the release of its own fighters in exchange.

International monitors have been talking with both the rebels and Serbian authorities since the soldiers were seized on Friday in K-L-A-held territory in northern Kosovo.

Officials fear Serb forces will resume their military crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists - largely halted since they agreed to a truce in October - if the soldiers aren't freed soon.

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