WASHINGTON, March 20 (Hina) - The United States and Serbia-Montenegro agreed on Friday that the United Nations Mission to Kosovo (UNMIK) and the peacekeeping Kosovo Force (KFOR) must be determined in their actions in order to protect
the population of Kosovo, where nearly 30 people were killed since Wednesday in clashes between Serbs and ethnic Albanians.
WASHINGTON, March 20 (Hina) - The United States and Serbia-Montenegro
agreed on Friday that the United Nations Mission to Kosovo (UNMIK) and
the peacekeeping Kosovo Force (KFOR) must be determined in their
actions in order to protect the population of Kosovo, where nearly 30
people were killed since Wednesday in clashes between Serbs and ethnic
Albanians.#L#
Discussing the latest outbreak of violence, U.S. Deputy State
Secretary Richard Armitage and Serbia-Montenegro Foreign Minister
Goran Svilanovic agreed in Washington that UNMIK and KFOR must be
determined in their actions so as to protect people and property from
more violence, notably the Serb community and property that were the
targets of attacks over the past couple of days, State Department
spokesman Adam Ereli said in a statement.
Armitage and Svilanovic agreed that neither side in Kosovo could be
allowed to profit or bolster its political platform through violence,
the statement added.
Svilanovic said after the talks the Kosovo clashes had been
orchestrated and organised by Albanian extremists who wanted to
ethnically cleanse the area of Serbs.
Armitage commended the speed with which the authorities in Belgrade
prevented attacks against Muslim religious facilities in Serbia, and
thanked Serbia's government for stepping up security at diplomatic
offices and ethnic minorities' arts and culture centres.
(Hina) ha