SITUATION IN KOSOVSKA MITROVICA AND KOSOVO IMPROVING

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, July 22 (Hina)- The Commander of the international peace forces in Kosovo (KFOR), French general, Marcel Valantin, on Monday said that the situation in Kosovska Mitrovica and Kosovo on the whole had evidently improved. #L# Valantin told journalists in Kosovska Mitrovica that the highest achievement in his opinion was the fact that the UNMIK was more present in the northern part of that town. He said that the plan for Kosovska Mitrovica put forward by UN's civil administrator Michael Steiner yearned towards creating a more peaceful life for the communities that live in that town as well as a more dynamic development of the economy so that its citizens - particularly in northern Mitrovica - could enjoy better living conditions. He estimated that the security situation in Kosovo in the first six months of this year had improved in relation to the same period last year and noted that in that period there were 44 murders of whom 42 were Albanians, one Serb an one Bosnian national. Asked to comment on the April report by the International Crisis Group (ICG) which demands the urgent resolution of the situation in Kosovska Mitrovica and amongst else that the French soldiers as part of KFOR should be replaced by Brits, the general advised that the report had already been proclaimed as invalid. (hina) sp it