PRISTINA, Sept 5 (Hina) - The UN Civil Administrator in Kosovo, Michael Steiner, on Thursday talked with the head of the co-ordination centre for Kosovo and a Serbian Vice Premier, Nebojsa Covic, behind closed doors. During the talks,
which were held in the UNMIK headquarters in Pristina, several hundred Kosovo Serbs staged a protest rally outside the building demanding a high level of self-government for the Serb enclaves in the area.
PRISTINA, Sept 5 (Hina) - The UN Civil Administrator in Kosovo,
Michael Steiner, on Thursday talked with the head of the co-
ordination centre for Kosovo and a Serbian Vice Premier, Nebojsa
Covic, behind closed doors. During the talks, which were held in the
UNMIK headquarters in Pristina, several hundred Kosovo Serbs
staged a protest rally outside the building demanding a high level
of self-government for the Serb enclaves in the area. #L#
Steiner and Covic discussed preparations for the coming
presidential election in Serbia and municipal elections in Kosovo,
scheduled for 26 October, as well as the engagement of local Serbs
in police service in Kosovo.
One of the topics of the talks was the insistence of the UN Mission
to Kosovo (UNMIK) on the hand-over of a local Serb leader, Milan
Ivanovic, suspected of involvement in a bomb attack in Kosovska
Mitrovica.
After the three-hour meeting, both Steiner and Covic declined to
give statements to reporters.
According to Serb sources, the talks about the Ivanovic case
yielded no concrete results and would be resumed in the coming days
or weeks.
The Serbs who staged rally during the Steiner-Covic meeting, also
protested against the UNMIK police's attempts to arrest Ivanovic.
The protesters urged the international community to ensure a
greater level of self-rule in the Serb enclaves and to help set up
Serb municipalities in those pockets.
One of the local Serb leaders, Momcilo Trajkovic, accused the
Serbian government of not having a clear strategy for the
development of the province.
Leaders of the Serb National Council in northern Kosovo, which
organised Thursday's protest rally, reiterated their accusations
against the UNMIK.
Stevan Zigic, a Serb who on Wednesday was released from custody
where he had been detained on suspicion that he killed an ethnic
Albanian, on Thursday called on the gathered to continue protesting
so that many Serbs might be released from detention where they were
kept, as he said, innocent.
(hina) ms