UNMIK-BELGRADE RELATIONS ESCALATE

BELGRADE, Aug 7 (Hina) - Relations between the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and authorities in Belgrade escalated on Tuesday after NATO's peace-keepers and UNMIK shut down a building in Gracanica which a newly-established state committee for the province wanted to use as its premises without authorisation. The UNMIK said it vacated the building in the morning, taking down the Yugoslav, Serbian, and UN flags as the committee had opened the building without the Mission's permission. This elicited a harsh reaction from Serbia's Justice Minister Vladan Batic, who requested the resignation of UNMIK head Hans Haekkerup. Batic accused the UN official for the "tragic situation" in Kosovo, which he said "has always been, is, and will be part of Serbia." He recommended the Danish official "should leave, the sooner the better" for "introducing customs in Kosovo without authorisation, making legal frameworks while ignoring Serbian amendments, persistently talking about elections, and wishing to institutionalise Albanian authority." In the afternoon the UNMIK left the building in Gracanica, the Serbian enclave in the predominantly Albanian Kosovo, but representative Simon Haselock reminded that the UN Security Council's Resolution 1244 said that all municipal and social property in the southern Yugoslav province was under the UNMIK's exclusive management and could be used only with the mission's permission. Haselock told Radio Belgrade the Mission did not contest the state committee's right to open its premises but the way it was done. Reacting to the events of this morning, Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia said the UNMIK act proved that international forces did not respect Resolution 1244 "or the state institutions of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia." The party accuses the UNMIK of "ingratiating with Kosovo Albanian extremists." Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic's Democratic Party slammed Haekkerup, saving he "is always quick to act in using repressive measures against Serbs while being understanding towards Albanian extremists." The head of the state committee for Kosovo, Nebojsa Covic, said the UNMIK's act was "rushed" but denied the building in Gracanica was to be used for the committee. The location has not been decided on "as no agreement was reached with Haekkerup," he said. (hina) ha