E.U. COMMISSIONER WARNS OF A HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE IN KOSOVO

( Editorial: --> 4673 ) PRISTINA, Aug 19 (Hina) - The European Union's Humanitarian Affairs Commissioner Emma Bonino on Wednesday warned that a "humanitarian catastrophe" threatened Kosovo. She called for the urgent finding of a peaceful solution to the crisis, so that tens of thousands of refugees could return to their homes before winter. After visiting Kosovo Albanian refugees in the Malisevo and Drenica areas, which have the largest concentration of about 200,000 displaced people in Kosovo, Bonino held talks with Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova and representatives of Serbian authorities in the southern Yugoslav province. In talks with Rugova, the EU Commissioner said the Union had to undertake preventative steps, so that later it would not have to deal with the disastrous consequences. Rugova called for an immediate end to Serbian offensives and called on the international community to urgently intervene with the aim of protecting Kosovo's population and helping refugees and displaced people. Bonino then held a press conference in the EU's office in Pristina together with Deputy United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Soren Jensen Petersen, and Austria's Ambassador to Belgrade Wolfgang Petrich. The humanitarian situation in Kosovo is very difficult and if something is not done urgently, we will find ourselves at the start of a humanitarian catastrophe, Bonino warned. She called for an end to the clashes and the building of trust so that people could return to their homes. Without a political resolution to the Kosovo issue, it will be difficult to resolve the humanitarian crisis, the EU commissioner said. When asked her views on calls for military intervention in Kosovo, Bonino said that before this other measures needed to be used against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia such as the withdrawal of ambassadors and banning air links with the world. She announced that she would ask the EU to undertake such measures if the situation in Kosovo did not improve. (Hina) mbr 192336 MET aug 98