BONN CONFERENCE RAISES PROBLEM OF KOSOVO

( Editorial: --> 7040 ) BONN, Dec 9 (Hina) - The situation in the southern Serbian province of Kosovo as a regional security problem was unexpectedly raised at a two-day conference of the Peace Implementation Council which opened in Bonn on Tuesday. In his opening remarks German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel warned that the situation in Kosovo threatened to further destabilise the entire region. He said that the Belgrade government and Albanian leaders in the province must find a negotiated solution to the problem of Kosovo and that violence must stop. Kinkel said Belgrade should grant Kosovo special status and ensure respect for human and minority rights in the area. After Kinkel's introductory speech, the conference was addressed by Yugoslav Foreign Ministry political director Dragan Vucicevic who said Kosovo was an internal Yugoslav matter and that Yugoslavia would not accept interference in its internal matters. Vucicevic said that unless his remarks were taken seriously Yugoslavia would distance itself from the conference and its final document. The draft of the final document cites the issue of Kosovo as a problem of regional stability and calls for its resolution through negotiations between Belgrade and Kosovo Albanians. A number of speeches which touched on the problem of Kosovo showed that the international community took a harmonised stance on this issue. Diplomats attending the conference did not expect Yugoslavia would really reject conclusions of the meeting, since in that way it would expose itself to further international pressure. (hina) vm jn 091700 MET dec 97