( 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
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