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Pastimes : Kosovo -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: George Papadopoulos who wrote (12402)	6/18/1999 1:07:00 AM
From: Milk	Respond to of 17770

Russia At U.N. Calls KLA Status In Kosovo Illegal UNITED NATIONS, Jun 17, 1999 -- (Reuters) Russia's U.N. ambassador said on Wednesday the 15-seat Security Council needed to deal with the refusal of Kosovo Liberation Army rebels to disarm, a violation of a key U.N. resolution. Ambassador Sergei Lavrov told reporters, after a closed-door council session, that NATO troops stood by as KLA guerrillas moved into positions, contrary to an omnibus resolution approving a Kosovo peace plan last week. He said he was repeating news reports on the KLA action that needed to be verified. If confirmed "it is a violation of the resolution and something must be done about it," he said. "We are concerned by the media reports that as Serbs withdraw according to schedule and to everybody's satisfaction, the KLA moves in and takes positions and refuses to demilitarize and basically makes statements publicly that they would be running the area and not anybody else," Lavrov said. NATO contingents "just watch the KLA behave in that manner, which is contrary to Security Council resolution 1244," that authorized a Kosovo military and civilian peace plan. The resolution adopted last Thursday approved an international force to ensure the safe return of nearly a million ethnic Albanian refugees and listed as its duties the "demilitarization" of the KLA, ethnic Albanian guerrillas who have been battling for independence from Yugoslavia. Lavrov said he expected U.N. officials to give the council a briefing later this week or early next week. "We are asking for some independent assessment, including from U.N. people on the ground," he said. KLA leaders have said they would not disarm until the Russian troops, who have taken over the airport in the provincial capital of Pristina, join a unified NATO command. They have also said they want to transform themselves into a security force, indicating they intend to join a new civilian police force the United Nations is to set up in Kosovo. The KLA has moved into numerous towns since NATO entered Kosovo last weekend and at times has prevented Albanian citizens, who slipped through the border, from looting homes in Kosovo, according to news reports. U.S. and Russian officials were meeting in Helsinki to try and break a deadlock over Moscow's role in the Kosovo peace force. Russia wants its own separate zone in Kosovo rather than work under NATO command and over the weekend sent 200 troops to occupy Pristina airport. ((c) 1999 Reuters)