PRISTINA, Kosovo -- A leading international official Thursday called on ethnic Albanian leaders "to take clear steps" to end threats and attacks against Kosovo's dwindling Serb population.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Knut Vollebaek, head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said "without reconciliation, there is little hope of establishing a new and democratic Kosovo."

Meanwhile, an official of the Socialist party of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was quoted Thursday as saying hostile acts against Serbs show the need for the return of Yugoslav troops to Kosovo.

"All this shows that it is high time for a contingent of the Yugoslav army and Serbian interior ministry to return to Kosovo as soon as possible, as stipulated by United Nations documents," said Zivorad Igic, head of the Socialist party's Kosovo branch.

Igic, who was badly beaten in Kosovo, said in a report in the pro-government Politika, that violence by ethnic Albanian "terrorists and separatists" escalated after the arrival of the NATO-led Kosovo peacekeeping force.

In the four months since NATO ended its 11-week long air campaign against Yugoslavia, about 200,000 Serbs and other non-Albanians have left Kosovo out of fear of revenge attacks.

Revenge attacks on Kosovo Serbs

In recent weeks, ethnic Albanians have attacked local Serbs in revenge for the 18-month Serb crackdown that ended when NATO peacekeepers arrived in June.

NATO peacekeepers reported Thursday that a Gypsy was stabbed in the southern city of Prizren. Also, the body of a 50-year- old ethnic Albanian man was found near Suva Reka on Wednesday, apparently killed by a gunshot.

Three grenade attacks were also reported. One in Dokovica killed one woman and seriously injured another in their apartment. Another attack injured two Serbs in the eastern city of Vitina. The third grenade was thrown into the yard of a Serb house, but failed to explode, peacekeepers said.

On Wednesday, Yugoslavia's private Beta news agency reported that three people were missing following a Tuesday attack on a Serb convoy near Kosovska Mitrovica that left at least one Serb dead. The attack also injured 11 Serbs and 15 peacekeepers or U.N. police.

The confrontation occurred as Serbs passed by a crowd of ethnic Albanians leaving a memorial service for several people killed in an apparent massacre by Serbs.

Bringing democracy to Kosovo

The OSCE is responsible for helping build a democratic civil society in Kosovo, and preparing future elections will be an important challenge for the organization, Vollebaek said.

"The elections that are going to be held in Kosovo will have to have legitimacy, so that the leadership in Kosovo can be looked upon as a real leadership," said Vollebaek, adding that he hoped elections will be held in 2000, but did not give a date.

The OSCE has opened a center to provide support and communications for Kosovo's political parties.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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RELATED SITES:

Yugoslavia:
  • War against Yugoslavia
  • Free Serbia Net!
  • Serbian Renewal Movement
  • CIA -- The World Factbook 1999 -- Serbia and Montenegro
  • Federal Republic of Yugoslavia official site
      • Kesovo and Metohija facts
  • Serbia Ministry of Information
  • Serbia Now! News

Kosovo:
  • Kosova Crisis Center
  • Kosova Liberation Peace Movement
  • Kosovo - from Albanian.com

Military:
  • NATO official site
  • BosniaLINK - U.S. Dept. of Defense
  • U.S. Navy images from Operation Allied Force
  • U.K. Ministry of Defence - Kosovo news
  • U.K. Royal Air Force - Kosovo news
  • Jane's Defence - Kosovo Crisis

Resettlement Agencies Helping Kosovars in U.S.:
  • The International Organization for Migration (IOM)
  • Church World Service
  • Episcopal Migration Ministries
  • Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
  • Iowa Department of Human Services
  • International Rescue Committee
  • Immigration and Refugee Services of America
  • Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
  • United States Catholic Conference

Relief:
  • UNICEF: Kosovo
  • AmeriCares
  • World Relief
  • Doctors without borders
  • U.S. Agency for International Development (Kosovo aid)
  • Doctors of the World
  • InterAction
  • International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
  • International Committee of the Red Cross
  • Kosovo Humanitarian Disaster Forces Hundreds of Thousands from their Homes
  • Catholic Relief Services
  • Kosovo Relief
  • ReliefWeb: Home page
  • The Jewish Agency for Israel
  • Mercy International
  • UNHCR

Media:
  • Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
  • Independent Yugoslav radio stations B92
  • Institute for War and Peace Reporting
  • United States Information Agency - Kosovo Crisis

Other:
  • Expanded list of related sites on Kosovo
  • 1997 view of Kosovo from space - Eurimage

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