Yugoslavia admitted to OSCE

VIENNA (AUSTRIA), NOV. 27. Yugoslavia's new Democratic President on Monday strongly denounced the United Nations and NATO for their stewardship of Kosovo after Foreign Ministers welcomed his country into Europe's leading security organisation.

Mr. Vojislav Kostounica, who came to power last month after the collapse of authoritarian ruler, Mr. Slobodan Milosevic, signed documents affirming his Government's commitment to international values.

It marked a formal entry into the influential Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe - the latest step in Yugoslavia's return from political isolation imposed after Mr. Milosevic fomented ethnic wars that broke up the Balkan country in the last decade.

However, Mr. Kostounica's remarks to the group's Foreign Ministers underscored difficulties that linger in relations between the West and Yugoslavia. Western Ministers also made clear that they would not wait indefinitely before Mr. Milosevic and others stand trial for war crimes allegedly committed during the former regime's crackdown in Kosovo.

Mr. Kostounica snubbed an offer for a private meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State, Ms. Madeleine Albright, ostensibly because of scheduling problems. Reports say Mr. Kostounica was reluctant to meet Ms Albright because of her role in bringing about last year's NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.

Nevertheless, Ms Albright congratulated Mr. Kostounica and called his rise to the presidency ``a stunning example of democracy's power to achieve change.'' Kosovo, a province of Yugoslavia's main republic Serbia, has been under international control since the end of the NATO bombing in June 1999. That campaign was launched to halt Mr. Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanian minorities.

The conflict flared up again last week when Albanian militants of the ``Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac'' attacked Serb positions in the Presevo Valley to unite the area with Kosovo.

``The situation in Kosovo and in the south of Serbia is becoming increasingly tense,'' Mr. Kostounica told the Ministers. ``We are talking about a bid to implement by sheer force a political solution that does not have support of the people.'' He claimed ethnic Albanian ``terrorists'' were trying to intimidate Serbs and Albanians alike and that NATO and the United Nations ``failed to do their job properly'' by curbing Kosovo militants.

Mr. Kostounica said the crisis in Kosovo ``could set the whole region ablaze'' and scuttle attempts to restore stability to the southern Balkans.

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Section  : International
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