[ALBSA-Info] Yugoslavia Protests Albanian Office

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Yugoslavia Protests Albanian Office

By EDITH M. LEDERER


UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Yugoslavia protested to the U.N. Security Council on 
Monday against an Albanian liaison office in Kosovo, saying it would fuel 
Albania's hopes of splitting the province from Yugoslavia. 

In a letter to the council making the ``strongest protest,'' Yugoslav envoy 
Vladislav Jovanovic called the opening of the Albanian office an unlawful act 
of ``diplomatic piracy'' that will promote Albania's ``illegitimate and 
hostile claims'' to Kosovo. 

He asked the council to annul a U.N. regulation allowing foreign missions to 
open in Kosovo. 

His letter put the spotlight again on the thorny and unresolved issue of the 
future of Kosovo, where Serbs want to remain part of Yugoslavia and ethnic 
Albanians seek independence. 

The council resolution enshrining the June 1999 peace agreement that ended 
NATO's 78-day bombing campaign of Yugoslavia reaffirms Yugoslav sovereignty 
over Kosovo. 

But it also authorized the U.N. administration to set up an interim 
democratic government in Kosovo that would have ``substantial autonomy'' 
within Yugoslavia - and to facilitate ``a political process designed to 
determine Kosovo's future status.'' 

NATO bombed Yugoslavia in an effort to halt a Serb crackdown on Kosovo's 
ethnic Albanian majority, and Serb forces withdrew from the province. 

The Security Council has not tackled the issue of Kosovo's future, despite 
urgings by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the NATO commander, and the 
province's U.N. administrator Bernard Kouchner. 

The Yugoslav government has repeatedly accused the U.N. administration of 
trying to sever Belgrade's ties to Kosovo. 

Jovanovic complained to the council in the letter circulated Monday that 
Albania characterized the opening of the liaison office in the Kosovo 
capital, Pristina, on July 24 as ``the establishment of diplomatic relations 
between Albania and Kosovo.'' 

He accused Kouchner of illegally promulgating a regulation June 10 allowing 
the establishment of foreign liaison offices in Kosovo and called on the 
Security Council to annul it. 

Jovanovic noted that Yugoslavia has no diplomatic relations with Albania. 

The Albanian Parliament in October 1992 recognized the so-called Republic of 
Kosovo, ``which constituted a glaring example of interference in the internal 
affairs of a sovereign, neighboring state,'' he said. 

There is no doubt, Jovanovic said, that the Albanian liaison office, will be 
``abused'' to further the secession of Kosovo from Yugoslavia and the 
creation of ``Greater Albania.''