[ALBSA-Info] {QIKSH =?ISO-8859-1?Q?=AB?=ALBEUROPA=?ISO-8859-1?Q?=BB?=} Italian General Takes over Kosovo Command

[Nikoll A Mirakaj]

Italian General Takes over Kosovo Command 

PRISTINA, Oct 17, 2000 -- (Reuters) Italian Lieutenant-General Carlo Cabigiosu took command on Monday of NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo, insisting his mission was unaffected by the downfall of Slobodan Milosevic as Yugoslav president.

Cabigiosu said the task of the Kosovo Force (KFOR) remained to provide a safe and secure environment for the province for as long as its mandate lasted, regardless of changes in Belgrade.

"In the past few weeks, we have been witnesses to the change in Serbia, but this does not change my mission," he said in a speech as he assumed command from Lieutenant-General Juan Ortuno of Spain in a routine handover. Milosevic has been indicted by a UN war crimes court, accused of masterminding a campaign of Serb repression of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority which prompted the 1999 NATO bombing campaign and KFOR's deployment in the province.

Ethnic Albanians have voiced fears that international authorities may now be more sympathetic to Belgrade, which had virtually no influence in the running of Kosovo by the United Nations and NATO while Milosevic was in power.

But Cabigiosu made clear that at least the military element of the international presence in Kosovo was not affected by the arrival of new Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostiunica.

"The safe and secure environment that KFOR will maintain remains essential," he said.

Cabigiosu becomes the fourth commander of KFOR since it moved into Kosovo in June last year, with more than 40,000 troops under his control in the province.

(C)2000 Copyright Reuters Limited. 

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