KOSOVO: US-UN AMBASSADOR HOLBROOKE VISIT
(29 Aug 1999) Eng/Albanian/Nat Ex-Balkan troubleshooter Richard Holbrooke has praised the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo and the U-N for their joint efforts in stopping post-war ethnic violence. During a visit to Pristina, the new United States ambassador to the United Nations also praised the organisations for getting the province on the reconciliation track. Richard Holbrooke is no stranger to the Balkans. He helped broker the 1995 Dayton accord that ended the three-and-a-half year war in Bosnia and later served as President Bill Clinton's special envoy to Yugoslavia. This weekend, he returned to the region, this time to tour Kosovo. It's Holbrooke's first trip abroad since being confirmed as U-S ambassador to the United Nations earlier this month. On Saturday, the U-N ambassador travelled to Pristina and visited a mass grave at Stara Cikatova, where he called for the world to remember "what brought us here". On Sunday, Holbrooke met U-N, K-FOR and local leaders. After meeting Lieutenant General Mike Jackson, who heads the Kosovo peacekeeping force, Holbrooke praised the force for its work. SOUNDBITE: (English) "I can't express highly enough my personal admiration for what he's (General Jackson) done, for what the troops have done and based on our trip and our visits yesterday and today, obviously the results speak for themselves. Many problems remain, and sometimes forging a peace is more difficult than winning a war. And the cooperation between General Jackson and the U-N representative here, Bernard Kouchner, is exemplary." SUPER CAPTION: Richard Holbrooke, US Ambassador to the UN But the United Nations and K-FOR's work to bring normality to the province has been hindered by revenge killings and violence against Serbs by ethnic Albanians. Despite the presence of international peacekeepers in Kosovo, ethnic Albanians - who made up 90 percent of Kosovo's prewar two point one (m) million population - have launched a series of attacks on Serbs, Gypsies and other non-Albanian groups. Ethnic distrust has also been responsible for a week-long standoff between peacekeepers in the southwestern town of Orahovac and local Albanians, who have been blocking Russian peacekeepers from taking up quarters there. Kosovo Albanians say the Russians - traditional Serb allies - were involved in atrocities committed against them during the Serb crackdown. General Jackson tried to downplay it, suggesting it was based on unfounded fears, rather than facts. SOUNDBITE: (English) "As to the particular difficulties at Orahovac, yes passions do run high. As ever I fear we may have a situation where beliefs are rather more awful than the actual facts. And I refer here to the emotion and the difficulties the local Albanian population have there regarding the alleged Russian mercenaries. I don't know what the facts of that are but I suspect rather less of it all than they themselves think. But we have to deal with people's perceptions and that's very important." SUPER CAPTION: Lt. Gen. Mike Jackson, KFOR Holbrooke also met Hashim Thaci, the leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army. After the meeting, Thaci said they agreed that the situation in Kosovo was getting better. SOUNDBITE: (Albanian) "We've both agreed that the situation is improving relatively well." SUPER CAPTION: Hashim Thaci, Kosovo Liberation Army leader SOUNDBITE: (Albanian) "And we also agreed that the process of demilitarisation and transformation of ... is going well." SUPER CAPTION: Hashim Thaci, Kosovo Liberation Army leader SOUNDBITE: (English) Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
