Protesters in Kosovo hurl eggs at Serbia-Montenegro's foreign minister

Associated Press, Jun 27, 2005 12:00 PM

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro-Protesters in Kosovo hurled eggs at a convoy carrying Serbia-Montenegro's foreign minister on his first visit to the disputed province since the end of the war six years ago.

Around 100 protesters massed outside the U.N. headquarters as the foreign minister, Vuk Draskovic, met with the deputy head of the U.N. mission in Kosovo, Larry Rossin.

Some of the demonstrators threw eggs from the balconies of nearby buildings as Draskovic's convoy arrived. Police arrested about a dozen protesters. Two local reporters were also detained during a melee that followed the arrests.

"His visit is unacceptable, because ... Serbia is unacceptable," said a statement from the Kosovo Action Network, a group that organized the protests. "The state union that (Draskovic) represents was an accomplice in crimes here," it said.

Kosovo has been administered by the U.N. since mid-1999 when a NATO air war halted Serb forces' crackdown on ethnic Albanians seeking independence.

An estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians were killed. After the end of the war, tens of thousands of Serbs fled the province in the face of attacks and threats from ethnic Albanian extremists.

Those Serbs remaining live mainly in isolated enclaves scattered around the province, and the two communities remain divided.

Talks to resolve Kosovo's status are expected later this year if Kosovo, legally a province of the Serbia-Montenegro union that replaced Yugoslavia, meets U.N.-set standards on democracy, human rights and rights of minorities.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority demands independence, while Serbs want the province to remain within their borders.

Draskovic's visit follows one by Serbia's prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, who attended a Serb Orthodox Mass in western Kosovo in January. Serbian President Boris Tadic toured Serb communities in Kosovo in February.

Draskovic later traveled to the Serb enclave of Gracanica to observe Vidovdan, or St. Vitus Day, a Serb holiday marking the 616th anniversary of an epic battle against Ottoman Turks.