NATO's commander for southeastern Europe visits Kosovo

Associated Press, Sep 28, 2005 4:17 AM

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro-NATO's commander for southeastern Europe inspected the performance of the alliance's peacekeeping force in Kosovo Wednesday as the province nears a delicate period of possible talks on its future.

In his third visit to Kosovo, Adm. Harry Ulrich, commander of NATO's Joint Force Command based in Naples, Italy, met with President Ibrahim Rugova and was scheduled to hold discussions with the province's prime minister and opposition leaders here.

Ulrich said he discussed with Rugova "specifically about the performance" of the 17,000-strong NATO-led force, known as KFOR, under the new commander. An Italian general, Lt. Gen. Giuseppe Valotto, took charge of the force in Kosovo nearly a month ago.

The United Nations and NATO have been running Kosovo since 1999, when NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days to force it to end a crackdown against separatist ethnic Albanians and pull out the Serb troops.