Kosovo Albanians attack U.N.-escorted Serb lawyers

Reuters, Thu 25 May 2006 11:52 AM ET

 

(Updates with U.N. statement, details)

 

PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro, May 25 (Reuters) - U.N. police in Kosovo fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of ethnic Albanians who stoned a United Nations convoy escorting Serb defence lawyers in the west of the province on Thursday.

 

Three U.N. police officers and one translator were wounded when villagers blocked a road and lobbed stones at vehicles escorting two Serb members of a defence team accredited to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, a U.N. statement said.

 

"Police then had to clear the crowd, unfortunately resulting in injuries to a number of citizens who received medical treatment from an ambulance at the scene," it said.

 

The stoning of Serb convoys in Kosovo is not uncommon.

 

The province, legally part of Serbia, has been run by the U.N. since 1999, when NATO bombs drove out Serb forces accused of ethnic cleansing in a two-year war with separatist guerrillas.

 

An estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians died and another 800,000 fled into neighbouring Macedonia and Albania.

 

U.N. prosecutors in The Hague say Serb police killed 100 men in the village of Mala Krusa two days into the 78-day NATO bombing campaign.

 

The case is included in the indictment against former Serbian president Milan Milutinovic, whose trial begins in July.

 

The U.N. governor in Kosovo, Soren Jessen-Petersen, said he was "outraged and disappointed" by the incident.

 

"It is important for the people of Kosovo to understand that their quest for justice can only be achieved through the course of justice, not by extra-judicial means," he said.

 

Signs of reconciliation in Kosovo are rare. Around half the Serb population fled a wave of revenge attacks after the war and the 100,000 who stayed live on the margins of society, targeted by sporadic violence.

 

After seven years of U.N.-imposed limbo, the major powers are pushing for a solution to Kosovo's final status in direct Serb-Albanian talks that began in February in Vienna.

 

The 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority is pushing for independence, but is under pressure to improve the security and rights of Serbs.

 

The U.N. mission says ethnically motivated crime in 2006 is down compared with previous years.