UN secretary general says situation in Kosovo improving

01/05/2008

PRISTINA, Kosovo -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the situation in Kosovo is improving and that it will continue to do so when the new constitution takes effect on June 15th. "I am pleased that so far there have been no ethnic clashes in Kosovo, and I call on all sides to refrain from unilateral steps that could provoke violence," Ban said on Wednesday (April 30th). He added that this year the UN will monitor the situation on the ground in the former Serbian province.

Meanwhile, NATO spokesman James Appathurai said in Brussels on Wednesday that the Alliance has begun to re-examine its peacekeeping operations in Kosovo "to adjust to the development of the situation on the ground" since the independence declaration on February 17th. Appathurai announced that NATO plans to prepare a draft operations plan, which will take "new tasks" into account, but he did not elaborate. He noted however that all NATO activities will comply with the UN mandate. (RTV 21, Kosovalive, Top Channel, Beta - 30/04/08)