Serbs warn against Kosovo poll

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia - The pro-democracy alliance that overthrew Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has refused to endorse elections in Kosovo.

Their leader -- and the country's new president Vojislav Kostunica -- warned polls should not be held until security is improved for Serbs at risk of attack from the majority ethnic Albanians.

The provincial elections, scheduled for November 17, are being held under the auspices of the United Nations, and are considered crucial to the province's future.

But Kostunica said it would be premature to hold elections in Kosovo as long as "ethnic attacks and intolerance" continue and hundreds of thousands of refugees remain unable to return home, The Associated Press reported.

In a statement on behalf of the multi-party pro-democracy alliance which ousted Milosevic, he said the NATO-led peacekeeping force had "done nothing to secure basic conditions for holding remotely normal, democratic elections in Kosovo."

The Belgrade government said it could try to persuade Kosovo Serbs to vote, but only after it sees concrete improvement on their basic safety, the return of displaced Serbs and an investigation into some 1,300 cases of Serb civilians and soldiers missing since the Kosovo conflict.

But the Web site for the U.N. mission in Kosovo has reported that four Kosovo Serb parties are to take part in the elections.

Jean-Marie Guéhenno, the U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, urged the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to follow suit and "unequivocally encourage" Serb participation in the elections.

He said support from Serbs at federal level would help "undercut extremism, reduce inter-ethnic tensions and stake the rightful claim of the Kosovo Serb community to participate in the political process."

Kosovo came under U.N. and NATO administration in 1999, after NATO's military campaign against Yugoslav and Serb troops in Kosovo.

U.N. and NATO officials have tried to introduce democratic institutions in Kosovo but more than 200,000 Serbs and other non-Albanians still live as refugees outside Kosovo, fearing revenge attacks.

About 100,000 Serbs in Kosovo live mostly in a northern section of the province and in several enclaves under NATO protection.

They have been refusing to take part in the elections to elect a 120-seat provincial assembly.