The US mediator, Mr Christopher Hill, expressed optimism yesterday that an interim solution to the Kosovo conflict could soon be reached, as a UN envoy accused Serb authorities of excessive use of force against ethnic Albanian separatists.
Mr Hill, quoted in the Albanianlanguage daily, Koha Ditore, revealed that some ideas in a US proposal for a three-year interim solution presented to both sides last week had been accepted.
On Sunday, ethnic Albanian leaders announced an interim accord proposal which would temporarily keep the Serbian province within Yugoslavia but as an independent entity with equal status as its two republics - Serbia and Montenegro. The US draft falls short of independence for Kosovo but would restore its autonomy, taken away by Belgrade in 1989.
Mr Hill said the biggest obstacle was continued violence in the province, saying it was difficult to bring proposals to the negotiating table while villages burned and residents were forced to flee their homes.
Meanwhile, UN special envoy for human rights, Mr Jiri Dienstbier, accused Belgrade of unnecessary use of force in Kosovo and of purposefully creating a refugee crisis there.
The unavoidable suspicion was that Belgrade's "goal was not only to get the fighters of UCK [the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA] but to prevent the return of the population in these areas", he said.
The possibility of military intervention in Kosovo increased when the German Foreign Minister, Mr Klaus Kinkel, said Russia could finally agree to a UN mandate that would open the way for NATO armed intervention. He was referring to a UN mandate which would rule that the situation in Kosovo is a threat to peace and regional security. Mr Kinkel held talks with the Russian Prime Minister, Mr Yevgeny Primakov, and the Foreign Minister, Mr Igor Ivanov, in Moscow last week.
