OSCE Chairman-in-Office concerned with breach of ceasefire in Kosovo

WARSAW, 27 December 1998 - Professor Bronislaw Geremek, Polish Minister for Foreign Affairs and the OSCE Chairman-in-Office expresses his deep concern with the renewed fighting and the breach of the fragile ceasefire in Kosovo in recent days. Contrary to the October Agreement and commitments Serbian forces have re-entered Kosovo and undertaken repressive actions. At the same time terrorist acts have again been committed by Kosovo Albanian military factions. This spirale of violence puts in danger the perspective of a peaceful soluion to the conflict in Kosovo.

Minister Geremek recalls that the OSCE was embarked upon a verification mission in Kosovo as part of a broader peace solution on the understanding that the FRY and the Serbian authorities would not resort to repression and that the Albanian community in Kosovo would refrain from acts of violence. The OSCE Chairman-in-Office calls, therefore, on both sides to pull back, stop fighting and engage in political negotiations.

Professor Geremek fully supports the efforts of the Head of the OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission, Ambassador William Walker, to remedy the situation on the ground and reminds that the safety of this Mission and its personnel should be safeguarded. If the bloodshed and violence escalate, the OSCE would have to reconsider the forms of its activities in Kosovo in the context of a broader involvement of the international community in the search for a peaceful solution to this conflict.