Kosovo settlement progress satisfies U.N. inspector

Kosovo has made spectacular progress toward settlement within the last two years and a half, says Ole Peter Colby, Norwegian diplomat who is leading an United Nations Security Council delegation.

The team has arrived, on a Russian initiative, to visit Kosovo and Belgrade for firsthand information about achievements made by the UN military and civil missions since they appeared in the area, June 1999. The delegates will address the Security Council Thursday, December 19, to sum up their trip.

Kosovo now has legitimate administrative bodies and police forces. A security build-up is evident, Mr. Colby said to newsmen in Pristina before flying to Belgrade.

Much is left to be done in Kosovo, he remarked. Thus, the UN Security Council cannot put up with parallel municipal bodies in the Serb-populated north of the city Kosovska Mitrovica.

The international community insistently calls to meet three essential provisos before the Kosovo status can be determined-bring the area into compliance with universally recognised international standards, establish reliable multiethnic social arrangements, and integrate Kosovo in international structures.

Represented on the delegation are Russia, the USA, China, the U.K., France, Norway, Bulgaria, Mauritius, Mexico, Cameroon, Colombia, Guinea, Ireland, Singapore and Syria.