YEAR WAR WITH ETHNIC ALBANIAN GUERRILLAS. U.N. CHIEF MEDIATOR MARTTI AHTISAARI EXPECTS TO FINISH PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION OF TECHNICAL ISSUES SUCH AS LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT AND MINORITY RIGHTS BY JULY, BEFORE TALKS ON ACTUAL "FINAL STATUS" BEGIN. BELGRADE HAS SHOWN FEW SIGNS YET THAT IT WILL CONSENT TO KOSOVO'S INDEPENDENCE. IT TALKS OF DECLARING KOSOVO "OCCUPIED TERRITORY" IF INDEPENDENCE IS IMPOSED BY THE MAJOR POWERS, A STEP THAT COULD CREATE A CYPRUS-STYLE DIVISION IN THE BALKANS. DIPLOMATS SAY THE WEST WILL PUSH FOR A FORM OF INDEPENDENCE UNDER EUROPEAN UNION AND NATO SUPERVISION, WITHIN THE YEAR. BUT THEY FEAR FOR THE FUTURE OF THE KOSOVO SERBS, A GHETTOISED MINORITY TARGETED BY SPORADIC VIOLENCE. AROUND HALF THE SERB POPULATION FLED REVENGE ATTACKS AFTER THE WAR. THE GOVERNOR'S REPORT CITES POLICE FIGURES SUGGESTING ETHNICALLY MOTIVATED CRIME HAD DECLINED COMPARED TO 2005. "THE IMPROVING PICTURE WAS OFFSET BY A SMALL NUMBER OF HIGH-PROFILE CASES, AND DESPITE THE STATISTICAL IMPROVEMENT MEMBERS OF MINORITY COMMUNITIES CONTINUE TO EXPRESS FEARS ABOUT THEIR FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT," IT SAYS. FORMER KOSOVO PRIME MINISTER BAJRAM KOSUMI RESIGNED IN MARCH FOLLOWING SUSTAINED INTERNATIONAL CRITICISM OF HIS PERFORMANCE IN MEETING THE STANDARDS. CEKU, HIS SUCCESSOR, PRESSED FOR A KOSOVO DEFENCE FORCE -- AN IDEA THAT WOULD OUTRAGE SERBIA -- AT THE TALKS WITH SCHEFFER. "WE COUNT ON THE SUPPORT OF NATO'S FORCES FOR THE CREATION OF A KOSOVO DEFENCE FORCE THAT WILL CONTRIBUTE TO INTERNAL AND REGIONAL STABILITY," HE SAID IN A STATEMENT. THE NEAREST KOSOVO HAS TO AN ARMY IS THE KOSOVO PROTECTION CORPS, A CIVIL EMERGENCY FORCE CREATED FROM THE DISBANDED KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY.
