Yugoslav FM Warns Kosovo Leader Not to Seek Independence

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, November 20, 2001

Yugoslav FM Warns Kosovo Leader Not to Seek Independence

Yugoslav Foreign Minister Gorgan Svilanovic warned Sunday Ibrahim Rugova, who leads the winning Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) in the weekend election, not to seek independence in Kosovo.

Yugoslav Foreign Minister Gorgan Svilanovic warned Sunday Ibrahim Rugova, who leads the winning Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) in the weekend election, not to seek independence in Kosovo.

In a statement, Svilanovic first congratulated LDK on its victory in the election, but then told the moderate ethnic Albanian leader that an independent Kosovo was "out of the question."

At a press conference in Pristina, the Capital of Kosovo, LDK President Rugova declared that he would be the first President of Kosovo after his party won the election.

From the first day in his presidency, he would set the independence of Kosovo as his priority task, Rugova said.

Svilanovic emphasized that two documents, Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council and the joint agreement signed by Haekkerup, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Kosovo and Nobojsa Covic, President of the Kosovo Coordination Center, ensured the integrity of the territory.

On Saturday, the 120-member parliament election was held in Kosovo, the first since the province was placed under UN administration in 1999 following NATO air strikes.

The unofficial results released by the delegation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe showed that the Democratic League of Kosovo captured 44.7 percent of the votes, followed by the Democratic Party of Kosovo led by former guerrilla leader Hashim Thaci with 23.7 percent of the votes, a coalition of Serb parties with 10.1 percent and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo with 8.3 percent.

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