Kosovo Serbs to Boycott OSCE-Organized Elections

The Serb minority in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo say they will boycott a census and local elections to be conducted this year by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe or OSCE.

At a Wednesday rally in northern Kosovska Mitrovica city, the Serbs said the polls can not be held fairly at a time when the free movement of Serb residents is still not guaranteed and hundreds of thousands of non-Albanian refugees have not returned.

The Serbs said, instead they will take part in a nationwide census to be conducted by the Yugoslav government next year.

After the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops from Kosovo last summer, the United Nations Special Mission has been in charge of administering the mainly-Albanian province.

Since then, tens of thousands of Serbs and other non-Albanian residents have fled the area after ethnic Albanian extremists launched waves of vindictive attacks against them.



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