SC/7845
18 August 2003

PRESS STATEMENT ON KOSOVO BY
SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT

NEW YORK, 14 August (UN Headquarters) -- Following is the press statement on Kosovo delivered today by Security Council President Mikhail Wehbe (Syria):

Members of the Council were briefed on the violent attack in Kosovo yesterday in which two Kosovo Serb teenagers were killed and four others injured, one critically.  A Kosovo Albanian woman was also injured following the incident.

Members of the Council condemned this violence in the strongest terms.  They extended their condolences to the families.  They expressed deep concern that four years after the conflict such brutal incidents continue to occur.  Such incidents jeopardize Kosovo’s image in the international community.

Members of the Council demanded that no efforts be spared to arrest the perpetrators and bring them to justice and recalled that the provisional institutions of self-government have committed themselves to interethnic reconciliation.

Members of the Council welcomed the arrival of the new Special Representative of the Secretary-General Harri Holkeri in Kosovo and stressed that his presence there is much needed.

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