UN envoy welcomes agreement on coalition in Kosovo following elections

The top United Nations envoy for Kosovo today welcomed an agreement on the formation of a coalition following last month's elections in the ethnically-divided province which the world body has administered for the past five years.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative Søren Jessen-Petersen said in a statement that he trusted "that the new custodians of the provisional institutions will honour their commitment to work closely with the representatives of minority communities, and towards our common goal of building a stable multiethnic society."

Last week Mr. Jessen-Petersen appealed to all parties to heed the concerns of minorities, particularly the Serbs.

Kosovo has been under UN administration since 1999 when NATO forced the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops after fighting between Albanians and Serbs. Under its mandate the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) is seeking to promote the establishment of substantial autonomy and self-government and to facilitate a political process to determine the province's future status.