Albanians to run Kosovo police

KOSOVO'S Albanian- dominated institutions will take charge of police and justice ministries by the end of this year, the province's United Nations governor said yesterday.

Reflecting the sensitivity of the move, Soren Jessen-Petersen said the phased transfer of responsibility would be subject to UN monitoring and a "vigorous accountability policy".

The timing means the hand-over will most likely come during Western-mediated negotiations aimed at settling the fate of Serbia's southern UN-run province, where the 90 per cent ethnic Albanian majority demands independence.

Serbia has complained that such moves tilt the scales in favour of independence, something it says is impossible. Kosovo already has its own customs service, postal code and vehicle licence plates, and has applied for an international phone code. The police and judiciary are among the last sectors the UN mission has to hand over since it took control of Kosovo in 1999, when NATO expelled Serb forces accused of atrocities in fighting a rebel insurgency.

More than 3,000 UN police officers and 17,000 NATO-led peacekeepers are stationed in the province but much of the day-to-day police work is now done by the multi-ethnic Kosovo Police Service.