UN ambassadors are in Serbia ahead of further discussions on the province's future. The plan proposed by UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari, which would eventually grant Kosovo the independence sought by its Albanian majority, has been rejected by Serbia and veto-wielding Russia.
"By their presence on the administrative border [between Serbia and Kosovo] the refugees want to show that the international community has failed to ensure a crucial provision of [UN] Security Council Resolution 1244 - the return of tens of thousands of Serb families forced out of their homes by Albanian extremists' reprisals," Milan Ivanovic said.
Kosovo, which has a population of two million, has been a UN protectorate since NATO's 78-day bombing campaign against the former Yugoslavia ended a war between Serb forces and Muslim Albanian separatists in 1999.
Moscow proposed sending a UN mission to Kosovo and Belgrade before continuing talks on Kosovo. The Security Council backed the initiative April 13.
But Johan Verbeke, Belgium's ambassador leading the mission, said the diplomats would not be able to visit the refugee camp due to a busy schedule, adding that their visit had already been prolonged by a day.
The mission is leaving Belgrade for Pristina late Thursday for meetings with Kosovo officials and international mediators, as well as members of the Serb and Albanian communities.
Serbia's Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica Thursday handed documents over to the ambassadors - who arrived in Serbia early Thursday and will stay until April 28 - which he said revealed the travel restrictions imposed on Serbs and other minorities, instances when cultural monuments and Orthodox churches have been destroyed, and obstacles to the return of Serbs to their homes in Kosovo.
"It is important that the Security Council finally pays attention to Serbia's proposals, which Marti Ahtisaari has deliberately avoided," the premier's adviser Slobodan Samardic said.
Verbeke said Kostunica had reiterated the proposal to make Kosovo an internationally controlled autonomy as an alternative to the Ahtisaari plan, adding that the UN would consider the option.
