The visit, on 28 and 29 April, comes in response to an invitation by Dr. Bernard Kouchner, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative who heads the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

In his letter informing the Secretary-General of the upcoming visit, the current President of the Security Council, Ambassador Robert Fowler of Canada, said the delegation wanted to observe UNMIK operation on the ground in order to "comprehend better the difficult challenges faced by UNMIK."

The delegation will also seek ways to enhance support for the implementation of the Council 1999 resolution on Kosovo and to emphasize to all concerned the necessity to ensure public safety and order, promote security and fully cooperate with UNMIK, Ambassador Fowler said.

In addition, the mission will review the implementation of the Council's 1998 resolution imposing an arms embargo on Yugoslavia in an effort to foster peace and stability in Kosovo. The embargo prevents the sale or supply to Yugoslavia, including Kosovo, of arms and related material of all types and arming and training for terrorist activities there.

The Council delegation, to be led by Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury of Bangladesh, will also include representatives of Argentina, Canada, China, France, Jamaica, Malaysia, Russian Federation and Ukraine.

In Pristina, UNMIK spokeswoman Nadia Younes told the press that during its visit the Council delegation was expected to make "quite a lot of field trips."

The leaders said that they were "deeply concerned" about the acts of violence that had occurred in recent days. "We join together to condemn this violence in the strongest terms", they said in a statement issued in Pristina.

Stressing that violence has no place in Kosovo or in democratic politics, they called upon all peoples and communities of Kosovo "to renounce violence once and for all and to work together for a better future for all the communities in Kosovo."

The leaders emphasized that the creation of a climate of tolerance in Kosovo society and in the Kosovo media was of the utmost importance for the registration of the population of Kosovo as well as for free and fair elections.

Among those who signed the statement were Dr. Bernard Kouchner, the head by the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK); Javier Solana, the European High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy; Christopher Patten, the European Commissioner for External Affairs; and the leaders of the major Kosovo political parties as well as the Serb members of the Interim Administrative Council and the Kosovo Transitional Council.

UNMIK spokeswoman Nadia Younes said today in Pristina that about 480 cases have been identified and UNMIK was taking the outbreak "very seriously." She said a planeload of antibiotics was being brought in urgently into Kosovo.

"The first steps have already been undertaken and more are to follow in spreading concise information about the disease to the public," Ms. Younes said, adding that UNMIK's Department of Health and the World Health Organization have devised a strategy to deal with this disease.

An emergency taskforce has also been created, chaired by UNMIK and the international peacekeeping force (KFOR). "They will come up with quick impact projects, particularly garbage collection here in Pristina and in the large cities, as well as longer-term solutions," she said.

Ms Younes said the disease, which is carried by animals and transmitted to people via contaminated food and water, can be easily treated with antibiotics and can be avoided when people follow simple rules.

Yesterday attackers fired a least one rocket-propelled grenade at an apartment building in downtown Pristina, injuring two people.

Mr. Solana said this kind of violence could not be tolerated and appealed to political leaders of Kosovo to make all efforts to stop the violence. He hailed the decision of the Serbian leaders in Kosovo to participate in the international administration of the province and appealed to everyone to make sure that this process did not slide back.

The European Commissioner for External Affairs, Mr. Christopher Patten, also condemned the attack. Addressing a joint press conference with the head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, Dr. Bernard Kouchner, he said there was too much violence in Kosovo.

"This is something that cannot be tolerated or accepted," he said, adding that Ms. Nikoli had been "working very hard" to create a Kosovo in which everybody can live. Paying a personal tribute to Ms. Nikolic, he said she is a person with "tremendous guts."

Responding to a question, Dr. Kouchner said that allegations of involvement in criminal activities against members of the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC) have always been investigated and no member of the KPC has been found to be involved in these activities.

In other news, Dr. Kouchner today attended the ceremony marking the change of command of the international peacekeeping force (KFOR) from General Klaus Reinhardt of Germany, who has commanded operations in Kosovo for the past six months, to Lieutenant-General Juan Ortuno of Spain.

A statement issued by the ICTY in The Hague said Canada would provide a total of 24 experts, in six teams, from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for approximately one month's work, with the first team leaving for Kosovo on 1 May.

Last week the ICTY announced that it would resume exhumation of mass grave sites in Kosovo with the assistance of international forensic teams. So far only about one third of the known 529 gravesites have been examined and 2,108 bodies exhumed. Between 3,000 and 6,000 Kosovars, mostly Albanians are still missing or presumed dead, according to some estimates.

The agreement with Canada comes about three months after UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan notified the President of the General Assembly of his intention to accept gratis personnel for the ICTY. Following that announcement, the Registrar of the ICTY invited UN Member States to provide qualified personnel. According to the Tribunal, discussions are going on with a number of other States prepared to assist the operations of the Office of the Prosecutor in Kosovo.

The ten-week operation, which ends on 15 July, is being conducted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), following a memorandum of understanding between IOM and the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) making IOM responsible for the registration of Kosovars residing outside Kosovo for the forthcoming elections.

In a statement issued in Geneva today, IOM said that out-of-Kosovo registration for those in Albania and former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia will be in person and will be co-ordinated by IOM offices. The Joint Registration Taskforce, composed of UNMIK and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Pristina, has also set up offices to undertake the registration of Kosovars residing in Montenegro.

For Kosovars living outside Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro registration will be by mail. Five IOM information liaison offices will facilitate mail-in registration in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and the USA.

IOM said these offices will promote mail-in registration in 32 countries and disseminate information on eligibility requirements, application forms and registration procedures. The offices will be equipped with hotlines with Albanian and Serbian speakers to assist and advise those wishing to register.