The appointments follow the recommendations of the Judicial Advisory Commission, a UNMIK spokeswoman said today. Dr. Kouchner is currently reviewing the recommendations of the Commission on the candidates they interviewed.

In making these appointments, Dr. Kouchner will take into account candidates from all ethnic backgrounds with the aim of creating a multi-ethnic, impartial and independent judiciary, she said.

Dalibor Vukovic appeared before an Albanian judge this morning to hear charges, presented by an international prosecutor, of robbery and arson against him. Having no previous criminal record and after promising to report to any subsequent hearing, he was freed on his own recognizance, the spokesman said.

Hundreds of Serbs demonstrated earlier in the week over his detention by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) police in connection with the harassment of a Kosovo Albanian. During the demonstrations, a group of Serbs entered the apartment of two UNMIK police officers and forced them to hand over their revolvers and radio. Another UNMIK police apartment was broken into and looted and a UNMIK car was damaged.

The demonstrators also set up illegal roadblocks in all main junctions and streets and blocked roads leading to the UNMIK police station in Mitrovica. UNMIK police have resumed full patrols of northern Mitrovica.

"I think that this is a result that we can all be proud of, and that the Kosovars especially can be congratulated," said Roland Bless, spokesman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which is responsible for the institution-building "pillar" within UNMIK.

"We have slightly over one million people who have registered within Kosovo and 150,000 people who have registered outside of Kosovo," he said, adding that the Serb community, numbering 100,000 did not register.

With over one million people registered, not many people were left out of the process, Mr. Bless stressed. He noted that the actual population of Kosovo was estimated at 1.9 million, with 1.2 million of them, or 65 per cent, aged 16 and older and thus eligible for registration. More than 20 political parties have been registered during the process.

Meanwhile, the situation in the Serb-dominated northern city of Mitrovica remained tense today. UNMIK spokeswoman Susan Manuel said that demonstrations by Serbs over the detention on Monday of a Serb suspect by UNMIK police in connection with the harassment of a Kosovo Albanian continued last night.

She said hundreds of Serbs blocked roads leading to the UNMIK police station and a group of 20 Serbs entered the apartment of two UNMIK police officers, threatened them and forced them to hand over their pistols and radio. Another UNMIK police apartment was looted and an UNMIK car damaged.

He was addressing a meeting of the Kosovo Transitional Council (KTC) devoted to a special session on communities in Kosovo.

During the discussions, which centred on inter-ethnic relations, the representatives of the Roma, Turk and Bosniac communities raised concerns over the lack of participation by their communities in structures such as the Kosovo Police Service and the local administration. They also complained that their input was not valued at the KTC to the same extent as Serb issues.

Dr. Kouchner responded by saying that he would soon start direct discussions with the three communities on their concerns. He said that he also strongly encouraged members of these communities to apply for posts in the interim administration and had offered them various posts.

He noted that UNMIK continued to work hard to ensure proper representation of all communities in the interim institutions and municipal councils, as well as the KTC.

He called on Kosovo Serb leaders to accept responsibility for the crimes of the past and empathize with those who were victimized by Yugoslav authorities, according to a press statement issued by the United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK).

Mr. Robertson, who is leading a North Atlantic Council delegation consisting of some 20 ambassadors, also called upon the Serb leaders to report those who may be guilty of war crimes, and to assist with freeing Albanian prisoners in Serbia and locating and identifying the missing, the statement said.

Mr. Robertson told Kosovo Albanian leaders to stop the ongoing violence and communicate the danger this violence has for the future of Kosovo. He also urged them to visit destroyed churches and the families of victims and empathize as people who "know more about harassment than anyone on earth."

Mr. Robertson said NATO would be no less resolute in preventing the expulsion of minorities from Kosovo than it was in protecting the Kosovo Albanians last year, even if it meant "building walls and barbed wire" around their communities.

Having minorities group into enclaves is not desirable, but may be the only way to keep the communities safely in Kosovo for the time being, Mr. Robertson told the media in a briefing. Meanwhile, leaders of the different communities must welcome refugees and displaced persons back home, he said, answering a question on how to heal the divided city of Mitrovica.

In a joint communiqué issued on Saturday, Dr. Bajram Rexhepi and Oliver Ivanovic -- respectively the leaders of the Albanian and Serb communities in the town -- and UNMIK Regional Administrator William Nash called for calm and tolerance to prevail and asked all citizens "to unite against those who are attempting to disrupt our moves to establish peaceful coexistence."

Mitrovica was rocked by a series of explosions and gunfire but nobody was seriously hurt. The statement described the incidents as "reprehensible acts of violence against innocent civilians," stressing the attacks were the work of extremists in both communities who were attempting to disrupt the progress being made to establish peace in the ethnically divided city.

"We are determined, however, to continue our efforts to improve security, the rule of law, the return of displaced persons and the economic development of the region. We will not be deterred by the actions of a few," the communiqué said.