Kris Janowski, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said in Geneva that the return movement to Aracinovo had begun last Sunday, as the authorities reopened the area More than 200 people were believed to be staying overnight in the village, the spokesman said, and several thousand had been seen cleaning up their homes during the day. The village -- which saw some of the heaviest fighting to date -- had been virtually deserted by its overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian population, and subsequently sealed off by the Macedonian authorities, according to UNHCR.

Meanwhile, ethnic Macedonians continued to make brief go-and-see visits to villages in the Tetovo area from which they had been driven last week, Mr. Janowski said. Over the weekend, UNHCR accompanied several hundred people to villages in the area to enable them to see their homes. Most of those going back, however, were too nervous to stay.

"UNHCR deems it absolutely crucial that civilians displaced by the conflict be allowed to return as soon as possible to avoid an even deeper division between the FYR of Macedonia's ethnic communities," Mr. Janowski said.

In another development, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced today that about 300,000 euros ($262,000) from a European Union grant for the FYR of Macedonia would go to a programme to vaccinate 12,000 children and provide emergency equipment for maternity services.

UN Security Council in session.

Addressing an open meeting of the Council, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, urged the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to "unequivocally encourage" Serb participation in the elections. This would help "undercut extremism, reduce inter-ethnic tensions and stake the rightful claim of the Kosovo Serb community to participate in the political process," he said.

Noting efforts by the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to reduce the influence of ethnic Albanian armed groups operating from Kosovo, Mr. Guéhenno said that the situation in the neighbouring former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continued to be of great concern to the mission. He said the number of refugees arriving in Kosovo from that country outweighed the number of those returning.

Referring to the border closure by the FYR of Macedonia, he said UNMIK was making representations to the country's authorities, as the decision was severely restricting the mission's work.

Earlier today, UNMIK chief Hans Haekkerup had called the border closure "unacceptable and unreasonable," according to a mission spokeswoman in Pristina.

Mr. Guéhenno also discussed preparations for the 17 November elections and the handover to provisional self-government institutions, as well as efforts to improve law and order, engage minority communities in public life and undertake confidence-building measures to bridge the gap among different communities.

In the ensuing Council debate, in which 16 countries took part, speakers stressed the importance for all ethnic groups to participate in the elections, and underscored the need to ensure the return of refugees, guarantee security, disarm illegal armed groups, and halt cross-border activities of Albanian extremists.

Hans Haekkerup, head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), said the ICMP has the technical means and money to start the process.

Referring to recent demonstrations by Serbs seeking information about missing persons, the UNMIK chief also stressed that the international community is committed to finding the truth about the missing.

Mr. Haekkerup emphasized that UNMIK supported the efforts of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which is currently investigating the atrocities committed in Kosovo. At the same time, he pointed out that the Albanians and the Serbs who know about the atrocities must provide information to the Tribunal.

Meanwhile, the border between Kosovo and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia remained closed, with a UN agency reporting refugee flows in both directions.

Hans Haekkerup with US President George Bush.

During a 40-minute meeting with Hans Haekkerup, the head of the UN Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK), President Bush was briefed on preparations for elections and plans for self-governing institutions to be established after the elections. According to UNMIK, President Bush was eager to know Mr. Haekkerup's ideas on when the international community would be able to reduce its presence in Kosovo.

Mr. Haekkerup underscored that a strong police and judiciary were essential to building democracy and self-government in Kosovo and that by the year 2002 the Kosovo Police Service would number 6,000. He noted, however, that ultimately a police force should total 8,000 to 10,000, which would require outside support.

Inquiring about efforts by UNMIK and KFOR, the international force in Kosovo, to contain extremism and prevent the export of violence into the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, President Bush urged UNMIK to do its utmost to deter and detain extremists. He also expressed interest in UNMIK's efforts to combat organized crime.

Mr. Haekkerup expressed his gratitude for the presence and activities of US troops in Kosovo, and said UNMIK was doing its part to restrain suspected extremists in the region. He said that UNMIK, KFOR and the Kosovo Police Service were working hard to prevent cross-border movement of extremists.

President Bush assured UNMIK and KFOR officials that the US troops had entered Kosovo together and would leave Kosovo together with other NATO forces based there.

The UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) said in a statement that remarks by Monique Fienberg, an official reviewing the situation of missing persons in Kosovo with the Belgrade press, had been distorted in the media yesterday.

According to UNMIK, Ms. Fienberg said that of the approximately 1,200 unidentified bodies in Kosovo known to the UN Mission, some 900 had been buried in the Suva Reka area.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) conducted exhumations in Kosovo in 1999 and 2000. Of about 4,000 bodies exhumed, 1,256 could not be identified and were reburied - some in the municipalities where they had been found, others in the Suva Reka area.

"UNMIK has no way of determining the ethnicity of the unidentified bodies," the statement said. "Such distortions in the media have increased the anxiety and grief of all families of the missing in Kosovo."

The Mission said that its police was about to begin work on individual gravesites not exhumed by the ICTY, while UNMIK was "negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Commission on Missing Persons to begin DNA testing on the unidentified bodies, and with the families."

Tom Koenigs, the acting head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), urged the Kosovo Interim Administrative Council to approve the draft regulation, which he said would introduce a review mechanism to monitor inter-ethnic sales in areas where minorities are most vulnerable.

The regulation would allow the head of UNMIK to designate specific areas -- particularly in multi-ethnic locales -- where people selling property would be required to register any contract with the municipal administrator's office before it could be validated by the municipal court.

The aim, Mr. Koenigs stressed, is to ensure that irregular sales that are detrimental to minority rights or the multi-ethnic character of Kosovo are not registered or validated by the courts.

The Council will study the draft regulation, which will be discussed at its meeting next week.

The large convoy, consisting of 10 buses with more than 300 people and five trucks of humanitarian supplies, officially notified UNMIK of its arrival only on 12 July -- too short a time in terms of required notification, according to Susan Manuel, a spokeswoman for the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

As the security could not be arranged in time, UNMIK decided that the convoy could not travel through Kosovo, Ms. Manuel said. A compromise was found on 13 July for a smaller convoy to come on 15 July, but the convoy organizers chose to attempt entrance on 14 July with the full entourage.

KFOR, the international security force in Kosovo, stopped the convoy to prevent possible incidents. Because of some protest among the population against the convoy, KFOR transferred all supplies onto KFOR lorries and allowed some Serb representatives to monitor delivery. Five small convoys then delivered the supplies to several enclaves, completing the operation on Sunday.

"We do not oppose such visits," the spokeswoman said, "but we have a clear policy on notification in order to make the needed security arrangements."