Addressing a meeting of donor countries in Pristina, Hans Haekkerup, head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), urged donors to take steps to start the process before the November elections, and stressed that "collective efforts" should be made.

According to Mr. Haekkerup, three elements should be in place for returns to be "successful and sustainable:" a safe and secure environment with an acceptable level of freedom of movement for returnees; an inter-ethnic dialogue among political and community leaders to build confidence among communities; and a substantial commitment of resources on the part of the international community.

"The survival and economic livelihood of those returning will ultimately depend on the level of housing and infrastructure reconstruction, on employment creation and on working and accessible public services," Mr. Haekkerup said.

Eric Morris, Special envoy for the former Yugoslavia and Kosovo of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told the meeting that Serb leaders in Kosovo and Belgrade had complained that the Framework of Returns was insufficient. Andy Bearpark, deputy UNMIK chief of reconstruction, said the Department of Reconstruction had done a damage assessment of sites identified for returns. Such assessment would be given to the donors, with whom the Department would work closely to carry out reconstruction.

"[The Secretary-General] is convinced that there cannot be a military solution to the present crisis and emphasizes the heavy responsibility that now rests on political leaders and others concerned for the future of their country and for peace in the region," a spokesman for Mr. Annan said today in a statement.

The Secretary-General expressed support for the ongoing efforts of the European Union (EU) and welcomed the recent ceasefire negotiated by the EU High Representative, Mr. Javier Solana, the spokesman said, adding that "every effort must be made to avoid further violence and any form of provocation," and to resume the political dialogue and prevent the country from sliding further towards war.

Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today appealed to Governments for urgent financial support to cope with the growing humanitarian consequences of the conflict.

According to the UNHCR Pristina office, the agency is seeking $17.5 million to provide emergency assistance over the next six months to more than 65,000 refugees in Kosovo, some 6,000 refugees in Serbia and thousands more who are internally displaced within the FYR of Macedonia.

Eric Morris, UNHCR's special envoy for the region, said the continuing displacement had now affected more than 100,000 people. "UNHCR must be prepared for a worst-case scenario, even though it is not too late for a peaceful solution," Mr. Morris said.

The funds requested would enable UNHCR to support the many thousands of host families in Kosovo who have taken in the refugees, Mr. Morris said. It would also provide food and other assistance, and prepare the groundwork for expected continued movements throughout the region. Yesterday the agency opened a full-service registration centre in Kosovo that could be expanded to hold up to 14,00 refugees.

Jean-Marie Guéhenno, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, stressed that the 15-member Council mission, which visited the area from 16 to 18 June, had succeeded in delivering "firm and balanced" messages that the UN and the international community were committed to protecting the rights of all communities, but that all Kosovars "must accept their share of the responsibility." The Kosovo Albanians must respect the rights of the minority communities, and these communities must accept "the risk of participation," he said.

The mission had made clear that there was "no hidden agenda," Mr. Guéhenno stressed at the outset of the debate, in which representatives of almost 20 countries took part. He said the international community was aiming to "take the process forward by establishing provisional self-government through the November elections and by creating a society in Kosovo that will be able to produce legitimate interlocutors for discussions on a final settlement."

There was a need to create confidence-building measures vis-à-vis the Kosovo Serb community in conjunction with the Yugoslav authorities, Mr Guéhenno said. The security situation was a key factor, as the Kosovo Serb community, in particular, continued "to suffer disproportionately from major crimes and ethnically motivated acts of intimidation."

Millicent Mutuli, spokeswoman for the Geneva-based UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said that on Thursday alone some 1,400 refugees had entered Kosovo from Blace and the Jazince border crossing, following clashes at the village of Radusha.

More than 50,300 refugees had arrived in Kosovo and another 5,000 into southern Serbia since fighting intensified this year in the FYR of Macedonia, the spokeswoman said. The flow of refugees had slowed last week, but had picked up again this week amid fears of a ceasefire breakdown and reports of fighting near the capital, Skopje.

The Security Council mission -- the first to include all 15 members and be headed by the Council President -- visited Kosovo and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 16 to 18 June to observe the operations of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the situation on the ground.

"The Mission sent a strong message to all communities to reject all violence, extremism and terrorism and to work with UNMIK in implementing Security Council resolution 1244," the Council President, Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury of Bangladesh, said today as he presented the report at an open meeting of the Council.

According to the report, creating a multi-ethnic Kosovo remains one of the main challenges. The report stresses the responsibility of Kosovo leaders for creating conditions conducive to reconciliation and improved intercommunal relations. In particular, the Kosovo Albanian leaders should be "more forthcoming with regard to improving the treatment of the minority communities."

In turn, minority communities must realize that there is no alternative to establishing a multiethnic society and that the only viable future for all communities lies in participation, the Council mission stresses. "The Kosovo Serb community, in particular, must integrate into the structures being set up by UNMIK, rather than attempt to set up parallel structures."

The Mission recommends that "more intensified efforts should be put into the issue of the missing of all communities and detainees, which continues to be a major impediment to reconciliation and was an issue raised by almost every Kosovo representative the Mission met," the report says.

Participation by all communities in the 17 November elections, the return of refugees and displaced persons and their participation in elections should be encouraged, the report observes. For its part, UNMIK should continue its dialogue with Yugoslavia's authorities, "whose influence in Kosovo is key on the implementation of resolution 1244."

Astrid Van Genderen Stort, a UNHCR spokeswoman in Pristina said the number of arrivals through Blace and other border crossings continued all through the weekend, although at a lower rate than earlier last week. Over 1,500 people had crossed on Friday, but on Sunday the number of new arrivals had decreased to 557 people. Still, there have been 27,000 new arrivals in less than 10 days, adding that the total number of Macedonians displaced since 3 May was close to 39,000.

In southern Serbia, over 700 Macedonians of different ethnic background were reported entering at the end of last week, UNHCR said, bringing the total number of arrivals from the FYR of Macedonia to over 3,500.

"We have made a new beginning in the relation between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the international community," Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury of Bangladesh, the current President of the Council, who led the 15-member mission, told reporters after three hours of talks with President Kostunica, Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic and other senior officials.

Council members discussed the constitutional framework for an interim self-government, the return of Serbs to Kosovo, the upcoming elections of 17 November and the issue of missing and detained persons.

The Council delegation, which was flying back to New York today, has scheduled an open meeting on Tuesday afternoon to discuss its mission to Kosovo and Yugoslavia.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced today in Pristina it was tapping contingency stockpiles and mobilizing extra staff to assist a fresh wave of ethnic Albanian refugees fleeing to Kosovo from the conflict in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

According to WFP, more than 18,000 refugees crossed the border during the past week to escape an upsurge in fighting, bringing the total to over 41,000. Another 3,500 Macedonian Albanians fled into southern Serbia.

On arrival, the refugees are registered, sheltered in temporary accommodation and given emergency daily rations, WFP said. Once settled with local families, they receive a full month's ration of wheat flour, pulses, vegetable oil and sugar.

Security Council delegation arriving in Pristina

"The communities should look toward the future," Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations and the President of the Council for the month of June, told a press conference in Pristina at the end of a two-day visit. "They should not be pulled back by their past, but to organize their lives for peaceful coexistence."

Ambassador Chowdhury, who led the Council delegation, noted that the Serb community was particularly concerned about security, saying that displaced Kosovo Serbs would not be able to return home unless their security was insured.

The issue of missing and detained persons came up during discussions as a priority concern of the Council, he said, adding that the delegation would take up the matter with Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica on Monday, when it travels to Belgrade.

Another strong message the Council repeated throughout its visit was the importance of the participation of the Kosovo Serbs in the 17 November elections and in the interim institutions to be created.

Shortly before the Sunday press conference, the delegation met with Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, who had made a surprise visit to Kosovo from Belgrade to review the 3,000-strong Russian contingent at Pristina airport. According to the UN Interim Administration Mission in the province (UNMIK), the Council members and the head of UNMIK, Hans Haekkerup, had "full and frank discussions" with President Putin on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1244, which established the UN presence in Kosovo. They also discussed the upcoming elections and security concerns.

The Council delegation also held meetings with representatives of all Kosovo communities, met with members of the Interim Administrative Council and the Kosovo Transitional Council, visited the divided city of Mitrovica and met with human rights activists.

Young Macedonian mother and children, refugees in Kosovo.

Kris Janowski, spokesman of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said 2,600 people crossed into Kosovo on Thursday and a few hundred more into southern Serbia. Most of them were using the main border crossing at Blace.

UNHCR also reported arrivals from the FYR of Macedonia (FYROM) in southern Serbia, with about 400 people crossing the border daily, the spokesman said. Most were ethnic Albanians who then headed on to Kosovo, but there were also ethnic Serbs and Macedonians among them. Overall, more than 28,000 people left FYROM in the past week, Mr. Janowski said, with some 25,000 going to Kosovo and about 3,500 to southern Serbia.

Meanwhile, UNMIK Police uncovered an attempt to smuggle a large quantity of military weapons into Kosovo, the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) said today.

On June 14, in the Pec/Peje region, during a random police search of vehicles entering Kosovo, the UNMIK Police stopped a truck whose driver fled immediately. A hidden compartment in the truck contained a cache of weapons -- including 318 AK-47 rifles, 605 AK-47 magazines, 1,008 rocket-propelled grenades and 512 hand grenades.

The truck, which originated in Bosnia and carried Bosnian license plates, had just entered Kosovo from Montenegro, UNMIK Police said. An investigation was under way to identify the end users of the weapons and those responsible for their importation. "Those are not defensive weapons," said UNMIK Police spokesman Dereck Chappell. "They are weapons of war that could only be used to destabilize Kosovo and the region."

The mission will spend Saturday and Sunday acquainting themselves with the political and security challenges facing the UN Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK), Ambassador Chowdhury told a press briefing today.

On Monday, the mission heads to Belgrade for meetings with the President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Vojislav Kostunica, as well as the country's Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and other senior officials.

The President said the team would examine such issues as the return of refugees as well as the status of missing persons and detainees. Participants would also consider the broader regional context. "We will see how the situation in the region is impacting on UNMIK and its activities," he said, adding that the Council was greatly concerned about developments in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and would discuss the matter with KFOR, the international security presence in Kosovo.

The mission marks the first time that all 15 Council members are taking part in such an endeavour. Ambassador Chowdhury called this "an expression of the recent trend in the Council to be more proactive, to be available for first-hand experience of what is happening in a conflict area, [and] to gain first-hand experience on how the UN operations are going."

"It's a very positive development in terms of being a so-to-say hands-on Security Council with regard to various conflict regions," he added.

Briefing the Kosovo Transitional Council on his visit to Belgrade yesterday, the head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Hans Haekkerup, said he had discussed "all high priority issues" with Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica and Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic. These included issues relating to the missing and the detained, participation of the international community and Kosovo Albanians in the exhumation process in Serbia, the return of Kosovo Serbs, their participation in the elections, the situation in north Mitrovica and the tax collection points.

UNMIK and Yugoslav authorities needed to cooperate on a variety of subjects, Mr. Haekkerup said, such as Kosovo Serb participation in the 17 November elections. "Belgrade is supportive of Kosovo Serb participating in the registration," Mr. Haekkerup said, "but there is no clear commitment to support their participation in the elections."

According to Mr. Haekkerup, the Belgrade authorities said they wanted Kosovo Serbs to be able to participate, but on the basis of confidence-building measures such as their return to Kosovo and an improvement in the security situation. For his part, Mr. Haekkerup stressed that Kosovo Serb participation in the elections and institutions of self-government was in the interest of all Kosovars, and would affect the way the international community perceived the province.

In his quarterly report on the activities of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Mr. Annan says the Constitutional Framework -- which lays the groundwork for provisional self-government and for Kosovo-wide elections -- "represents a balanced elaboration of the concept of 'substantial autonomy'" envisaged by the Security Council, and benefits all communities.

It is now important to move ahead with preparations for the 17 November elections, Mr. Annan says, including by strengthening the public administration to prepare all Kosovars for the task of self-government. "The majority of Kosovars yearn for stability through self-government," Mr. Annan says. "In turn, a more stable Kosovo will contribute to regional stability."

Engaging all communities in the institutions of self-government is the only way to ensure the success of the process, Mr. Annan says. A major challenge is securing the participation of the Kosovo Serb community, which should realize that it cannot hold itself outside of the process and that "the benefits of cooperation are preferable to marginalization." Kosovo Serb participation "will decide whether this community can be fully integrated into Kosovo society" -- a factor that would pave the way for an improved security situation, a precondition for large-scale return.

Stressing the need for "reciprocal steps" to create confidence between the majority and minority communities, Mr. Annan sees as "encouraging" the "apparent realization on the part of the Kosovo Albanian leadership that they must assume responsibility for a tolerant and all-inclusive society."

The tense security situation remains "the single most important threat" to reaching international goals Mr. Annan says, welcoming UNMIK's "robust" policies, including its efforts to tackle organized crime and terrorism.

Noting "a steady improvement in UNMIK relations with the Yugoslav authorities," Mr. Annan underscores the importance of engaging Belgrade in the process of implementing Security Council resolution 1244 of 1999. "A substantive gesture of utmost importance would be the encouragement of Kosovo Serb registration and full participation in the interim structures as a clear sign to the Kosovo Serbs that their future is in Kosovo," he writes.

On Monday alone, an estimated 5,300 people crossed the main border crossing at Blace, said Kris Janowski, a spokesman for the Geneva-based UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). UNHCR workers monitoring the border 24 hours a day said the flow was continuing today. While those moving over the weekend came primarily from the village of Aracinovo, outside of Skopje, the people who arrived on Monday came mostly from Skopje itself and its outskirts.

According to UNHCR, the refugees cited growing tension between the country's ethnic groups and the threat of a military confrontation outside Skopje as the main reasons for leaving. Most of those arriving were women and children, since men were being turned back at the official border crossing.

Nearly 18,000 people had crossed into Kosovo since Friday, Mr. Janowski said. After receiving food and water at the border, most were being accommodated with host families.

The warning from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) came as thousands of ethnic Albanians crossed the border into neighbouring Kosovo for a fourth straight day, raising the spectre of another refugee crisis in the Balkans.

"The fighting must stop now because tomorrow may already be too late," said High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers, who visited the area on Friday and Saturday. With more than 1 million people in the Balkans still displaced, "the last thing the region needs is more refugees," Mr. Lubbers said.

UNHCR workers monitoring the main Blace border crossing between the FYR of Macedonia and Kosovo said about 12,000 people - mostly women and children - had crossed the frontier since Friday. Many were exhausted after walking for hours in the scorching Balkan heat.

The refugees said they had fled the village of Aracinovo, outside of Skopje, fearing an outbreak of fighting between rebels and government forces facing each other in a tense standoff on the outskirts of Aracinovo. Those arriving at the Kosovo border were given water and food before being registered and taken on to host families.

UNHCR said more than 24,000 people have fled from FYR of Macedonia to Kosovo since the fighting resumed in early May, after a two-month lull.

Meanwhile in Pristina, a spokesman for KFOR, the international security presence in Kosovo, said today its continuing efforts to reinforce the Kosovo/FYR of Macedonia border were already bearing fruit. Roy Brown said 16 people were detained over the weekend in four separate incidents south of Vitina, with weapons and equipment seized. Five individuals were arrested in Prizen, and KFOR was continuing to foil border crossing attempts from Albania to Kosovo on an almost daily basis, the spokesman said.

According the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), the new Regulation on the Prohibition of Terrorism and Related Offences will be the third part of a package designed to combat terrorism and armed violence in Kosovo and to prevent its export outside the territory. Under the regulation, any person who commits an act of terrorism could face a prison sentence of between 10 and 40 years.

In addition, anyone who dispatches or transfers armed groups, equipment, explosives, arms, ammunition and other material for terrorism purposes inside or outside Kosovo could face a 10 to 15 year prison sentence. Collecting funds or recruiting people for terrorist purposes, and providing or receiving training in carrying out terrorist acts could result in up to 15 years in prison, UNMIK said.

The regulation also covers such offences as preparing an act of terrorism; attempting, inciting or aiding others to do so; and participating in a terrorist organization.

Three of those struck by the disease had died, according to the Department of Health -- which is part of the Joint Interim Administrative Structure set up by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

The Department recommended a series of preventive measures, such as wearing clothing that cover legs and arms, using tick repellents on skin and clothing, checking the whole body regularly for ticks, and removing ticks gently but promptly.

There have been regular cases and outbreaks of CCHF in Kosovo since 1986, the Department said. For example, between 1996 and 2000 there were 43 sporadic cases with six fatalities.

"From now on, anyone caught with an unauthorized weapon will be subject to fines and imprisonment," Susan Manuel, spokesperson for the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) said in Pristina. Persons found with unauthorized weapons could face prison sentences of up to 10 years.

Calling the weapons amnesty programme "a success," Roy Brown, spokesman for the international security force (KFOR), said the last day of the programme had seen a flurry of weapons being turned in to KFOR patrols and checkpoints. The total collected by KFOR during the programme amounted to nearly 400 rifles, 65 pistols, 75 support weapons, 21 anti-tank weapons, 16 rockets, over 200 hand grenades and anti-personnel mines and some 31,000 rounds of ammunition.

The regulation on illegal border crossing also went into effect today, Ms. Manuel said, with UNMIK and KFOR having designated 19 legal border and boundary crossing points with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Albania, Serbia and Montenegro. She noted that anyone found crossing at other locales would be subjected to a fine or a jail term.

"This regulation is not aimed at farmers whose fields or sheep normally cross the border," Ms. Manuel said, "but at extremists or criminals who are fuelling instability in and outside Kosovo."