The IAC expressed its 'deep appreciation' of the hospitality offered to the people of Kosovo, and paid particular tribute to Germany and Switzerland.

"At the same time, the IAC wishes to appeal to the authorities of the host countries concerned to make all possible efforts to ensure that the return process takes place in a phased, coordinated and humane manner," the statement said.

It went on to note that there was a serious housing shortage in Kosovo. It also welcomed the decision of some host countries to allow Kosovars in technical institutions to complete their courses.

The application was submitted to the Political Parties Registrations Office at the United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK), which will accept applications until the 1 June deadline, Susan Manuel said today at a press briefing.

Under UNMIK regulations, all political parties must register with UNMIK in order to operate legally in Kosovo, and to participate in the elections, Ms. Manuel said.

To qualify for the elections, parties must also have at least 4,000 registered supporters, unless they have been allowed a special exemption by the head of UNMIK, Dr. Bernard Kouchner. Ms. Manuel explained that the 1 June deadline was necessary so that signatures of party members could be verified by 1 August, which is the last day for changes to the ballot, although it was not necessary to present all the signatures before 1 June deadline.

Dr. Kouchner made the offer to take them to Strasbourg during a visit on Tuesday to the town of Djakova in south-west Kosovo, in which members of the Interim Administrative Council (IAC) and the heads of the four pillars of UNMIK also took part. Between 1,000 and 1,500 people have been missing from the town since the war, 143 of whom were given prison sentences by a Serbian court two days ago.

Dr. Kouchner explained that the Serb IAC member, Dr. Rada Trajkovic, had also intended to come on the visit, but in the end security issues had made it impossible.

Dr. Kouchner spent three hours with the relatives of the prisoners and other residents, and told them that the trial and sentencing had been a farce, and outrageously provocative. The prisoners were tried en masse without individual examinations, and each sentenced to between seven and 13 years.

The Kosovo Transitional Council also agreed today to issue a statement of protest against the sentencing.

The defendants had been tried en masse without being individually examined, and were sentenced to a total of 1,632 years by the court in Nis.

Speaking after a meeting of the Interim Administrative Council (IAC), Dr. Kouchner told journalists that the Council had agreed that it was "absolutely impossible to support this idea of collective guilt." Dr. Kouchner also outlined the steps that had been taken to secure the release of those detained in Serb prisons, but conceded "it was not enough."

The IAC later visited Djakova, a small town in southwest Kosovo where the prisoners had been originally rounded up. Dr. Kouchner and all the members of the IAC, including the ethnic Serb member, took part in the visit.

Several dozen war veterans and invalids demonstrated outside the headquarters of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) during the meeting, in which Hashim Thaci, member of the Interim Administrative Council and Hanna Vuori, co-head of the Department of Health and Social Security, also participated.

Several immediate measures were suggested, including the waiver of hospital fees for veterans and their families and the possibility of free treatment at Kosovo's two rehabilitation centres. Dr. Kouchner said he would also seek resources to send the most severe invalid cases abroad for treatment.

The group also discussed the demand for pensions, which the Kosovo Consolidated Budget currently has no funds to pay.

It was agreed that a working group of Health & Social Security department co-heads and war veterans would be established to examine ways to ensure the full re-integration of all veterans into Kosovo society.

Susan Manuel said that Dr. Kouchner spent more than two hours yesterday with the 36 detainees. He told them that the first trial will begin on 25 or 26 May, and that the judiciary would be made up of a mixture of international, ethnic Serbs and Kosovar Albanians, the spokeswoman said.

The first trials will be in the municipal courts, for those charged with less serious offences. The Mitrovica District Court trials will begin on 6 June, Ms. Manuel said.

Thirty-one Serbs and five Roma began refusing food on 1 May in protest over the delay in initiating their trial proceedings.