NATO fears a flare-up of violence in Kosovo a month before legislative elections in the restive Albanian-majority province.
A bomb destroyed the offices of moderate Kosovo leader Ibrahim Rugova in the southern Kosovo town of Suva Reka overnight Monday, prompting fears that more attacks were to come in an election campaign only two weeks old.
"The situation is in danger of deteriorating," an official from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation-led multi-national KFOR peacekeeping force said.
Almost 2,000 soldiers have been sent to reinforce the 38,000-strong force permanently stationed in the province and 8,000 international and Kosovar police officers are also on alert.
Rugova, whose Democratic League of Kosovo is favourite to take a majority of seats, had raised concerns about the violence prior to municipal elections last year in which several members of his party were killed or injured.
Around a million voters are expected to go to the polls on November 17 to elect a provincial parliament in the election, which is being run by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
More than 25 political groups are fielding candidates for the 120 seats, of which 20 are reserved for Kosovo's minority groups, including 10 for the Serbs.
The leaders of the 160,000-strong Serb minority are however threatening to repeat their boycott of last October's municipal elections unless the United Nations promises to improve their living conditions.
Many Serbs have left Kosovo since it came under UN administration in June 1999, after NATO carried out an 11-week bombing campaign of Yugoslavia in protest at a crackdown on the province by the then Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.
The UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) is urging the Serbs to take part in the elctions, predicting they could become the second or third-largest political group in the new parliament.
"They can hope for between five and 30 representatives," said UNMIK spokesman Susan Manuel.
Rugova's party won 58 percent of the votes in the municipal elections, far more than radical parties led by former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, the rebel force which fought Milosevic's control of the province but which has now been officially demilitarised.
While the ethnic Albanians are not about to unilaterally declare independence, they reject any involvement of Yugoslavia in the administration of Kosovo and say they are ready to take on the job themselves.
In a bid to calm Serb fears, UNMIK reiterates that the new parliament has no power to decide the final status of Kosovo.
"The Serbs are concerned at the independence claims of the Albanian leaders, but the final status of Kosovo will not be decided by the parliament," said Manuel.
"The final status will have to be determined by the UN Security Council" -- Yugoslavia, (AFP)
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