Jean Marie Guehenno, the UN head of peacekeeping operations, said yesterday in Belgrade that the UN wants to have peace and stability in the Balkans as its legacy.

Guehenno had a meeting with the Serb representatives in Kosovska Mitrovica, in which he said, “law and order must be respected, and problems solved in non-violent ways”. “There must be no violence and I think that is the only way for everyone to move forward. Not only the Serbs – all of us,” he said.

In the meeting with Serb municipal presidents from the north of the province, Guehenno said, “I believe we must all work in a practical manner, based on Resolution 1244, because that is what the people of Kosovo need.”

Zubin Potok municipal chief Slavisa Ristic told the senior UN official that “the only cause of violence and threats to security in northern Kosovo came with the international community and UNMIK’s attempts to set up institutions of an independent Kosovo.”