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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4547253.stm
The BBC News
Last Updated: Saturday, 14 May, 2005, GMT UK
Experts examine Kosovo mass grave
The bodies of 22 Serbs were found in a cave in late April
UN forensic experts are examining bodies found in a mass grave
in Kosovo, believed to be Serbs killed by ethnic Albanian
guerrillas in 1998.
The grave was found in the town of Malisevo, 45 km (30 miles)
south-west of the capital Pristina.
If confirmed, this would be the second such find in a month
after 24 bodies were found in a cave last month.
Nearly 3,000 people are still missing since the Kosovo war,
including several hundred Serbs.
"There are multiple remains of bodies and at least two
complete bodies," Marcia Poole, a UN spokeswoman, said.
"They are presumed to be Serbs missing since 1998,"
she added.
Obstacle to reconciliation
Guerrillas from the Kosovo Liberation Army kidnapped a number
of Serbian villagers from the Orahovac area in Southern Kosovo
in July 1998 to try and obtain the release of ethnic Albanian
prisoners held by Serbian security forces.
But the exchange of prisoners never took place.
Serbs and Kosovo Albanians held a meeting in Belgrade in
March to discuss the issue of missing persons, which remains
a key obstacle along the path to reconciliation.
Six former rebel leaders, including former Kosovo Prime Minister
Ramush Haradinaj, are on trial in The Hague, charged with
abducting and killing Serb civilians.
The Kosovo conflict ended when Serb forces, who had killed
thousands of Albanian civilians, were driven out by a Nato
bombing campaign in 1999.
Kosovo is still part of Serbia, but Nato administers the
territory and has almost 20,000 troops in the province.
Talks on whether Kosovo will become independent or remain
part of Serbia are due to begin later this year, subject to
a UN review of democracy and human rights standards in the
country.
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