Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica today demanded concrete steps from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to protect non-Albanians in UN-governed Kosovo after a car bombing that killed a Serb.
In a letter to Mr Annan quoted by the official Yugoslav news agency Tanjug, Mr Kostunica said a large quantity of explosives detonated by remote control were used in the attack.
"Unfortunately, this is just further proof of the extremely bad security situation in Kosovo, particularly for the few remaining non-Albanians," Mr Kostunica wrote.
He said NATO-led peacekeepers and Kosovo's UN government had failed in their mandate to protect all civilians since arriving in June 1999, when Serbian security forces were forced by NATO air strikes to scrap a bloody anti-guerrilla campaign.
The Yugoslav foreign ministry also called for an emergency UN Security Council session on persistent violence in Kosovo.
Today's bombing targeted Serb employees in the Yugoslav government office in Pristina. Kosovo's separatist majority Albanians are deeply hostile to any lingering official Serbian presence in the province.
In New York, British UN Ambassador Mr Jeremy Greenstock, this month's Security Council president, said the 15-nation body had been briefed on the bombing in response to the foreign ministry request.
Council members said in a statement read by Mr Greenstock that they condemned what they saw as a cowardly terrorist attack and insisted the bombers should be brought quickly to justice.