AP World News via NewsEdge Corporation: 

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie said Monday the situation for minorities in Kosovo was "questionable" after spending three days visiting the U.N. refugee agency and those displaced since the war in the province.

Jolie, a Goodwill Ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said she came to spend time with U.N.'s refugee agency staff for the holidays and see the situation for the minorities in this area, a statement released after her departure said.

"People think that when a war is over, everything goes back to normal," Jolie said. "But in Kosovo, the security situation remains questionable for minorities."

Kosovo, legally part of Yugoslavia, has been run by the United Nations and NATO since 1999, when the alliance bombed Serb troops loyal to former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic to stop their crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.

Some 200,000 Serbs and other minorities have left the province since then, fearing attacks avenging the crackdown, which killed thousands of ethnic Albanians. Only a few thousand of the displaced Serbs have returned, and those who remain here live mainly in NATO-guarded enclaves.

Although ethnically motivated attacks have decreased, tensions between the ethnic groups persist.

The Oscar-winning actress visited mainly the area of Kosovo's capital, Pristina, and the northern, ethnically divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica, which remains a hotbed of tension. Apart from spending time with all minority groups, her schedule also included meetings with NATO-led peacekeepers serving here, as well as local community leaders.

"Since the war ended three years ago, there are only around six thousand minority refugees who returned," said Jolie, adding that it remains difficult for those living outside the province to come home.

The actress was appointed goodwill ambassador for the U.N. refugee agency in 2001. She has visited refugee camps in many war-torn regions, including Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Pakistan.

Jolie intends to return to Kosovo in the spring for an extended UNHCR visit throughout the Balkans, the statement said.

(gk/gj)

Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press

[12-30-02 at 15:24 EDT, Copyright 2002, The Associated Press, File: h1230135.000]