Associated Press October 12, 2004

Del Ponte blasts Kosovo administration | 14:09 October 12 | AP

PRISTINA -- Tuesday - Hague Tribunal Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte has claimed she is receiving no help from international officials and Kosovo authorities on war crimes probes in the province, a newspaper reported today.

After meeting European Union officials in Luxembourg on Monday, Del Ponte said she faced enormous problems in the investigations of leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army, Kosovo's leading daily newspaper Koha Ditore reported.

The now-disbanded ethnic Albanian rebel group battled Serb forces in the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo.

"You cannot think how many problems we have in the investigations against KLA leaders in Kosovo," Del Ponte was quoted as saying. "There are big threats against the witnesses there and now they don't want to cooperate."

The tribunal has indicted four former rebels, including a senior commander, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed against civilians in 1998. The indictment, issued early last year, marked the court's first action against ethnic Albanians.

"We have no help from anyone, neither from the international community in Kosovo nor the local authorities," Del Ponte said. "All that is being done is by the work of our investigators, but by the end of the year I will issue another indictment against former KLA members."