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EU Leaders To Address Kosovo, Afghanistan, Mideast


Brussels, 26 March 2004 (RFE/RL) -- On the second day of their summit in Brussels, European Union leaders are expected to address the situation in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and the Middle East

Reports quote a draft of a statement to be released by the leaders as calling in particular on Kosovo's ethnic-Albanian leadership to take steps to ensure that anti-Serb violence that left 28 people dead last week is not repeated.

On Afghanistan, reports quote an EU draft statement as backing the holding of free and fair elections in the country this year. It also welcomes Germany's hosting of an Afghan international aid conference next week in Berlin. Afghanistan's government is expected to seek at the meeting more than $28 billion in aid over the next seven years to rebuild the country.

The EU leaders are also expected to express concern about the situation in the Middle East. A draft of a statement warns that Israelis and Palestinians seem to be moving farther away from a peace settlement following Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, which the statement condemns as an "extra-judicial killing."
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