UNMIK approval ratings hit new low

UNMIK approval ratings hit new low

An "Early Warning" report released on Thursday by the UN Development Program said UNMIK "has again surpassed most ranked institutions as the institution with the lowest approval rating."

Just 24 percent of people polled said they were satisfied with the performance of UNMIK, the body many Kosovo Albanians and Serbs blame for Kosovo's political and economic limbo.

The UN mission has had six chiefs since it took over in 1999 and has seen its popularity plummet from over 60 percent in 2002, largely due its perceived failure to kickstart Kosovo's economy and tackle unemployment of around 50 percent.

Some 30 percent of Kosovo residents live on less than 1.5 euros per day.

Thursday's figures were ominously close to UNMIK's 23-percent rating in March 2004, when Albanian mob riots targeted UNMIK and minority Serbs, as 19 people died in the worst violence since the war.

Diplomats say Kosovo Albanian leaders will almost certainly declare independence unilaterally if Russia blocks a resolution at the Security Council, possibly sparking a breakaway bid by the mainly Serb north and a spiral of ethnic violence, Reuters reports.

According to the UNDP survey, 10 percent of Kosovo's 100,000 remaining Serbs say they would leave Kosovo if it wins independence. Around 30 percent were undecided.