Yugoslavia, UN discuss Albanian prisoners

Yugoslav government officials have visited Kosovo to discuss with the United Nations authorities the release of hundreds of Albanian prisoners being held in Serbian jails.

It's the first time the UN has held direct talks with Belgrade since taking control of the province seventeen months ago.

Over ten-thousand Albanians demonstrated in the capital, Pristina, calling for the prisoners to be freed.

A BBC correspondent there says the UN mission has found itself under increasing pressure as Kosovo Albanian political parties accused it and the international community of doing little to ease the prisoners' plight. UN officials said the meeting with Yugoslavia was aimed at mapping out concrete steps towards their release and locating people still missing following the Kosovo war.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service