6 Leading Officials Quit in Troubled Yugoslav Province

The premier and five other Cabinet members of Yugoslavia’s ethnically troubled Kosovo province have resigned after four months in office, citing pressure by Serbia, the official Tanjug news agency reported Wednesday.

The “irrevocable” resignations of Premier Jusuf Zejnulahu, Deputy Premier Mazlum Bega and the others coincided with strong criticism leveled against Serbia’s Communist officials Wednesday by a U.S. congressional mission for alleged human rights abuses against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

Kosovo province, an administrative part of the Serbian republic, has been a scene of unrest since Serbia assumed near-total control over the region during the past year--virtually abolishing its former autonomy--and introduced a state of emergency to suppress huge protests by Albanians.

Ethnic Albanians make up 90% of Kosovo’s 1.9 million population.

Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.), leader of the U.S. fact-finding mission, told reporters after returning from a one-day visit to Kosovo, “We noted with great concern the heavy-handed (practices) that have caused great problems and offered no solutions for Kosovo.”