UN's top man in Kosovo quits

Harri Holkeri, the top UN administrator in Kosovo, is quitting two months early because of his health.

A former Finnish prime minister, he was named as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s special representative to the Serbian province 10 months ago.

Kosovo has been administered by the world body since the end of the 1999 NATO bombing campaign that halted a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.

When he accepted the appointment in July, Holkeri said he faced “the most difficult task in my life so far,” but added that that was no reason to turn it down.