PRISHTINA, Dec 5 (KIC) - The Kosova Liberation Army (UÇK) stands firm in its commitment to the "just fight

towards the creation of our independent and democratic state", the General Staff of the UÇK said in a statement,

referred to as Political Declaration # 19, carried by today's Albanian-language press in Prishtina.

The UÇK will not accept any political solution which "harms the ideals of our people for independence, or else

would sanction, be it even temporarily, an imposed co-existence in an anti-Albanian and anti-democratic edifice,

such as Yugoslavia - Greater Serbia would be".

The statement contravened remarks Mr. Adem Demaçi, the UÇK Political Representative, made last Tuesday in a

press conference in Prishtina. He stated the UÇK would be willing to accept republic status for Kosova - on a par

with Serbia and Montenegro within 'Yugoslavia' - on a temporary basis, with guarantees that in three years' time

the people of Kosova would determine their future in a referendum.

The General Staff of the UÇK called on the international community, first and foremost the United States of

America, to support Kosovar independence, "which would mean also the triumph of democratic principles in this

part of the volatile Balkans, and would result in a lasting peace in the future".

The Serbian aggressor's forces have been attacking the civilian Albanian population in certain parts of Kosova,

and the UÇK has been responding to such attacks in defense of the population, the General Staff of the UÇK said.

"We are making efforts to preserve the cease-fire that we have ourselves declared", the UÇK said.

"Although unjustly excluded from the agreement on the deployment of international observers in Kosova, and

therefore not obligatory to us", the UÇK welcomes their arrival and will undertake all measures within its power to

cooperate with them as well as to ensure their security, the statement said.

5 DEC 1998