By Katarina Kratovac - The Associated Press

BELGRADE - Kosovo’s UN chief warned yesterday that the “clock is ticking” for Kosovo Serbs to take part in a dialogue in the troubled province and appealed to Belgrade to urge minority Serbs to join the talks.

“Every day lost in participating in that dialogue is a day lost for Kosovo Serbs,” Soren Jessen-Petersen said at the end of a one-day visit to Serbia’s capital, Belgrade.

Jessen-Petersen — who took over five months ago as the province’s UN administrator — expressed regret that meetings with Serbian leaders yesterday failed to deal with pressing issues but were dominated by the lack of power supply to two Serbian enclaves, cut off over a month ago after villagers failed to pay electricity bills.

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and President Boris Tadic urged Jessen-Petersen to restore power, saying it added to the Serbs’ hardships in the province.

“It is impossible to solve political issues in a situation when the Serbs in the province live without electricity,” said a statement from Tadic’s office.

Kostunica concurred, saying the issue must be resolved before any discussions were held on other issues involving Kosovo Serbs, including their wishes for more autonomy, improved security and information on the more than 1,000 Serbs listed as missing since the 1999 Kosovo war.

Jessen-Petersen promised to promptly look into the electricity matter, but warned that politicizing the issue was “unhelpful.”

“The same policy applies everywhere in the world — electricity is a service, you pay for it,” he said. “It is not aiming at making life difficult for Kosovo Serbs.”