The World - News from Oct. 26, 1988

Yugoslavia’s autonomous province of Kosovo, a stronghold of ethnic Albanians, dismissed two of its leaders in an attempt to ease tension with Serbs. The provincial legislature removed Abdula Hodza and Danilo Vasic for “health reasons and the need for cadre renewal.” They were members of Kosovo’s collective presidency, the regional equivalent to a head of state. Yugoslav analysts said the dismissals reflected pressure to clean up the local regime after strife between Kosovo’s majority ethnic Albanians and minority Serbs plunged the nation into political turmoil.