TEHRAN A Kosovar Muslim leader Hashim Thaci briefed Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi on the latest developments in Kosovo, especially the situation of the refugees. Speaking to Kharrazi over telephone on Tuesday afternoon, Thaci thanked the Islamic Republic of Iran for its humanitarian assistance to Kosovar refugees. Stressing that such assistance brings further hope to them, Thaci said although the Kosovar people are in a dire condition, they are steadfast as they feel they are not alone but are supported by the Islamic countries.

Expressing deep concern and regret over the situation of Kosovar Muslims, Kharrazi said that the Contact Group of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in its Wednesday meeting in Geneva, will discuss mechanisms to solve the Kosovo crisis. He assured Thaci that foreign ministers of the OIC Contact Group will spare no effort to find a solution to the crisis in order to preserve basic rights of the Kosovar Muslims. Hashim Thaci led the 17-member Kosovo delegation of Albanian origin to the Rambouillet and Paris peace negotiations.

He has already been appointed prime minister of the self-government of Kosovo. Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi left here for Geneva at the head of a political delegation for a meeting on Kosovo crisis. Foreign ministers of the Contact Group of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) will meet in Geneva yesterday afternoon to study ways and means to put an end to the humanitarian disaster in Kosovo. With the escalation of crisis in Kosovo, President Mohammad Khatami, the current chairman of OIC, sent a letter to heads of the Islamic countries calling them on to increase efforts to help end the crisis.

Foreign Minister Kharrazi who was commissioned to further activate the OIC contact group in this connection, made contacts with his counterparts as well as the OIC secretary general over the meeting in Geneva. Foreign ministers of the OIC Contact Group are scheduled to explore practical solutions to help end Kosovo crisis and mobilize humanitarian assistance to the people of the region.

With the deterioration of the situation of Kosovar Muslim refugees, the humanitarian catastrophe in the region is taking alarming dimensions. The Islamic Republic of Iran sent the first consignment of its humanitarian assistance to the Kosovar refugees on board a plane flown to Tirana on Monday. Iran is to send to Tirana medicines and medical appliances for dispalced Albanian Muslims today, it was said here at a meeting between Albanian foreign minister on the one side and Iran's Foreign Ministry envoy Mohammad Reza Baqeri and Iranian ambassador Mohammad-Kazem Bigdeli Tuesday. The first Iranian consignment sent as relief aid to Albanian Muslims on Monday was about 50 tons of foodstuffs and health care appliances, in addition to tents, blankets, and carpets.

In his meeting with the Iranian officials Tuesday, the Foreign Minister of Albania Pascal Milva appreciated the Iranian relief aid to the people of Albania. He said his government attaches special importance to relations with the Islamic Republic. The Iranian envoy Mohammad Reza Baqeri invited ranking Albanian officials to visit Tehran and said their visit would open a new chapter in relations between Tehran and Tirana. Japan may consider accepting ethnic Albanian refugees from the war-torn province of Kosovo, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. Japanese officials were to depart for Kosovo on Wednesday to study the needs of refugees who have been fleeing the province as Yugoslavia steps up its campaign against separatist rebels there amid NATO airstrikes.

Based on the report they submit upon their return on April 14, the Japanese government may explore the possibility of taking in refugees, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Tatsuo Kitagawa. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that nearly 500,000 people, the vast majority of them ethnic Albanians, have left Kosovo since NATO began its air assault on Yugoslavia on March 24. NATO allies are exhibiting ``greater resolve'' toward continuing air attacks against Yugoslavia, Defense Secretary William Cohen suggested as he led a delegation of U.S. lawmakers to Brussels, Belgium, on Wednesday for special briefings on the conflict.

He sought to brace congress, and the nation, for a possibly extended period of further air attacks against Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's government. ``As each day goes by, it becomes more difficult to arrive at a settlement with him,'' Cohen said. ``The allies have become stronger, not weaker,'' Cohen told reporters on his plane en route from Washington to the NATO headquarters.

He said Milosevic's offer of a temporary cease-fire was a charade intended to undermine NATO solidarity. ``I don't think he's offering half-a-loaf,'' said Cohen. ``I wouldn't call it quarter-of-a-loaf. I think it's woefully insufficient.'' Cohen arrived with an 11-member bipartisan delegation of House and Senate members from committees with jurisdiction over national security issues. Cohen repeated administration intentions not to send American ground forces into the conflict and dismissed suggestions that the air bombardment had been less than effective.

Meanwhile, the acting President of Cyprus, Spyros Kyprianou, said on Wednesday that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has offered to hand over to Nicosia three U.S. soldiers held by Serbs, state radio reported. Milosevic said that as a goodwill gesture, he was ready to transfer the three soldiers to the Cyprus government which would then hand them to the U.S. Embassy in Nicosia, the radio quoted Kyprianou as saying.

Kyprianou said he was heading to Belgrade via Athens on Wednesday afternoon on a humanitarian mission. Also, Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, the leader of the Muslim Parliment of Great Britain in a message to President Khatami said over half a million Kosovan Muslims have been forced out to neighboring countries by the Serbian army, paramilitary forces and armed civilians in a deliberate policy of emptying Kosovo. Their houses having been burnt, possessions looted.

This ethnic cleansing and genocide has created a humanitarian and a political crisis of a gigantic dimension. So far the reaction of the Muslim world has been luke-warm. I earnestly urge you to take effective lead in ensuring that their human needs and political rights are secured in an independent Kosovo. After this genocide, Yugoslavia has forfeited all claims to Kosovan territory.