[ALBSA-Info] {QIKSH «ALBEUROPA»} NEWS: 600 Albanian Refugees Go Back to Southern Serbia (AFP, Dec 5, 2000)

[Wolfgang Plarre]

http://www.centraleurope.com/yugoslaviatoday/news.php3?id=227211&section=default

600 Albanian Refugees Go Back to Southern Serbia

PRISTINA, Dec 5, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Around 600 ethnic
Albanians who fled their homes in southern Serbia after violence erupted
between Albanian guerrillas and the Serbian police, have returned to
their homes in recent days, according to the UN human rights agency
UNHCR.
    "Returns have begun in the villages of Trnovac, Konculj and Lucane,"
UNHCR spokesman for the region Peter Deck said by telephone, adding that
those going back to their homes felt safe as a result of a ceasefire in
the region, in place since last week.
    Some 200 people returned on Monday alone, he said.
    There was still a trickle of people coming out of southern Serbia
into Kosovo, but they were far fewer in number than those returning,
Deck added.
    Fighting erupted two weeks ago between ethnic Albanian guerrillas
and Serbian police in the buffer zone which stretches from the Kosovo's
administrative border three miles (five kilometers) into Serbia.
    The zone was set up under an agreement last year between Belgrade
and NATO which makes the area off-limits to security forces from both
sides, with the exception of lightly armed Serbian police.
    But the power vacuum in the wooded and hilly area has allowed ethnic
Albanian rebels to set up bases in the buffer zone, whose three main
towns have significant Albanian as well as Serb populations.
    A ceasefire was agreed last Monday between the rebels and Belgrade
after the killing of three Serbian policemen.
    But the situation in the buffer zone remains tense, with both sides
accusing each other of violating the deal.
    Deck said that the new refugee arrivals in Kosovo, were fleeing the
area around Presevo inside the buffer zone, where there has been a build
up of Serbian forces in recent days.
    More than 4,000 people who fled the area when fighting broke out
remain in Kosovo, Deck added. 

((c) 2000 Agence France Presse)


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