[ALBSA-Info] NATO urges maximum restraint over Kosovo violence

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

NATO urges maximum restraint over Kosovo violence

By Douglas Hamilton

BRUSSELS, Feb 18 (Reuters) -  NATO called for "maximum restraint" from both 
sides on Sunday as violence around Kosovo escalated with an ethnic Albanian 
attack which killed three Serbian policemen, after a bomb killed seven Serbs 
on Friday. 

For the second time in little more than 48 hours, alliance Secretary General 
George Robertson issued an urgent statement offering sympathy to the families 
of victims and urging political dialogue. 

"I deplore the escalation of the violence in southern Serbia and urge the 
leadership of both sides to exercise maximum restraint," he said. 

"The problems of the region cannot be solved by violence; they can only be 
settled through direct negotiations between the parties. Today's events make 
the urgency of moving ahead with such negotiations all the more clear." 

But Serbia, which has been commended by NATO allies for its restraint in the 
face of previous attacks, said its patience was wearing thin and it would not 
allow citizens to be murdered without responding. 

At stake is a unilateral Serbian military offensive into the buffer zone in 
the Presevo Valley on Kosovo's eastern boundary which Albanian separatists 
have used as a safe haven since Serbia, under NATO pressure, agreed to stay 
out 20 months ago. 

Three Serb police officers were killed by anti-tank mines on the edge of the 
zone on Sunday. Yugoslavia said it was part of a broader terrorist campaign 
by ethnic Albanians. 

Albanian guerrillas said one of their number had been killed and two more 
wounded in fighting with Serb forces later in the day. Sporadic clashes over 
the past year have claimed around 30 lives in the area. 

ACT NOW OR WE WILL -SERBIA 

Reporters taken to the scene of the landmine blasts saw charred bodies, a 
vehicle blown apart, and two craters. 

Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic, in an urgent message to 
Robertson, linked the blasts to an attack on a bus in ethnic 
Albanian-dominated Kosovo on Friday in which seven Serbs were killed and 
dozens wounded. 

"It is obvious that we are dealing with well-planned, premeditated and 
synchronised attacks aimed at provoking Yugoslav security forces and creating 
a much broader conflict," he wrote in the letter, quoted by Beta news agency. 

"The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia cannot allow Albanian terrorists to kill 
its citizens," Svilanovic said. 

One guerrilla spokesman in the Presevo Valley area condemned the bus attack 
and said it would set back efforts to resolve their conflict with Serb 
forces. NATO says there are three groups of gunmen operating, with no clear 
central command. 

Svilanovic demanded NATO troops in Kosovo take measures to completely seal 
the boundary. Otherwise Serb forces would "take responsibility and... start 
solving the problem adequately." 

Robertson said that would only make matters worse. 

"The people of the region -- of all ethnic groups -- have suffered more than 
enough," he said. "To all those involved, I urge you to recognise that 
escalating the violence will only cause greater grief and suffering for all 
concerned."