[ALBSA-Info] Balkan summit condemns south Serbia violence

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Balkan summit condemns south Serbia violence

SKOPJE, Feb 23 (Reuters) - A Balkan summit on Friday strongly condemned 
ethnically motivated extremism in and near Kosovo but stopped short of openly 
blaming ethnic Albanians. 

In a joint declaration obtained by Reuters, the leaders of eight Balkan 
nations also said they expected Yugoslavia's new reformist leadership to 
release political prisoners and cooperate with the U.N. war crimes tribunal. 

"We have strongly condemned the violent and illegal terrorist actions by the 
ethnically motivated extremist armed groups in South Serbia," said the text, 
finalised after lengthy negotiations at the end of the summit on Friday. 

A draft declaration had originally blamed "Albanian extremist groups" but 
officials close to the drafting said that phrase was changed after objections 
from Albania. 

The violence that has surged recently both in Kosovo and in southern Serbia's 
Presevo Valley is seen by most Western and Balkan leaders as fomented by 
Albanian radicals. 

Ethnic Albanian guerrillas in the Presevo Valley say they are fighting 
against Serb police persecution. Both NATO and Serb officials have urged them 
to lay down their arms. 

The summit declaration also urged Yugoslavia to push ahead with democratic 
reforms after the fall of Slobodan Milosevic and to cooperate with the 
international court pursuing war criminals. The court has indicted the former 
Yugoslav president. 

"We expect that the issues such as the release of the political prisoners and 
missing persons will be addressed without delay," the declaration also said. 

Hundreds of ethnic Albanians detained during the Kosovo war remain in Serbian 
prisons, despite campaigns by local activists and international human rights 
groups for their release. 

Many Kosovo Albanians are still missing from the conflict, as are many Serbs 
who disappeared after the war as a wave of ethnic Albanian vengeance for Serb 
repression swept across the province. 

The declaration is to be signed by summit participants Albania, Bulgaria, 
Bosnia, Macedonia, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey and Romania and top European 
Union officials later on Friday.