[ALBSA-Info] UN asked to help in southern Serbia

[Iris Pilika]

Yugoslavia seeks U.N. help on rebels

Svilanovic is seeking U.N. action after a Yugoslav soldier was killed
January 28, 2001
Web posted at: 1507 GMT


BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Yugoslavia's foreign minister is seeking an 
urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council to deal with an escalation of 
violence in southern Serbia.

The request comes amid continuing attacks by ethnic Albanian rebels seeking 
independence together with the nearby province of Kosovo.

In a statement released late Saturday, Goran Svilanovic called for an 
"urgent meeting" of the Security Council, apparently meaning a special 
session.

He demanded an "immediate and strong condemnation of terrorist attacks," as 
well as "punishment of culprits" responsible for the death of the Yugoslav 
soldier on Friday and similar attacks in the recent past.

Ethnic Albanian militants are operating in a five-kilometre (three-mile) 
zone separating Kosovo from Serbia proper.

The buffer zone was set up under a 1999 deal which forced Yugoslav 
government troops to pull out of the province, now run by the United Nations 
and a NATO-led international peacekeeping force.

Svilanovic's statement called on international officials, including U.S. 
Secretary of State Colin Powell and NATO Secretary General Lord George 
Robertson, "to urgently take all measures to stop the Albanian terrorists."

A military statement said a group of 20 armed terrorists targeted a Yugoslav 
Army vehicle in the contested area on Saturday, causing "no serious 
consequences" for the army personnel. It said the federal forces 
"energetically responded" to the rebel fire.

On Saturday, Yugoslavia's interior minister, Zoran Zivkovic, warned that 
Yugoslavia would resort to police and army units to subdue the rebels.

Zivkovic said: "We shall not wait until spring ... The terrorists will then 
show even more interest to advance and we would be on the verge or in a 
conflict with many casualties."

The new Yugoslav leadership is trying to avoid a brutal crackdown on the 
ethnic Albanian rebels.

Repression of Kosovo Albanians by former President Slobodan Milosevic 
ultimately triggered the 1999 NATO military intervention.

Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may 
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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