[ALBSA-Info] Ethnic Albanians Meet With NATO

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Ethnic Albanians Meet With NATO

By FISNIK ABRASHI
 
KONCULJ, Yugoslavia (AP) - Ethnic Albanian guerrillas fighting in a buffer 
zone between Kosovo and Serbia told NATO representatives Thursday that they 
were prepared for talks with the Serbs on ending the conflict. 

The guerrillas set the conditions that there be international mediation of 
the negotiations, that they be allowed to head the ethnic Albanian delegation 
and that the zone be demilitarized. 

In total, five of the nine-member Albanian negotiating team should be 
guerrilla representatives with the others coming from ethnic Albanian parties 
in the region, said Sami Azemi, the senior commander of the guerrillas. 

The guerrillas are operating in a three-mile-wide buffer zone between Kosovo 
- which is under international control - and the rest of Serbia. They have 
been battling Serb police and Yugoslav army troops nearby since late last 
year. 

The zone is one of two areas that have flared up with similar conflicts in 
recent weeks: Ethnic Albanian insurgents have been fighting in northern 
Macedonia near the Kosovo border. 

Though separated by borders, the conflicts appear similar - both sparked by 
insurgents apparently hoping to joining the heavuly ethnic Albanian areas to 
Kosovo as part of ultimate goals of independence. 

The latest upsurge of fighting around Kosovo has raised fears of another 
major crisis that could threaten the whole region, less than two years after 
NATO and the United Nations moved into Kosovo in the wake of a pullout of 
troops loyal to former President Slobodan Milosevic. 

The insurgents' offer for talks came after NATO began discussions with Serbia 
on narrowing the buffer zone, which would allow heavier Serb and Yugoslav 
forces into areas from which they are now barred. Now only lightly armed Serb 
police are allowed into the zone, and insurgents have taken control of large 
parts of the area. 

Later Thursday, a NATO team for the region met with both Serbian officials 
and local ethnic Albanian leaders about revising the zone and on efforts 
toward a peaceful solution. 

Serb government official Nebojsa Covic said the talks were ``constructive.'' 
He indicated Belgrade would not oppose inclusion of the militants in the 
ethnic Albanian delegation, saying ``We will talk to any ethnic Albanian 
representatives who have the trust of the local population.'' 

The Serb government has offered a peace plan to the ethnic Albanians, winning 
international support. 

Southern Serbia and northern Macedonia were reported quiet Thursday afternoon 
following clashes in both areas Wednesday. 

In a statement released in Geneva, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud 
Lubbers warned against an ``overly hasty change'' in the buffer zone because 
it ``could destabilize the area and cause further displacement of ethnic 
Albanians from southern Serbia into Kosovo.'' 

NATO officials stressed that the army would be allowed to return to the zone 
once the Serbian government implements confidence-building measures toward 
the local ethnic Albanian majority.