[ALBSA-Info] Greece welcomes narrower Kosovo buffer zone

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Greece welcomes narrower Kosovo buffer zone

  
ATHENS, March 8 (Reuters) - Greece said on Thursday a narrower U.N.-imposed 
buffer zone between southern Serbia and Kosovo would help stifle violence in 
nearby Macedonia, which is fighting off bands of ethnic Albanian gunmen. 

"What will deflate tensions is the reduction of the buffer zone from five kms 
(width) to just one," Foreign Ministry spokesman Panos Beglitis told 
reporters. 

Following 1999 air strikes on Yugoslavia, NATO imposed a buffer strip between 
southern Serbia and Kosovo to keep Yugoslav security forces a safe distance 
away from the ethnic Albanian province that had suffered repression by 
Belgrade. 

But ethnic Albanian extremists have exploited the zone not just to attack 
Belgrade's security forces in southern Serbia's Presevo region but also to 
infiltrate adjacent Macedonia and occupy several border villages. 

NATO allies agreed on Thursday to allow Serbian forces to enter the "ground 
safety zone" to fend off attacks. The depth of the area they will occupy will 
be determined by the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force in Kosovo.