[ALBSA-Info] Presevo ceasefire in effect after NATO seals deal

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Presevo ceasefire in effect after NATO seals deal

By Fredrik Dahl

  
BUJANOVAC, Yugoslavia, March 13 (Reuters) - A ceasefire between ethnic 
Albanian guerrillas and state security forces took effect on Tuesday in 
Serbia's volatile Presevo Valley region bordering Kosovo and Macedonia. 

The area was quiet as the truce came into force one minute after midnight. 
But officials on all sides acknowledged there were plenty of challenges ahead 
in bringing lasting peace to the area after more than a year of sporadic 
violence. 

"A great amount of work lies before us. We have to calm down the region, we 
must make the lives of all citizens in the region safe, give them freedom of 
movement and a common life," Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic 
said. 

More than 30 people have been killed in or around part of the NATO-ordained 
buffer zone along the outside of Kosovo's border which runs through the 
Presevo Valley. 

The clashes have alarmed Western governments as they have the potential to 
ignite a larger conflict in the region. A NATO envoy brokered the ceasefire 
deal on Monday. 

Calm prevailed early on Tuesday morning in the flashpoint village of Lucane, 
where Serbian police and ethnic Albanian guerrilla lines are just 100-200 
metres (330-660 feet) apart. 

Only barking dogs could be heard in the dark village, on the edge of the 
buffer strip west of the regional centre Bujanovac. "The whole day and the 
whole evening have been peaceful. I heard the last shot at around 11 a.m. 
yesterday (Monday)," said a Serbian policeman who identified himself only as 
John Z. 

"We can hear children's voices in the village again. that is a good sign," he 
told Reuters. He said he had suffered a pierced eardrum during heavy fighting 
on Friday when one of his fellow officers was killed and three others wounded 
in Lucane. 

In recent weeks, violence involving ethnic Albanian guerrillas has spilled 
into Macedonia. Authorities there said on Monday they had launched an 
operation to regain control of the border near a village which had been 
occupied by the rebels. 

In the Presevo Valley, the ceasefire is meant to be a prelude to political 
talks between ethnic Albanians and Serbs to resolve their grievances. 

It also paves the way for Serbian security forces to enter a 25-square km 
(9.6-sq-mile) patch of land at the bottom of the five-km-(three-mile)-wide 
buffer zone, marked off by the Kosovo boundary to the west and Macedonian 
frontier to the south. 

NATO Secretary-General George Robertson urged Serbs and ethnic Albanians on 
Monday to honour a commitment to hold face-to-face peace talks within a week 
of the start of the ceasefire. He also urged everyone in the region to stay 
calm. 

The rebels say they are defending the local ethnic Albanian population from 
Serbian repression. Belgrade says they are terrorists whose only aim is to 
merge the Presevo Valley with Kosovo, a province with an overwhelming 
Albanian majority. 

Kosovo has been under international rule since NATO intervened to stop a 
harsh crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians by Yugoslav Serb troops and 
security police under the command of authoritarian nationalist Slobodan 
Milosevic. 

Before NATO-led KFOR peacekeepers moved into Kosovo in June 1999, they 
insisted on the buffer zone to keep Serbian forces a safe distance way from 
the province. 

But much has changed since then. Milosevic was toppled in a mass uprising 
last October and the West is now eager to support the reformists who have 
taken his place, eschewed violence and promised to give ethnic minorities a 
fair deal. 

Lieutenant General Carlo Cabigiosu, commander of the KFOR force, agreed on 
Monday with Belgrade officials the ground rules for the return of Serbian 
forces to a first part of the zone. 

"The aim is to allow the legitimate authorities to exercise their authority 
in the area," Cabigiosu declared. 

But serious question marks hang over the agreement. 

The commander of the guerrilla group has warned he cannot guarantee the 
safety of Serbian forces returning to the zone against "spontaneous actions 
of local Albanian elements," according to a source close to the rebel group. 

Also, some Serbian officials have expressed unease that NATO has placed so 
many restrictions on the returning forces that they may be unable to defend 
themselves properly from attack. 

Some are also not happy about the location of the pocket being opened up to 
them. They fear it leaves them potentially open to attack from Albanians to 
the west in Kosovo, to the north in the Presevo Valley and to the south in 
Macedonia. 

In Macedonia on Monday, authorities said they had reasserted control of the 
border with Kosovo at the village of Tanusevci, where clashes with guerrillas 
started more than two weeks ago. 

"We had some resistance from a small group of terrorists which we very 
quickly and efficiently disposed of," Defence Ministry spokesman Georgi 
Trendafilov told a news conference.