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Below is a news item recently reported in the international media, and carried on the Balkan Information Exchange web site at www.balkan-info.com.
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UN, KFOR Work for Peace in Southern Serbia
(Sources: Agence France Presse (AFP), Associated Press (AP), KFOR)

Efforts of the United Nations, KFOR and Yugoslav officials to bring a peaceful resolution to the unrest in southern Serbia continue despite continued resistance by ethnic Albanian rebels.  Ethnic Albanian extremists with the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (UCPMB) maintain their presence in the Ground Safety Zone (GSZ), meant to act as a five-kilometre buffer zone between Serbia proper and Kosovo.

The United Nations Security Council sent a strong message to the UCPMB in a resolution adopted 19 December, AFP reported.  "The Security Council calls for the dissolution of ethnic Albanian extremist groups.  The Council also calls for the immediate withdrawal from the area, and particular from the Ground Safety Zone, of all non-residents engaged in extremist activities," the resolution said.  The Council also strongly condemned violent actions by the UCPMB.

The KFOR troop presence along Kosovo’s border with Serbia has been stepped-up in an attempt to prevent rebel and arms movement between the GSZ and Kosovo.  On 20 December KFOR troops arrested 13 Kosovo Albanians attempting to cross the border into the GSZ..  Uniforms and weaponry were confiscated.  "KFOR is dedicated to ensuring that ethnic Albanian armed groups are not permitted to use Kosovo as a staging area for extremist activity," KFOR spokesman Major Steven Shappel said following the arrest.

High-level diplomacy has also made been used to bring peace in the region.  KFOR Commanding General Carlo Cabigiosu met with Serb Vice-Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic on 20 December to discuss potential solutions to the rebel activity, AFP reported.  Although no details on the content of the meeting were made available, Cabigiosu released a statement saying he was encouraged by the discussion.  "I believe it is possible to find a peaceful solution to this problem, and this meeting was a step in the right direction," Cabigiosu said, according to AFP.

Yugoslavia has appealed for a diplomatic solution to the unrest despite a November offensive by the UCPMB that claimed the lives of four Serb policemen.  Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica has urged NATO to consider a change in the agreement that brought an end to the hostilities in Kosovo in 1999 and established the GSZ.  "A possible solution is to have the five-kilometre zone reduced to two or one kilometres and free the communication route to the south…. It is not realistic to expect the changes in the entirety of the text, that would only lead to further instability," Kostunica said  on 19 December, according to AP.

For more information, please see "Background on the Conflict in the Presevo Valley" in the Background and Bios section of this site.


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