[Prishtina-E] WorldNews.com article: "Yugoslav Army Unit Prepares Return"

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The Associated Press (Fri 1 Sep 2000)
Yugoslav Army Unit Prepares Return

PETLOVO BOJISTE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- An elite Yugoslav army unit whose 
goal is to return to the NATO-controlled province of Kosovo held war 
games Friday -- a show of force apparently meant to boost President 
Slobodan Milosevic's tarnished image ahead of elections. 

Backed by more than 200 tanks, armored vehicles and helicopters, about 
1,000 infantry troops exercised with live ammunition in rain and fog 
before top Yugoslav generals and a dozen foreign diplomats. 

The unit's "sacred duty" is to return to Kosovo, said the army's chief 
of staff, Gen. Nebojsa Pavkovic. He charged that the international 
peacekeeping mission in the Serbian province "suffered a complete 
failure." 

Pavkovic, an outspoken ally of Milosevic, saluted the troops and 
reminded them that last year's Kosovo peace agreement between 
Yugoslavia and the United Nations permits the eventual return of 
Yugoslav forces. The agreement led to the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops 
and the deployment of NATO-led peacekeepers in the Serbian province in 
June 1999. 

The mission of the Yugoslav soldiers would include clearing minefields 
and guarding Serbian churches and monasteries. But NATO commanders have 
said it is too early for up to 1,000 Yugoslav soldiers to return to 
Kosovo because of continued ethnic tensions between the province's two 
major ethnic groups, the ethnic Albanians and the minority Serbs. 

Asked after the exercise whether the Yugoslav army would go into Kosovo 
by force, Pavkovic answered that the military does "not wish to 
violate" the peace agreement. But he warned that the "threshold of 
tolerance of the Serbian people has its limits." Serbia is the larger 
of the two republics that make up Yugoslavia. 

The war games, dubbed "Return 2000," were apparently intended to boost 
Milosevic's image among the Serbs ahead of Sept. 24 presidential and 
parliamentary elections. He faces a strong challenge from an opposition 
candidate, Vojislav Kostunica, who leads in opinion polls. 

The Yugoslav president's popularity has plummeted since his troops were 
forced to withdraw from Kosovo, considered by Serbs to be their sacred 
land. The pullout followed last year's 78-day NATO bombing of 
Yugoslavia, a campaign intended to stop his crackdown against ethnic 
Albanians. 

Also Friday, the top international official in Kosovo delayed a 
decision on whether to let the province take part in Yugoslavia's 
upcoming elections. A decision likely will be announced Monday. 

International officials were caught off guard earlier this week when a 
Milosevic aide said 500 polling stations would be opened in Serb 
enclaves in Kosovo for the vote. 

According to U.N officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, 
Washington opposes including Kosovo in the elections. European 
governments are not so adamant, pointing out that the province formally 
remains part of Yugoslavia. 

In Geneva, meanwhile, the office of the U.N. rights chief announced 
Friday that she had appointed Swedish Ambassador Henrik Amneus as her 
special envoy on "persons deprived of liberty in connection with the 
Kosovo crisis." 

Mary Robinson, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, wants 
Amneus to look into prisoners, detainees and missing persons on all 
sides of the conflict. The Red Cross has drawn up a list of more than 
3,300 people still missing in the province. 
Copyright 2000 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or 
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