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Tensions ease in southern Serbia
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SERBIAN police and armed ethnic Albanians withdrew from a village in Serbia's tense southern region in the early morning of Saturday following a verbal agreement reached by the Yugoslav Government and the ethnic Albanians, said the Yugoslav news agency Tanjug.
The verbal agreement, under which both sides agreed to dismantle road blockades near the village of Veliki Trnovac in "the buffer zone" and ensure smooth civilian transport on the road, was reached at midnight on Friday in the wake of day-long talks, said Tanjug.
Shawn Sullivan, a political adviser to the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force in Kosovo and a mediator during the talks, was quoted as saying at a press conference that the agreement started a process of demilitarization of the armed groups of ethnic Albanians with the understanding that peace can only be achieved through peaceful means.
Sullivan also hailed the agreement as a big step forward in the normalization process of the five-kilometer-wide buffer zone, which separates the UN-controlled Kosovo province and Serbia proper.
Tensions have been mounting in southern Serbia since November 21, 2000, when groups of ethnic Albanian gunmen attacked Serbian police in the buffer zone and caused massive casualties. The Yugoslav government then mobilized heavy military forces including tanks to this area.
While calling on the UN Security Council and KFOR to help cope with the crisis, Belgrade opened talks with Albanian guerrillas, which claim themselves to be the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (three Albanian towns in southern Serbia). The rebel group has sought to integrate the three villages into Kosovo.
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