Subject: Serbian police reinforcements sent to Kosovo border
Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 11:20:12 PST
From: C-afp@... (AFP)
Organization: Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
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BELGRADE, Nov 27 (AFP) - Serbian police reinforcements were
being sent Monday to the town of Bujanovac on the border with Kosovo
in case ethnic Albanian fighters failed to withdraw from positions
they have been holding, an official said.
Slobodan Tomovic, joint interior minister of Serbia, was quoted
by Beta news agency as saying police were being deployed in
"tactical and military positions."
"That gives us a good starting point if we can't find a
diplomatic solution and if the Albanian terrorists don't withdraw
from their positions," he added.
Earlier, ethnic Albanian guerrillas who killed three Serbian
police in fighting in southern Serbia extended a unilateral
ceasefire but said they were expecting a Serbian counter-attack to
take back land seized in last week's clashes.
The tense stand-off dragged on as Yugoslav President Vojislav
Kostunica headed for the region, warning the flare-up could "easily
set the whole region ablaze."
Tomovic, joint interior minister in a fragile Serbian coalition
administration, was quoted as sying: "We'll hunt anyone out of the
security zone who is not supposed to be there."
Beta said an original Yugoslav ultimatum had been extended from
Monday to Thursday.
Yugoslavia originally gave NATO-led peacekeepers in the
UN-administered province of Kosovo until 7:00 pm (1800 GMT) Monday
to stamp out the violence in the officially demilitarised buffer
zone on Serbia's side of the boundary.
Beta quoted police as saying Serbian authorities had ceded to a
request by the internaitonal community to give dialogue a chance and
resolve the current southern Serbian crisis peacefully.
Tension increased after Yugoslav tanks were seen in the area
near the buffer zone. But Kostunica said the heavy armour would not
move into the area, in line with an agreement with NATO signed last
year.