Subject: Top Yugoslav defense body proposes changes to buffer zone
Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2000 12:20:03 PST
From: C-afp@... (AFP / Alexandra Niksic)
Organization: Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
Newsgroups: clari.world.europe.balkans,clari.world.europe,biz.clarinet.sample
Followup-To: biz.clarinet.sample


BELGRADE, Dec 25 (AFP) - Yugoslavia's top defense body said
Monday it would ask the UN Security Council to changes to a
NATO-designated buffer zone between Serbia and Kosovo because of
recent violence by ethnic Albanian separatists, according to the
state news agency Tanjug.
During a meeting in Belgrade, the Supreme Defense Council
proposed the UN body support the modifications "since Albanian
terrorists use the zone to jeopardize security in and outside the
area," a statement said.
There were no further details available, but Yugoslav officials
have indicated they would demand that the demilitarized
five-kilometre (three-mile) wide buffer zone be decreased.
The Yugoslav government also asked parliament to adopt a
declaration calling on the UN to clear ethnic Albanian rebels from
the buffer zone.
The government warned that if its demands were not met, it would
take the situation into its own hands.
A declaration to be finalised in a federal parliamentary session
Wednesday, urged that "the UN Security Council take measures as soon
as possible for the urgent withdrawal of Albanian terrorists from
the security zone.
"Failing this, Yugoslavia will use its legal and legitimate
rights to resolve the problem by using methods internationally
authorised in the fight against terrorism, which is its duty."
Ethnic Albanian guerrillas of the Liberation Army of Presevo,
Bujanovac and Medvedja (UCPMB) have gained control of several
villages and key areas where only lightly-armed Serbian police are
allowed to patrol the zone, set up following last year's the NATO
bombing campaign in Yugoslavia.
The council declaration added that NATO-led peacekeepers (KFOR)
and the United Nations mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) "are directly
responsible for armed intrusions by the Albanian terrorists in the
zone.
"They have neither provided security, (nor have they protected)
human rights and freedoms of all the citizens in Kosovo, nor have
they disarmed armed Albanian terrorist groups."
The Supreme Defense Council, made up of the federal, Serbian and
Montenegrin presidents and convened by Yugoslav President Vojislav
Kostunica, also praised Serbian police and the Yugoslav army for
"preventing further intrusions by the terrorist forces" in the
area.
On December 19, the UN Security Council condemned the
separatists and demanded their withdrawal from the zone.
Earlier, sources in Podgorica, the capital of Monetengro, said
the council was expected to discuss the replacement of General
Milorad Obradovic, commander of the Second Army in charge of
Montenegro, as well as of Admiral Milan Zec, the commander of the
Yugoslav navy.
Both were appointed by Yugoslavia's former president, Slobodan
Milosevic, without Montenegro's approval, and Montenegrin President
Milo Djukanovic had called for the issue to be raised at the
council's last meeting in Podgorica in October.
The meeting of the Supreme Defense Council marked the first time
in two years that Djukanovic had come to Belgrade.
Frosty ties with Milosevic had pushed Montenegro closer to
opting out of the Yugoslav federation, in which it is overshadowed
by Serbia.
The Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), the 18-party bloc
backing Kostunica which won Saturday's parliamentary elections, has
said one of its top priorities is to patch up ties with Montenegro.