Radio B92 News on Kosovo and southern Serbia, December 25, 2000

*Defence Council focus on Bujanovac and army leadership
*Parliament to discuss southern Serbia on Wednesday
*Police move to expel Liberation Army from St. Ilija
*Covic calls out skulduggery in Kosovo
*Armed Albanians set up checkpoints near Veliki Trnovac
*Four Serbs disappear from Presevo-Gnjilane road
*Voter turnout in Kosovo lowest ever
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Defence Council focus on Bujanovac and army leadership

22:59 BELGRADE, Monday - Yugoslavia's Supreme Defence Council convened today
to discuss the situation on the Kosovo border and personnel changes in the
Yugoslav Army.

The full council was meeting for the first time since Milo Djukanovic's
election as president of Montenegro.

The council comprises the president of Yugoslavia and the presidents of
Serbia and Montenegro.

However, under the former regime, Djukanovic was not invited to any meetings
of the council, whose function was appropriated unilaterally by former
president Slobodan Milosevic.

Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, Serbian President Milan Milutinovic
and Djukanovic met today with Prime Minister Zoran Zizic and army chief of
staff Nebojsa Pavkovic attending.

The council proposed a request to the UN Security Council to support
amendments to the Kumanovo Agreement rules for the demilitarised zone on the
Kosovo border "because Albanian terrorists are using the zone to endanger
security in the region and its surroundings".

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Parliament to discuss southern Serbia on Wednesday

16:14 BELGRADE, Monday - The Yugoslav Parliament will discuss the situation
in Kosovo and buffer zone in southern Serbia on Wednesday, the Parliament
stated today.

Both chambers will discuss government's proposed declaration on principles
of protection of Yugoslav national and state interest, in regard to
escalation of Albanian terrorism in Kosovo and the buffer zone.

According to Beta, the Parliament will also discuss a special tax on product
distribution in 2001, amendments to the Federal Administrative Tax Act, and
amendments to Federal Market Inspection Act and the Payment Operations Act.

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Police move to expel Liberation Army from St. Ilija

15:08 PRISTINA, Monday - Over the course of the next few days, Serbian
police will take over a number of positions in the vicinity of St. Ilija
held by the self-proclaimed Liberation Army of Presevo, Bujanovac and
Medvedja, a source close to the police told Beta.

According to this source, Liberation Army positions on top of St. Ilija were
abandoned only a few hours before members of the Serbian Interior Ministry
reached them yesterday.

"This is confirmed by the fact that there were no casualties during this
action, and that the take-over was finished in no time", said Beta's source,
adding that the take-over of St. Ilija is only a part of a wider political
agreement between a number of parties involved in resolving the crisis in
the Presevo valley.

Albanian sources in Pristina said that the police's action yesterday "is
part of an agreement between KFOR, the Serbian regime and representatives of
Kosovo Albanians' political parties, who have no influence on the Liberation
Army of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja".

These sources claim "a greater part" of the Liberation army will not react
to the Serbian Interior Ministry's actions, but that there is danger of
possible provocations by some Albanian armed groups operating in this zone,
due to their inherently "loose command system". (Beta)

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Covic calls out skulduggery in Kosovo

14:17 BELGRADE, Monday - Democratic Alliance of Kosovo leader Ibrahim
Rugova's invitation to the Albanian extremists to negotiate with the Serbian
side "is an attempt to strengthen his own positions in connection with talks
on Kosovo," Serbian deputy prime minister Nebojsa Covic said

"We can spot a new intention in that, and that is for someone to provoke a
crisis in the security zone, like they already managed to do, and now they
would like to use it for strengthening their positions regarding the Kosovo
issue", Covic said in an interview with daily Vojvodina.

Their primary motive was to see the Serbian side "rush full speed" into
answering to the provocation, they way things used to be done earlier so as
to "be held responsible by the whole of the international community," Covic
added.

"We managed to see through both of their plans. The third one as well,
consisting of the fact that the former Yugoslav president and his wife Mira
Markovic and their people obviously have ties, direct or indirect ones, with
the Albanian terrorists," Covic assessed.

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Armed Albanians set up checkpoints near Veliki Trnovac

15:03 VRANJE, Monday - Armed Albanians set up two checkpoints this morning
at the entrance and exit to the village of Veliki Trnovac, and they are
checking identification documents of all those entering this village.

Colonel Novica Zdravkovic, head of the Vranje police department, confirmed
this information for Radio B92.

The Albanian checkpoint at the entrance of Veliki Trnovac is positioned
outside the security zone, and distanced some 200 meters from the police
checkpoint.

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Four Serbs disappear from Presevo-Gnjilane road

12:54 VRANJE, Monday - Four Serbs disappeared two days ago on the old
Presevo-Gnjilane road, Vranje police chief Novica Zdravkovic confirmed at a
press conference today.

At approximately 2 p.m. on December 23, Goran Miljkovic, Sasa Pesic, Milan
Kostic and Milisav Miljkovic were planning to visit their hometown near
Kosovska Kamenica by car.

However, they did not arrive, and since then there has been no trace of
them, Zdravkovic told Radio B92.

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Voter turnout in Kosovo lowest ever

10:03 KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Monday - Voter turnout in Kosovo for the Serbian
parliamentary elections was below 60 percent, which is the lowest regional
turnout ever, Radio B92's Kosovska Mitrovica correspondent reported.

The Democratic Party of Serbia's representative in Kosovska Mitrovica and
new MP Dragisa Djokovic assessed that the low turnout was the results of
abstention by Socialist party supporters not wishing to cast their ballots
for a party that seemed to be a foreordained loser.

"Our voters were disciplined and their number was imposing", stressed
Djokovic, admitting that DOS, however, also got the votes of those who have
a habit of voting for the ones already in power.

Leposavic DOS president and new MP Vuko Antonijevic said that the new
democratic regime had not had enough time to deal seriously with the
problems in Kosovo during the past two months. However, concrete steps
should follow at the beginning of next year when institutions in charge of
dealing with these issues should be set up, he said.

Antinojevic said that DOS's coming into power means that Kosovo's chances
for gaining independence have decreased dramatically, adding it is necessary
to reach a compromise with the Kosovo Albanians' democratic forces.