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Top Yugoslav Defense Body Proposes Changes To Buffer Zone
by Alexandra Niksic
BELGRADE (AFP) - Yugoslavia's top defense body said Monday it would ask the U.N. Security Council for changes in 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 U.N. 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-kilometer (three-mile) wide buffer zone be decreased.
The Yugoslav government also asked parliament to adopt a declaration calling on the U.N. to clear ethnic Albanian separatists 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 finalized in a federal parliamentary session Wednesday, urged that "the U.N. 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 authorized in the fight against terrorism, which is its duty."
Ethnic Albanian fighters 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 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 19th, the U.N. 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.
Yugoslavia’s former president, Slobodan Milosevic, without Montenegro’s approval, appointed both, 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.
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