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Yugoslav Buffer Zone Presence Increases
MUTIVODE, Yugoslavia, April 14 (News Agencies) - Yugoslav security forces returned to a new sector of the tense buffer zone with Kosovo Saturday in a bid to end violence in southern Serbia and neighboring Macedonia, KFOR said.
General Ninoslav Krstic, head of Yugoslav security forces in the area, met with General Ernest Luz of the NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo (KFOR), just before the units began moving into "sector D", one of five sectors in the buffer zone, at 8:00 am (0600 GMT).
Yugoslav army units entered near the town of Medvedja, on the road from the southern Serbian town of Leskovac to the Kosovo capital Pristina, along the administrative border with the province.
The deployment followed an accord signed Thursday between Krstic and KFOR commander, General Thorstein Skiaker, charged by NATO with deciding when and where the troops would be allowed back into the zone.
NATO gave the green light on March 8th for a gradual return of Yugoslav troops to the buffer zone - five kilometers wide and 402 kilometers long - for the first time since the end of the Kosovo war in June 1999, following months of repeated opposition attacks in the area.
Yugoslav troops have already occupied about two-thirds of the zone in a bid to block the rebels in the border strip from shipping arms to fellow fighters stoking rebellion in neighboring Macedonia and southern Serbia.
A remaining tip of the buffer zone - sector B - scene of repeated clashes between rebels and Serbian police, remains off-limits to the army.
Just near Mutivode, at the KFOR-controlled Gate 4, KFOR spokesman Marko Wramen told reporters that the multinational force had done its best to stabilize the area.
"We have shown readiness to assure safety for all citizens," in the area, Wramen said, adding that the KFOR troops would continue round-the-clock "foot, vehicle and helicopter patrols" of the area.
KFOR said in a statement that a European Union Monitoring Mission would "enjoy full freedom of movement within sector D in order to monitor the activities of the joint Security Forces operating there and ensure compliance with agreed modalities.
"Throughout the operation, KFOR will increase security along the administrative boundary with the [Yugoslav] Republic of Serbia to maintain a safe and secure environment for the people of Kosovo," the statement said.
Yugoslav troops were to be deployed Saturday during a three-phase, eight-hour long operation in an area some 49 kilometers (30 miles) long.
Army Colonel Jevrem Jeftic did not comment on how many troops would be stationed in the area, saying only: "There will be enough men to fulfill the task."
He said the troops, equipped with weapons of up to 30mm caliber and allowed to have mortars of 82mm caliber, "will take over 10 checkpoints" within the area.
An AFP reporter in Mutivode saw a convoy of about a dozen trucks with infantry units, equipped with personal weapons, including snipers, moving along the main road.
At about four points, the infantry units got off the truck, taking to the hills to secure positions.
Several armored personnel carriers were also seen in the convoy, as well as troop carriers with camp and field equipment.
Jeftic said the troops would not enter Serb or ethnic Albanian-populated villages within the zone.
Previously, only lightly armed Serbian police were permitted to enter the zone, following the agreement that ended the NATO bombardment of Yugoslavia in June 1999.
Due to a lack of security, the zone has become a haven for separatists from the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (LAPMB), named after three southern Serbian towns, for increased attacks on the police units.
The rebels are demanding self-rule for the Presevo valley region and are thought to have links to another ethnic Albanian group that waged a major campaign against the Macedonian government in February and March.
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