Text: Lt-Cdr. Rune Berge -- Photo: S J Lewis, RM
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Closing in: The Ground Safety Zone shall no longer be a safe haven
for extremist activities as KFOR troops and Yugoslav Army reduces the five
kilometer big gap between them.
PRISTINA: NATO has agreed to reduce the width of the buffer zone between Kosovo and Serbia. "We will plan along NATO guidance's on how the reduction of the Ground Safety Zone (GSZ) should be undertaken," Lt. Gen Carlo Cabigiosu says in a statement.
The decision was taken by the NATO Foreign Ministers who on the ministers meeting in Brussels expressed deep concern over the use of the Ground Safety Zone as a safe haven for extremist activities. To avoid such activities, NATO is prepared to implement a phased and conditioned reduction of the GSZ.
Lord Robertson, Nato Secretary General, said according to the Electronic Telegraph that the alliance had agreed to a "phased and conditioned" reduction of the zone to prevent an increasing number of Albanian rebel attacks on Serb forces.
Premature
"Obviously, any final decision on the reduction rest with NATO," Cabigiosu
says, adding: "At this point, it would also be premature to discuss what
advice we will proffer to NATO."
As Lord Robertson has stated, Cabigiosu will continue to exercise overall authority for the Ground Safety Zone.
"As foreseen in the Military Technical Agreement, this includes authority on the entry and disposition of Yugoslav Army and Interior Ministry Police forces through my joint implementation Commission organization."
Since late November, KFOR have taken vigorous measures to strengthen the control along the administrative boundary of Kosovo with southern Serbia. This has been done in order to prevent ethnic Albanian armed groups from using Kosovo as a staging area for illegal activities in southern Serbia.
"I think our detention of over 200 of these extremists is ample evidence of our determination in this regard," Cabigiosu says in a statement on this matter.
Warned
But KFOR officials also warned that the decision to allow Yugoslav
troops into the five-kilometer buffer zone could lead to a clash between
allied troops and the Yugoslav army.
Shawn Sullivan, political adviser to the COMKFOR, said there was a "definite danger" of a clash if the Serbs go after ethnic Albanian gunmen.
Mr Sullivan said: "There are still people in the VJ [Yugoslav Army] and the MUP [interior ministry special police] who do not want to see a peaceful solution."
He pointed out that the village of Dobrosin - a stronghold of the so-called UCPMB, the Albanian rebels who want the Presevo Valley area of southeastern Serbia incorporated into Kosovo - was only 200 yards from a US checkpoint.
He said: "If a stray shell hit Outpost Sapper it would be the worst
thing the [Yugoslav] government could experience." Asked if KFOR would
retaliate, he replied: "I would think so. I don't think we would accept
an 'Oops, we're sorry'."