YUGOSLAVIA: RECENTLY FORMED ETHNIC ALBANIAN REBEL GROUP SAY THEY'RE OPPOSED TO ARMED CONFRONTATION AND WANT A POLITICAL SOLUTION IN KOSOVO

Record ID: 565829

  • Title: YUGOSLAVIA: RECENTLY FORMED ETHNIC ALBANIAN REBEL GROUP SAY THEY'RE OPPOSED TO ARMED CONFRONTATION AND WANT A POLITICAL SOLUTION IN KOSOVO
  • Date: 23rd March 2000
  • Summary: GNJILJANE, KOSOVO, YUGOSLAVIA (MARCH 23, 2000)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) (NIGHTSHOTS) 1. VARIOUS POLICE AND CROWD OUTSIDE BUILDING (4 SHOTS) 0.18 2. VARIOUS ALBANIAN POLITICIANS INSIDE BUILDING AT PRESS CONFERENCE (3 SHOTS) 0.40 3. SCU: SOUNDBITE (Albanian) GUERRILLA SPOKESMAN JANUZ MUSLIU, POLITICAL COUNCIL FOR PRESERVO, MEDVEDJA AND BUJANOVAC, READING STATEMENT: "We are against armed confrontation. Our stance and our engagement will be in accord with our own national and international interests, especially with those of the United States and the North Atlantic Alliance."/LV MEDIA ( 1.56 4. VARIOUS MEDIA CONFERENCE (4 SHOTS) 2.19 5. SCU: SOUNDBITE (Albanian) KOSOVO POLITICIAN, HASHIM THAQI, FORMER COMMANDER OF THE KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY: "This is just the first step, but it's a very important step in overcoming the difficult situation in that valley."/ VARIOUS MEDIA CUTAWAYS (6 SHOTS) 2.46 6. WS POLITICIANS LEAVING CONFERENCE IN VEHICLES (2 SHOTS) 2.58 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 7th April 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: GNJILJANE, KOSOVO, YUGOSLAVIA
  • City:
  • Country: Yugoslavia
  • Reuters ID: LVAAPON6OPKLJ5GPDJKI8AV01N4G
  • Story Text: On the eve of the first anniversary of the NATO
    bombing campaign in Yugoslavia, leaders of a recently-formed
    ethnic Albanian rebel group in southern Serbia said they
    opposed armed confrontation and wanted a political solution to
    problems in their region.

    The United States hailed the declaration on Thursday
    (March 23) as an important first step in defusing tensions in
    the Presevo Valley area, which borders Kosovo and has been
    seen by many diplomats and analysts as the Balkans' next
    potential flashpoint.

    Washington had been applying heavy pressure to the rebels,
    warning them that there would be no repeat of last year's NATO
    intervention in Kosovo if Albanians provoked clashes with
    Serbian security forces in the Presevo Valley.

    "We are against armed confrontation," Januz Musliu of the
    Political Council for Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac -- the
    three main towns in the area -- told reporters after nine
    hours of meetings involving U.S.and Kosovar Albanian
    officials.

    "Our stance and our engagement will be in accord with our
    own national and international interests, especially with
    those of the United States and the North Atlantic Alliance."
    The declaration, made in the eastern Kosovo city of
    Gnjilane near the Serbian boundary, did not explicitly say if
    the region's self-styled "liberation army" would cease all
    operations.

    That at least left open the possibility that the group
    could respond to action by Serb security forces if it felt
    necessary.

    But the U.S.said the fact that the leaders had renounced
    "armed confrontation" and committed themselves to a political
    solution represented a major first step in a process
    Washington hopes will lead to disarmament and disbandment.

    Although the new Political Council was described to
    reporters as a group of activists, diplomats made clear they
    believed its members exercised control over the operations of
    the armed group which has emerged in the past few months.

    The Presevo valley area is estimated to be home to
    somewhere around 70,000 Albanians.Many have complained of the
    sort of harassment which afflicted their ethnic kin in Kosovo
    before NATO's bombing campaign drove Serb forces out of the
    province.

    Serb security forces and Albanians have clashed
    sporadically in the region over the past few months.

    But Western powers have made clear they do not believe the
    situation in the area is similar to that in prewar Kosovo and
    that they do not favour shifting the province's borders to
    include the valley, as some ethnic Albanians would like.

    Thursday's (March 26) declaration came after long hours of
    talks between the Presevo Valley leaders and Kosovo politician
    Hashim Thaqi, a former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army
    which fought for an end to Serb rule in the province.

    "This is just the first step," Thaqi said."But it's a
    very important step in overcoming the difficult situation in
    that valley."
    U.S.diplomats said they had come to the talks only to
    make clear Washington's position and had not offered any
    concessions.The presence of a high-level U.S.delegation
    in an adjacent room while the talks between Thaqi and the
    group leaders took place was, however, likely to have been a
    key factor in persuading the rebels to sign up to the
    declaration.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register