YUGOSLAVIA: FOREIGN MILITARY OFFICIALS AND MEDIA WITNESS YUGOSLAV MILITARY MANOEUVRES

Record ID: 646890

  • Title: YUGOSLAVIA: FOREIGN MILITARY OFFICIALS AND MEDIA WITNESS YUGOSLAV MILITARY MANOEUVRES
  • Date: 3rd September 2000
  • Summary: PIROT, YUGOSLAVIA (SEPTEMBER 1, 2000) (REUTERS) 1. SLV /MV YUGOSLAV ARMY SOLDIERS MARCHING; SOLDIERS LINED UP FOR ARRIVAL OF YUGOSLAV ARMY CHIEF-OF-STAFF NEBOJSA PAVKOVIC; MV SOLDIERS STANDING IN RAIN (3 SHOTS) 0.17 2. SLV YUGOSLAV ARMY CHIEF-OF-STAFF NEBOJSA PAVKOVIC SALUTING YUGOSLAV SOLDIERS; SCU SOLDIERS (2 SHOTS) 0.29 3. YUGOSLAV ARMY CHIEF-OF-STAFF NEBOJSA PAVKOVIC SPEAKING 0.32 34. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) NEBOJSA PAVKOVIC SAYING KFORs and UNMIKs arrival in Kosovo not only failed to ensure implementation of U.N. resolution one two four four but even dramatised the situation in Kosovo to the level of a# real humanitarian catastrophe. 0.51 5. SLV YUGOSLAV ARMY SOLDIERS LISTENING TO SPEECH AS THEY STAND IN THE RAIN 0.56 6. SLV SOLDIER IN TURRET OF TANK AT START OF MILITARY EXERCISE 1.01 7. GV YUGOSLAV ARMY TANKS IN THE FIELD; SLV SOLDIERS PARTICIPATING IN EXERCISE; ANTI-TERRORIST UNITS DURING EXERCISE (10 SHOTS) 2.06 8. AV POLICE HELICOPTER ARRIVING 2.11 9. SLV YUGOSLAV ARMY SOLDIERS FIRING AN ANTI-TANK ROCKET; MILITARY EXERCISE IN PROGRESS; MILITARY SPECIAL FORCES DURING EXERCISE DISPLAYING UNARMED COMBAT/KNIFE THROWING AND KARATE (7 SHOTS) 3.16 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 18th September 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PIROT, YUGOSLAVIA
  • City:
  • Country: Yugoslavia
  • Reuters ID: LVAB6LHN64AG9I3QQDYAES2LHB4Z
  • Story Text: The Yugoslav army has displayed a special unit set up
    to return peacefully one day to Kosovo, the Serbian province
    under de facto international control since last year's NATO
    bombing campaign.

    The army, which withdrew from Kosovo in June 1999
    following 78 days of NATO air strikes, had invited foreign
    military officials as well as international and domestic media
    to watch the army and police unit in action outside the
    Serbian town of Pirot on Friday (September 1).

    In pouring rain, hundreds of troops and police took part
    in an exercise near a hill outside Pirot, roughly 100 kms (60
    miles) east of the majority ethnic Albanian province.

    Using live ammunition, the unit trained in breaking up
    terrorist groups. Tanks, armoured personnel carriers and two
    helicopters were also used.

    Defence Minister Dragoljub Ojdanic and army top brass were
    flown in by helicopter to review the troops.

    Yugoslav army chief-of-staff Nebojsa Pavkovic accused the
    U.N. mission and the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force of
    failing to ensure security in Kosovo, whose dwindling Serb
    population is under frequent attack by ethnic Albanians.

    Army officials said the Kosmet unit, the Serb name for
    Kosovo, has 999 members. It consists of ground troops, air
    force and air defence personnel as well as special police.

    NATO officials have repeatedly said that the alliance
    takes the decision on when Yugoslav soldiers can return,
    saying the time is not yet ripe as it may further destabilise
    Kosovo.

    Military officials from twelve countries - Austria,
    Bulgaria, Greece, Iraq, Italy, Japan, China, Hungary, Poland,
    Romania, Russia, Ukraine -- as well as a United Nations
    representative from Belgrade attended the event outside Pirot.

    Kosovo has been controlled by KFOR and the U.N.-led
    administration since Yugoslav forces withdrew last June after
    11 weeks of NATO bombing to halt Belgrades oppression of
    ethnic Albanians.

    The Yugoslav government has repeatedly called for the
    withdrawal of international forces and the return of the
    Yugoslav army and police.

    A Serb opposition official suggested that the Pirot
    exercise was part of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevics
    campaign for presidential, parliamentary and local elections
    on September 24.


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