YUGOSLAVIA: YUGOSLAV FORCES MOVE BACK INTO THE FINAL SECTOR OF A BUFFER ZONE NEXT TO KOSOVO IN AN OPERATION INTENDED TO END ETHNIC ALBANIAN GUERRILLA INSURGENCY
Record ID:
647602
YUGOSLAVIA: YUGOSLAV FORCES MOVE BACK INTO THE FINAL SECTOR OF A BUFFER ZONE NEXT TO KOSOVO IN AN OPERATION INTENDED TO END ETHNIC ALBANIAN GUERRILLA INSURGENCY
- Title: YUGOSLAVIA: YUGOSLAV FORCES MOVE BACK INTO THE FINAL SECTOR OF A BUFFER ZONE NEXT TO KOSOVO IN AN OPERATION INTENDED TO END ETHNIC ALBANIAN GUERRILLA INSURGENCY
- Date: 24th May 2001
- Summary: (W3)SAINT ILIJA, NORTHERN SECTOR OF ZONE B OF BUFFER ZONE, YUGOSLAVIA (MAY 24, 2001 (REUTERS) 1. SLV/CU POLICE FORCES WHO ARE PART OF THE YUGOSLAV JOINT SECURITY FORCES USING DEMINING EQUIPMENT (2 SHOTS) 0.11 2. SV/CU SERBIAN SOLDIER DEACTIVATES EXPLOSIVE (3 SHOTS) 0.46 3. SV/SLV TROOPS WALKING UP HILL AND INTO MIST (2 SHOTS) 1.01 4. SLV/SV NEBOJSA COVIC, SERBIAN VICE-PRIME MINISTER AND HEAD OF THE COORDINATING BODY IN SOUTHERN SERBIA AND TROOPS (2 SHOTS) 1.15 5. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) NEBOJSA COVIC SAYING "This is the beginning of the operation of the return of Yugoslav security forces to the sector B of the security zone. We set off well and I hope that it will end with no incident. However there was a small incident this morning outside the security zone though when a tank ran over a mine. It is obvious that the mine has been planted overnight. But everyone should keep in mind that the amnesty law will no longer apply from today." 6. SV COVIC STANDING WITH OFFICERS 2.08 7. SV/MCU OFFICER TALKING ON WALKIE-TALKIE (2 SHOTS) 2.19 8. SV/MCU/CU SOLDIER IN SANDBAGGED POSITION SURVEYING LANDSCAPE WITH GUN (3 SHOTS) 2.34 9. MCU (English) DAVID SLINE, REPRESENTATIVE OF BRITISH EMBASSY IN YUGOSLAVIA SAYING "Obviously this is an early stage in the operation, but the signs are good and we hope that it will be successful and that it will be another important phase in the development of NATO's relationship with the international community - its relationship with Yugoslavia." 2.51 10. LV SOLDIER BY VEHICLES 2.58 (W3) NEAR PRESEVO, IN SOUTHERN SECTOR OF ZONE B OF BUFFER ZONE, YUGOSLAVIA (MAY 24, 2001) (REUTERS) 11. SLV/CU YUGOSLAV ARMY SPECIAL FORCES WHICH ARE NOW PART OF YUGOSLAV JOINT SECURITY FORCES WALK ALONG PATH USING DEMINING EQUIPMENT (2 SHOTS) 3.13 12. SV SOLDIER WITH WALKIE TALKIE 3.18 13. CU BADGE ON SOLDIER'S ARM 3.22 14. SLV TANK PROCEEDING ALONG PATH 3.30 15. SV SOLDIER ON TANK 3.37 16. SLV TANK DRIVING FOLLOWED BY SOLDIERS 3.48 17. SV ANOTHER TANK ROUND CORNER 4.02 18. LV ANOTHER MOVING TANK FOLLOWED BY SOLDIERS 4.10 19. SLV RED CROSS VEHICLE BEHIND TANKS 4.20 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 8th June 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SAINT ILIJA AND LOCATION NEAR PRESEVO, SECTOR B OF BUFFER ZONE, YUGOSLAVIA
- City:
- Country: Yugoslavia
- Reuters ID: LVAJB206YZ0BSB8CW9UQJRSE3QW
- Story Text: Yugoslav forces have begun to move back into the final
sector of a buffer zone next to Kosovo in an operation
intended to end a 16-month ethnic Albanian guerrilla
insurgency.
At 8:00 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Thursday (May 24) "Operation
Bravo" started and the first contingent of some 4,000 troops
and paramilitary police began moving back into "Sector B" of
the five km (three mile) wide zone.
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) imposed the zone
at the end of its 78-day bombing campaign against Yugoslavia
in 1999 to protect international peacekeepers and Kosovo's
ethnic Albanian majority, leaving a
security void that was filled by the guerrillas.
Belgrade has said it expects little resistance to the
NATO-approved return of its forces after the guerrillas agreed
to disband and more than 300 gave themselves up to
peacekeepers.
However Yugoslav officials have warned there are a large
quantity of anti-tank and anti-personnel mines in the sector,
which contains only one paved road.
The government press centre in Bujanovac said that in the
first couple of hours Yugoslav forces had found two anti-tank
mines, six anti-personnel mines and three hand grenades in the
northern part of Sector B. They also found a truck half filled
with various mines and grenades.
Serbian vice-prime minister and head of the coordinating
body in southern Serbia Nebojsa Covic said "This is the
beginning of the operation of the return of Yugoslav security
forces to the sector B of the security zone. We set off well
and I hope that it will end with no incident."
An ethnic Albanian guerrilla group emerged in January 2000
to exploit the security vacuum in the zone to attack the
police and army.
Covic said there had been an incident outside the security
zone on Thursday morning when a tank ran over a mine.
"It is obvious that the mine has been planted overnight",
he said.
Around 50 people have been killed since the insurgency
began in the Presevo Valley area of southern Serbia and
international officials had long feared it could spark a much
wider conflict.
But, under pressure from NATO, the guerrillas agreed this
week to disband and demobilise by the end of the month.
David Sline, a representative of the British embassy in
Yugoslavia said: "Obviously this is an early stage in the
operation, but the signs are good and we hope that it will be
successful and that it will be another important phase in the
development of NATO's relationship with the international
community - its relationship with Yugoslavia."
Sector B, a strip of land some 35 km (22 miles) long, is
the area where the guerrillas have been most active.
NATO, keen to bolster the reformers who ousted Milosevic
in a mass uprising last October, has been allowing Yugoslav
forces into the buffer zone section by section since earlier
this year to put the squeeze on the rebels.
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