YUGOSLAVIA: KFOR SOLDIERS CLOSE BORDER CROSSING BETWEEN KOSOVO AND SERBIAN BUFFER ZONE AHEAD OF YUGOSLAV TROOP DEPLOYMENT

Record ID: 648218

  • Title: YUGOSLAVIA: KFOR SOLDIERS CLOSE BORDER CROSSING BETWEEN KOSOVO AND SERBIAN BUFFER ZONE AHEAD OF YUGOSLAV TROOP DEPLOYMENT
  • Date: 23rd May 2001
  • Summary: KAMENICA /MUHOVAC, NEAR KOSOVO BORDER WITH SERBIA BUFFER ZONE, YUGOSLAVIA (MAY 23, 2001) (REUTERS (A) 1. MV: KFOR SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS AT BORDER CROSSING 0.03 2. CU: KFOR NOTICE ON TRUCK 0.08 3. WIDE OF BORDER AREA 0.12 4. LV: TRUCKS ON KOSOVO SIDE OF BORDER NOT BEING ALLOWED TO CROSS TO SERBIA 0.18 5. VARIOUS OF TRUCK DRIVERS BY SIDE OF ROAD/ OFFICIALS (2 SHOTS) 0.29 6. VARIOUS OF RUSSIAN KFOR SOLDIER HELPING ETHNIC ALBANIAN WOMAN PUSH HER PRAM CARRYING SMALL CHILDREN ACROSS BORDER CROSSING (3 SHOTS) 0.44 7. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian): UNNAMED ETHNIC ALBANIAN WOMAN "I departed Bujanovac this morning and I crossed into Kosovo and now they won't allow me to go back and I have two little children there." 0.52 8. SLV: CARS AT BORDER 0.57 9. WS/MV OF TRUCKS AND DRIVERS AT BORDER (2 SHOTS) 1.07 10. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) ALBANIAN TRUCK DRIVER: "Why didn't they tell us before that they would close the border. We came to this side early this morning and now they wont' let us go back." 1.21 11. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE AND TRUCKS AT BORDER CROSSING (2 SHOTS) 1.31 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 7th June 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KAMENICA /MUHOVAC, NEAR KOSOVO BORDER WITH SERBIA BUFFER ZONE, YUGOSLAVIA
  • City:
  • Country: Yugoslavia
  • Reuters ID: LVADH3DQV1R2SWU3QG3OD3GJZ09F
  • Story Text: KFOR soldiers have closed the border crossing between
    Kosovo and the Serbian buffer zone ahead of the deployment of
    Yugoslav troops scheduled to take place on Thursday.

    The move has trapped some ethnic Albanians on the Serbian side
    of the border, causing distress for families and truck drivers
    who had crossed earlier in the day and not been told that the
    border would be closed.


    Thousands of Serb troops were poised on Wednesday (May
    23) to surge into an area bordering Kosovo with NATO's backing
    as dozens more ethnic Albanian guerrillas who used it as a
    base surrendered to peacekeepers.

    Belgrade expects little resistance,as in contrast to their
    ethnic kin still fighting in nearby Macedonia, commanders of
    the guerrilla group fighting in the Presevo Valley of southern
    Serbia for 16 months have agreed to disband by the end of May.

    Serbian leaders do not rule out some trouble when their
    troops move into the hilly terrain of 'Sector B' of the NATO-
    ordained buffer zone early on Thursday morning, but predict it
    will be isolated and shortlived.

    Around 3,500 soldiers and police will move into the strip
    of land around 35 kms (22 miles) long by five kms (three
    miles) wide if the operation goes peacefully, but up to five
    times that number could be deployed if required, military
    sources said.

    The border in Sector B was closed from early Wednesday
    morning for all traffic from Kosovo into the rest of Serbia,
    except for humanitarian relief and press. An official of the
    NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force said it was likely to remain
    shut for several days.

    Major John Duke, an operations officer, told Reuters that
    the border would remain open to traffic from Serbia into
    Kosovo, to allow for the return of refugees and any guerrillas
    wanting to give themselves up under a KFOR amnesty.

    But some civilians said they were trapped by the closure,
    claiming they had not been forewarned.

    "I departed Bujanovac this morning and I crossed into
    Kosovo and now they won't allow me to go back and I have two
    little children there," one woman said.

    One truck driver said "Why didn't they tell us before that
    they would close the border. We came to this side early this
    morning and now they wont' let us go back."
    As the Yugoslav troops prepared to go into the zone, some
    40 guerrillas turned themselves in to KFOR in Kosovo, bringing
    to over 300 the number of fighters to take advantage of an
    amnesty offered by the peacekeepers.

    The guerrilla group, the Liberation Army of Presevo,
    Medvedja and Bujanovac named after the three main towns in the
    region, emerged in January 2000 pledging to defend local
    Albanians from Serb repression.

    It took advantage of the buffer zone around the outside of
    Kosovo's borders with the rest of Yugoslavia, which was
    declared off-limits to Yugoslav army and Serbian special
    police units by NATO in June 1999 after its bombing campaign.

    But NATO is now anxious to support the reformers who last
    October ousted Milosevic, and has been allowing Yugoslav
    forces back into the zone sector by sector this year.

    The alliance decided last week to let them into the final
    and most sensitive section, Sector B, where the guerrillas
    have been in almost total control for months.

    After weighing up the risks of fighting a vastly superior
    force, guerrilla leaders accepted NATO's argument that, with
    Milosevic gone, now was not the time for armed struggle.

    Serbian authorities have pledged to end Milosevic-era
    discrimination against ethnic Albanians and to integrate them
    fully into local institutions such as the police.


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