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Albanians Call For International Control In Southern Serbia
PRESEVO, Yugoslavia, March 3 (News Agencies) - Ethnic Albanians in southern Serbia on Saturday demanded the creation of an interim international protectorate to end a year-long conflict that has threatened stability in the region.
But the proposal ran into instant opposition from Belgrade, which rejected the "internationalization" of the crisis.
Riza Halimi, mayor of the southern town of Presevo, presented a platform for "halting armed conflicts and solving the crisis in the region," insisting that all "disputes can and must be solved by political means and through negotiations."
It demanded the area be put "under international control ... and demilitarized by withdrawal of the Serbian forces," as well as "putting the rebels from the self-proclaimed Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (UCPMB) under international control."
These were pre-conditions for a long-term, acceptable solution, the plan said, adding that UCPMB commanders should head the ethnic Albanian delegation.
"An international factor should develop order and security for all citizens, a justice system, state bodies, police and administration," the plan said.
It called for international administration of the area to continue until a definitive solution had been achieved. The people of the region should have the right to self-determination once a "democratic society" was formed, it added.
Negotiations between Belgrade and the ethnic Albanian team should be held in "another country, with international mediation," the plan said, suggesting the possible involvement of the United States and the United Nations.
The accord, if adopted, should be guaranteed by international organizations, notably the U.N. and NATO. It also called for a halt to all military activities from the start of negotiations.
Halimi said the main problem was that Belgrade would not accept the "representatives of armed Albanians" - the UCPMB - to be included in the talks.
Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica has repeatedly refused to negotiate with what he calls "terrorists" seeking to break away from Serbia.
Halimi said there were two options: one would be to keep the status quo, with a strong presence of international forces, EU observers and even KFOR peacekeepers, who would be in charge of preventing clashes until a new local police force can be formed.
The other option would be to have a strong international police force until a local police force is set up.
Belgrade has already offered a peace plan, which calls for disarming the separatists and bringing the ethnic Albanian community into the political and economic mainstream of Serbia and Yugoslavia.
It immediately ruled out an international presence in the region, saying that the problem should be solved as an internal Yugoslav issue.
Since November, members of the UCPMB have occupied around 200 square kilometers (approximately 70 square miles) within the buffer zone, where only lightly armed Serbian police are allowed to patrol.
The heavily armed group has clashed regularly with Serbian security forces, and is seeking independence for the Presevo Valley area and Kosovo. Both areas are predominantly Albanian, although with Serbian minorities.
Zeqirja Fazliu of the Unified Albanian Democratic Party (PBDSH) said the scene of future talks has not yet been settled.
The document said the regional strife had arisen from decades of institutional discrimination and segregation against Albanians.
Meanwhile in Belgrade, Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic met with NATO special envoy Peter Feith to discuss the alliance's decision this week to reduce the buffer zone in southern Serbia.
No statement was made after the talks, but a diplomatic source said that one of the main topics of the discussion "was a change in the military units" currently deployed in the area near the zone.
The UCPMB forces face off with the Yugoslav army's Pristina Corps, which was in Kosovo when the regime of former president Slobodan Milosevic forced some 800,000 Albanians out of the province.
The French foreign ministry said Thursday NATO was considering deploying in the region, although Washington dismissed the idea.
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