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Ethnic Albanians Reject Belgrade Peace Plan
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Feb 8 (News Agencies) - Ethnic Albanian separatists fighting Serbian security forces along the southern boundary with Kosovo on Thursday rejected a peace plan proposed by Belgrade, raising the specter of more turmoil in the volatile region.
Serbia's reformist Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic made a barely veiled threat of force against the separatists, warning that those "who are not ready for a reasonable [solution] will suffer the consequences."
The plan, which would have allowed Albanians to play a larger role in political life but stopped short of autonomy, was also snubbed by the Unified Albanian Democratic Party (PBDSH), party president Zeqirja Fazliu said.
The separatists of the self-proclaimed Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (UCPMB) - the three main towns in southern Serbia's area along the administrative border with U.N.-run Kosovo - dismissed the plan as "unacceptable" for Albanians.
Fazkiu said the proposal, which received immediate U.S. backing after being adopted by Belgrade last week, did not provide a basis for talks with the authorities.
Djindjic told reporters that Belgrade "cannot force anyone to be reasonable."
"We are trying to show to the world and our public that we are ready to solve problems in a normal way," Djindjic said.
But those "who are not ready for this reasonable way, will suffer consequences."
"The authorities offer talks to those who want them. Those who want something else will get what they want," Djindjic said.
His comments came just after visiting high-level EU officials praised the new authorities, who ousted hardliner Slobodan Milosevic last October, for their restrained approach in handling the thorny problem.
Djindjic defended the government solution as "fair and has all the elements for a normal life for the people."
Belgrade's reformist administration said for the first time last week it would be willing to talk with separatists as well as local ethnic Albanian community leaders.
The government-proposed plan called for "international mediators" in talks, without specifying who would be included in the team, but said the line-up should be accepted by both sides.
"The international community should convince the Albanians to abandon any idea of autonomy in southern Serbia, or a special status for the region and any change of borders," the plan said, calling such demands "unacceptable, unworkable and unjust."
The peace plan, adopted Tuesday by Belgrade, advocates the "re-establishment of the constitutional order, security and freedom of movement for all citizens, respect of human rights in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society."
It also calls for the progressive retreat of both Belgrade and separatist forces from the region, with mixed patrols of Serbian and ethnic Albanian police officers instead.
But Belgrade has insisted on its right to use force against the separatists if they turn down a peaceful solution.
The plan also sets out a program of wide-ranging economic development of the region, one of the poorest in the country, which would include rebuilding damaged housing and improving infrastructure.
Belgrade is also calling for a return of Albanian workers to public offices, as well as their representation in the Serbian and Yugoslav parliaments - institutions they have boycotted for years.
It has likewise called for a "reduction" or "removal" of the NATO-imposed buffer zone between southern Serbia and Kosovo.
The separatists moved into the area after a June 1999 accord between NATO and the Yugoslav army to set up a narrow buffer zone off-limits to Belgrade forces with heavy weapons.
The zone was created to minimize the chance of clashes between Belgrade forces and the NATO-led peacekeeping force, KFOR, but separatists have used it as a safe haven, fighting to annex the area with the breakaway Kosovo.
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