Text: Lt-Cdr. Rune Berge
"We have agreed in a deal allowing
Yugoslav army troops to return to the most southern part of GSZ, COMKFOR
Lt. Gen. Carlo Cabigiosu said after the deal was signed by him and Serbian
Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic.
GATE 3: The Yugoslavian Army (VJ) is now entering the bottom part of the Ground Safety Zone (GSZ). "We have agreed in a deal allowing Yugoslav army troops to return to the most southern part of GSZ, in a square so to say five by five Kilometers along the border within FRY and FYROM," COMKFOR Lt. Gen. Carlo Cabigiosu said after the deal was signed on Monday.
Just hours after the agreement between NATO and Serbia was signed at Gate 3 in Multi National Brigade Center (MNB C), the Liberation Army for Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (UCPMB) operating inside the Buffer Zone, said they had agreed to a time limited cease-fire in the volatile Presevo Valley.
This, COMKFOR hopes, will prevent any casualties in connection with the VJ return in the southern part of GSZ.
"This is a peaceful mission, and we have set all the pre-conditions to avoid any harm to anyone, soldiers or civilians," he said, also telling that the VJ return is due to happen any day now. "The return to the GSZ, sector C, will come in the next few days. The very next days."
Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic, who signed the truce on Serbia's behalf, agreed in this being a peaceful mission, saying the deployment would be subject to monitoring by UN officials and peacekeepers as well as ethnic Albanian observers.
"There will be no violation of the cease-fire because we won't fire first. I expect that both sides will respect the cease-fire deal."
The Presevo Valley area was quiet as the truce came into force at midnight Monday. But the Serbian Deputy Prime Minister acknowledged that there are plenty of challenges ahead in bringing lasting peace to this area after more than a year of sporadic violence.
"A great amount of work lies before us. We have to calm down the region, we must make the lives of all citizens in the region safe, give them freedom of movement and a common life."
Part of a process
COMKFOR Lt. Gen. Carlo Cabigiosu feels confident that these steps towards lasting peace will be taken care of in the best way by all sides.
"This is part of a process that had to happen sooner or later, and we are not expecting any problems from the Albanian side in Kosovo. I think that if the Kosovars want to progress in their process to normalization and democratization, they have to start looking at Serbia with different eyes. This deal is only for the benefit of the people and a step in the direction of getting a normal relationship between Serbia, NATO and representatives of the international community in Kosovo, and the Kosovar political leaders," he said during the short press conference at the boundary to Serbia.
Asked upon how he will keep the Yugoslav forces apart from KFOR, he referred to agreements that have been made.
"There are co-ordination agreements that have been discussed as part of the general agreement, which will ensure that this will not happen.
He also referred to agreements made upon restrictions concerning the use of arms by the VJ in connection with their operations in the GSZ.
"A military plan has been made and this plan includes conditions of fair treatment for all parts."
Closing the "Hole in the wall"
The GSZ was laid out in an agreement that stopped NATO's 1999 bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. Neither KFOR nor VJ are allowed access into the GSZ, and this "Hole in the wall" situation has resulted in an increase in tense clashes between the ethnic Albanian separatists and Serbian special police force (MUP). This is a development KFOR now tries to decrease by allowing Yugoslav troops to patrol the southern end of the zone to stop weapons smuggling and rebels infiltrating the area where Kosovo, the rest of Serbia and Former Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) meet. In other words, a key step in NATO efforts to reduce the threat of a new Balkan war.