NATO Gives Kosovo Rebels More Time to Tally Arms Handed Over
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia — NATO on Thursday gave Kosovo guerrillas more time to come up with a complete tally of weapons handed in, after a disarmament deadline passed.
The ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army had until midnight Wednesday to turn in most of its heavy weaponry, including antitank and antiaircraft weapons, and grenades and other explosives, and it was to have presented its total to KFOR, the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo, on Thursday.
But the KFOR commander, British Lt. Gen. Mike Jackson, said he had agreed to a request from the KLA commander, Gen. Agim Ceku, to postpone their meeting until Saturday.
“I am encouraged by the quantity of weapons that have been handed in over the past few days,” Jackson said. “What is needed now is the time to ensure that the accounting process is completed correctly.”
Under an agreement between NATO and the KLA signed in June, the guerrilla force had 30 days to hand in most of its heavy weapons.
The KLA also was required by midnight Wednesday to hand in 30% of its submachine guns and automatic weapons, all of which must go into designated storage sites throughout Kosovo, a province of Serbia, the main Yugoslav republic.
Jackson said Ceku wanted more time to be certain that his fighters had complied with the agreement.
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