Cease-Fire Quiets Presevo Valley
A cease-fire between ethnic Albanian guerrillas and state security forces took effect today in southern Serbia’s volatile Presevo Valley.
The area was quiet as the truce came into force one minute after midnight. But officials on all sides acknowledged that there are plenty of challenges ahead after more than a year of sporadic violence.
“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,” Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic said.
More than 30 people have been killed in or around part of the NATO-ordained buffer zone along the outside of Kosovo’s border, which runs through the Presevo Valley.
The clashes have alarmed Western governments because they have the potential to ignite a larger conflict in the region. An envoy with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization brokered the cease-fire Monday.
Kosovo is a province of Serbia, the main Yugoslav republic.
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