NewsMax.com
Monday, Nov. 27, 2000

According to the Associated Press:

President Vojislav Kostunica's government in Belgrade has given the North Atlantic Treaty Organization until 7 p.m. Monday to terminate the Albanian encroachment or it will use "all available means," including heavy weapons.

The Yugoslavs accuse ethnic Albanian extremists operating from Kosovo of attacking southern Serbia and occupying four villages in the buffer zone between Kosovo and Serbia.

In response, Belgrade is threatening counterattacks on its side of the border if NATO cannot restrain the Albanians.

On the other side of the border – the Kosovo side – United States and other NATO nations' troops are on patrol next to the buffer zone.

On Sunday, tensions grew by the hour as Yugoslav army T-55 battle tanks and armored personnel carriers were observed maneuvering near the buffer zone and heavily armed security forces deployed near the boundary of the three-mile demilitarized zone.

The crisis erupted last week when ethnic Albanian militants of the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac attacked Serb positions in the Presevo Valley to unite the area with Kosovo, a province of Serbia.

Many residents of Serbia, Yugoslavia's principal republic, which has been under international control since last year, are demanding full independence.

Stevan Nikcevic, one of Serbia's three co-ministers of the interior, said, "We have to protect the territorial integrity of the country so the terrorists don't jeopardize any lives of our citizens."

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Kosovo/Yugoslavia