Four more die in Serbian valley violence

BELGRADE - Yugoslavia says it is still committed to a peaceful resolution of the conflict near the Kosovo boundary, despite a day of violence which left three Serb policemen and one ethnic Albanian guerrilla dead.

Belgrade said the deaths yesterday of the three policemen killed by antitank landmines in the Presevo Valley area, just a few kilometres inside Serbia proper, were part of a broader campaign of terror by ethnic Albanians.

Serb ministers linked the deaths to the bombing of a bus in ethnic Albanian-dominated Kosovo on Saturday in which seven Serbs were killed and dozens more wounded.

But the Presevo Valley guerrillas distanced themselves from the bus bombing and insisted that they too wanted a peaceful resolution to their conflict with Serb security forces, which has claimed around 30 lives since it began a year ago.

Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica held an emergency meeting with top Government and security officials yesterday. He said they had agreed a series of measures to "protect against terrorism," giving no details. But he made it clear that his Government still wanted to solve the problems of the Presevo Valley through talks.

"The meeting noted that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia will remain dedicated to its peaceful policy and launch even stronger diplomatic action to have the issues of Serbia's south resolved through negotiations," he said.

That remark, at least, may bring a small sigh of relief at Nato headquarters. Secretary-General George Robertson urged Serbia's new reformist rulers to stick to their policy of restraint, which has won praise from Western Governments.

"I deplore the escalation of the violence in southern Serbia and urge the leadership of both sides to exercise maximum restraint," Robertson said.

"The problems of the region cannot be solved by violence; they can only be settled through direct negotiations between the parties. Today's events make the urgency of moving ahead with such negotiations all the more clear."

The rebels say they are fighting Serb repression of the substantial ethnic Albanian population in the Presevo Valley. Serb officials have branded them terrorists whose only goal is to join the area to ethnic Albanian-dominated Kosovo.

Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic wrote to Robertson asking for urgent action from Nato peacekeepers in Kosovo to clamp down on extremists.

"It is obvious that we are dealing with well-planned, premeditated and synchronised attacks aimed at provoking Yugoslav security forces and creating a much broader conflict," Svilanovic wrote in the letter, quoted by Beta news agency.

"The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia cannot allow Albanian terrorists to kill its citizens," he said.

The guerrillas said one of their number had been killed and two wounded in a gunfight with Serb forces yesterday. Each side blamed the other for starting that skirmish.

- REUTERS

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