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NATO Urges Talks Between Yugoslavia, Ethnic Albanians
MATO said Monday that the Yugoslav government and ethnic Albanian representatives, who have agreed on a cease-fire for southern Serbia, should hold face-to- face peace talks within a week.
In a statement welcoming the truce, NATO Secretary-General George Robertson urged all people in crisis zones in southern Serbia and northern Macedonia to stay calm as the Yugoslav army and police prepared to enter a tense part of the NATO-defined "security zone" exploited by ethnic Albanian extremists.
"I urge all parties, within southern Serbia, Kosovo and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to remain calm and to lend their understanding and support to these efforts," Robertson said.
NATO had to invite Yugoslav forces to enter the zone after Albanian extremists launched a string of attacks on local police and recently on the Kosovo-Macedonian border. Previously, the buffer zone can be protected only by local police equipped with light arms.
Robertson emphasized the "commitment of the signatories to the cease-fire to enter into direct dialogue within one week" and called for renunciation of violence and full support for efforts to find a peaceful long-term solution to disputes.
"NATO will continue firmly and fairly to do all it can ... to bring lasting peace, security, stability and prosperity to the Balkan region," Robertson said.
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