Yugoslavia, NATO Welcome Rebel's Demilitarization StatementYugoslavian and NATO officials commended the demilitarization statement released by a key ethnic Albanian rebel leader on Monday, according to the official Yugoslavian Tanjug News Agency.Tanjug said that Shefket Musliu, a leader of ethnic Albanian rebels known as the Liberation Army for Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (UCPMB), agreed that his forces would lay down weapons and disband by the end of the month, as a gesture and step toward peace efforts. Nebojsa Covic, Chairman of a Yugoslavia state coordination body in Southern Serbia and concurrently Deputy Prime Minister of the Serbian republic, said it was a great day when Shawn Sullivan, head of NATO's office in Yugoslavia, and Musliu signed the demilitarization statement on Monday. Covic went on to say that the demilitarization statement could help avoid further bloodshed. He also said his government will go all out to improve living conditions for residents of different nationalities in the region. Peter Fejt, a special envoy of NATO's general-secretary, said that NATO is satisfied with the statement and it shows that the rebels are aware that there is no political future in violent conflicts, and that political rights should be achieved through peaceful efforts. |
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