29 January, 2001
The Yugoslav President, Vojislav Kostunica, has warned that "fresh fighting" could soon break out again between Serb and ethnic Albanian forces. Mr Kostunica, who was attending the World Economic Forum in Davos over the weekend, is now rushing back to Belgrade because of what he describes as a "new threat to stability" in southern Serbia.
The Yugoslav authorities allege that a small number of K-For forces has been helping to smuggle weapons to former fighters of the disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army, or KLA, who are now fighting in the Presevo valley of southern Serbia. The past week has seen the most serious violence in the region since last November, when four Serb policemen were killed by suspected Albanian guerillas.
UN concern
In an exclusive interview with BBC World Television, Mr Kostunica said: "The threat is still under control, but it can get out of control. There we have once again the flames of a new war... we are trying by all means to prevent it. "The situation is getting worse and worse. One soldier has been killed in the last few days and a few have been wounded," he said.
Carl Bildt, the UN special co-ordinator for the Balkans, told the BBC that this was "the most serious threat to stability in the Balkans, and there is very little awareness or attention to what is about to explode".
The Yugoslav Government has demanded an urgent United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss the actions of ethnic Albanian guerrillas in the region. The rebels are fighting for the independence of three Albanian-populated towns in a part of Serbia which adjoins Kosovo.
They have been using 5km-deep military exclusion zone on the boundary, patrolled by the Nato-led K-For peacekeeping forces, to attack Serbian security forces. The Yugoslav soldier who was killed was hit in a guerilla attack on Friday. In a statement, the Yugoslav army said one of its units also came under what it called "strong terrorist" sniper fire on Sunday morning. It said the guerrillas fired anti-tank grenades and mortars in an attempt to prevent the Yugoslav unit from taking position on a hill.
Abrupt departure
Mr Kostunica had been due to speak to the Davos forum on plans for the economic regeneration of Yugoslavia, before his abrupt departure.
He told the BBC that the seriousness of the situation meant that, as president, he should be in Yugoslavia rather than the Swiss Alps. He said that some of the guerrillas fighting in southern Serbia came from Macedonia, describing the scenario as one of "classic terrorism".
Belgrade has repeatedly complained that the exclusion zone, or buffer strip, along the border - imposed by Nato as part of the 1999 ceasefire agreement - has given the rebels a free hand to mount attacks on Serb troops.
But the guerrillas, of the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (UCPMB), say the Yugoslav army has fuelled the violence by firing shells into the exclusion zone.
