SERBIA/KOSOVO: U-C-P-M-B

Описание: (4 Mar 2000) Serbo-Croat/Nat

VOICED BY: LOUISE BATES

A new ethnic Albanian army has formed INSIDE Serbia.

Men from the mountains around Bujanovc, Medvedja and Presevo have banded together to protect ethnic Albanian villagers living inside Serbia.

Their fear is that what happened in Kosovo will happen to them.

This latest development comes after NATO-led peacekeepers pledged on Friday to push ahead with resettling ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

00.03
This new rebel group, known by its acronym UCPMB, has recently started patrolling the tense administrative border between Kosovo and Serbia.

00.12
These fighters, dressed in camouflage and sporting the Albanian national symbol, say they are trying to protect villagers in the region from Serb police attacks.

00.22
Thousand of Albanians have fled villages like Presevo, fearing the Serbs will hunt them down. That's what the UCPMB is trying to guard against.

00.31
The town's mayor says they heard about the appearance of people in uniform, calling themselves the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac, and soon all the newspapers started talking about them.

00.52
Not far from this checkpoint a Serb police major was killed and three other officers were wounded when unidentified armed perpetrators attacked a police patrol. Hence the need for more security checks.

01.05
The Serbs allege the fighters are infiltrating the region from Kosovo. They believe NATO troops are helping them.

01.11
It was only the latest in a series of clashes in this area.

01.16
This man, living in Bujanovac, says it's not as safe as before. But he thinks good relations have to be maintained between the Serbs and Albanians because they all want life to improve.

01.33
Eighty per cent of Albanians have already left Dobrasin, with the aid of the International Rescue Committee.

01.40
Many families fled to Malishevo, Kosovo, where they're squeezed into tiny apartments.

01.45
It may not be paradise, but at least its safe.

01.50
Vision Ends

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