K-FOR soldiers close border between Kosovo & buffer zone.

Описание: (23 May 2001)

Kamenica/Muhovac, near the Kosovo/Serbia Buffer Zone border
1. Various of trucks stopped on the Kosovo side of the border
2. Various of K-FOR soldiers and civilians at border crossing
3. Close up of licence plate on truck
4. Various of a Russian K-FOR soldier helping an ethnic Albanian push her pram with small children across border crossing
5. Close-up of child's face
6. SOUNDBITE: (Albanian) Voxpop, Woman
"I departed Bujanovac this morning and I crossed into Kosovo and now they won't allow me to go back and I have two little children there."
7. Various of vehicles at border
8. SOUNDBITE: (Albanian) Voxpop, Albanian truck driver:
"Why didn't they tell us before that they would close the border. We came to this side early this morning and now they wont' let us go back."
9. More of people and trucks at border crossing.
10. K-FOR sign

Terminator Outpost, Mucibaba
11. Various of soldiers with guns walking along track
12. Soldier looking through binoculars
13. Armed soldiers on lookout
14. SOUNDBITE: (English) Lieutenant Ha Anh, U.S. K-FOR Soldier:
"With the G-S-Z (Ground Safety Zone) closing soon we have of course received an influx of a lot of refugees, a lot of U-C-P-N-B (Albanian Liberation Army for Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac) surrendering, wanting to take advantage of K-For's amnesty programme, trying to help them out and provide them with safety. As D-Day closes in on us, it looks like tomorrow actually, we've actually heightened our awareness really well, we're making sure that our guys are sharp and that we're doing the right thing to provide a safe and secure environment for both Kosovo and our surrounding sectors."
15. Troops walking

STORYLINE:

K-FOR soldiers on Wednesday closed the border crossing between Kosovo and the Serbian buffer zone that separates the province from Serbia proper.

The action comes ahead of the deployment of Yugoslav troops scheduled to take place in the buffer zone on Thursday.

The move has trapped ethnic Albanians on the Serbian side of the border, causing distress for families and truck drivers who had crossed earlier in the day and not been told that the border would be closed.

The deployment of Yugoslav troops in the area comes after international officials and leaders of the ethnic Albanian Liberation Army for Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (U-C-P-M-B) guerrilla group signed a declaration saying the group would disarm.

According to the agreement, the demilitarisation of the U-C-P-M-B should take place between May 24 and May 31.

Yugoslav security forces are due to move into a section of the buffer zone next to the border with Kosovo, where the guerrillas currently have their base, on Thursday.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...