Thousands flee Kosovo border violence

About 1,000 ethnic Albanians entered Kosovo on Wednesday

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- More than 4,000 ethnic Albanians have now fled violence on the Kosovo-Serbia border in the past week, it has been revealed -- with NATO chief George Robertson urging Kosovo leaders to rein in rebels operating in the area.

Ethnic Albanian guerrilla activity in the remote and hilly area last week, which left four Serbian policemen dead, has prompted many frightened civilians to leave their homes.

"Kosovo has reported about 4,400 people crossing into Kosovo from southern Serbia at this point," Maki Shinohara, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told a news conference in Belgrade.

She said some 1,000 people had entered Kosovo on Wednesday alone, despite general calm in recent days as both sides observe a cease-fire.

NATO General Secretary Lord Robertson, on a one-day visit to the province, said he was concerned about a recent upsurge in activity by the guerrillas.

"The leadership here in Kosovo, as I have just told them, has also a role to play in restraining extremists in the area, because the activities of these extremists damage everybody's interests in Kosovo," Robertson told reporters.

"They should be isolated and they should be condemned both privately and publicly by all of the leaders here," he said after meeting with local leaders including several former commanders of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

Some of the refugees came from Lucane, a small ethnic Albanian village that Serbian forces re-entered on Wednesday without any resistance from rebels.

Robertson urged Kosovo leaders to condemn the militants

Shinohara stressed there had been no reports of violence or harassment towards civilians.

"The families say that they have left the area as a precautionary measure."

The guerrillas operate mainly inside a three-mile wide buffer zone by the boundary. They say they are protecting ethnic Albanians in Serbia's Presevo Valley from police abuse.

Belgrade maintains they are terrorists intent on joining the boundary region to Kosovo, an international protectorate since last year's NATO bombing campaign to halt Serbian repression of the province's ethnic Albanian majority.

The Yugoslav army and Serbian police increased their presence in the Presevo Valley after last week's clashes, while making clear they would only act if attacked by the rebels.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Serbs recapture Kosovo border village
November 30, 2000
Serbs capture strategic village from rebels
November 29, 2000
Hopes for peace on Kosovo border
November 28, 2000
Tension mounts on Kosovo border
November 27, 2000

NATO
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.