Presevo peace talks

MERDARE, Yugoslavia -- Ethnic Albanian and Serb representatives held talks aimed at bringing peace to Serbia's Presevo Valley bordering Kosovo.

The two sides met at a cluster of military tents set up on Kosovo's border with Serbia proper by the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force, close to the village of Merdare, international mediators said on Friday.

The dialogue aims to put a permanent end to violence involving ethnic Albanian rebels and Serbian security forces which has flared repeatedly for more than a year in the Presevo Valley killing several dozen people.

"I think this was a very, very important step, particularly at a time when this region is once again in a very tense and crisis situation," said Stefan Lehne, a European Union mediator.

A similar conflict has recently erupted in neighbouring Macedonia, giving added urgency to the search for peace.

The mediators did not disclose substantive details of the discussions but said the two sides had talked face to face.

"This was a constructive meeting which lasted about two hours and this meeting is the first in a series of meetings which will continue next week," said Peter Feith, a special envoy of NATO Secretary-General George Robertson.

The two sides agreed a cease-fire last week after more than a year of sporadic but sometimes fierce fighting in the Presevo Valley in southern Serbia.

The rebel group said it is fighting Serb state-backed persecution of ethnic Albanians.

Belgrade has branded the rebel separatists as "terrorists" whose only goal is to link the area into ethnic Albanian-dominated Kosovo.

The rebels have taken advantage of a NATO-ordained buffer zone around Kosovo which has been off-limits to Yugoslav army soldiers and Serbian special police units.

But the alliance, anxious to bolster the new reformist leadership in Belgrade, has begun letting Yugoslav forces back into the zone in an attempt to put the squeeze on the rebels and stop them linking up with a similar group in Macedonia.

Belgrade's forces will move into a large section of the five kilometre (three mile) wide zone on Sunday, KFOR said on Friday.

The section does not, however, include any areas where the rebels are believed to be active.

Despite the breakthrough of a first face-to-face meeting, the mediators said difficulties remained, most notably the fate of four Serbs and two Yugoslav army soldiers held by the rebels.

Belgrade is demanding their immediate release and at one point the issue looked set to stop the two sides meeting.

"What characterised these talks was a humanitarian problem -- the problem of six detained Serbs," Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic said after the discussions.

Feith said he was working to reach a deal where the captives would be released into the custody of the KFOR commander, Lieutenant General Carlo Cabigiosu of Italy.

He said the talks would continue next Thursday and stressed NATO also wanted to see concrete measures from Belgrade aimed at integrating ethnic Albanians into political and economic life in the Presevo Valley.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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