Rebel leader arrested in Kosovo

Yugoslav troops have been allowed re-entry to the buffer zone section by section

BUJANOVAC, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- A key ethnic Albanian rebel leader has been arrested in Kosovo, it has been confirmed.

A Western diplomat, who did not wish to be named, told CNN that Muhamet Xhemajli -- known as Commander Rebel -- gave himself up on Monday night to KFOR.

The arrest came as Yugoslav forces prepare to re-enter the last stretch of a buffer zone separating Serbia from Kosovo, and as the army in neighbouring Macedonia carried out a new offensive against its own ethnic Albanian rebels.

A number of ethnic Albanian rebel leaders have surrendered or signed agreements with KFOR to cease their activities ahead of the Yugoslav advance into the buffer zone, but Xhemajli had resisted

VIDEO CNN's Chris Burns has more on the continuing problems in Kosovo (May 22) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    IN-DEPTH Macedonia: Hurdles to peace   •  Balkan hotspots   •  Interactive map   •  Macedonia's military   •  News search   •  Audio/video archive   •  In-Depth: Yugoslavia   •  In-Depth: Kosovo

It is believed he is now being held at Bondsteel, the main U.S. military installation in Kosovo, the diplomat said.

Xhemajli was the only ethnic-Albanian rebel leader operating between Kosovo and Serbia who refused to disband and disarm his force ahead of the entry of the government forces into the final part of the zone later this week.

The buffer zone was set up as part of the deal to end NATO's Kosovo campaign and was intended to keep Serb and Yugoslav forces out of Kosovo.

In recent months Yugoslav forces have been allowed section by section back into the buffer zone.

In another possible sign of easing tensions, Albanian rebels in northern Macedonia -- acting through the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) -- have released a Macedonian soldier captured a few days ago.

According to a source close to the Macedonia government, OSCE is trying to arrange a rebel withdrawal.

Yugoslav troops are scheduled to begin moving into a 5 km-by-35 km (3 mile-by-21 mile) buffer zone along the southern Serbia-Kosovo border on Thursday.

However, an agreement signed with a rebel leader on Monday gives the rebels another week to surrender their weapons.

Macedonian clashes

The developments came as fierce clashes broke out again in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia after one of the heaviest days of fighting for weeks.

Ethnic Albanian rebels fighting in the north of the country launched a mortar attack on government forces on Tuesday who responded with artillery fire.

Macedonian army spokesman Colonel Blagoja Markovski told The Associated Press that the rebels shelled government positions with mortars on Mount Popova Sapka, above the north-western town of Tetovo.

"We responded with artillery and destroyed the terrorist group," Markovski said. He did not specify casualties.

The government has expressed concern for trapped civilians, saying they are being used as human shields by the militants to stave off a wide-scale offensive.

The insurgents reject the allegations, saying those who have remained wanted to express solidarity with the militants.

Defence Ministry spokesman Gjorgji Trendafilov said at least 1,000 civilians remained in the besieged village of Otlje.

Some 6,000 are believed stranded in nearby Lipkovo and undetermined numbers remain in other villages in the conflict area.

During lulls in the fighting, the International Red Cross has managed to evacuate hundreds of women, children and elderly, and deliver aid to those civilians still in villages.

Ethnic Albanians alleged on Tuesday that masked Macedonian troops attacked their remote mountain hamlet in a predawn raid, evicted them and set fire to their homes, mosque and school.

The Macedonian authorities have denied the charge.

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) in Kosovo said 43 civilians from Runica arrived in Kosovo late Monday night after trekking over the mountains.

"Some of them are wounded," UNHCR spokeswoman Astrid van Genderen Stort said. The civilians said they had fled because of shelling.

Arjeta Kamberi, a 19-year-old student, told Reuters there were no armed insurgents of the self-styled National Liberation Army in Runica, which suddenly filled with troops just before dawn on Monday.

"The soldiers all wore black clothes and masks. They smashed our windows when everyone was asleep and dragged us out. Then they poured petrol on buildings and set them on fire," she said.

"They burnt our school which was built for us by (Italian charity) Caritas, and they burnt the mosque and the cattle and horses in their stalls."

But Colonel Markovski said: "This is the first time I hear something like that. I have no information about anyone burning houses."

He said the army had answered "a call for help from people asking to be evacuated because they were being held hostage and terrorised by a 25-member terrorist gang."

Troops "destroyed and dispersed" the gunmen and were trying to get the civilians out, he told reporters.