Rebels surrender arms in Serbia

Yugoslav troops are gradually being allowed to re-enter the Kosovo buffer zone

RANATOVCE, Yugoslavia -- Ethnic Albanian rebels in southern Serbia have begun handing their weapons over to NATO for disposal.

NATO and key guerrilla leaders signed an agreement earlier in the week committing the rebels to disarm and disband by the end of May.

"We respect demilitarisation," rebel leader Commander Shpetim told the Associated Press news agency.

Besides handing over the weapons used by his rebel faction, Shpetim formally surrendered to the peacekeepers -- the highest-ranking rebel commander to do so.

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NATO peacekeepers in the region have given the rebels until midnight on Wednesday to surrender.

The rebels have agreed to hand over their weapons and have their photographs taken before being released.

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebjosa Covic has promised amnesty to ethnic Albanian rebels who lay down their arms.

Shpetim said his men were prepared to lay down their weapons now, "but if Belgrade continues with the policies of (former President Slobodan) Milosevic, we will organize ourselves again to defend our people."

In Bujanovac, a key ethnic Albanian rebel leader was arrested in Kosovo on Monday.

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

AUDIO CNN's Chris Burns: KFOR working closely with the government 279kb/25secs. AIFF or WAV sound

The arrest came as Yugoslav forces prepared 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 has resisted.

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