From: "Miroslav Antic" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> NATO Fails To Win Rebel Cease-Fire Updated 6:56 PM ET March 10, 2001 By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer KONCULJ, Yugoslavia (AP) - NATO's bid to negotiate a cease-fire between ethnic Albanian rebels and Yugoslav forces in southern Serbia stalled Saturday, a setback for the alliance in its effort to curb armed clashes around Kosovo's borders. Special NATO envoy Pieter Feith had hoped the rebels and Yugoslav troops would agree to a cease-fire in the buffer zone separating Kosovo from the rest of Serbia, Yugoslavia's main republic. But he emerged without an agreement from the ethnic Albanians after three hours of talks. Rebels told reporters that the main stumbling block was NATO's plan to allow Yugoslav forces into the buffer zone near the Macedonian border to help cut off supplies of smuggled weapons to rebels operating there. The rebels objected to a Serb request to send special police into an ethnically mixed village near the border. A rebel leader who identified himself only as Commander Vullneti called the request "unacceptable." Serb Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic called the ethnic Albanian refusal "very damaging" and said his side was prepared to accept NATO's cease-fir proposal. Rasim Ljajic, a member of the Yugoslav government delegation, said talks would continue, and portrayed the failure to reach a cease-fire Saturday as a delay. Feith said he would try again Sunday. Talks on a cease-fire are part of a NATO effort to halt attacks by ethnic Albanians in both Yugoslavia and Macedonia, which have raised fears of new large-scale violence two years after the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia ended former President Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on Kosovo Albanians. On Saturday, an 11-year-old Serb boy was wounded when ethnic Albanians fired mortars at Oslare, a Serb village just outside a three-mile-wide buffer zone. Sporadic automatic weapons fire could be heard in the area. Meanwhile, Macedonia said its troops clashed late Friday with about 20 ethnic Albanians trying to smuggle weapons on horseback across the Kosovo border. NATO said five people suspected of links to the insurgents were arrested, but gave no details. The ethnic Albanian rebels in Macedonia outlined their demands Saturday, calling for constitutional changes that would define the country as "a state of two constituent peoples - Macedonian and Albanian" and grant broad rights and privileges to its ethnic Albanian minority. About 25 percent of Macedonia's 2 million people are ethnic Albanian. The rebel National Liberation Army also called for international mediation to end the conflict and urged other countries to remain neutral despite broad international support for the Macedonian government. NATO has promised vigorous steps to curb the fighting along Kosovo's borders - a province its peacekeepers have controlled for nearly two years. The alliance sent U.S. peacekeepers to the Kosovo-Macedonia border this week and agreed to let Yugoslav forces enter the buffer zone, which was established at the start of the U.N.-led mission in Kosovo in 1999. In another effort to ease tensions, Yugoslavia released 94 ethnic Albanian prisoners who were rounded up during Milosevic's crackdown in Kosovo. The release brought the number of ethnic Albanians freed last week to 150, but Yugoslavia still holds about 500 such prisoners. Yugoslav and Macedonian authorities have criticized NATO for being slow to respond to the violence around Kosovo and for failing to disarm militant groups in the province. Both countries claim the insurgents are using Kosovo, which is controlled by the United Nations and NATO, as a "safe haven" and source of recruits. In an interview with Macedonian television aired Saturday, Macedonian Defense Minister Ljuben Paunovski said NATO was still not doing enough to isolate the militants. Paunovski said that in Kosovo, "the international community has been dealing with many complaints, from various sides, but mostly to the benefit of the Albanian side." In a rare sign of public support for Macedonia's rebels among the country's substantial ethnic Albanian community, three organizations Saturday accused the government of terrorizing ethnic Albanians. The Alliance of Albanian Women in Macedonia, the Association of Albanian Prisoners and the Democratic Forum for Protection of Human Rights issued a statement calling the unrest "a consequence of discrimination." Albanians in Macedonia "have no other choice but to take up arms and defend their cultural and national existence," they said. Meeting with his counterpart Saturday in Albania, Macedonia's foreign minister promised his government would enact social and economic reforms to help its ethnic Albanian minority. Related Stories _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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