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Ceasefire follows Kosovo deal

MERDARE, Yugoslavia -- NATO and Serbia have agreed a deal allowing Serb police and Yugoslav army troops to return to the buffer zone on Kosovo's border.

Hours after the agreement was signed, on Monday, ethnic Albanian rebels said they had agreed to a ceasefire in the volatile Presevo Valley.

"The final agreement has been reached," said Lieutenant-General Carlo Cabigiosu, the Italian commander of NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo. The aim is to allow the legitimate authorities to exercise their authority in the area.

"I hope that Albanians in the area will understand that this is the time to move from armed conflict to peace."

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Cabigiosu announced the agreement after meeting with Nebojsa Covic, Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia.

Observers say the deal takes some pressure off NATO peacekeepers in Kosovo following last week's rebel attacks.

More than 30 people have been killed in the Presevo Valley over the past year and analysts say the conflict has the potential to become much larger.

NATO already has increased its presence in areas of Kosovo bordering Macedonia.

Macedonia's government, however, has been urging NATO to extend its activities to the three-mile-wide buffer zone, which separates Kosovo from the rest of Serbia and is used as a staging point for rebels where it meets the Macedonian border.

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The alliance has refused, saying it is restricted to Kosovo by the United Nations resolution setting up its mandate.

Rebel commander Shefket Musliu had threatened over the weekend to "fight to the last man" to keep Yugoslav troops out of the zone.

But on Monday, Musliu said he had signed a 20-day ceasefire with the Yugoslav side, in a deal mediated by NATO. The Serbs were expected to sign later in the day.

Musliu said, however, that the rebels remained opposed to Yugoslav army and strong Serb police forces entering the zone.

"If someone shoots at the Serbs, we will not take responsibility," he said.

The 1999 Kosovo peace agreement permits only lightly armed Serbian police into the zone.

As a result, ethnic Albanian insurgents have been able to establish control over the strip of land, which adjoins Kosovo in the southern part of Serbia.

Cabigiosu said the 25-square kilometre (10-square-mile) area of land will be opened to Yugoslav army troops and Serbian police.

He did not, however, give a timeframe. Nor did he say how many army and police units would be able to operate in the region and what kind of weaponry they would be allowed to carry.

Former Yugoslav Army commander Momcilo Perisic, now Serbian deputy premier, said: "The Yugoslav Army will be in great danger since it is not allowed to enter the area with heavy arms and armoured cars.

"I do not understand why the international community has not allowed this since its own troops in Kosovo are all in armoured cars."

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.