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Sunday Morning News

NATO Hopes to End Conflict Between Yugoslav Forces, Albanian Rebels

Aired March 11, 2001 - 9:12 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Ongoing hostilities have rocked the Balkans as well. A NATO special envoy meets with Serbian officials today hoping to mediate a cease-fire between Yugoslav forces and ethnic Albanian rebels.

Joining us on the phone with the latest is CNN's Chris Burns, live form Macedonia.

Chris, I understand you're in a military convoy right now. Can you set the scene for us?

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, we're -- yes, we're driving through very, very windy mountainous terrain here, passing through one police checkpoint after the other. The police with submachine guns and flak jackets watching what appears to be a very calm scene at the moment going from one little village to the other. Very quiet scenes. People barbecuing and so forth.

We're driving up closer and closer to the border to see what sort of tensions there may be. This is a region, yes, where there have been clashes in the last few weeks, where a number of Macedonian police have been killed in clashes or by, I think, Albanian rebels.

What they're trying to do is to control the situation. Along the cape are troops on the other side of the border in Kosovo, a very poor exporter where rebels and their weapons have been passing back and forth -- a very rugged region that is very difficult to control.

At the same time, as you mentioned, in southern Serbia, there are talks that are going on trying to end the rebel insurgency there. It's in the border region, a buffer zone that KFOR established inside southern Serbia just outside of Kosovo after the war, after the air strikes against Yugoslavia in 1999. This was the buffer zone that meant to separate Yugoslav forces from KFOR forces. That turned into a power vacuum where the rebels have moved into and have been using it to stage attacks -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And I understand the French foreign minister has gotten involved. Can you tell us what his role has been, Chris and the impact that he hopefully will make?

BURNS: Which foreign minister? I'm sorry. We're...

PHILLIPS: The French foreign...

BURNS: ... just heading out here.

PHILLIPS: ... The French foreign minister?

BURNS: Yes. Yes, the French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine came yesterday and visited here in Macedonia and lent his support to the Macedonian government, praising it for its position and saying that he -- that Macedonia has the full support of the National Community including the European Union in France -- that they see this as a very limited insurgency, that it is not, at the moment at least, a wider threat.

There is the worry, yes, here in Macedonia that it could widen if it persists. And depending on Macedonian forces response, it is kind of a balancing act. If Macedonia cracks down too hard, there could be backlash from within the ethnic Albanian population. So far the ethnic Albanians here who are also in the government here, the mainstream, have kept sort of a distance from this rebel activity -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Chris, what more can the Macedonian government and NATO led KFOR forces do to stem this violence? Is there a balance that can be made?

BURNS: Well, that's a very good question. They're stepping up their patrols. Macedonia is asking the KFOR actually institutionalize a buffer zone inside Kosovo to prevent the weapons and men from passing over the border.

However, there are others who say that there's only so much you can do against the guerrilla war -- a guerrilla insurgency. But there's also -- has to be found some kind of political solution to it. In other words, perhaps accommodating a bit more of the ethnic Albanian community inside Macedonia, therefore, confusing any possibility that the rebel insurgency could widen -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Chris Burns, live from Macedonia. We'll continue to check in with you on the situation there. Thanks.

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