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Jackson, left, and Thaci, sign the KLA demilitarization agreement  MILITARY PLAN: RELATED VIDEO CNN's Jill Dougherty reports that it is back to business for Russia and the United States. (June 20) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K The people of Prizren are getting back to business. CNN's Mike Boettcher reports on how they are adjusting to life after war (June 20) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Christiane Amanpour reports on how Albanians survived in the hills (June 20) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Richard Blystone looks at KFOR's efforts to disarm Kosovo rebels (June 19) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Richard Blystone reports from Novosela, Yugoslavia on the aftermath of the Kosovo conflict (June 19) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K  ALSO: Hidden mines claim Kosovar fatalities G-8 promises aid to Yugoslavia, but who will pay?  MESSAGE BOARD: Rebuilding Kosovo  IN-DEPTH SPECIAL: Focus on Kosovo

'There is a new epoch beginning'

June 20, 1999
Web posted at: 10:25 p.m. EDT (0225 GMT)

In this story: Air war officially ends; Yugoslav troops out Father said he buried children in mass grave U.N. leads Serb civilian convoy out of Kosovo RELATED STORIES, SITES

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Kosovo rebels and NATO chiefs signed an agreement Monday to demilitarize the Kosovo Liberation Army, essentially eliminating it as a fighting force.

Hashim Thaci, political chief of the KLA, and British Lt. Gen. Sir Mike Jackson, commander of alliance forces in Kosovo, finalized the pact after midnight.

"There is a new epoch beginning for the people of Kosovo," said Thaci in a tent at Jackson's headquarters outside Pristina.

"Thank you, very much indeed," Jackson said as the two men signed the document. A small group of reporters witnessed the event. U.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin was also present.

Under the demilitarization agreement, effective immediately, rebels must give up heavy weapons and stop carrying guns in much of Kosovo. They must place in storage anything larger than a pistol or hunting rifle within 30 days.

The agreement also requires the rebels to observe a cease- fire, dismiss all international members and respect the authority of NATO peacekeepers on security matters. The KLA also is to leave checkpoints and observation posts.

Determining the future of the rebel army had been considered a crucial element of the Kosovo peace plan. Before the agreement, some KLA soldiers had resisted requests by NATO troops to remove uniform armbands and lay down their weapons.

Air war officially ends; Yugoslav troops out

The agreement was signed less than 30 minutes after the deadline for all Yugoslav troops to leave Kosovo, according to a peace plan signed in early June by NATO and Belgrade.

But hours before the Sunday midnight deadline, NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana officially ended the alliance airstrikes against Yugoslavia, when NATO's supreme commander said that all Yugoslav forces had departed.

Solana's announcement in Brussels, Belgium, came after Gen. Wesley Clark reported that all Yugoslav army and special police units were out of Kosovo, well ahead of the 2200 GMT (6 p.m. EDT) deadline.

The airstrikes, which began on March 24, were aimed to force Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to pull his troops from the Serbian province. Solana suspended the campaign when Milosevic agreed to a deal negotiated by Russia, the United States and the European Union.

The pullout was completed 11 hours ahead of the deadline, according to NATO spokesman Lt. Col. Robin Clifford in Pristina.

Noting there may be a few stragglers, Clifford said uniformed Yugoslav forces found in Kosovo after midnight "will be subject to robust KFOR enforcement." KFOR is the name of the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in the province.

Father said he buried children in mass grave

A body lies unburied because villagers fear it may be booby-trapped

As the last Yugoslav troops left, additional reports of alleged war crimes by Yugoslavs emerged. In Bela Cirka, north of Prizren, more apparent mass graves of ethnic Albanians were discovered and cordoned off by KFOR troops.

A man said he helped bury the bodies and that the two grave sites contained 52 bodies, including young children -- two of them his own.

German peacekeeping troops pulled the body of a 62-year-old Kosovar Albanian and 11 others from a well in Dragacina on Saturday.

A suspected mass grave site was found just outside the village of Izbica. Witnesses told international war crimes investigators that they saw Yugoslav forces rounding up and shooting ethnic Albanians at the site near the end of March.

People who said they escaped estimated that as many as 150 bodies may be buried at the Izbica site.

U.N. leads Serb civilian convoy out of Kosovo

Thousands of ethnic Albanians continued to return home from refugee camps or the woods, despite calls from international officials to wait until mines and booby traps have been removed.

Over the last five days, more than 100,000 refugees have crossed the border from Albania and Macedonia, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

But as ethnic Albanians returned, more Serbs fearing reprisals fled the province. Kosovar Albanians were reported torching Serb homes in the German-patrolled sector of Kosovo.

After a request by the Yugoslav government, the UNHCR led a convoy of 50,000 Serbs out of Kosovo into central Serbia. The international community has promised Serbs they will be safe from persecution.

Correspondents Mike Boettcher, Richard Blystone, Matthew Chance, Jim Clancy and Andrea Koppel contributed to this report.

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