(14 Mar 2001) Serbo-Croat/Nat
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Elite Yugoslav army troops on Wednesday moved into a buffer zone overrun by ethnic Albanian forces, under terms of a NATO-endorsed plan to cap cross-border violence that threatens to expand into a new Balkan war.
In columns of armored personnel carriers, hundreds of members of he 63rd Parachute Brigade moved past fog-shrouded hills. as they fanned out in the southernmost tip of the zone.
Entering at Presevo, they moved southward toward the villages of Norca and Trvana.
Accompanying the men and the machine-gun mounted vehicles was Lieut. General Nebojsa Pavkovic, the Yugoslav army chief of staff and Miloran Curic, a senior Defense Ministry official.
Also traveling with the troops were European Union observers, sent to monitor terms of a cease-fire agreed to between Belgrade and ethnic Albanian militants.
The action for the return of sovereignty has started, Curic told reporters, as the troops moved through the drizzle, behind advance scouts.
Preparing for the entry late Tuesday, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic said that residents of the buffer zone on the border with Kosovo and Macedonia have nothing to fear and should stay calm.
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