PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, NOV 25: Ethnic Albanianguerrillas have agreed to a 48-hour halt in their attacks on Serbian police in a buffer zone next to Kosovo, the NATO-led Kosovo peacekeeping force (KFOR) said on Saturday. "KFOR was involved in the discussions and process of workingout the details of the ceasefire," KFOR spokesman Flight Lieutenant Mark Whitty told Reuters. "We are continuing to monitor the situation to try to cometo a peaceful resolution to a difficult situation," he said. KFOR later said it was also helping in returning the bodiesof three Serb policemen killed in an upsurge of fighting with the guerrillas earlier this week. Peacekeepers picked up the bodies from a point on the Kosovoboundary near a village inside Serbia where the guerrillas are believed to be based, a spokesman said. They were taken by helicopter to another boundary location,and a Serbian Interior Ministry source said they were handed over at about 3 P.M. (1400 GMT) near the village of Merdare. "It can be seen as a gesture of goodwill and understanding," said KFOR press officer Sergeant Pat McGuire. Belgrade has warned it would send more police to the five km(three miles) wide zone if the peacekeepers failed to halt guerrilla attacks by Monday evening. Serbia said its police would refrain from action until the deadline. Serbian Joint Interior Minister Bozo Prelevic said onSaturday the "terrorists" came from Kosovo, not the buffer zone, and his ministry had not had any contacts with them. Whitty said his understanding was that the Albanians'ceasefire would run for 48 hours from the moment it was announced, and the Koha Ditore daily in Kosovo said it started at midnight local time (2300 GMT) on Friday. "The situation can now be described as calm in the PresevoValley," Whitty said, referring to the area just inside Serbia proper with a large ethnic Albanian population which has seen an upsurge in guerrilla activity this week. SERBS WANT WEAPONS On the Serbian side of the boundary, about 500 Serbs took tothe streets in the town of Bujanovac protesting against the attacks, some calling for weapons to help defend themselves. "We want the arms for the Serbian people because that is theonly way to protect ourselves.from the Albanian terrorists and separatists who are some three km away from us," said Goran Takovic, one of those addressing the crowd. Under an agreement between NATO and Yugoslav authorities, noYugoslav or Serb forces except local police are allowed in the zone without permission from the KFOR commander. The safety zone was set up under the deal which governed thewithdrawal of Serb and Yugoslav forces from Kosovo in June last year after NATO's bombing campaign. The guerrilla group says it is defending local Albanians,believed to number around 80,000 in the Presevo Valley, from abuses by Serb security forces. Serbian and Western officials say the group is attacking inthe hope of provoking a wider conflict. Serbia says the guerrillas have major support from Kosovo,where more than 90 percent of the population is ethnic Albanian. "These are Albanian terrorists from Kosovo and notindividuals from the buffer zone," Prelevic said.
