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Presevo
Valley Crisis - 14 photos
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Bujanovac,
Serbia, 2001
Albanian collector of old paper is passing
by the police check-point in Bujanovac. Southern Serbia's
Presevo Valley is one of the rare conflict resolution success
stories in the former Yugoslavia.
photo Andrija Ilic |
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Lucani,
Serbia, 2001
erbian policeman in patrol in village
Lucani. Ethnic Albanian rebels calling themselves the "Liberation
Army of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja" (UCPMB in Albanian)
exploited a five kilometre-wide demilitarized strip along
the Kosovo border inside Serbia - the Ground Safety Zone (GSZ),
established in June 1999 to prevent accidental clashes between
NATO forces and the Yugoslav (Serbian) Army. Operating from
the GSZ, the Albanian guerilla attacked Serbian police and
civilian targets with virtual impunity.
photo Andrija Ilic |
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Bujanovac,
Serbia, 2001
Member of Serbian Special Unit during
the patrol in Bujanovac. After the end of the Kosovo War in
1999, a three-mile "Ground Safety Zone" (GSZ) in
Presevo Valley was established between Kosovo (governed by
the United Nations) and inner Yugoslavia (now Serbia respectively).
Yugoslav army units were not permitted to patrol the area,
only lightly-armed police forces.
photo Andrija Ilic |
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Bujanovac,
Serbia, 2001
Member of Serbian Special Unit during
the patrol in Bujanovac. Between 1999 and 2000, 294 attacks
of Albanian guerilla were recorded, most of them (246) in
Bujanovac, 44 in Medveda and six in Preševo. The attacks
resulted in fourteen people killed (of which six were civilians
and eight were policemen), 37 people wounded (two UN observers,
three Serbian civilians and 34 policemen) and five Serbian
civilians kidnapped. In the attacks, UCPMB used mostly assault
rifles, machine-guns, mortars and snipers, but also RPGs,
handgrenades, anti-tank and anti-personnel mines.
photo Andrija Ilic |
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Presevo
Valley , Serbia, 2001
Serbian Army soldier entering GSZ in
Presevo Valley. After the fall of Slobodan Milosevic in October
2000, the new democratic government in Belgrade prepared a
plan to demilitarize the region of Presevo Valley and to create
a multiethnic police force (Serb and Albanian policeman's).
This plan got a "green light" from NATO and "West",
so Serbian security forces were ready to enter the buffer
zone (GSZ) in Presevo Valley.
photo Andrija Ilic |
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Presevo
Valley,
Serbia, 2001
Serbian Army entering the "Ground
Safety Zone" in Presevo Valley on Serbian-Kosovo border.
Contrary to many expectations, the reoccupation went smoothly.
However, an estimated 2,000 former fighters remain in the
area, along with substantial arms caches.
photo Andrija Ilic |
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Presevo
Valley , Serbia, 2001
Serbian Army entering the "Ground
Safety Zone" in Presevo Valley on Serbian-Kosovo border.
photo Andrija Ilic |
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Presevo
Valley,
Serbia, 2001
Serbian Army entering the "Ground
Safety Zone" in Presevo Valley on Serbian-Kosovo border.
Main task of Yugoslav (Serbian) security forces was re-capture
of Oraovica village which was one of the main strongholds
of UCBMP. The attacking force was a mixture of Yugoslav Army
and Serbian police special forces. 78th Motorized Brigade
from Vranje and police units (PJP and JSO) attacked village
from Presevo, while 63rd Paratrooper Brigade and 72nd Reconnaissance-commando
Brigade "Hawks" surrounded from other side. Most
of the civilians left the village and escaped to Kosovo and
Macedonia. Weak and small Albanian paramilitary forces were
unable to fight against the elite Yugoslav Army and Serbian
police special forces supported by strong armored and mechanized
forces.
photo Andrija Ilic |
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Presevo
Valley , Serbia, 2001
Serbian Army entering the "Ground
Safety Zone" in Presevo Valley on Serbian-Kosovo border.
photo Andrija Ilic |
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Lucani,
Serbia, 2001
Serbian Police check-point in village
Lucani, Preshevo Valley.
photo Andrija Ilic |
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Lucani,
Serbia, 2001
Serbian Police check-point in village
Lucani, Preshevo Valley.
photo Andrija Ilic |
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Presevo
Valley , Serbia, 2001
New Years Eve dinner in the "Ground
safety Zone" - AK 47 riffle "Kalasnikov", sousages
and bread.
photo Andrija Ilic |
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Presevo
Valley , Serbia, 2001
Serbian Special Forces celebrating New
Years Eve in the buffer zone of Presevo Valley.
photo Andrija Ilic |
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Presevo
Valley , Serbia, 2001
New Years Eve toast.
photo Andrija Ilic |
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