Yugoslav Interior Minister Zoran Zivkovic and Serbia's acting deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic will spend New Year's Eve with police in the tense buffer zone bordering Kosovo, radio B92 reported Sunday.
Zivkovic told the radio that their decision was a gesture of "appreciation for the police officers on duty this night" in the trouble-hit demilitarized zone in southern Serbia.
"The situation is such that there are many policemen who will have to remain on their positions and I decided that I should do it also," Zivkovic said.
He said his family "was not too pleased with the decision," but added that he "felt morally obliged to go there."
"How did my family react? Let that remain a family secret," Zivkovic told the radio.
Meanwhile, Beta news agency reported that Zivkovic, accompanied by Serbia's Prime Minister-designate Zoran Djindjic, toured the area known as the Presevo valley, visiting police and army troops deployed in the region.
They were expected to visit Bujanovac, the main town in the area, the agency said.
The visit came following a NATO-brokered accord between Serbian authorities and the ethnic Albanian rebels to reduce tension in the region.
The deal included agreements from both sides to remove checkpoints and pull back from their positions around the town of Veliki Trnovac on the edge of the buffer zone -- BELGRADE (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
