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UN: Serbs Demilitarizing Eastern Slavonia BELGRADE, May 21 (Reuters) — Croatian Serbs in their enclave of eastern Slavonia began demilitarizing on Tuesday, bringing themselves a step closer towards reintegration with the rest of Croatia, U.N. officials said. Jaques Klein, the U.N. administrator for the last Serb-held enclave within the former Yugoslav republic, said the process began at mid-day after the 5,000 multi-national U.N. peace keeping force (UNTAES) had fully deployed. "Demilitarisation is a very important step, since we are getting rid of weapons and moving closer to one more peaceful phase in which economic recovery of the region will be the central theme," he said. A U.N. spokeswoman in Belgrade said Serb forces who controlled the region had already withdrawn most of their heavy weapons to Serbia and Montenegro, the two remaining components of rump-Yugoslavia. The spokeswoman said the fighters had 30 days to relinquish their arms. "UNTAES will not be conducting weapons searches," she said. "But we don't expect too many problems with it. A lot of the demobilisation and demilitarisation has already taken place." The Serbs rose in arms against Croatia when it split away from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. The Croatian forces recaptured two other rebel enclaves in 1995, leaving eastern Slavonia the only Serb region to hold out against Zagreb. The demilitarisation of the region, paving the way for eastern Slavonia's reintegration with the rest of Croatia, was negotiated by presidents Franjo Tudjman of Croatia and Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia on the fringes of the Dayton peace talks last November.

Berserkistan, Red Sky at Night In Eastern Slavonia, Waiting for the Serbs to Go Home
Berserkistan, May 7 · Team Berserkistan First Across Yugoslav Confrontation Line
Berserkistan, May 7 · Delay Seen in Returning Eastern Slavonia to Croatia

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