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- ≈ WORLD, Page 43World NotesYUGOSLAVIAOne Step Away From Chaos
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- Day after day, police and irate ethnic Albanians clashed in
- Yugoslavia's southern Kosovo province as the demonstrators
- protested their domination by the Serbian republic, of which
- Kosovo is a part. By the end of last week at least 20 people
- were dead, and the Yugoslav daily Vecernje Novosti warned,
- "Kosovo is a step away from civil war."
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- The unrest began late last month, when 40,000 Albanians took
- to the streets of Pristina, Kosovo's capital, demanding the
- resignation of local leaders, free elections and the release
- of political prisoners. Kosovo's 1.7 million Albanians, who
- out-number Serbs and Montenegrins in the region almost 10 to
- 1, last flooded the streets eleven months ago, when Serbia
- tightened its grip on the nominally autonomous province. That
- decision triggered riots that left 28 dead.
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- Serbian nationalists last week pressured the central
- government to firmly squelch the uprising. The eight-man State
- Presidency promised unspecified security measures. Soon after,
- troops, tanks and air force jets were deployed throughout
- Kosovo.
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