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Kosova Daily Report #1838, 98-08-31
Kosova Information Center
KOSOVA DAILY REPORT #1838
Prishtina, 31 August 1998
CONTENTS
[01] President Rugova Receives U.S. Senator John Warner
[02] Albright to Discuss Kosova with Nato Commander
[03] U^K Denies Vehemently that Its Members Have Killed Serb Civilians
[04] LDK, PPK, BSPK, CDHRF Press for International Investigation of
Atrocities in Kosova
[05] Luan and Bekim Mazreku Were Not U^K Members, LDK Sources Say
[06] Two Albanians Slain by Serb Forces in Suhareka
[07] Twenty Albanians Identified as Killed in Shtime in Two Months
[08] Over 30,000 Albanian Houses and Other Facilities Destroyed in Serb
Offensive
[09] Disaster Looms Over Thousands of IDP's Crammed in Two Villages of
Klina
[10] Serb Police Clamps Down On Every Single House in Gjakova Village
[01] President Rugova Receives U.S. Senator John Warner
PRISHTINA, Aug 31 (KIC) - The President of the Republic of Kosova Dr.
Ibrahim Rugova received today in Prishtina U.S. senator John Warner and his
aides.
Attending the meeting were also Richard Miles, Chief of U.S. Mission to
Belgrade, Chris Hill, the U.S. Ambassador to Shkup (FYROM), and Richard
Huckaby, director of the American USIS Center in Prishtina, and the members
of the Kosova negotiating team appointed by Dr. Ibrahim Rugova.
The current situation in Kosova and the prospects for a negotiated and
political solution were discussed in the meeting today.
President Ibrahim Rugova said the situation in Kosova is extremely grave
and dramatic as the Serb offensive in some parts of the country continues.
Many people have been killed and hundreds of thousands of Albanians have
been turned into refugees and displaced persons in Kosova as a result of
Serb military and police operations in the past several months, he pointed
out.
Rugova called for support and an international intervention to secure a
safe return of the refugees and the creation of a climate conducive to
dialogue in pursuit of a political resolution to the Kosova issue.
Senator Warner said the United States is very concerned over the suffering
of people in Kosova, and the plight of tens of thousands of displaced
people.
The suffering of the people should stop and negotiations on the future of
Kosova should start soon, Warner said, pledging U.S. support to this end.
President Rugova expressed his appreciation for the U.S. support thus far,
but called for a stepped up engagement of the States in Kosova.
[02] Albright to Discuss Kosova with Nato Commander
PRISHTINA, Aug 31 (KIC) - Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will meet
on Monday with the NATO commander Gen. Wesley Clark to accelerate
contingency plans for an attack on Serb forces in Kosova, she said Sunday.
Renewing an earlier warning, Albright said "there is beginning to be
identification of the forces" that would be used in an attempt to halt the
Serb offensive in Kosova.
"Neither the United States nor the European allies can tolerate this much
longer," she said on a busy day in the Balkans, during her stop in the
Bosnian Serb Republic, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
Madame Albright has been criticized in some quarters for leveling threats
against the Serbs in Kosova without implementing them, AP noted.
[03] U^K Denies Vehemently that Its Members Have Killed Serb Civilians
The alleged Kle^ka execution is a Serb publicity stunt, a 'blatant lie';
the supposed eyewitnesses are Serb 'collaborators', not U^K members, a the
U^K leadership says PRISHTINA, Aug 31 (KIC) - On Sunday, the political
representative of the U^K (Kosova Liberation Army), Mr. Adem Dema^i, read
out for the BBC Albanian Section a statement of the General Headquarters
of the U^K in which it vehemently denied its fighters had killed Serb
civilians in the ongoing armed conflict in Kosova.
The news of the alleged killing of up to 22 Serb civilians and the
existence of a collective grave at Kle^ka village "has evidently been well-
prepared by the military and propaganda machinery of the Serbian occupier",
the U^K said.
This is but a Serb publicity stunt, "a blatant lie" of the Serb regime, the
statement said, "to discredit the nature of our just and liberation war".
That the Serb regime was engaged in falsehoods and propagandeering was
proven by the fact that the number of the Serbs allegedly killed was first
8, then 12, to be put at 22 eventually, as well as the routine presentation
of the skulls as 'Serbian', as well as the production of two false eye-
witnesses, the U^K statement said. They have never been U^K soldiers, they
have rather been collaborators and smugglers working closely with the
Serbian occupier, it added.
"The U^K has never killed Serb [civilian] citizens, let alone kill women
and children", the statement said, adding that the skeletons that have been
exposed for TV are probably the remains of Albanians killed earlier [by
Serb troops]. "This is an attempt to cover up the crime committed by Serb
militaries and paramilitaries against innocent Albanians and to accuse the
U^K as a terrorist organization."
The U^K General Headquarters called on all international humanitarian,
diplomatic and media quarters not to fall prey to Serb regime's falsehoods,
the statement concluded.
[04] LDK, PPK, BSPK, CDHRF Press for International Investigation of
Atrocities in Kosova
Denounce Serb regime efforts to cover up its crimes against Albanians
PRISHTINA, Aug 31 (KIC) - Albanian political parties, human rights and
trade union organizations, have denounced Serb regime schemes of covering
up its atrocities and destruction in Kosova - the massacres of Albanians
committed by Serb forces in Qirez, Likoshan, Prekaz, Lubeniq, De^an,
Rahovec - by engaging in propaganda stunts of the type of the alleged
Kle^ka execution of Serb civilians.
The Democratic League of Kosova (LDK) said in a press release issued today
it has repeatedly called on the Hague Tribunal to investigate all crimes in
Kosova. It renewed its call for independent, international expertise of all
the atrocities in Kosova and the bringing before the justice of all those
who have masterminded and executed them.
The Belgrade's machinery has committed yet another crime by staging the
"Kle^ka massacre", the Parliamentarian Party of Kosova (PPK) said in a
press release issued today.
The Serb regime has committed many crimes in Kosova in the past six months,
the PPK said, adding that it wants now arguments, be they falsehoods, to
legitimize its own crimes. "It can never legitimize the crimes in Likoshan
and Prekaz, the execution of civilians in Poklek and Lybeniq, mass killings
of civilians in Rahovec, the killing of humanitarian workers, the killing
of eight children aged 11 and below of the Asllani family in Graj^ec, ...
the shelling of displaced civilians camping out in Senik, the torturing to
death of prisoners, five of whom (Albanians) in the past month alone.",
the PPK said.
The Serb regime is now trying to attribute to the Albanian people and the
U^K the crimes it has itself committed, Adem Dema^i's party said.
The Independent Kosova Trade Unions (BSPK) has joined in the calls of
Albanian authorities in Kosova for the Hague Tribunal to investigate all
crimes in Kosova.
The BSPK called on the Tribunal to urgently "functionalize its operations
in Kosova and conduct an unbiased and professional expertise" which should
be accepted by both sides, a statement said.
Meanwhile, the major Kosovar human rights group, the Prishtina- based
Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms (CDHRF) wrote Sunday
to the Hague Tribunal for War Crimes in Former Yugoslavia asking for the
formation of an international team of forensic and pathologist experts to
investigate the alleged execution of kidnapped Serbs in the village of
Kle^ka, but also cases of executions of Albanians in the villages of Prekaz,
Likoshan, ^irez, Poklek i Ri, Lybeniq, and elsewhere.
The CDHRF was prompted to renew its calls for such investigations in Kosova
in the wake of the propaganda machinery launched by the Serb regime after
the find of the site of the alleged execution of 22 Serbs by the Kosova
Liberation Army (U^K) in a crematorium in Kle^ka.
The CDHRF hinted the remains might have been of Kosova Albanians killed
elsewhere in Kosova and planted as false evidence.
The CDHRF said it condemns all crimes regardless of who is behind them and
in case the allegations are proven in the Kle^ka case, those responsible
should be brought to trial.
[05] Luan and Bekim Mazreku Were Not U^K Members, LDK Sources Say
PRISHTINA, Aug 31 (KIC) - Luan Muharrem Mazreku and his cousin Bekim
Abdullah Mazreku, each of them around 20 years of age, were abducted by
Serb police a month ago in Malisheva, the LDK Information Commission in
Malisheva said today. They were on their way back to see what had happened
to their homes in the wake of the Serb military and police offensive in the
Malisheva area, the Commission added.
Luan and Besnik Mazrreku, referred to as members of the U^K by Serb regime
authorities, were not members at all, LDK sources said.
Serb propaganda claims that they were members of the U^K and, moreover,
that they had taken part in the "killing and burning of 22 Serb civilians
in a crematorium in Kle^ka" are a Belgrade regime construct aiming at
compromising the resistance of the people of Kosova against Serbian
aggression, the LDK chapter in Malisheva said.
[06] Two Albanians Slain by Serb Forces in Suhareka
PRISHTINA, Aug 31 (KIC) - The LDK chapter in Suhareka said today it has
learned the identity of two other victims of the latest Serb offensive in
the area.
The body of Ilir Perteshi (21), slain in his village of Duhla on 24 August,
remains uncollected as the area is still tightly sealed off by Serb troops.
It is believed that bodies of other Albanians are in there but the village
is unaccessible, the LDK chapter said.
On 26 August the Serb slaughtered Izet Byty^i (45), a mentally sick person
in Semetisht village, sources said.
Villagers of Semetisht were quoted as saying the man could not run away in
the days when Serb troops were advancing into the village.
They could hear Izet Byty^i screaming in the hands of the Serb forces. His
body was also mutilated, the LDK Information Commission in Suhareka said.
Meanwhile, the same source reported today that Serb troops, police,
military and paramilitary units, have continued burning Albanian
communities in the municipality on Sunday and Monday.
Serbs burned down scores of Albanian farmhouses in the villages of Reshtan,
Pe^an, Semetisht, Studen^an, Samadraxh&, Duh&l, Bllac&, Luzhnic& and Javor
in the past two days, sources said.
[07] Twenty Albanians Identified as Killed in Shtime in Two Months
PRISHTINA, Aug 31 (KIC) - At least 20 Albanians have been killed, many
others wounded, and as many as 465 houses burned in the small Shtime
municipality, in Serb attacks in the area over the past two month, the LDK
chapter in Shtime, a town 30 km south-west of Prishtina, said.
The villages of Carralev&, Zborc, Re^ak, Petrov&, Mollopolc, Pjet&rshtic&,
Belinc&, Zuk&, Kara^ic&, Rac& and Petrov& e Re were either pounded with
machine-gun or artillery fire or saw themselves attacked by Serb infantry.
Local organizations in Shtime could confirm the identity of 20 Albanians
killed in the Serb offensives, including 7 children and 4 women. A lot of
people have been missing and are feared to have either been killed or else
being held by Serb forces.
At least 11.750 people from these villages have been made homeless, most of
them still camping out in the fields and mountains. 465 houses of Albanians
have been destroyed completely, whereas many others have suffered immense
damage.
The head of the LDK Information Commission in Shtime described the
humanitarian situation in the municipality as highly critical, with
thousands of displaced persons lacking basic food and hygienic samples and
clothing.
[08] Over 30,000 Albanian Houses and Other Facilities Destroyed in Serb
Offensive
PRISHTINA, Aug 31 (KIC) - During the six months of the Serbian offensive
operations against the Albanian people in Kosova (from 28 June through 20
August 1998), at least 720 persons have been killed, over 800 are listed as
missing and feared dead, while some 10,000 people, mostly women, children
and elderly, have been maltreated, the Prishtina-based Kosova Trade Unions
for Municipal and Housing Policies, said today in a statement signed by
its chairman, ^aush Bajrushi.
In this time frame, Albanian settlements in 15 municipalities (Skenderaj,
Gllogovc, De^an, Gjakova, Klina, Rahovec, Malisheva, Peja, Vushtrri,
Mitrovica, Suhareka, Ferizaj-Shtime, Lipjan, Prishtina, Prizren and Istog)
have been targeted by Serbian aggression, the Trade Unions said.
The Kosova trade unions specializing in housing and municipal issues said
Serb troops have shelled, looted, burnt or badly damaged 26,200 residential
houses, 1,716 businesses and shops, 7,269 accessory facilities, as well as
60 schoolhouses.
The statement said 405,259 people have been forced out of their homes so
far in Kosova.
Given the number of members of average family, it turns out that 250,000
people have been left homeless, the Trade Unions said.
They cannot return to their homes unless there is a heavy rehabilitation
program and the building of new houses for them, the statement of the
Kosova Trade Unions for Municipal and Housing Policies concluded.
[09] Disaster Looms Over Thousands of IDP's Crammed in Two Villages of
Klina
PRISHTINA, Aug 31 (KIC) - Over 10.000 internally displaced persons (IDP) in
the municipality of Klina have been crammed in the villages of Sverk& e
Volljak& and in the surrounding fields, local sources said.
The displaced Albanians have been living in appalling conditions, many
sleeping rough in the open and lacking food and medication.
The LDK chapter in Klina said several have died lately, basically lacking
medical items, including Besnik Olluri (2 years), Pajtime Millaku (2 years),
and Shaban Gashi (72).
The situation is aggravating by the hour, an LDK activist near Vuljaka told
the LDK chapter.
[10] Serb Police Clamps Down On Every Single House in Gjakova Village
PRISHTINA, Aug 31 (KIC) - Heavy Serb forces backed up by tanks and armored
vehicles besieged the village of Deva in Gjakova on Sunday morning. They
cracked down on the village later in the day.
Local sources said Serb police raided all the 37 Albanian farmhouses in the
village. Scores of family members were harassed and furniture and other
belongings demolished and smashed under the pretext of searching for arms.
The village of Deva has been repeatedly threatened with complete
destruction by Serb troops unless the local population surrendered the
weapons they allegedly possessed.
The LDK chapter in Gjakova said today the situation in the town continued
to be highly volatile. There has been an increasing buildup and movement of
Serb troop in the streets, which have been harassing and threatening the
local population.
Several Albanians were arrested by police over the past two days, including
Selim Hida, Avdi Kida, Naim Kida, Genc Kida, Nexhdet Kida, Shaban Kida and
Shkelzen Kida, all of them residents of Cermjan village.
Kosova Information Center
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