Kosova Daily Report #1542, 98-09-04

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From: Kosova Information Center <http://www.kosova.com/>

Kosova Information Center
KOSOVA DAILY REPORT #1542
Prishtina, 4 September 1998

CONTENTS

[01] President Rugova's Press Conference

[02] Shattuck and Dole to Visit Kosova

[03] FOCUS: Cool, Utterly Reserved Response to Idea of 'Interim Settlement' in Kosova

[04] Serb Forces Shell Half a Dozen Village in Klina Friday

[05] Serb Offensive against Albanian Communities in Prizren Resumes Friday

[06] Busload of Albanians, Rounded up by Serb Police, Taken to Prizren Jail

[07] Albanian Wounded in Gllogovc as Serb Police Sprays Blindly Houses in the Area

[08] Serbs Burn Ponarc Village in Malisheva, Thousands Run to the Mountains

[09] Serb Troops Crack Down on Dushkaja Villages, Scores of Villagers Beaten and Arrested

[10] Serbs Break Into, Occupy By Force 20 Apartments of Albanians in Klina

[11] Further Serb Troops Building Up in Llapi Region, Northern Kosova

[01] President Rugova's Press Conference

Rugova denounced Serbian state terror in Kosova, and the military and police offensive which has left scores of Albanians killed and countless wounded this past week alone. Destruction of housing continues and the production of thousands of new refugees, he added.

Serb regime is preparing political trials of hundreds of young Albanians in Kosova, the President said, adding that Aqif Shehu, member of the LDK leadership, is being threatened with arrest, too.

Ibrahim Rugova called for an urgent halt to the Serbian offensive, "which is aimed at ethnically cleansing Kosova". He reiterate his call for the U.S., EU, UN, and NATO to offer protection for Kosova, as well as help in returning displaced people to their homes.

President Rugova reiterated his position that independence for Kosova, with all guarantees for local Serbs, and an interim international protectorate pending a final resolution, is the best solution.

He hailed the engagement of President Clinton, President Chirac, Chancellor Kohl, and Prime Minister Blair, as well as Russian President Yeltsin, on Kosova.

Asked by the BBC correspondent to comment on U.S. envoy Chris Hill's remarks on a three-year interim agreement between Prishtina and Belgrade which would be a base for a final resolution of the status of Kosova, President Rugova replied by referring to a statement of his own office [see Kosova Daily Report #1540] from a meeting he had with the U.S. Ambassador. He said he was appreciative of the work Hill was doing. "The possibility of reaching an interim, provisional arrangement for a three-year period, which should normalize life and create conditions for a lasting solution to the Kosova issue, to the benefit of all citizens of Kosova and the region, is being examined."

Asked by the Radio Sweden's correspondent whether he has trust in such an agreement, Rugova said "we have to do something to stop the negative and tragic trend in Kosova, which should be done with the pressure and support of the international community."

You have been asking for an interim international protectorate; is this three-year time frame an international protectorate? - a reporter asked, to which President Ibrahim Rugova replied with an elusive: "You certainly know what an interim stage [arrangement] is and what an agreement on protectorate is".

Rugova said he, as President of Kosova, represents all the people of Kosova. This was in reply to a question regarding whether the U^K (Kosova Liberation Army) would agree to such an interim settlement between Prishtina and Belgrade.

[02] Shattuck and Dole to Visit Kosova

Shattuck, the senior U.S. human rights official, will visit Kosova to look into "credible reports" of human rights violations, it added.

The two men are expected to meet with Kosovar leaders and Serb- installed authorities in Kosova, as well non-governmental groups.

State Department Deputy spokesman James Foley said Shattuck's mission is to "clarify reports of atrocities and human rights violations" in Kosova.

"There are credible reports of serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law being committed in Kosovo," Foley said in a written statement.

[03] FOCUS: Cool, Utterly Reserved Response to Idea of 'Interim Settlement' in Kosova

"The possibility of reaching an interim, provisional arrangement for a three-year period, which should normalize life and create conditions for a lasting solution to the Kosova issue, to the benefit of all citizens of Kosova and the region, is being examined." This is what President Ibrahim Rugova of Kosova had to say about it during his press conference today (Friday).

The Liberal Party of Kosova (PLK) said in a statement the three- year interim settlement should enshrine the right of the people of Kosova to declare freely its will in a referendum for the future of Kosova, which should be internationally monitored and guaranteed by Washington.

The Contact Group project and the initiative for an interim status for Kosova prepared by Ambassador Chris Hill are utterly unacceptable, the Party of National Unity (UNIKOMB) said in a statement. The proposal comes from "Milosevic's cuisine", the party said. It is very disturbing that Rugova, "by easily accepting such ideas, is giving political credit to Milosevic", the UNIKOMB said, adding that the people of Kosova will not accept such "disfavourable solutions".

Such an agreement could be signed only if "the right of the Albanian people to self-determination is guaranteed", and has the commitment and guarantees of the international community, Mehmet Hajrizi, the secretary-general of the Albanian Democratic Movement (LDSH) told Bujku newspaper. "Any agreement regarding the fate of Kosova can only be signed with the prior consent of all the political spectrum" in Kosova, he said, probably meaning that Rugova alone and his party, the LDK, cannot do that on their own.

Only a pro-Kosova point of departure stands any chance of success, Enver Maloku said in a leading article carried by "Informatori" Albanian-language evening newspaper yesterday. [This "pro-Kosova" adjective inevitably calls forth the idea the opposite could be the case, a "pro-Serbia" point of departure!] "Reportedly, the three parties involved in the Kosova conflict - Prishtina, Belgrade, and the international factor - have prepared a draft agreement each. Although the public opinion, and, it seems, political circles, are not acquainted with the contents of the draft projects, excepting the remarks made by Mr.[Chris] Hill [the U.S. envoy for Kosova], the three proposals are said to be quite divergent.", Maloku wrote. He went on to say that there is reasonable fear that international factors - which as a rule side with the militarily stronger side and pursue easy solutions - will "submit or subscribe to a great measure to the Serb position, ... the position of an aggressor".

The international community should pursue a solution to the Kosova issue not from an aggressor's starting position, as was the case in the past, but rather "from the position of the natural right of the people of Kosova to freedom, self-determination and independence", Enver Maloku writes.

The other Prishtina-based Albanian daily, Koha Ditore, carries in its today's edition an article in the editorial page by Arb&r Vllahiu, whose dominant tone and message can be perhaps best summed up by the initial sentence. "Perhaps, and finally perhaps, the American intermediator in the Serbian-Albanian "monologue", Christopher Hill, whom certain quarters in Kosova would even call the "postman of the poste restante", should be given a thank you."

There are differences not only between the Serb and Albanian drafts [of the interim solution], but also within the Albanian one, Vllahiu said, citing unconfirmed rumors.

"Unconfirmed reports" [the inverted commas here are to mean the opposite!] claim that one of the members of "G-5" [the Kosova negotiating team], Fatmir Sejdiu, unsatisfied with the way the group has been working as well as "its willingness to negotiate on non-serious projects", has quit the group for two weeks now", Koha Ditore writes.

The KIC sources have confirmed that Mr. Sejdiu, who is a university law teacher in Prishtina, and also Secretary-General of the Parliament of the Republic of Kosova, has indeed quit the Kosova negotiating team.

[04] Serb Forces Shell Half a Dozen Village in Klina Friday

Hundreds of Albanian houses in these villages have been looted and burnt, whereas 8,000 Albanians have been left homeless, sources said.

These displaced people have been camping out in the mountains surrounding Panorc and Llap^eva, where thousands of others have been living rough in the open, without food and medicines.

Reports said during the latest Serb forces' offensive in the Klina villages, three elderly Albanian women and a fourth, Halime Gashi (53), had remained behind in the village of ^abiq. Mrs Gashi, an invalid, died there and was buried in her courtyard by the elderly women, LDK sources said.

[05] Serb Offensive against Albanian Communities in Prizren Resumes Friday

The head of the local chapter of the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms (CDHRF) in Prizren, Masar Shala, told the KIC that Serb troops set ablaze today several Albanian houses in the Tusus neighborhood in Prizren, including the houses of Tahir Krasniqi and Selim Morina. Plumes of smoke were billowing today morning from gutted farmhouses in the villages of Leskovec, Lybiqev& and Jeshkov&.

Sources told the KIC that residents of the villages of Zhur, Hatmaxhe, Dobrusht&, Shkoz& and V&rmic& have been ordered by Serb troops to surrender the weapons they allegedly posses or face an all-out attack.

Driving the main square of Zhur village yesterday afternoon, the Serb police voiced through a megaphone an ultimatum which said that the village would be burned if they did not hand over weapons by today afternoon. The police drove later to other villages in the area spelling out the same ultimatum.

Reports said that the local population in these villages has been fleeing quickly fearful of an imminent Serb attack.

Meanwhile, the LDK chapter in Prizren said it has learned the identity of three other Albanians killed during the latest Serb offensive. The three victims, Xhevat Berisha, Alajdin Berisha and Selajdin Berisha, were members of the Liberation Army of Kosva (U^K), it said.

[06] Busload of Albanians, Rounded up by Serb Police, Taken to Prizren Jail

The apprehended Albanians were forced at gunpoint to walk inside the police station waving a two-finger-and-a-thumb salute, a typical Serb nationalist manner of saluting.

The LDK chapter said other arrested Albanians were taken to the Serb jail in the town today, too.

[07] Albanian Wounded in Gllogovc as Serb Police Sprays Blindly Houses in the Area

From around 8 p.m. through the midnight yesterday, there were stepped movement of the Serb police in armored cars from Ferronikeli to the town of Gllogovc. The Serb forces opened random fire from machine guns in different directions.

The LDK chapter in Gllogovc could not determine what was in fact happening, except that an Albanian, Isuf Heta from Gllobar village, received firearm wounds. He was wounded in the courtyard of a relative of his in Gllogovc when Serbs opened blind fire in the area. Roofs of several houses in that part of the town were sprayed with bullets, the LDK said.

[08] Serbs Burn Ponarc Village in Malisheva, Thousands Run to the Mountains

Ponarc was first pounded with heavy artillery fire; then the Serb infantry entered into it, local sources said.

Witnesses told the KIC that Serb troops pillaged commodities in the village, then doused houses with petrol and set them afire.

One Albanian was killed and another wounded in Ponarc village last evening when Serb shells hit several farmhouses. LDK sources could not learn their identities, noting only that the killed Albanian was buried last night in the local cemetery, whereas the wounded one was taken to a make-shift clinic in a village in the area.

Sources also said the Serbs have burned scores of houses in the villages of Dush, Volljak&, ^upev& and Gremnik in the Klina municipality.

Thousands of refugees are still camping out in Senik village and adjacent mountains. Local activist described the situation there toady as appalling, with many people sick and without food.

The latest reports from Panorc village this afternoon said that the situation has been dramatically deteriorating. Serb troops have tightly sealed the area. One Albanian was reported wounded when Serb forces opened fire on a group of men who attempted to get out of the siege.

[09] Serb Troops Crack Down on Dushkaja Villages, Scores of Villagers Beaten and Arrested

At around 8 a.m. today, heavy detonations were heard in the area.

The Serb troops' attack has been concentrated on the villages of Kodrali, C&rmjan, Zhabel and G&rgoc, from which clouds of smoke have been billowing all day today.

Scores of local Albanians, including children and women, were arrested by Serb police and army forces in Kodralia village on Thursday. Many others were reported beaten up and brutalized on the spot.

Sources in Gjakova could learn the names of some of the Albanians rounded up in Kodralia village, including Zenel Alija (29), Hajdin Alija, Riza Alija (18), Isa Alija (28), Agron Alija (14), Bekim Kalimashi (17), Naser Kalimashi (25), Arben Alija (20), Ismail Taraku (30), Enver Taraku (15), Gani ^eku (48), Selim ^eku (18), Hazir Kalimashi (75) and Haxhi Alija (73).

[10] Serbs Break Into, Occupy By Force 20 Apartments of Albanians in Klina

Sources in Klina said that only a couple of days ago, Serbs have usurped the apartment of Ismet Rraci, chairman of the LDK chapter in Klina.

The flat of the LDK vice-chairman, Kol& Berisha, was broken into and forcefully occupied by Serbs in Klina last month.

[11] Further Serb Troops Building Up in Llapi Region, Northern Kosova

Dozens of army tanks and other combat equipment were deployed in the vicinity of the villages of Llapashtic& and Obran^&, neighboring on the town of Podujeva, since Thursday morning.

The local population in the Llapashtica village began fleeing their homes in fear of an imminent Serb crackdown.

The LDK chapter in Podujeva said convoys of Serb troops paraded today the streets of the town, provoking and intimidating the local population.

Further troops were deployed today near the villages of Llapashtic& and Obran^&. Bulldozers have been digging huge trenches around these Albanian communities, sources said.

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