Kosova Daily Report #1552, 98-09-14

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

Kosova Information Center
KOSOVA DAILY REPORT #1552
Prishtina, 14 September 1998

CONTENTS

[01] FOCUS: - Milosevic Is Destroying Kosova Piecemeal, 'Western Policy Working'

[02] Serb Burn Communities in Klina after Red Cross Workers Leave Area

[03] Serbs Pound Albanian Hamlets North-West of Prishtina

[04] Serbs Shoot Dead Albanian in His Place in Vushtrri

[05] Montenegrin Authorities Deport Thousands of Kosovr Refugees to Albania

[06] Half a Dozen Villages in Fush&-Kosova Given Three-Day Deadline to Surrender Weapons

[07] Refugees Sheltered in Rugova Mountains in Urgent Need for Food and Clothes

[08] Serb Police Beat Wounded Albanians in Hospital

[09] Serb Police Removes Patient from Hospital, His Whereabouts Unknown

[10] Serb Military and Police Roam the Streets, Provoke Citizens in Mitrovica

[11] 6,000 Albanian Refugees Camping Out in Qirez, Skenderaj

[01] FOCUS: - Milosevic Is Destroying Kosova Piecemeal, 'Western Policy Working'

"We are dealing with a problem where people are being displaced from their homes [in Kosova], and their houses are sometimes being destroyed", Mr. Bacon told reporters in Washington.

Senior U.S. officials who have toured Kosova in the past couple of weeks - including Julia Taft, John Shatuck and Bob Dole - have said they were appalled by the scale of destruction in Kosova and the atrocities being committed here. They did not speak of homes being 'sometimes destroyed', nor did they resort to the kind of language intent on playing down the scale of destruction caused by Serb military and the sense of urgency of the situation.

Asked by reporters to be specific about what would trigger a NATO use of force in Kosova, Bacon said, "Well, certainly more aggressive action by the Serbs would trigger it. If we reach a conclusion that the Serbs are not at all serious about a diplomatic settlement, that could trigger it...This is going to be a NATO issue. It's NATO that has come up with the military options, and NATO will have to make a decision about what triggers the use of force."

The problem is Milosevic, the man who masterminded the wars of attrition in Bosnia and Croatia, is now destroying Kosova piecemeal while the West, NATO and U.S, are hibernating.

More than 1,200 Kosovar Albanians have been killed this year, more than 40, 000 houses destroyed, more than 400,000 people turned to refugees. Half of Kosova has been affected directly by the Serb military and paramilitary offensive in the past seven months.

Yet, the West sees some success in this. It is basking in self- adulation. The Kosova crisis has been contained and Western policy is working, a Western diplomatic observer in Kosova said on Sunday, Reuter news agency reported.

"The goal has been to erect a fire-break around Kosovo, to prevent the conflict here from destabilising (neighboring) Albania and Macedonia and igniting a wider war", said the diplomatic observer on condition of anonymity.

"Measured against that standard, the policy is working. One could object that it is a cold and calculating policy dressed up in rhetorical concern for human rights and vague threats against Belgrade to make it more palatable."

"But at the end of the day, we have managed to avoid air strikes and any deployment of troops. The dollar cost of our effort can be measured in tens of millions, not in billions as happened in Bosnia. And there is no great public outcry.", Reuters quoted the Western diplomatic observer as saying.

What the unnamed observer and indeed the Kosova diplomatic observer mission as a whole - which was born out of a meeting of Russian and Serb leaders in mid-June in Moscow - may perhaps pride themselves on is the fact that their official information despatched to and processed by their capitals has been fashioned to convey the idea of the 'not-so-much destruction' in Kosova.

The cost of billions of dollars in damages caused by the Serb armor to Kosovar towns and villages is not part of this cold, reasoned, and cynical calculation. Nor is there any 'great public outcry' over the reality that half of Kosova has been turned into a wasteland.

There have been quarters which have cried foul over the Western policies, though.

Senator Bob Dole said Sunday, 6 September, in Prishtina: "American and European leaders have pledged not to allow the crimes against humanity which we witnessed in Bosnia to occur in Kosovo. But, from what I have seen this weekend, such crimes are already happening."

EU Commissioner Emma Bonino warned the ELDR (European Liberal and Reform Group) at its strategy conference in Venice last week that the 15 member states should not agree to the Yugoslav leader's plan to run food centers for Kosovar refugees. "That is like asking Dracula to run a blood bank. There must never be a European flag over such a concentration camp", she said referring to a Serb regime plan to open 11 centers where Kosova Albanian refugees would be supplied with food and building material. (Senior U.S. officials initially said they would support such a plan, to only retract it after criticism by the New York Times.) Mrs Bonino, who visited Kosova recently, and was the keynote speaker in the Liberal's debate on EU foreign policy, said: "We are witnessing the kind of ethnic subjugation and violation of human rights which the founding fathers of the European Union wanted to eradicate from the continent when the process of European integration began. Milosevic is the only European leader with any clear project in mind for Kosova - like it or not. He simply terrorizes the Kosovars when he feels it appropriate".

Now that the West has spared billions of dollars at the expense of hundreds of killed, thousands of wounded, billions of dollars worth of Kosovar housing units destroyed by Milosevic, an interim settlement for Kosova has been floated as the success-to-be.

The irony is this success-to-be is being claimed by three parties.

Milosevic himself, the EU (Brussels), and Ambassador Hill (USA) want each to be credited for this. The Serb propaganda said the 'FRY' and Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) leader has come up with the idea; there has been a lot of talk of the U.S. (Mr. Hill) having secured a way out by having made the parties (Milosevic and Rugova) agree to the plan; and, last but not least, Belgian Foreign Minister Dereycke said last week in Prishtina that what Ambassador Hill had put forth was something the European Union had come up with a long time ago.

Belgrade, Washington and Brussels have something to pride themselves on, to emulate one another on. As Reuters correspondent duly noted, survival, not independence, will become the all- consuming struggle for many Kosovar Albanians through the coming winter.

It is only Prishtina, the capital of the 2-million nation of Kosova, that has nothing to pride itself on. Half of Kosova destroyed, almost a quarter of the population turned into refugees, etc. etc...

[02] Serb Burn Communities in Klina after Red Cross Workers Leave Area

Heavy Serb troops backed by 30 tanks besieged the village of Sverka today morning. Once the Red Cross Delegation which was visiting the Panorc village left, the Serb troops launched a fierce attack against Sverka. Serb infantry entered into the village later, torching over a dozen houses there, witnesses said. The local population had fled the village earlier.

[03] Serbs Pound Albanian Hamlets North-West of Prishtina

The LDK chapter in Mitrovica said the Serb attack against the Albanian communities in the area was kicked at around 11 in the morning and lasted until evening hours.

Immense damage was caused in these villages, it said, failing to say anything on possible casualties.

[04] Serbs Shoot Dead Albanian in His Place in Vushtrri

The LDK chapter in Vushtrri said Amrush Asllani was killed in his courtyard around midnight yesterday, when his house was sprayed with machine-gun bullets from the neighboring Serb village of Prilluzha.

The Prilluzha village has been for months now turned into a stronghold of Serb troops and paramilitary units, who, in tandem with the local population, have been repeatedly pounding with fire the outlying Albanian hamlets.

Residents of Stanoc i Posht&m claimed that their farmhouses were pounded with machine-gun fire on several occasions yesterday, as well as around midnight, when their fellow villager Amrush Asllani was killed.

[05] Montenegrin Authorities Deport Thousands of Kosovr Refugees to Albania

Between 5 to 7 thousand Albanians from western Kosova, among whom women, children, sick and wounded, who had fled the Serb attacks, attempted to cross into the neighboring Montenegro via Bjeshket e Nemuna mountains. About 3,000 were trapped in the mountains since Friday night when Serb and Montenegrin forces prevented them from proceeding towards the Plav& area.

Still unconfirmed reports said that at least 14 were killed in the Bjeshket e Nemuna when ambushed by Serb troops.

An activist with the local aid groups in Plav& (Montenegro) told the KIC that between 3,000 and 4,000 Kosovar refugees were forced on buses, trucks and means of transportation, and sent into Albania through the Vermosh border crossing.

Local authorities in Shkodra (Albania) said that the many Kosovar refugees had already reached north of the country yesterday evening, failing to say where they were sheltered.

Reuters quoted a UNCHR spokesman as saying that three thousand Kosovars who crossed on foot Montenegro on Friday after three days and nights of travel through the mountains were taken in trucks to Albania. Fernando del Mundo added that another 3,000 were stuck in the mountains just inside Kosova, unable to enter Montenegro after the border was closed to refugees on Saturday.

Sources in Plava said today that around 250 Kosovar refugees sheltered in Alpine summer huts not very far from Plava have been trapped in the mountains, and denied access to the town by the Montenegrin authorities. The Montenegrin government decided late last week to cut the flow of refugees from Kosova into the republic.

Around 8500 registered Kosovar refugees had sought shelter in Plava by last week, while thousands of others are reported in other places across Montenegro, mainly in the costal town of Ulqin.

On Sunday, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees sent a letter to Montenegro's President Milo Djukanovic, reminding him of an earlier promise to provide a safe haven for those trying to escape the Kosova fighting, the Associated Press reported.

[06] Half a Dozen Villages in Fush&-Kosova Given Three-Day Deadline to Surrender Weapons

Representatives, two to three each, of the villages of Harilaq, Sllatin& e Madhe, Henc, Miradi e Ep&rme, Vragoli were detained by Serb police on Friday. They were told to persuade their fellow villagers to surrender all weapons by Tuesday, or else Serb troops would do the job.

LDK activists in the municipality say the Serb regime warning has caused anxiety amongst the population, who are fearful of a Serb forces' crackdown.

Hundreds of Albanians displaced from the Drenica region, who have found shelter in Fush&-Kosova villages, left during the last weekend to look for safer places.

Meawnhile, sources in Prizren said Serbs have issued similar ultimatums to the Albanian population in the region. Serb police drove on repeated occasions the main square of Dushanova village on Sunday calling through a megaphone on the local residents to give in weapons, or else face bombardment. Similar ultimatums have been issued to the residents of the Tusus suburb of Prizren.

[07] Refugees Sheltered in Rugova Mountains in Urgent Need for Food and Clothes

LDK activists in Rugova told the KIC today morning that the refugees were in a vulnerable situation. There are many weak and sick persons who need urgently food and medical supplies, as well as clothing, as the air temperatures in mountains have already fallen down significantly, they noted.

[08] Serb Police Beat Wounded Albanians in Hospital

Sources in the Surgery Dept of Prishtina hospital named the four wounded Albanians as Xhon Ndreca, Arsim Tolaj, Yll Morina and Ms Fatime Dodaj. The ICRC representatives who brought the wounded Albanians to the hospital were denied access to the hospital.

The three wounded men, Xhon Ndreca, Arsim Tolaj, Yll Morina, were beaten up brutally by Serb police officers who interrogated them in the clinic. They are being held in the vascular surgery ward, with Serb police tightly guarding their rooms, witneses said.

[09] Serb Police Removes Patient from Hospital, His Whereabouts Unknown

Qerim Jetishi, wounded two months ago somewhere in south-west Kosova, got treated for some days in a Gjakava clinc before being transferred to the Prishtina hospital. While in clinics in both the towns, he was guarded constantly by Serb police.

Sources in the Prishtina hospital said his legs were still in plaster, and he was still sick on Friday when Serb police officers took him. There has been no word about his whereabouts ever since.

[10] Serb Military and Police Roam the Streets, Provoke Citizens in Mitrovica

The convoy came from Skenderaj ('Srbica'), the LDK chapter in Mitrovica said.

At half past 12:00, more Serb military and police equipment and personnel arrived in Mitrovica. They patrolled the streets of the aiming their guns at Albanian passers-by.

At noon, three Serb tanks, two armored cars, three lorries, and other vehicles with soldiers on board left Mitrovica for Stant&rg ('Stari Trg'), LDK sources said.

[11] 6,000 Albanian Refugees Camping Out in Qirez, Skenderaj

They are in an appalling situation, most of them spending days and nights rough in the open.

The refugees in this make-shift camp lack everything, food, clothes, medication, sources said.

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