Kosova Daily Report #1556, 98-09-18

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

Kosova Information Center
KOSOVA DAILY REPORT #1556
Prishtina, 18 September 1998

CONTENTS

[01] President Rugova's Press Conference

[02] President Rugova Receives Dinstbir, Donnelly

[03] More Victims Identified After Serbs Leave Some of Villages of Podujeva

[04] FOCUS: U.S. Plan Published, Kosovars Slam It Unacceptable, pro-Serb

[05] UK Draft Resolution on Kosova Not to Call for Force

[06] Pentagon Says Air Drops an Option in Kosova

[07] OSCE Commissioners Say 'NATO Must Act'

[08] Serbs Take Away Looted Commodities, Torch Village of Dobratin

[09] Serbs Pound and Torch the Remaining Houses in Pasoma Village

[10] Serbs Troops Kill Albanian in His Home in Vushtrri

[11] Firefighting Reported around Likovc Village, Skenderaj, Friday

[12] IDP's in Drenica Double-Hit, Human Rights Activist Say

[13] Serbs Burn Houses that Outlived Shelling in Opterusha, Rahovec

[14] Serb Snipers Wound Albanian in Malisheva

[15] 1,000 Albanian Refugees in Desperate Situation in Rugova Region

[01] President Rugova's Press Conference

The villages in the municipalities of Podujeva and Vushtrri are now being threatened by the Serb forces, he said, pressing for an immediate stop of all this, and prevention of spilling over of attacks in the eastern Kosova, there hundreds of thousands of displaced people have found refuge.

President Rugova denounced the continued Serb harassment of political activists, as well as the political trials underway and in the making, referring to reports that more than 1,200 Albanians have been charged by the Serb regime.

The Kosova leader re-iterated his call for an end to the Serb offensive, international protection for Kosova, and the return of people back to their homes with security and safety, under international monitoring.

An independent Kosova, with all guarantees for local Serbs, and an international protectorate as an interim stage, is the best solution, the President said.

He thanked President Clinton for authorizing 20 million dollars in aid, as well as the Japanese government for its 2.3 million dollars in aid for Kosova.

You speak of independence as 'the best solution', the Kosova negotiating team, having submitted objections to the interim accord draft, has agreed for Kosova to remain within Yugoslavia. Does this mean the 1991 independence referendum has been betrayed? - the Albanian language Bujku reporter asked.

Kosova was part of the former Yugoslavia, the country which has ceased to exist, Rugova said in reply. The interim accord would normalize life, the end of violence and Serbian attacks in Kosova, he added. The accord, on which our team and Ambassador Hill have been working, cannot be treated as 'betrayal of the referendum', but rather a means to an end, President Rugova said.

Asked by a BBC reporter to comment on the text published by the Koha Ditore on Thursday, Rugova said they were but "suggestions and proposals". Work is going on to get an accord between the Kosovar and the Serb teams, under the mediation of Ambassador Hill, he added. "You are well aware that we had also earlier (back in the past few years, KIC) many proposals on Kosova", he said, failing to specify whether this will have the fate of those earlier proposals, whether it will serve as a starting point for anything.

The most recent developments in Albania are "tragic and dangerous" for all of us, the President said, adding that they will distract the attention of the world from Kosova.

"We call on all institutions and all the political parties, as well as the people of Albania, to find a way out of this dangerous situation as soon as possible", Rugova said. "Only a stable and prosperous Albania can help Kosova".

[02] President Rugova Receives Dinstbir, Donnelly

Dinstbir said the UN was increasingly preoccupied with the situation in Kosova.

Rugova said the seven-month long Serb offensive has affected a large territory of Kosova. The goal of the offensive which has left hundreds killed, turned more than 400,000 people into refugees and IDP's, and destroyed their towns and villages, is the ethnic cleansing of Kosova, he pointed out.

Given the scale of destruction, the return of people back to their homes will be a difficult task, the President said. He called for an internationally monitored process of return, as well as for international NGO's to offer help and provide the relief supplies to the Albanian refugees.

An independent and neutral Kosova is the best solution, and it would stabilize the entire region, Rugova said, reaffirming the need for an interim international protectorate pending a lasting and negotiated resolution based on the 1991 referendum.

The UN special envoy for human rights, Jiri Dinstbir, said the conflict should end and the Kosova issue resolved in negotiations.

After the meeting, Rugova and Dinstbir spoke to the press in Prishtina.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day on Friday, President Ibrahim Rugova received the British Ambassador to Belgrade, Mr. Brian Donnelly, to discuss the situation in Kosova and prospects for a political resolution.

The British envoy conveyed the concern of his government over the developments in Kosova. The British diplomacy has been making efforts to assist the attainment of a political resolution to the Kosova issue, Ambassador Donnelly said.

[03] More Victims Identified After Serbs Leave Some of Villages of Podujeva

In late afternoon and evening hours yesterday (Thursday), part of the Serb troops withdrew from Bajgora region, a triangle between Mitrovica, Podujeva and Vushtrri, to only be repositioned in other parts.

Over 50 tanks were garrisoned last night between the villages of Llapashtic& and Obran^&, near Podujeva.

A few people who could reach Dobratin village later in the morning today said the village was virtually razed to the ground. They confirmed that a 64-year-old local Albanian, Maksut Rekaliu, was killed. The mutilated body of Fetah Behrami (54), from the neighboring village of Ka^anoll, was found in the village. Haki Rekaliu had received life-threatening wounds, while another local Albanian, Xhafer Ajvazi, is feared to have been slain by Serb forces.

Serbs have looted and destroyed almost everything there. The typical marks the Serb leave behind the communities they vanquish, bullet cartridges and chetnick '4-S' sign on the walls of gutted houses, are vastly evident in Dobratin, witnesses told the LDK chapter in Podujeva.

At the neihbouring Baj^ina village, Serbs have likewise pillaged almost all houses and set some ablaze.

The population in other villages in the municipality that were given yesterday a 24-hour deadline to surrender the weapons have fled homes seeking refuge in other village or in the towns of Podujeva and Prishtina.

Few elderly family heads, who refused to leave their property, have stayed behind.

Local LDK activists in Podujeva described the situation there as extremely volatile, the town being packed with Serb troops. Only a few shops opened this morning, and the random passerby are strictly scrutinized, checked and harassed by Serb police patrols. [See below related reports on Serb offesnive in nothern Kosova]

[04] FOCUS: U.S. Plan Published, Kosovars Slam It Unacceptable, pro-Serb

Chief Kosova negotiator, Dr. Fehmi Agani, said the Kosovar side had "serious objections", and that the proposal would have to be changed.

The three-year accord refers to Kosova as a "territory", and does not provide any propositions which would give the majority of the people of Kosova a decisive say on their future at the end of the day.

The first reaction of the Kosovars has been utterly negative, with some suggesting it was the chief Serb negotiator Ratko Mrakovic's draft plan!

The U.S. envoy, Ambassador Chris Hill, talked to local media in Prishtina Thursday afternoon.

He said he was here to meet with the (Kosova) negotiating. "As you know, we presented some ideas to them, a couple of weeks ago I guess. We presented a set of ideas, and we wanted to get reactions here to those ideas. So, the negotiating team under Dr. Agani had put together points to respond to points that we made,", Hill said in the American Office.

The U.S. diplomat said he and the negotiating team "went through them one by one, to see which sections cause problems, which sections are O.K., which changes would be required, section changes, entire section changes."

"We are going to take those back, and we are going to talk with some of our people in Washington, and I will come up, try to put together a new package of ideas.", Ambassador Hill said, adding "of course, we will also be talking with people in Beograd [Belgrade]. So, that's the negotiating process."

The U.S. ambassador to Shkup/FYROM said he "was a little surprised to see our ideas put in Koha Ditore." He said he did not know if this was accurate. Jim O'Brien's name is misspelled, Hill noted, as if to cast the first doubt about the accuracy of the text.

A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the authenticity of the published plan but said it was "only a starting point" for Serbian and Kosova Albanian leaders, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

Utterly negative response from Kosovars Veton Surroi, the editor-in-chief of Koha Ditore, a member of the previous Kosovar negotiating team, slammed the draft paper offered by Hill and O'Brien. In comments published in the front page of Koha Ditore on Thursday, Surroi said while the mediator does not take any responsibility to secure the creation of basic conditions for talks on a solution for the future he is "objectively placed on a position biased towards Milosevic".

Any deal in the West requires a strong implementation guarantee; in the Communist East "the interest of the working class", "the sacred word of a pioneer" etc, was sufficient. "It looks like the man who drafted the document was inspired from the East rather than the West", Surroi said.

Milosevic has in fact been "buying time", the right to continue his war in Kosova and get the sympathies of the U.S, mediator Hill so that the resolution of the Kosova issue be nearest to the position of the main Serb legislator, (Ratko) Markovic, Veton Surroi, whose Koha Ditore published the U.S. plan on Kosova, said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Professor Ismet Salihu, a law professor at the University of Prishtina, said the principles on which the solution to the Kosova issue is purported to be found "are fatal for Kosova and its people".

"From what I read [in Koha Ditore], I do doubt that this is the project (draft) of the American intermediator Hill, or else of O'Brien as the author of the draft. I rather think this is the project of the Serb jurist, Ratko Markovic, which has been presented to the Albanians for approval", Prof. Salihu said in an interview with the Prishtina-based "Kosova sot" daily newspaper on Friday.

Kosova has been stripped off of all statehood prerogatives, the Albanian law professor said. Kosova will not have a constitution, the Parliament is left without virtually all powers it used to have, the President is called the 'Representative', Salihu said.

Summing up, Prof. Salihu said 80 to 90 percent of the state and political powers that Kosova used to have with the 1974 constitution have been stripped off, according to the paper published in Koha on Thursday.

"Kosova has the right to self-determination, including independence", he said, adding that he was supportive of Adem Dema^i's idea that the 1974 Constitution should be the starting point of any Albanian-Serb negotiations on Kosova, "because Kosova enjoyed a much wider autonomy".

Adem Dema^i, the political representative of the U^K (Kosova Liberation Army) said during an interview with the "Kosova sot" Albanian side should not "accept dubious projects which lead to a cultural autonomy" for Kosova. Mr. Chris Hill has very important work to do in Macedonia, "he should pass his exam" there, Dema^i said. He reiterated his call for the United States to appoint another envoy for Kosova, "a competent man who would deal exclusively with Kosova, who would have no prejudices, who would come her as party to mediate, and, ultimately be a guarantor of the agreement on behalf of America".

The U^K General Staff said in a statement Wednesday no solution which leaves "Kosova under Serbia or with Serbia" will be accepted.

American analysts slam U.S. administration, plan on Kosova The Voice of America (VOA) on Friday quoted a number of senior U.S. analysts, including former State Dept. officials, as saying the talks on an interim accord in Kosova were not serious, and have been used by Milosevic, United States, and NATO to dampen the pressure for a military intervention.

James Hooper, director of the Council for Balkan Action in Washington, said 'FRY" President is asking for Washington to pay for Serbia, to clear the mess Milosevic has created in Kosova. Kosova should be made an international protectorate for a three to five year-period, he said, adding that the after that it could ask for independence if it treated the minorities fairly and not detabilize the region by asking to join Albania.

John Fox, a former State Department official, said an interim accord in Kosova would be in the interest of Belgrade in the first place.

The goal of these talks would be for Belgrade to gain time for new offensives to depopulate half of Kosova, Fox said.

The talks in the past several months have served only as a cover for violence on the ground, he added.

"They serve also as a cover for the U.S. and the West to do as little as possible to fulfil the commitments that they would not allow such a violence in Kosova", Fox said.

Janusz Bugajsky, an associate director of the Center for International and Strategic Studies in Washington, said he was pessimistic about the results of an interim accord in Kosova, because it contained many unknowns, and Milosevic is notorious for not implementing agreements.

Paul Wood, also a former State Department official, now an international law professor, said the United States have in fact given Milosevic a green light to ethnically cleanse Kosova, VOA reported on Friday.

[05] UK Draft Resolution on Kosova Not to Call for Force

The resolution, co-sponsored by France, also calls for a global flight ban on Yugoslav airlines, the withdrawal of special police force units from Kosova, and better access to refugees.

Most NATO states believe a Security Council resolution is necessary before the alliance mounts any military move in Kosova.

British officials said the resolution would not present any ultimatums to Belgrade because, arguably, these would be vetoed by Security Council members such as Russia and China.

Russia, an ally of the Serbs, has said it opposes any Security Council resolution placed under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter which could lead to the ultimate use of force to back it up.

"We're thinking of an interim resolution rather than a clear Chapter VII threat of military action. We have to see what the Russian reaction is. There is an indication they might swallow such a resolution,'' a British official told reporters, Reuters said.

Elaborating on the rationale of half measures, the official said "It seems to us that it is right to put the pressure on. But it wouldn't be right to introduce a tougher resolution which would collapse because of opposition in the Security Council.'' Further elaborating on this, the official said, "We'll have to see whether the resolution has any effect on Milosevic. He hasn't listened much in the past but it seems to us that we have to make an effort"!

[06] Pentagon Says Air Drops an Option in Kosova

"The short time to winter is putting pressure on everyone for a solution," the Pentagon spokesman said.

"We're looking at a variety of options" to deliver large amounts of food quickly to the estimated 250,000 refugees, Bacon said.

The U.S. Mercy Corpse International puts the number at 400,000 Albanians displaced, whereas Kosovar authorities say the number is closer to 450,000 now.

"We know we can drop our rations from planes. ... Theoretically that is an option for providing humanitarian assistance," the spokesman said.

The impending winter is putting increased pressure on NATO to find an answer to the fighting in Kosova, and a diplomatic solution is being sought, Keneth Bacon said during a regular press briefing.

"We don't want a repeat of Bosnia," President Clinton said on Wednesday.

Milosevic may become a victim of his own success, a senior CNN military correspondent said Friday, alluding to the possibility that NATO launch air strikes against Serb forces now that these strikes would not raise 'false hopes' to the U^K (the Kosova Liberation Army) after its setbacks.

[07] OSCE Commissioners Say 'NATO Must Act'

"Bush gave Milosevic the green light, and it hasn't been turned off," said Dole, chairman of the International Commission on Missing Persons in Bosnia. "Yet if we do not act before winter sets in, if the Kosovars in the mountains begin to freeze to death, then Milosevic can get away with the claim that he didn't murder them. To do the right thing, we don't have much time."

Also testifying was John H. F. Shattuck, Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and a Commissioner, who stated, "Crimes against humanity have been committed.

[Thus] the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague is a critical piece of the long-term process of bringing a political solution in Kosovo."

Commission Chairman Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY) asked, "Why is there no action (by the West)? The short answer is that there is no political will. As I understand the situation, NATO's military command is fully prepared to act in a full range of responses if given the order. If we do not act now, we become accomplices in Milosevic's genocidal campaign. What we need is U.S. leadership to build a 'coalition of the willing,' or, short of that, unilateral action to halt the ethnic cleansing."

Commission Co-Chairman Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ) ventured, "Speaking personally, I am not known as someone who readily recommends military response, but if action is not taken, knowing -- as we do know - that many more people will die as a result, we share a portion of the responsibility for what does happen. NATO must act."

Also participating in the hearing were Commissioners Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), Ranking Member Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD), Rep. Benjamin L.

Cardin (D-MD), and Representatives Benjamin A. Gilman (R-NY), Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, and Eliot L. Engel (D-NY).

[08] Serbs Take Away Looted Commodities, Torch Village of Dobratin

The LDK chapter in Podujeva said looting of houses preceded the setting ablaze of houses in the Dobratin. Big plumes of smoke billowing from this villages and the neighboring Ka^anoll could be seen until late hours last night.

A motorized convoy of around 85 Serb police and army vehicles left Dobratin village last evening at around 8 p.m. Large amounts of commodities and domestic appliance, pillaged in the village, were loaded on trucks and taken away by Serb forces, witnesses said.

The Podujeva Information Commission said the area which came under Serb attacks during the past three days is still tightly sealed off by Serb forces, making it impossible to determine the real extent of the consequences and the casualty-toll resulting from the offensive.

Sources said that around 22:00 hrs last night, 58 Serb tanks withdrew from an area around Dobratin village. They were later garrisoned in a hillside between the villages of Llapashtic& and Obran^&, only a couple of miles west of the town of Podujeva. This location has been turned into a Serb base for weeks now,

[09] Serbs Pound and Torch the Remaining Houses in Pasoma Village

Albanian communities in the Shala e Bajgor&s regions have come under fierce attacks by Serb forces in the past three days, resulting in casualties, destruction of entire villages and thousands of people fleeing their homes.

Sources said most of the farmhouses in Pasoma village have already been razed.

The LDK chapter in Mitrovica reported of further movement of Serb troops in the area of Shala e Bajgor&s. Part of the Serb forces withdrew overnight, yet many of them with heavy armament have continued to remain dug in many key positions.

The LDK said it has learned that three Albanians were killed during the Serb attacks on Thursday, but it failed to give their name.

[10] Serbs Troops Kill Albanian in His Home in Vushtrri

The LDK chapter in Vushtrri said the late Mustafa was killed in the courtyard of his family house yesterday at around 18:45.

Serb troops returning from the Shala a Bajgor&s region, which was under heavy fire in the past days, opened indiscriminate fire on houses of Albanians in Smrekovnica, killing Halil Mustafa on the spot.

[11] Firefighting Reported around Likovc Village, Skenderaj, Friday

Local sources said the village of Likovc came under heavy fire at around midday today. Serb forces who attempted to enter into the village from the neighboring Makermal hamlet were reportedly prevented from doing so.

At around 14:00, the had of the chapter of the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms (CDHRF) in Skenderaj said fighting around Likovc was still going on. A witness told the CDHRF he had seen smoke rise from a couple of two Serb vehicles.

The human rights group could not confirm any reports about possible casualties in Likovc today.

[12] IDP's in Drenica Double-Hit, Human Rights Activist Say

At least 30.000 IDP's have been sheltered in the villages between Skenderaj and Gllogovc, he said.

The human rights activist said that many villages in the area continued to be deserted for months now, their inhabitants crammed in 'relatively safer villages'.

He named the villages of Polac, Kryshefc, Morin&, Polluzh&, Mak&rmal, Likoc, Rrezall&, Obri e Ul&t, Obri e Ep&rme, Murg&, Tic&, Plluzhin&, A^arev&, Cerovik, Bezheviq, T&rstenik and T&rdefc, whose population has fled homes.

These villages had a population of over 25,000 before the Serb crackdown in early spring this year.

[13] Serbs Burn Houses that Outlived Shelling in Opterusha, Rahovec

Naim Kabashi, head of the local LDK organization in Opterrush&, told the KIC that Serbs have been torching the houses in the village which survived the shelling last month.

He said the bodies of two local Albanians, killed by Serbs earlier, could not be collected and buried as the area is still sealed off by Serb troops. The two men were mentally retarded persons, who did not flee the village when it came under the Serb fire.

Part of the population of Opterush& has been sheltered in the villages of Krusha and Mamusha, but many are still camping under makeshift tents made of plastic near Pagarusha, the LDK activist said.

[14] Serb Snipers Wound Albanian in Malisheva

Jakup Kastrati, chairman of the Malisheva LDK chapter, told the KIC that the body of another Albanian, Sadik Morina from Astrazub village, was found today at a location called "Hurdhat".

Sadik Morina was killed by firearms. Quoting a source in the area, the LDK activist said he had been executed by Serbs.

[15] 1,000 Albanian Refugees in Desperate Situation in Rugova Region

A resident of Rugova, Selman Laj^i, told the KIC the Montenegrin police entered a kilometer inside Kosovar territory on Thursday and chased and opened fire on Albanian children collecting mushrooms.

A dozen Albanians were illtreated by the Montenegrin police in the past couple of days, while they were trekking the 20 km distance, Mr. Laj^i said.

Some 1,000 refugees are still in this part of Rugova, he said. They had been trying to cross to Montenegro, but have been turned back. The refugees have been since 11 September in the villages of Malaj, Pepaj, Dreshaj, Haxhaj, Ku^isht&, Bog&, Shkrel, Koshutan, Pecaj. Some of them are living rough in the open, some in summer alpine huts.

The Serb police has been ill-treating Albanians trying to move in and out of the region of Rugova, too, reports said.

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