Kosova Daily Report #1668, 99-01-19

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

Kosova Information Center
KOSOVA DAILY REPORT #1668
Prishtina, 19 January 1999

CONTENTS

[01] President Rugova Receives Ambassador Pardew

[02] President Rugova Receives Ambassador Petritsch

[03] Serbian Forces Shell Shtime Villages for Third Day in a Row

[04] Albanian Teacher Killed in Unsolved Circumstances over the Weekend

[05] Belgrade Declares Walker 'Persona Non Grata' in Further Act of Defiance

[01] President Rugova Receives Ambassador Pardew

Echoing the strong condemnation by President Clinton of the Re^ak massacre, Ambassador Pardew expressed the outrage of the United States to that act of atrocity. This crime has to be investigated from the outside, Mr Pardew said, adding that prevention of the International War Crimes Tribunal Prosecutor, Louis Arbour to enter into Kosova was unacceptable. The perpetrators of this crime must be brought before justice, he stressed.

President Rugova said that the Re^ak massacre has added to the already highly tense and dramatic situation. This crime is in flagrant opposition to the international efforts to reach a political settlement to the Kosova problem. Prevention of the International War Crimes Tribunal Prosecutor, Louis Arbour to come into Kosova to conduct an investigation is yet another proof that Belgarde lacks readiness to cooperate with the international community on Kosova, President Rugova said.

President Rugova and the U.S. Ambassador James Pardew also had a lengthy discussion on the prospects and on the need to intensify the political process in search of a peaceful settlement to the Kosova issue.

[02] President Rugova Receives Ambassador Petritsch

Ambassador Petrirsch expressed the outrage of the European Union over the atrocity at the Re^ak village.

President Rugova said that this massacre is in flagrant opposition to the international efforts to reach a political settlement to the Kosova problem. He condemned in the strongest possible terms the Belgrade's decision to expel the KVM head William Walker from Kosova. This decision, as well as the decision to prevent the International War Crimes Tribunal Prosecutor, Louis Arbour to come into Kosova to conduct an investigation, is yet another proof that Belgrade lacks readiness to cooperate with the international community on Kosova, President Rugova said.

President Rugova and Ambassador Petritsch discussed at length about the need to intensify of the political process in search of a peaceful settlement of the Kosova issue.

[03] Serbian Forces Shell Shtime Villages for Third Day in a Row

Today is the third day in a row of continued Serb shelling in the area, where more than 50 Albanians were massacred by Serbian forces last Friday. Their bodies were removed by Serb forces yesterday, and taken to the Prishtina town morgue, despite a universal condemnation of the Serb regime operation.

Today, the Albanian villages were being pounded by Serb forces positioned in Kodra e G&shtenjave and Kryqi i Belincit, local LDK activist in Shtime told the KIC.

Eye-witness accounts said the echo of the Serb army and police artillery was being heard as far as in the town of Ferizaj ('Urosevac'), in southeast Kosova.

The Albanian population of the area, fearful of fresh Serbian massacres, has been fleeing the area, sources said.

More than a thousand displaced Albanians spent the last night rough in the open in the Mollopolc valley.

[04] Albanian Teacher Killed in Unsolved Circumstances over the Weekend

The Serb press said the Albanian had been shot dead from point- blank range in a back village road, some 30 metres away from the Peja-Prishtina highway.

[05] Belgrade Declares Walker 'Persona Non Grata' in Further Act of Defiance

PRISHTINA, Jan 19 (KIC) - The Yugoslav government Monday ordered the U.S. head of the OSCE Kosova Verification Mission (KVM), Ambassador William Walker, to leave the country within 48 hours, in an act of further defiance to the international community and its efforts over Kosova.

Belgrade's expulsion order came after Walker accused Serb forces of massacring 45 ethnic Albanians in the Kosova village of Re^ak, 26 km south of capital Prishtina, last week.

"The federal government ... has decided to proclaim William Walker an undesirable person ... which binds him to leave the territory of Yugoslavia within 48 hours," said an official statement by Belgrade.

In a strongly worded statement, the United States warned Serbian leader Milosevic on Monday he was "playing with fire" and demanded he reverse the decision to expel Walker.

National security officials met at the White House to discuss the most serious Kosova setback since last October, when U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke brokered a deal with Milosevic that averted NATO air strikes against Serbian military targets, news agencies said.

"The situation is as serious now - perhaps more serious - than it was in October," Ambassador Holbrooke said in a CNN interview on Monday. He pointed out that NATO then was "96 hours away from bombing."

Ambassador Walker, saying he was shocked at the decision to expel him, was quoted by a local radio in Belgrade, "They could have had the decency to inform me personally about this."

In Prishtina, Belgrade's decision to expel the KVM head from Kosova is seen as yet another proof of the sinister schemes of the Serbian occupation authorities over Kosova - their determination to carry on with their aggression and massacres of Albanians untroubled by the eyes of the outside world.

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