Kosova Daily Report #1691, 99-02-12

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

Kosova Information Center
KOSOVA DAILY REPORT #1691
Prishtina, 12 February 1999

CONTENTS

[01] Rambouillet Conference on Kosova In Its Sixth Full Day

[02] Kosova Is Bound to Become Independent, Says Rugova's Aide

[03] Serbian Forces Shell Llapashtic& Village in Podujeva Area

[04] Two More Albanians Go Missing in Peja

[05] Body of Unidentified Person Found in Peja Village Thursday

[06] Serb Civilian Thwarted from Tossing Bomb on Albanian's Apartment in Prishtina

[01] Rambouillet Conference on Kosova In Its Sixth Full Day

International and Kosovar experts have been involved in deliberations, the KIC has learned. The Kosovar delegation will hand over its comments to the international mediators today afternoon.

Meanwhile, the British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook on Thursday accused Serbian delegates at the closed-door negotiations of blocking the path to a successful settlement and praised the ethnic Albanian team for being more cooperative, Reuters news agency reported. "I believe that the Kosovo Albanians in particular are engaged in trying to find a political settlement," he said.

Serbs have been stalling the talks by demanding that the Albanians sign up to a set of basic principles which recognized existing Yugoslav borders.

The Kosova delegation has pushed for NATO to get directly involved in the Rambouillet talks.

During a press conference in Prishtina today (Friday), Xhemail Mustafa, President Rugova's press secretary, said the Kosova delegation has been steadfast in Rambouillet that a three-year-long interim settlement is acceptable only if Kosova's status is clearly defined, if a popular referendum is guaranteed in three years' time, and, last but not least, NATO is made guarantor of the deal by putting its ground troops in Kosova.

Albanians from France and other European countries will stage a protest rally in Rambouillet tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon.

Some 200 Serbs, mainly elderly, staged a protest there today. They chanted slogans against NATO and the U.S. mediator Chris Hill.

[02] Kosova Is Bound to Become Independent, Says Rugova's Aide

"This process [of resolution] will be a long and difficult one, but this conference marks a serious start, and it cannot stop until Kosova becomes a free and independent state", Mustafa added.

The Kosova delegation at Rambouillet - President Ibrahim Rugova is there, too - is presenting and defending the will of the people for independence as the only lasting political solution that would calm the Albanians and stabilize the entire southern Europe's region, President Rugova's aide said.

The Kosova delegation has been steadfast in Rambouillet that a three-year- long interim settlement is acceptable only if Kosova's status is clearly defined, if a popular referendum is guaranteed in three years' time, and, last but not least, NATO is made guarantor of the deal by putting its ground troops in Kosova, Xhemail Mustafa said.

The Belgrade regime has been obstructing the Rambouillet Conference "from within and without", engaging in efforts to fragmentize the eventual agreement in France and devalue the Kosova issue, Rugova's press secretary noted. "We are convinced the Contact Group, when it meets this weekend, will address this problem".

Mr. Mustafa praised Ambassador William Walker's [the OSCE KVM's director's] "remarkable human and diplomatic courage" in telling the truth and standing by it in support of the residents of Re^ak and all the people of Kosova.

Touching on the grave and dangerous situation in Kosova, Rugova's press secretary said Belgrade has massed military and paramilitary troops and armaments and is engaging in aggressive actions. They have been provoking the northern Llapi region's villages, as well as in Vushtrri municipality and around the Llapushnik Gorge, he added.

151 Albanians were killed and massacred by Serbian forces in Kosova during the month of January alone, Mustafa said, citing reports by the Prishtina- based Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms (CDHRF). In the first decade of February some 20 people have been killed in unsolved circumstances, he added. "The secret Serbian police is behind these mysterious killings", Mustafa said.

"Embarking on typical urban terrorism, like the killing of a week ago in Prishtina, the Serb regime is intent on killing life in the Kosovar towns".

The Serbian regime has been committed to ensuring that it carries crimes out of the reach of international eyes and ears, Xhemail Mustafa said, in reply to a question by a journalist of the Bujku daily, successor to the Albanian-language Rilindja daily, which marks today its 54th anniversary. "Of course, one of the most authentic witnesses to these Serb atrocities in the past decade has been Bujku", whose printing was banned by the Serbian regime last December. Rilindja was banned in 1990.

[03] Serbian Forces Shell Llapashtic& Village in Podujeva Area

Serbian military and paramilitary police forces were shelling from their positions at Tabet e Llapashtic&s, a couple of km southwest of the town of Podujeva, 30 km north of capital Prishtina.

Belgrade has massed tanks and troops in the northern Llapi region since the Christmas offensive, and has repeatedly violated last October's cease- fire.

Thousands of Albanians have been displaced from their villages in Llapi region.

[04] Two More Albanians Go Missing in Peja

PRISHTINA, Feb 12 (KIC) - Two Albanians went missing in the Peja area in the past couple of days, local LDK sources said.

Ibish Sadri Mujaj (47), resident of Nab&rgjan village of Peja, has been unaccounted for since Wednesday. Mujaj was last seen alive when he got off the bus at Pavlan village, around 17:30 CET that day.

Meanwhile, Adem Rexhep Mu^kurtaj (43), resident of Nak&ll village, a TV mechanic, went missing on Thursday afternoon.

Mu^kurtaj, father of four, was last seen near the train station, local LDK sources said.

In the past couple of months, some 20 Albanians from Peja region went missing before being found killed in unsolved circumstances.

[05] Body of Unidentified Person Found in Peja Village Thursday

He had apparently died of two gunshots to the head, it added.

The body has been taken to the Prishtina morgue.

[06] Serb Civilian Thwarted from Tossing Bomb on Albanian's Apartment in Prishtina

Shefki Rafuna, resident of Dardania negihbourhood, told the KIC he and his wife and two daughters gauged the Serb's intention. He backed off, but tried to toss the hand grenade inside another Albanian's apartment in the block of flats, Rafuna said.

Shefki Rafuna told the KIC he managed to drag the Serb civilian, in whose pocket was the bomb, while he had a pistol strapped to his hip.

Rafuna and the Serb civilian scuffled, before the latter managed to run away, according to Rafuna's account.

The Albanian said he had seen that very Serb being in the company of two Serb policemen, named Ivo and Zarko, respectively, who live in the adjacent bloc of flats in Dardania.

The two Serb policemen had provoked his children a few days ago, routinely accusing them of their brother Dritan Rafuna being a member of the U^K (Kosova Liberation Army), Shefki said. They have provoked other Dardania residents also, he concluded.

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