Kosova Daily Report #1678, 99-01-30
Kosova Information Center
KOSOVA DAILY REPORT #1678
Prishtina, 30 January 1999
CONTENTS
[01] President Rugova Meets with Robin Cook in Shkup, FYROM
[02] Americans and Europeans Push for Kosova Deal on Contact Group's Plan
[03] 6 out of 24 Albanians Killed in Rogova Identified
[04] Two More Killed Albanians in Gjakova Area
[05] Albanian Shot and Wounded near His Home in Downtown Prishtina
[06] 51 Albanian University Students on Hunger Strike
[07] Two Bombs Explode in Prishtina Friday Evening
[01] President Rugova Meets with Robin Cook in Shkup, FYROM
PRISHTINA, Jan 30 (KIC) - The President of the Republic of Kosova Ibrahim
Rugova left for Shkup/Skopje, FYROM, to meet later in the day today
(Saturday) the British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook.
On behalf of the six-nation Contact Group, which met in London yesterday to
approve a plan for talks on an interim settlement for Kosova, Robin Cook
was supposed to deliver its messages to President Ibrahim Rugova in
Prishtina today.
The airport here is closed due to bad weather, so the meeting is taking
place in Shkup instead of Prishtina.
Mr. Cook will have meetings with the Albanian leaders, "including Mr.
Ibrahim Rugova and Mr. Adem Dema^i", the OSCE Kosova Verification Mission
(KVM) said in a press release today.
[02] Americans and Europeans Push for Kosova Deal on Contact Group's Plan
PRISHTINA, Jan 30 (KIC) - "The future of the people of Kosovo is in the
hands of the leaders in Belgrade and Kosovo," the six-nation Contact Group
said in a statement at the end of a meeting in London on Friday.
The United Nations Security Council on Friday night threw its support
behind the Contact Group's demand that an interim settlement for Kosova be
reached by Feb. 20.
In Washington, President Bill Clinton said Friday the allies' "goal is not
merely to respond to the recent atrocities in Kosovo but to help resolve
the conflict so that the violence can end for good."
Clinton said the message from the international community was clear: "The
time for denial and delay is past. NATO is united and ready to act if you
don't." He made clear that could include the use of force against the
Serbs.
British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook will deliver the international demands
to 'FRY' President Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade and to Kosova leaders,
including President Ibrahim Rugova, in Shkup/FYROM today (Saturday).
In Moscow, the Foreign Ministry said Russia shared "the disquiet
surrounding the continuing tension" in Kosova and said all sides should
completely fulfill the demands contained in the Contact Group statement.
French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said an international peacekeeping
force may be necessary to monitor a peace agreement.
But he added, "We are not there yet."
Secretary of State Albright said it was premature to speculate on whether
American ground forces might be part of such a force. She said Congress
would be consulted before any decision was made. Other members of Clinton's
national security team met for 90 minutes at the White House Friday to
review this week's diplomatic activity and discuss U.S. involvement in what
White House press secretary Joe Lockhart called a possible
"post-implementation force," the Associated Press reported.
[03] 6 out of 24 Albanians Killed in Rogova Identified
LDK condemned in the strongest terms the execution-style killing of
Albanian civilians by Serb forces in Rogova village
PRISHTINA, Jan 30 (KIC) - The local chapter in Prizren of the
Prishtina-based Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms
(CDHRF) said the names of six out of the twenty-four Albanians killed by
Serbian forces in Rogov& village yesterday have been made known.
They are Rifat Haxhi Shala (1974), Zymber Dervish Shala (1939), and Xhevdet
Beqir Berisha (34), residents of Rogova village; Sejdi Avdyl Rama (1965)
and Agron Rama, residents of Smolica village, of Gjakova, as well as Agush
Gjoci.
LDK sources in Gjakova, citing eye-witness accounts, said Serb police
raided a number of Albanian houses in Rogova at six o'clock in the morning
yesterday, taking the men forcefully.
In the house of Rrustem Morina (60), Serb police arrested him and his three
sons: Selman (23), Muhamet (20), and Nysret (17), LDK sources said. In the
extended Shala family, Adem Xhem& Shala (40), Rifat Haxhi Shala (24), and
Zymber Dervish Shala (60) were detained by police.
Some of the Albanians were shot dead in the house of Xhevdet Beqir Berisha
(34), who was reported killed himself too.
Yesterday's slaying of two dozen Albanians (most of whom local civilians)
in Rogova village of Gjakova comes after the massacre of 45 Albanians in
the village of Re^ak, south of Prishtina, and the slaying of five Albanians,
including two children and a woman, in a tractor in Rakovina village,
southwestern Kosova, on 24 January.
The Serbian regime propaganda machine tried to cover up the Re^ak massacre,
alleging Albanians died in the 'heat of the battle' with Serb forces,
whereas a Serb health minister said the five Albanians died in a 'road
accident' in Rakovina.
The Democratic League of Kosova (LDK), President Ibrahim Rugova's party,
condemned in the strongest terms the execution by the Serbian forces of the
Albanian civilians in Rogova village, and pressed for international
protection for the people of Kosova.
The execution-style killing of Albanians in Rogova, on the day the
Albanians and the international community were stepping up efforts for a
political settlement in Kosova is "ample demonstration of the Serb refusal"
of such an approach, the LDK said.
Carrying out a series of massacres, the Serb regime is abusing the
readiness and commitment of the Albanian people of Kosova and the
international community to a negotiated and political solution.
"Only independence can bring about security and prosperity to Kosova and
all of its inhabitants", the LDK said in a press release, referring to
recent international initiatives on Kosova.
[04] Two More Killed Albanians in Gjakova Area
PRISHTINA, Jan 30 (KIC) - The body of a killed Albanian has been found in
the woods near the village of Bishtazhin, Gjakova municipality, local LDK
sources said. His identity has not been established yet, but he is supposed
to be a local resident of either Bishtazhin or Marmull villages.
Meanwhile, the Serbian army took Friday afternoon the body of a killed
Albanian, in his mid-thirties, to the Gjakova morgue. He is presumed to
have been killed by Serbian forces at the Kosova- Albania border.
[05] Albanian Shot and Wounded near His Home in Downtown Prishtina
PRISHTINA, Jan 30 (KIC) - Late Friday afternoon, unidentified persons shot
and wounded Selman Konjusha (50), a local writer, in the entrance to his
flat in downtown Prishtina, capital of Kosova.
Konjusha was shot twice - in the chest and his kidneys - and was taken to
the Prishtina surgery clinic in a critical condition.
When operated upon, he had one of his kidneys removed, a close relative
told the KIC.
[06] 51 Albanian University Students on Hunger Strike
Call for a united Albanian front in Kosova
PRISHTINA, Jan 30 (KIC) - Fifty- one Albanian students of the University of
Prishtina have entered in their third day of a hunger strike calling for an
immediate unification of the Albanian "political and military" factors in
Kosova, meaning President Ibrahim Rugova of Kosova and the U^K in the first
place.
Tomorrow, Sunday, should be the fourth and final day they set as the time
by which a united Albanian front should have been created in Kosova.
The students, who have been staging their hunger strike in the premises of
the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Prishtina, thanked the
University leadership and called the public at large to support their
demand.
[07] Two Bombs Explode in Prishtina Friday Evening
Six Serbs and an Albanian injured
PRISHTINA, Jan 30 (KIC) - Two homemade bombs exploded in Prishtina, capital
of Kosova, on Friday evening.
One was hurled into a downtown Serb-owned cafe, injuring seven people, one
critically. One of the wounded was an Albanian woman and the others - one
other woman and five men - were Serbs, the Associated Press said.
Another device exploded outside a group of shops in a district on the
southern edge of Prishtina, shattering windows but causing no injuries.
Serbian police claimed they found a note at the downtown cafe claiming
responsibility in the name of the U^K (Kosova Liberation Army).
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