Kosova Crisis Center
link to alb-net
Massacre in Poklek tė Vjetėr (KP)
Gllogoc, April 21th (Kosovapress) Yesterday and today in the village of Baicė and in
Gllogoc new reinforcements and concentrations can be noticed. From the ground confirmed
confirmations, it is said that the serbian terrorists have committed a massacre in the
village Poklek i Vjetėr, commune of Gllogoc. According to the testimonies, there have
been 64 albanians massacred. Yesterday, attacks with grenades have taken place in the
village of Prekaz i Epėrm of the commune of Skėnderaj.
Two serbian terrorists liquidated.
Ferizaj, April 21st (Kosovapress) The units of the 161st Brigade "Ahmet
Kaēiku", of the Operative Zone of Nerodime, yesterday, about the hour 17.30 two
serbian terrorists have been liquidated during their efforts to burn the houses of the
albanians in the village of Nerodime. Meanwhile, last night and a night ago, from the
serbian positions in Nerodime, have been under grenades the villages with civil population
Manastirc and Dremjak. This population has decided, that in spite of the attacks with
grenades, it will not abandon its dwellings. From the serbian attacks, Vahedin Kashtanjeva
(53), from the village Nerodime has been wounded. Six tanks stationed in the village of
Godanc of Shtime, has moved toward Ferizajt to escape NATO bombardments. Meanwhile,
yesterday, the serbian terrorists have burnt two houses in the quarter of Pajtimit of
Shtimes. The answer of the young recruits to the order of the General Headquarters of KLA,
is massive; their only purpose is the liberation from the serb invader.
The village Ngucat has been under grenades
Suharekė, April 21th (Kosovapress) Last night, from their place positions in the village
of Bllacė, the serbian military police forces have attacked with grenades the village of
Ngucat. There are no confirmations about the consequences concerning people.
Feriz and Bilall Buzhala have been executed
Komoran, April 21st (Kosovapress) The serbian terrorist forces, after retreating from the
west side of Komoran, have executed the brothers Feriz and Bilall Buzhala, from Komoran.
They were captured as hostages in their house ten days ago.
Report from the zone Ana Drinit (KP)
Rahovec, April 21st (Kosovapress) Because of the general blockade that the enemy had
applied in this region, we have not been able to inform about the battle taken place on
April 18th, in the village Zatriq. At 07°° in the morning, massive enemy forces had
attacked this village. They have been faced with the soldiers of the 3d Battalion of the
124th Brigade of the Operative Zone of Pashtrikut, coming to a hand to hand fight. The
battle took place in the vicinity. During this battle, two of the soldiers of this
Battalion from Ratkoci, Isa Hoti and Safet Latifi remained killed. These soldiers
penetrated in the profound enemy's rear, walking over the cadavers of the killed and
wounded serbian enemy, until they fell with glory in the field of honor. These martyrs,
joined their friends from the same village Naser and Sahit Krasniqi fallen some times ago.
Their heroism and their example will be an impulsion for further successes for their
companions of arms. While, the serbian military forces, last night have been retreated
from the main part of the region of Ana Drinit and it seems that they are positioned in
the other side of the river Drini i Bardhė, in the villages of Marmull, Brodosanė,
Doblibarė, Rezinė, commune of Gjakova. They left behind the serbian police positioned in
the village of Ratkoc, and houses totally destroyed and looted. The serbian soldiers, also
told our villagers that they were looking for some soldiers which had allegedly deserted
from the serbian criminal army ranks.
7 civil albanians are taken by
serbian police, there are no informations about their fate
Kaēanik, April 21st (Kosovapress) Last night about 17°°o`clock, serbian forces have
attacked with heavy artillery in direction of the wards of Kaēanikut. These shootings
were directed mainly in the ward Lagjėn e Re and the caused a lot of damages but
fortunately there were no victims in people. Even today about 05°°o`clock in the
morning, these attacks have continued for 10-15 minutes. There are no reports about
possible victims. Since April 19th, there are not informations about the fate of Selime
Rexhallarit, who was taken by serbian forces in Dushkajė of Kaēaniku, then for Bajrush
Dullovin (65), Heset Dullovin (42), Isak Dullovin (52), Rizah Mulakun (70), Ismail Mulakun
(65) and Reshit Mulakun (52). All were taken by serbian police in the ward Dushkaja of
Kaēaniku and in the village Bob.
Killings and Scorched Earth in
Southern Kosova (HRW)
Over the past ten days, Human Rights Watch researchers in Macedonia independently
interviewed more than twenty refugees from villages in the area between Urosevac (Ferizaj
in Albanian) and the Macedonian border. The refugees, many of whom were on the move inside
Kosova for more than two weeks, described military style operations against their home
villages, including heavy shelling and the use of tanks, followed by the wholesale burning
of villages and crops and the deliberate slaughter of livestock. Refugees from several
villages also provided consistent accounts of the killing of civilians by Serbian police
and paramilitary units, as well as reports that some of the corpses had been mutilated.
In the village of Bajnica (close to Doganovic), eyewitnesses described how tanks entered
the village without warning on the morning of April 3, followed by Serbian police and
paramilitaries who set fire to houses, shot farm animals and beat residents in the street.
Qamil Rhexepi, a sixty-year-old resident of Bajnica, and Demir Sulemani, a
forty-eight-year-old man from Brod, were shot by Serbian forces during the operation,
witnesses said. One witness saw Rhexepi being shot by masked men in green camouflage
uniforms as he tried to flee the village. When the witness and three other men, all
interviewed separately by Human Rights Watch, returned to the scene of the shooting later
that day, they found the mutilated bodies of Rhexepi and Sulemani. Sulemani's eyes had
been removed, and his throat had been cut, they all said. Describing the scene, one of the
witnesses said: "the village was destroyed -- it was horrible to see. They just did
it so we can't go back."
A refugee from the village of Rakaj told Human Rights Watch that Serbian police had
entered the village on April 3, forcing the residents to flee to neighboring Cakaj. The
village was subsequently looted and burned, he said. On Tuesday, April 13, Cakaj's
inhabitants and those being sheltered there (including persons from nearby Lamaj and
Duraj) also fled after Duraj was shelled at around 11:00 a.m. The women, children and
elderly, who took refuge in a canyon, were subsequently caught by armed police in masks
who told them that they "couldn't leave until they [the police] had burned all the
houses."
Three witnesses hiding in the area heard shots after three men (forty-year-old Shiqiri
Halili, forty-year-old Jakup Caka, and forty-six-year-old Mahmut Caka) tried to escape
from the area around the canyon. After the police left around 3:00 p.m., one witnesses
found Halili shot eight times, but still alive. Nearby, the witness said, were the
mutilated corpses of Jakup and Mahmut Caka. Halili died later that same day.
Four witnesses interviewed by a Human Rights Watch researcher indicated that an additional
eight bodies were discovered when the villagers returned to Cakaj, bringing the number of
dead to eleven. Those killed included: Rahman Lama, 50; Ibrahim Lama, 20; Habib Lami, 18;
Ilir Caka 19; and Qemal and Sabri Saliu, as well as their brother. The village was
completely burned, witnesses said, including the bodies of farm animals.
Human Rights Watch representatives also spoke with multiple witnesses from the area who
claimed that the police had destroyed the following villages: Slatin, Gabrica, Elezaj,
Gatchka, Duraj and Lamaj. Three witnesses from the village of Firaj (on the road between
Strpce and Brod) interviewed independently by Human Rights Watch also reported forcible
evictions and scorched earth tactics in their area. They described the widespread looting
and burning of villages, including Firaj, Brod, Vica, Upper and Lower Bitinja.
These interviews indicate a consistent pattern of killings and literal scorched earth
tactics by Serbian and Yugoslav forces in the southern region of Kosova. Most villages
along the Macedonian border have been ethnically cleansed and destroyed.
For further information contact:
Fred Abrahams (New York): 1-212-216-1270
Holly Cartner (New York): 1-212-216-1277
Jean-Paul Marthoz (Brussels): 322-736-7838
UN calls for emergency airlifts (BBC)
Refugees are still arriving at camps where there is no room left
The UN refugee agency is calling on western governments to airlift thousands of refugees
out of Macedonia, as the country struggles to cope with the influx of people fleeing
Kosova.
Paula Ghedini, a UNHCR spokeswoman, said camps in the former Yugoslav republic were full
and aid workers at Lojani had been prevented from taking supplies to thousands of refugees
being kept on the border by the Macedonian authorities.
A further 3,000 people are reported to be stuck in freezing conditions in the hills on the
border at Malina Mali.
This latest call for help comes amid growing concern for Kosova-Albanian refugees in
Montenegro following the reported killing of six people on Monday by Yugoslav soldiers.
Exodus
The UNHCR said it had made it clear to donor and refugee host countries that it wanted
larger numbers of people taken out of Macedonia, which is currently hosting some 130,000
refugees.
Spokesman Kris Janowski said: "It's an exodus which is potentially destabilising for
the region and huge international solidarity and co-operation is needed to deal with it
and keep a lid on it."
Macedonia's president has described the influx into his country as the greatest threat to
Macedonian security since independence in 1991.
"I believe dangers for Macedonia are growing. Macedonia's state interest is to
preserve internal stability and external security," said President Kiro Gligorov.
He said the flood of Kosova Albanians threatened to upset his country's fragile ethnic
balance. Correspondents say that Macedonia already has a sizeable Albanian minority.
The BBC correspondent in the capital Skopje, Paul Wood, says the situation in Macedonia is
urgent as UN sources report that as many as 50,000 more refugees could be on their way
from one of Kosova's biggest towns, Gnjilane, which previously had not seen any large
movement of people.
The report cannot be independently confirmed, but international officials in Macedonia
believe it could be evidence of a final push by the Serbian authorities to empty Kosova of
its Albanian population, our correspondent says.
European countries have offered to take in 70,000 Kosova refugees, while so far only
around 17,000 have been flown out of Macedonia.
"We're not asking for offers, we're saying more people have to be taken out,"
said Mr Janowski.
However, large-scale evacuations from the small airport in Skopje were not easy because of
the heavy numbers of relief flights, and host countries might have to to use bigger
aircraft to intensify the evacuation, he said.
Alarm in Montenegro
While more refugees are expected to arrive in Macedonia, the UN says that refugees who had
fled to Yugoslavia's junior republic, Montenegro, are leaving on buses for
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania.
This exodus follows an incident near the village of Rozaje on Monday, in which drunken
army reservists killed six people, including both locals and refugees.
The UNHCR said: "Alarm has spread throughout Rozaje and many Kosovars, as well as
some locals, have been leaving the area."
There have been reports of local Muslims leaving Rozaje on four buses bound for Sarajevo,
while UNHCR staff saw 30 buses leaving the town, the refugee agency said.
However, the Yugoslav 2nd Army command gave a different version of events, saying in a
communique that one of its units had come under fire from "a large group of
terrorists of the Kosova Liberation Army" and in a "resolute action" had
broken them, killing four.
According to the UNHCR, some 70,000 Kosova Albanians have fled to Montenegro, but several
hundred pour out again each day towards Albania.
Helicopters signal new phase
As the refugee crisis showed no signs of abating, Nato embarked upon the fifth week of its
air campaign on Yugoslavia.
US attack helicopters have arrived in Albania, marking a new phase in Nato's military
campaign against Yugoslav forces.
Armed with laser-guided missiles, Apache helicopters can be used against artillery, tanks
and troop concentrations.
Unlike Nato jets, they operate at low levels, within range of Yugoslav weapons.
US volunteers join Kosova rebels
(BBC)
New arrivals train on the beach (BBC)
A huge influx of volunteers is flooding into Albania to join the Kosova Liberation Army in
its fight against Serb forces.
Ethnic Albanians are leaving their jobs across Europe and the United States to return to
their homeland.
They say they are ready to die in the battle against the Serbs.
Our correspondent in Albania, Jeremy Cooke, says the passenger ferry from Italy has become
a troop ship.
The boat is packed every day with fighters - including teenagers and girls - ready to take
on the most battle hardened army of Europe.
Some are KLA veterans, but others are fresh volunteers - some have never set foot outside
America before.
They are processed in secret locations before being sent for a brief intensive
period of training.
Within two weeks they will be on the front lines. The BBC was told at least 16 volunteers
who had arrived in the last few weeks had been killed in the fighting.
'I've seen my sisters raped'
One 16-year-old girl told why she was prepared to die for the cause. ''I've seen my
sisters getting raped and little children getting killed so I decided to come,'' she said.
''Of course I'm ready [to die].''
Another volunteer from New York said: ''We're coming because we don't want to send
Americans or Nato men or women to die because we're here to die. Our fight is right and
we're going to win.''
Their 'platoon leader' is a 19-year-old from the Bronx who has basic training with
America's National Guard. He says his parents encouraged him to join the fight.
Recent reports indicate the war on the ground is hotting up with the KLA receiving large
reinforcements as the ethnic Albanians are pushed out of Kosova.
Last week the army seized a Yugoslav Army lieutenant and handed him over to the Albanian
authorities. The soldier is now being held as Nato's first prisoner of war.
Nato: 'Ethnic cleansing spreading
to Montenegro'
Macedonia says it has no room for more refugees
Nato says Yugoslav forces have extended their ethnic cleansing operations beyond Kosova,
to villages inside Montenegro.
Alliance spokesman Jamie Shea said it was "new and distressing'' to hear of ethnic
cleansing by Serbia inside Montenegro - its junior partner in federal Yugoslavia.
Montenegro has increasingly sought to distance itself from the policies of President
Milosevic.
At the daily Nato briefing, Mr Shea said villages close to the border with Kosova had been
attacked in recent days.
''This can only exacerabate the problem, which is already of alarming proportions,'' he
said.
Yugoslav Foreign Ministry adviser Milisav Paic told the BBC the Nato statement was an
attempt "to fabricate events in order to demonise Yugoslavia".
Meanwhile, Croatia has complained to the UN that at least 200 Yugoslav soldiers have
crossed from Montenegro into Croatian territory.
The Croatian ambassador to the UN, Ivan Simunovic, called on the Yugoslav forces to
withdraw immediately.
The Prevlaka area on the Croatian side of the frontier, which is disputed by Yugoslavia,
is a demilitarised zone monitored by the UN. The area commands the entry to Kotor Bay,
where an important Yugoslav naval base is located.
UN monitors withdrew when the Nato bombing began.
Serb forces and Albanian troops are also reported to have exchanged fire on the
Yugoslav-Albanian border in the first clash between the two armies since the start of the
crisis.
'Children held for blood'
Mr Shea said refugees reported that Serb forces were:
Holding 700 Kosova-Albanian boys prisoner, using them as "blood banks" for
injured troops.
Using Kosova Albanians as human shields, forcing them to stand in front of Serb tanks for
two days.
He said upwards of 100,000 Albanian men of fighting age were unaccounted for in Kosova.
Reports from refugees suggested more than 3,500 had been executed, he added.
Mr Shea said the Serbs were mounting a ''safari operation'' against Kosova-Albanians.
He said the Serbs were:
Shelling into hills, forcing refugees into the open and beating them out of bushes.
Clogging up roads, moving refugees around and mixing them with military vehicles.
Putting them into trains and sending them to the border, sometimes turning them back
again.
Mr Shea said Serb strategy appeared to be to drive people to the south of Kosova, herding
them near to the border, but not allowing them to cross.
''It is as if Milosevic is trying to develop a surge operation,'' he said.
Ground troops an option - Blair
Nato is considering using ground troops, on its 50th anniversary
A ground force invasion of Kosova could still be an option for Nato, UK Prime Minister
Tony Blair told MPs hours before flying to Washington.
Mr Blair was flying to Washington on Wednesday for Nato's 50th anniversary summit, which
will be dominated by events in Kosova.
Leading British politicians now insist Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic cannot be
allowed to veto any ground force.
Speaking in Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Blair repeated the
Alliance's insistence it was determined to succeed against President Milosevic.
Answering a question from opposition leader William Hague, Mr Blair said: "The
difficulties of a land force invasion of Kosova against an un-degraded Serb military
machine are formidable and they have been all the way through.
"I've also said, and repeat now, that of course Milosevic does not have a veto on
Nato action.
"All options are always kept under review - that is sensible for us to do."
Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Alan Beith asked the prime minister whether he accepted
that ground troops may have to secure peace in Kosova when Serbian forces have been
sufficiently weakened by air strikes.
The prime minister said: "I don't have anything to add to what I've ready said about
the difficulties that would face a land invasion force with an un-degraded and
undiminished Serb military machine.
"But I do repeat: Milosevic cannot have a veto on Nato action."
Mr Blair and Foreign Secretary Robin Cook have signalled Nato ground troops could be sent
into Kosova without a peace deal being reached with President Milosevic.
The UK and US governments had previously ruled out sending ground forces into a hostile
environment.
Defence Secretary George Robertson echoed those sentiments in Wednesday's Ministry of
Defence briefing in London.
"More land forces have been sent to Macedonia in readiness to deploying into Kosova
once the air strikes have done their job, so that the Kosova people can return to their
homes.
"Milosevic will not have a veto."
Nato troops stationed at the borders of Kosova are currently helping the humanitarian
effort. Far greater numbers would need to be deployed to begin a ground invasion.
The UK, the US and France accept they should plan for the deployment of ground troops
ahead of any settlement with President Milosevic.
In Washington, Mr Blair, who has been among the strongest advocates of Nato's current
approach of air strikes, is expected to argue the deployment of ground troops would not be
a full-scale invasion.
He will say that Serb forces have been so reduced in strength by the continued bombing
they would be unable to prevent a ground force entering Kosova.
Speaking ahead of his trip to Washington, Mr Blair justified Nato's actions on Russian
television.
President Boris Yeltsin has previously warned of the danger of the Balkan conflict
escalating into a world war and would be likely to opposed a ground force.
Mr Blair said: "I think the people of Russia will understand we cannot, in Europe,
allow a policy of ethnic cleansing - effectively of racism - to go unchecked in our
borders."
FOB Director Reports on Trip to
Macedonia
Dear Friends:
Following is a report of a trip that I took to the Kosova-Macedonia
border from April 1-8.
You can view photos of this trip on the Friends of Bosnia web site at
www.crocker.com/~fob or
www.crocker.com/~fob/macindx.htm
My purpose to going to Macedonia was three-fold. I went there on a fact finding mission
and to see if Friends of Bosnia could play a role in helping with the refugee crisis. I
also was interested in documenting the crisis with photographs and recorded interviews.
Lastly, I was interested in providing limited humanitarian assistance in the form of food
and medicines.
I spoke with numerous refugees, both in English and in Albanian through my translator
Enver, and the stories were all very similar. Everyone spoke of armed men in black ski
masks entering their towns and villages and giving people five to ten minutes to leave.
The alternative was death. Many people I spoke to told of seeing people killed, especially
the elderly, for refusing the leave. Most people also saw corpses on their way out of
Pristina and other towns and villages.
Skopje
When I first arrived in Macedonia, I spent a day in the capital city Skopje. The city was
overrun with journalists and hotel accommodations were impossible to find. The first
afternoon I walked into an anti-NATO and anti-US rally downtown. This was similar to the
concerts in Belgrade with rock musicians and people wearing paper targets on their
jackets. As you can imagine, it was an extremely uncomfortable environment, but I did stay
for a little while to take some photographs. I also spoke with journalists from other
European countries and found very strong anti-American sentiments for the bombing. On the
other hand, journalists from Holland said their country was supportive, and I assume that
this is in response to their failure at Srebrenica, which has deeply affected the Dutch
population.
Blace
The next morning I left Skopje at 5:00 a.m. for the border at Blace. I went with a Russian
photographer working for a French photo agency who wanted to get to the border and back in
time to have his film processed and wired to his editors before noon. Unfortunately he
forgot that Macedonia just went on daylight savings time, and we spent an hour in the dark
at Blace before we could photograph anything.
Blace is the infamous "no man's land," heavily reported in all the international
media. Upon my arrival on Friday morning, April 2, the refugee flow was still on the rise
and almost nothing was in place yet. I observed a huge sea of people standing in a dark,
misty and muddy field, being held back by armed Macedonian police and military guards.
Some refugees were filtering through to either get medicine or water at a makeshift
medical area set up by the International Medical Corps (IMC). Others were leaving "no
man's land" for either buses to take them to who knows where (they didn't), or just
walking on foot into Macedonia.
Most of these refugees were recently driven out of Pristina a day or two before. They
either drove to the border or were forced onto trains. In either case, the trip was
harrowing. They had no food or water during the trip. All along the way, Serb guards
demanded money and jewelry and continued to harass them. They could not buy anything in
the few shops along the way that were open. Upon reaching the border, their documents were
destroyed, and they had to abandon their vehicles. Some were forced to bribe Macedonian
police to cross the border. The ones who came by train were let out on the Kosova side of
the border and walked along the tracks into no man's land because they feared landmines on
either side of the tracks.
Tetova
That afternoon I left Skopje for Tetova, the center of the Albanian population in
Macedonia, and checked into the Hotel Macedonia. The next morning, I was fortunate to meet
up with a young Kosova Albanian, Enver Vrajolli, who became my translator for the
remainder of the trip. He just came across the border two days before from Pristina with
his parents and his girlfriend, Afradita. His story was just like the others. Armed
paramilitaries came to his house and gave them ten minutes to leave. They also demanded
money from him. When he said he didn't have any, they pointed a gun at him and said they
would kill him if he didn't produce any. He did manage to give them 200 German marks,
leaving him and his family with 20 marks and the clothes on their backs upon entering
Macedonia by train. His father was a partisan in World War II and spent the post-war years
building a house and raising a family. Now they have nothing. They don't know if or when
they will be able to return.
West Kosova
Enver educated me about-or told me his view of-the Albanian situation in the region.
Macedonia is officially 23% Albanian, the remainder being primarily Macedonian, but with a
sizable Serb and Roma community as well. The Albanian community on the other hand
estimates that the country is really 50% Albanian. Like Kosova, they feel oppressed by the
Macedonians, and do not have access to government institutions. They are vastly
under-represented in all aspects of the official economy, and have very little
representation at the ministerial level in government. Neither is their university in
Tetova recognized by the government.
Western Macedonia, closest to the Kosova border, is 95% Albanian. The Albanians refer to
the region as West Kosova. This makes no sense because it is on the eastern edge of
Kosova. Someone later explained to me that it is called West Kosova because there is
actually a region in northeast Macedonia that is called East Kosova.
Many Albanians I spoke with said they must fight for their freedom and can imagine taking
up arms against Macedonia. It is unclear from my discussions if greater autonomy would
satisfy their need for freedom, although they did say they do not need land, just control
of their destiny. Understandably, the Macedonians are extremely nervous about this new
influx of Albanians that will skew the demographics in favor of the Albanian population.
Enver and other Albanians repeatedly said that the Serbs and Macedonians are of the
"same kitchen." I am not so sure that I agree, but the important matter is that
they think so. They also are very suspicious of Slavs in general, although they are
somewhat sympathetic to Bosnians. When I mentioned that Bosnians are Slavs, they didn't
have an answer.
Albanians comprise the oldest nation in the Balkans and they have a distinct language from
the rest of the countries of the former Yugoslavia. Most of the younger Kosova Albanians
also speak Serbian, but not all. The Macedonian language is similar to Serbian-also
written in Cyrillic-but there are differences in the way Croatian and Bosnian are now
distinct languages.
Visiting refugees
I spent the afternoon on Sunday talking with refugees from Kosova who had settled in
Tetova. They were not difficult to find. My translator literally just stopped someone on
the street and asked if they knew where we could find some refugees to talk with. In the
house in front of us were three families from Pristina living on one floor. These were
professionals-doctors, economists, engineers-who like everyone else in Pristina were
forced to leave. And like everyone else, they were missing family members and not knowing
what would happen to them next. I loaned one family my cell phone so that they could call
their relatives in Switzerland whom they had not talked to since there exodus from
Pristina.
Enver and I later went to the El Hilal office in Tetova. We noticed this organization at
all locations where there were aid groups and they appeared very effective in working with
the refugees. Their office was mobbed with refugees looking for assistance and they were
extremely busy working out logistics and helping refugees find lost relatives and find
places to live in Tetova. Friends of Bosnia will be sending donations for Kosova relief to
El Hilal so that they can continue their work in helping refugees.
Delivering Aid in Blace
On Tuesday, April 6, I joined forces with some local concerned Albanians and went out to
the markets in Tetova to purchase direct aid for refugees. With resources that I had at
hand just in case this opportunity arose, I spent $800 on the following items:
50 liters of juice 100 bottles of water (1.5 liters) 80 loaves of bread 150 liters of milk
30 packages of cheese 100 packages of crackers Miscellaneous medical supplies
Members of the local Macedonian Red Cross joined us with a van filled of water, and by
mid-afternoon we drove back up to Blace. I spent the rest of the afternoon bringing arms
full of food down into the no man's land-alternately taking pictures and ripping open six
packs of water and juice. I also helped to bring four elderly people and one invalid on a
stretcher out of no man's land to the medical tent set up by the IMC.
Delivering Aid in Jazince
The next day I met two Germans who had come down to Macedonia to help out with the refugee
crisis and to bear witness. We again went to stores in Tetova to purchase food and medical
supplies. We rented a taxi for the day and drove to the border at Jazince where there were
about 7,000 Kosova Albanians at the border but prevented from coming in by the Serb
police. On the Macedonian side of the border were approximately 15 aid workers, 10-15
journalists, and 50 refugees who were waiting for family members to cross.
Upon our arrival, nothing was happening other than both sides watching the stand off. My
German companions and I went up to the border where we negotiated with the Macedonian
police to allow us to bring food to the other side. For a brief period of 20 minutes, we
grabbed all the food that we brought, as well as food stockpiled by the Macedonian Red
Cross and brought it to the border where it was delivered to the waiting refugees. Finally
the Macedonian police forced us to stop.
We then attempted a similar effort to bring sick people from the Kosova side across the
border to waiting medical personnel. We were unsuccessful in this effort. An hour later we
watched as the refugees in Kosova started to turn away from the border and head back into
Kosova. We soon realized that the Serb military were forcing them back into Kosova for
unknown reasons. Perhaps they were to be used as human shields, or worse. Standing next to
me was a young Albanian woman with tears streaming down her face as she watched members of
her family who were moments before within view, head back into Kosova.
Vratnica
When we realized that there was nothing else that could be done, we loaded up our taxi
with the food that was stockpiled by the Red Cross and drove back towards Tetova where we
noticed earlier a group of refugees waiting in a small town Vratnica. They were from a
village in Kosova, and like all other refugees were forced out at gun point. They had
walked over steep mountains in two feet of snow and just wandered across the unmanned
border into Macedonia.
My German companions drove back to Tetova to purchase another taxi load of food to
distribute to this group. About an hour later three buses came and the group were brought
to the nearby refugee camp set up by NATO.
NATO refugee camp
This was erected by German and Dutch NATO forces to house 3000 refugees. When I arrived
there were only 900 refugees, but within a few days the camps was filled. It was quite an
impressive facility with tents with wooden floors, windows, heaters and electric lights.
There were also washing facilities, a fully equipped field hospital and a mess tent to
feed the residents.
Enver and I went into a few tents while he was looking for family members from Pristina
who were unaccounted for. The refugees now were living the slow, sad life away from their
homes, with no apparent future. They didn't have access to news and didn't know what was
happening in Kosova, Belgrade, or to the hundreds of thousands of other refugees coming
across the border into Macedonia and Albania. They all wanted to know when they could go
home.
I met one woman with a five week old baby swaddled in white cloth. The infant had been
driven out like everyone else, and now was laying peacefully on a green army-issue blanket
in the tent.
An appeal for contributions for refugee relief
Friends of Bosnia is accepting cash donations to send to El Hilal in Tetova to further
their support for refugees. Checks can be made out to Friends of Bosnia/Kosova Relief Fund
and sent to the address below. FOB is a non-profit, tax-deductible organization.
Glenn Ruga
Director
Friends of Bosnia
47 East Street
Hadley, MA 01035
Tel: 413-586-6450
Fax: 413-586-2415
fob@crocker.com
www.crocker.com/~fob