Kosova Crisis Center
link to alb-net
Serbian forces are bombing the
village of Pustenik
Hani i Elezit, April 27 (Kosovapress) Since eight o`clock in the morning, serbian
terrorist forces have undertaken new bombardments from their positions in Rezhancė over
the village of Pustenik. Bombardments are going on time after time.
Massacred people in the village
Shkozė of Malishevė
Malishevė, April 26 (Kosovapress) On April 1st of this year, during the terrorist wave
caused by serbian forces over the albanian civil population in the village Shkozė commune
of Malishevė, these persons are being massacred: Alush Sinan Bytyēi (84) Avdullah Ukė
Bytyēi (83) and Hamit Metė Bytyēi (58) Meanwhile on April 2 nd, in a confrontation with
serbian terrorists hordes in the village Shkozė commune of Malishevė, the KLA soldier
Salih Selman Bytyēi has been killed.
New movements of serbian military tanks in the
region of Malishevė
Malishevė, April 26 (Kosovapress) Yesterday in the afternoon, a KLA unit has killed a
paramilitary serbian in the village Temeqin. After this, serbian forces from their
positions in Temeqin and Bellanicė with tanks, praga and armoured vehicles is shooted in
the direction of Bellanicė and Ngucati. These shootings have lasted till the evening. As
result of these bombardments Ismail Hajdin Krasniqi (35) from Ngucati is badly wounded.
Whereas today early in the morning there have been some movements of serbian terrorist
forces along the road Arllat-Malishevė and in the nearby villages.
26 Albanian brides kidnapped by Serbian forces
Rugovė, April 26 (Kosovapress) Our sources from Rugova of Pejė, are confirming that
yesterday serbian police and para military forces which have arrange a post-block in the
so called place Field of Gili (which is nearby the village Ballutiq), have divided males
from females and from their families, They have arrested 22 males. Serbian terrorists have
kidnapped then 26 albanian bride females who were displaced in Rugove from the region of
Istog and they were in their way to Monte Negro. Civilan movements in the danger zones
should be very limited because serbian terrorist are presenting big threat and danger for
everyone the meet. Today in Husaj of Rugovė, two buses full of serbian military-police
soldiers are placed there and they have forced the albanian civil population to leave.
Now, only in the village of Llaz a part of civil population has remained and there are no
informations about their fate. Serbian terrorist police has penetrate in the village Papaj
and Drelaj, burning and looting albanian houses and they have met with other serbian
forces who have penetrated from Shtupeqi i Madh. They have penetrated in Bogaj also and
they are trying to penetrate in other villages with their infantry troops.
A KLA unit reached to get inside in an enemy bunker
Mitrovicė, April 26 (Kosovapress) Special unit of the 141 Brigade "Mehė Uka",
in the evening before yesterday has undertaken a speedy action and they have reached to
get inside in an enemy military bunker in Kutlloc. As result they grabed a big quantity of
enemy armament and ammunition: 100 boxes with bullets of different calibre, 20 boxes with
tromblonic mines, 4 boxes with hand-bombs, 3 boxes with mine launchers projectiles, 2
sharp-shooter guns, 2 machine-guns, 4 automatic machine guns and considerable quantities
of food. The combations in Melenicė, have continued event yesterday.
12 serbian soldiers killed while 5 others caught prisoners
Vushtrri, April 26 (Kosovapress) In the yesterday combations held in Dumnicė e Poshtme,
between units of IV Battalion of the 141 Brigade and serbian terrorist forces, 12 serbian
militaries are killed while 5 others are caught as prisoners. In spite of these continuous
serbian attacks against KLA positions, serbian forces have not reached to enter in the
village of Melenicė.
Two women died because of the lack of food and
medical assistance
Prishtinė, April 26 (Kosovapress) In Shalė of Drenica, Mihrije Shamolli (60) from Shala,
died because the lack of food and medicines. Whereas another woman died in Kaēanik
because of the lack of medical assistance and this is Ibadete Shehu from Kaēaniku.
Two serbian tank convoys went in the direction of Prishtina
Llapushnik, April 26 (Kosovapress) Today early in the morning, a serbian convoy made of
tanks started to go in direction of Prishtina leaving from some serbian bases in villages
of Gllogoci and Malishevė. Again in the afternoon, another serbian tank convoy has passed
from Llapushniku Gorge in direction of Prishtina. It is suggested that these movements are
made in order to avoid NATO air strikes.
The use of whole military arsenal of Yugoslavia against freedom soldiers, was not
successful
April (Kosovapress) During the past months, military units of the 121 Brigade
"Kumanova" have developed successful combations against serbian terrorist forces
and they have reach to keep their positions. The most fierce combations have taken place
around road axes Prishtinė-Pejė and Arllat Malishevė, in Gorge of Llapushniku, in
villages: Arllat, Tėrpezė, Lladroc, Bellanicė, Temeqin, Bllac, Duhėl, Shalė, Risinoc,
Kizharek etc. Serbian military forces have used all their military arsenal including:
military aviation, missiles, tanks, projectile-launchers and infantry troops. But they
faced in the heroic resistance of KLA soldiers of the 121 Brigade "Kumanova" who
caused a lot of losses to serbian enemy forces in human and in military technique. Only
during the past month, KLA units of this Brigade have caused to enemy 71 killed sildiers
including a major and a first class captain. Also 8 tanks, 2 prags, 4 trucks and two jeeps
have been destroyed and a lot quantity of armament and serbian ammunition has been caught.
From KLA ranks of this Brigade, 8 martyrs have fallen and 11 other freedom soldiers.
Mentioning here the high moral of freedom soldiers of the 121 Brigade "Kumanova"
and the increasing number of KLA ranks with new soldiers who are responding to General
Headquarter of KLA for mobilization, we are sure in the freedom of our country.
NATO leaflets warn Serb troops of
'certain death' (CNN)
From CNN National Security Producer Chris Plante
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- NATO leaflets being dropped to Serb troops in Kosova show a photograph
of an Apache attack helicopter with the message: "DON'T WAIT FOR ME! ... Remain in
Kosova and face certain death."
"Stop following (Slobodan) Milosevic's orders to commit genocide and other atrocities
against civilians in Kosova," the leaflet says, adding, "You are responsible for
your own actions, and ultimately will be held accountable."
The fliers are being dropped along the Kosova border, according to military officials, in
areas where Serb troops are believed to be operating. The messages are written in
Serbo-Croat, according to the officials.
The propaganda leaflets are produced by U.S. Army Psychological Operation units, known as
"PsyOps" units.
In the lower corner of the photo, there is a silhouette of a Serb tank in the cross-hairs
of a gunsight.
"Attention (Serb) Forces!" says the flier. "You can hide, but NATO will
find you."
"Remain in Kosova and face certain death; or leave your unit and your equipment, and
get out of Kosova now," the text reads. "If you choose to stay, NATO forces will
relentlessly attack you, with many different weapon systems, from many different nations,
from the land, from the sea and from the sky."
The flier ends with the statement "THE CHOICE IS YOURS" in bold print, and
displays the word "NATO" with a NATO insignia in the lower right corner.
Poverty Is Refugees' Next Crisis
(W. Post)
By R. Jeffrey Smith Washington Post Foreign Service Tuesday, April 27, 1999; Page A12
GOSTIVAR, Macedonia, April 26 – After three weeks of living hand to mouth inside both
Kosova and Macedonia, Halida Jashari has pared her immediate needs to just a few. "I
just want a toilet and a small kitchen to make ... something to eat," she says, as
well as a place to sleep where rats no longer can bother her three young children.
But in this teeming city and virtually anywhere else in this economically stressed
country, Jashari, 31, may be asking for more than anyone can provide. Together with
another ethnic Albanian family of five, she and her children have been sleeping on the
floor of a local mosque because no more space is available for refugees anywhere in the
area.
Gostivar, like virtually all of Macedonia, is filled to the brim with the victims of the
violent conflict in Kosova, according to local officials and Western aid workers. No more
refugees can be readily squeezed into tents. No more tents can be squeezed into existing
camps. And no more families can be squeezed into homes in the limited regions where the
government is allowing the refugees to travel.
The crisis might be called the second phase of the disaster wrought by the Yugoslav
government's expulsions in of Kosova. The first was the forced migration of approximately
600,000 people from the Serbian province into Albania, Macedonia and the Yugoslav republic
of Montenegro. The latest phase is the growing spread of poverty and food shortages caused
by the overcrowding of hundreds of villages and towns in the region that lack sufficient
resources to support the new arrivals.
The effects can be readily observed at camps, such as one outside the town of Brazda near
the Yugoslav border, where more than 23,000 people live cheek-by-jowl atop soil that was
being readied for spring planting a month ago. In the evenings, the camp's residents eat
from tin cans heated over twig fires, and heat water the same way inside plastic bottles
that emit toxic fumes as they melt.
The impact is more subtle, but still devastating, in cities such as Gostivar, where the
residents have opened their arms to more than 20,000 refugees. The neatly organized
streets are filled with men with vacant eyes in search of food and missing relatives. The
sounds of crying babies and coughing children emanate from virtually every packed home.
The problem grows worse by the day. In addition to the 55,000 people already in camps that
have three times the density they should, and the more than 70,000 people dispersed to the
homes of what aid workers refer to as "host families," another 3,000 refugees
showed up at the principal border crossing between Yugoslavia and Macedonia today. That is
typical of the recent arrival rate, and compares to the 800 who left Macedonia today for
one of the 15 nations that have accepted some of the refugee burden.
Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov, worried about the enormous pressure on his country,
accused other European nations of breaking promises to take in refugees, Reuters reported.
Macedonian Economy Minister Zanko Cado resigned, partly because of the crisis. So far,
Germany, Turkey and other countries have taken in about 20,000 ethnic Albanian refugees,
or about one-thirtieth of the total.
With many newly arrived refugees offering fresh accounts of lootings, burnings and
executions in the towns of Lipljan, Kosova Polje and Urosevac, the refugees were packed
first into what was meant to be a temporary processing facility at the border at Blace. It
is built atop the debris left by former residents of the notorious camp in a muddy field
where 65,000 people were held without shelter for days by the government three weeks ago.
The Blace site is once again awash in mud, and even the insides of tents housing an
estimated 900 people there tonight are wet from the day's spring rain, according to Ron
Redmond, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency. At other overflowing camps, Redmond
said, "Security is a problem. We're worried about health and sanitation; we're
worried about fire."
The Macedonian government has intermittently tried to deal with the problem by delaying
the processing of new refugees at its official border crossings. But those in a hurry to
leave Kosova because of terror respond by finding more challenging and hazardous
alternative routes into Macedonia.
One such unofficial crossing is high in the mountains northeast of Skopje, at a tiny
hamlet called Malina Maala, which ethnic Albanians are able to reach only by bribing
Yugoslav border police. More than 3,000 refugees arrived there unexpectedly 10 days ago,
and since then word-of-mouth passed back into Kosova has prompted between 350 and 1,000
people a day to make the arduous trek there through remote forests and snow. From there,
they go to the impoverished village of Lipkovo 20 miles to the south.
Police have set up a checkpoint north of Lipkovo, where they have been collecting refugees
and placing them aboard buses that take them to camps. But most refugees prefer to live
outside the camps, and so many are walking tens of miles out of the way to avoid being
spotted. Izet Rexhepi, who briefly took refuge a few days ago in one of the village's 60
homes, said he and nine of his relatives had to climb along a goat path for more than 10
hours to reach it.
A council of Lipkovo residents essentially administers an underground refugee railway.
Although they are in desperate need of such essentials as cooking oil and flour, they
share whatever they have with the new arrivals and register just enough to satisfy local
police. They send a far larger number directly to the homes of ethnic Albanian families
elsewhere in Macedonia.
In economically marginal cities such as Gostivar, the influx of an average of more than 50
families every day is sorely straining limited resources. Even before the latest crisis,
nearly a sixth of its 30,000 residents were receiving public aid, and many other families
were surviving on monthly remittances of $300 from relatives working elsewhere in Europe.
The local chapter of an Islamic-based humanitarian organization, El Hilal, gets no
assistance from the government and has only enough donated food to feed refugees for the
next six days, according to its president, Sali Selimi.
The picture is different 20 miles to the south in villages surrounding the prosperous city
of Struga. "We have enough room for more refugees," said Fatmir Zhubi, who was
already sheltering a half dozen at his comfortable home.
But three weeks ago, police established checkpoints nearby that blocked refugees from
reaching the Struga area, out of fear that they might stay. The Slavic-dominated
government is "against Muslims," and prefers not to disturb the ethnic balance
in mixed communities, said Abdul Gani Cako, an assistant with El Hilal.
There is a refugee camp outside Gostivar that could readily expand into nearby fields. But
the Macedonian government has told aid workers that no expansion is possible unless the
construction work is performed by Pelogonija, a slow-moving construction firm linked to
top government officials. "We could have [done] ... this two weeks ago, but we had no
authority," said Nigel Pont, who manages the camp for Mercy Corps International.
"There's no forward thinking anywhere."
Camps canvassed for tales of war
crimes (USA Today)
By Vivienne Walt, Special for USA TODAY
STANKOVIC, Macedonia - Chilled and wet, Kosova refugees stood late Sunday night outside
their new home, a tent staked in the deep mud, swapping tales of horror in the darkness:
rapes, random killings, mass graves.
"They told us to get out of the village, and then they started shooting," says
Ajet Regja, 65, who fled Urosevac, a village in Kosova, and arrived Saturday at this vast
camp of about 30,000 refugees. "Three members of my family were stabbed in the
stomach."
Exhausted and shaken, more than 500,000 Kosova Albanians have fled during the past five
weeks with virtually no possessions. Serb forces took Regja's savings and documents.
But all of the refugees, including Regja, arrived with one precious commodity: nightmarish
memories, offering the United Nations what may be its only chance to indict anyone for war
crimes in Kosova.
During the past month, at least seven international organizations, including the New York
City-based Human Rights Watch and Boston-based Physicians for Human Rights , have rushed
scores of experts to the Balkans to scour the camps for evidence before the refugees
scatter and their tales vanish forever.
Among the crimes against humanity that are prosecutable under international law are random
killings of civilians and mass deportations.
Since aid officials and journalists were ejected from Kosova last month, the refugees have
become the only source of witnesses to those alleged assaults.
"They come like walking volcanoes; they want to spit it all out," says Kas de
Jong, a Dutch psychotherapist with Doctors Without Borders who has interviewed arrivals
here.
Their desperate stories raise the questions of whether the Kosova massacres constitute
prosecutable genocide and who would ultimately be held accountable.
Yet here, many valuable details are blurred by the suddenness of the exodus and by the
refugees' jagged nerves.
"People have a very, very narrow film running in their heads," says Claudia
Moser, a human-rights official for the Office of Security and Cooperation in Europe, an
intergovernmental organization gathering data for a possible war-crimes trial against
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic or his forces. "Often, what we really need is
not on that piece of film."
Many of the worst attacks, including executions and rapes, have been committed by men in
ski masks. This makes identification for indictments nearly impossible.
Cross-checking information entails trudging among hundreds of tents.
Since tens of thousands of refugees have filtered into Albanian communities around
Macedonia, several human-rights monitors are traveling the countryside looking for
evidence. In one village, Lipkovo, a group of refugees who had witnessed their village's
destruction hid Monday from Macedonian police in a small religious school, unwilling to
meet any international officials.
"We're driving along the border and into Albania, interviewing 1,000 refugees,"
says Vincent Iacopino, senior medical consultant for Physicians for Human Rights, who flew
from his home in Henderson, Nev., last week, to help collect evidence. "We're looking
for patterns of abuse, not just stories."
In a military tent here Monday, Moser spent 2 1/2 hours interviewing a single witness to
one massacre. The man, his chin bandaged from what he said was a beating by Serb forces,
painstakingly recounted gruesome killings. Despite that, Moser was not sure she had a
usable story.
"They can name names, but often, they are just their neighbors," she says.
As she spoke, two buses started their engines near the camp's entrance. About 100 refugees
were headed for the airport, where they were scheduled to fly Monday to Holland. Thousands
will likely head elsewhere during the next few weeks, taking with them much of the
evidence for a war-crimes trial.
"This is going to be difficult, like any police investigation," says Sylvain
Roy, human-rights officer for the U.N. High Commission for Human Rights. "The
challenge is to fit the pieces of the puzzle together."