Kosova Crisis Center
link to alb-net
Serbian aim to kill all Kosovans
is nothing new (The Irish Times)
By Fintan O'Toole
Here is the Catholic archbishop of Skopje, Macedonia, writing to the Pope about the
situation in Prizren in the neighbouring province of Kosovo: "The city seems like the
Kingdom of Death. They knock on the doors of the Albanian houses, take away the men, and
shoot them immediately.
In a few days the number of men killed reached 400. As for plunder, looting and rape, all
that goes without saying; henceforth, everything is permitted against the Albanians, not
merely permitted but willed and commanded."
Or consider the testimony of a Ukrainian newspaper correspondent in Kosovo. A Serbian
officer has told him the worst atrocities are committed by irregular paramilitary bands.
"Among them were intellectuals, men of ideas, nationalist zealots, but these were
isolated individuals. The rest were just thugs, robbers who had joined the army for the
sake of loot." He concludes that "the Serbs . . . in their endeavour to correct
data in the ethnographical statistics that are not quite favourable to them, are engaged
quite simply in the extermination of the Muslim population."
These stories could be multiplied many times over from any number of reports on the
situation in Kosovo. But the dates are worth noting. Both of these accounts, cited by Noel
Malcolm in his book Kosovo: A Short History, were written in 1913. The first, by
Archbishop Lazar Mejda, included an estimate that 25,000 Albanians had by then been
massacred in Kosovo. The second was written by Lev Bronstein, afterwards known as Leon
Trotsky, then an obscure journalist. Though he had seen much violence already in Russia,
he was deeply shocked by the viciousness of the assault on the general Albanian population
which followed Serbia's invasion and annexation of Kosovo in 1912.
It is worth recalling these events because they put into perspective what is happening in
Kosovo now. It is easy to assume that the all-out Serbian assault on the Albanian
population there is a response to NATO's bombing campaign. No one reading accounts this
week of the terrible massacre of Albanians at Mej defends what the Serbs are doing. But
many do believe that things would be better were it not for the bombing, that the Serbs
have been somehow maddened by the air raids. This is to misunderstand the deep-seated
impulse within Serb nationalist ideology towards the extermination of the Kosovans.
It's important, when such impulses are discussed, that we make certain things clear. One
is that what is going on is not an inevitable working-out of immemorial animosities, some
pathological aberration bred in the Balkan bone. On the contrary, what we are talking
about is something quite recent, a 20th-century response to 20th-century conditions.
And it must be stressed that all of this has no more to do with the Serb character than,
say, the Omagh bombing is an expression of the Irish character. It's about a specific
political ideology, developed in very particular circumstances over the last century and
exploited for very particular political purposes over the last 15 years by Slobodan
Milosevic and those around him.
An analogy with Nazism is useful. There was, even in the 19th century, a strong strain of
antiSemitism in Germany. It was what historians call "eliminationist", geared
towards the physical removal of the Jews from Germany. But in conditions of crisis, and
under the ideological direction of Hitler and his party, it became
"exterminist".
The same kind of movement is evident in the dominant strain of Serb nationalism. A desire
to get the Albanians out of Kosovo has slipped, in conditions of crisis and ideological
exploitation, into a desire to eliminate the Kosovans altogether.
These genocidal tendencies are not a product of NATO's bombing campaign. They were evident
in 1912 and 1913, when Serbia first invaded Kosovo. They were implicit in the policy,
after the formation of Yugoslavia, of denying the very existence of the Kosovans: the
Yugoslav government told the League of Nations in 1929 that "there are no national
minorities" in what it called "Southern Serbia". They were evident in the
fierce suppression of the language and culture of the Kosovans and the assassination of
their intellectuals and writers.
The aim, essentially, was to push the Kosovans into exile by making their lives
unbearable. In 1937, for example, the leading Serb historian Vaso Cubrilovic wrote:
"At a time when Germany can expel tens of thousands of Jews . . . the shifting of a
few hundred thousand Albanians will not lead to the outbreak of a world war". He
recommended a series of measures: the enforcement of laws to make economic activity by
Albanians impossible, the "ill-treatment of their clergy, the destruction of their
cemeteries", and "secretly burning down their villages and city quarters".
All of these measures were adopted.
This strain of Serb nationalism was largely buried during the Tito years, but reemerged
after the collapse of the Communist regime. After Milosevic came to power, on the back of
his promises to "defend" the Serbs of Kosovo, Kosovo's autonomy was withdrawn
and a systematic oppression of the Kosovans was resumed. This was not oppression for its
own sake. It was aimed at the actual removal of the Albanians.
Arkan, the notorious gangster and war criminal, who was elected to the Serbian assembly as
a "representative" of Kosovo in elections boycotted by the Albanian population,
made this quite clear. Most of the Kosovans, he explained, had come in from Albania in the
last 50 years and they ought to be regarded as "tourists".
This claim is, of course, utterly ludicrous, even by the standards of Serb nationalist
rhetoric. But it's not meant as a rational argument. It is an implicit demand for the mass
expulsion of the vast majority of the population of Kosovo. Tourists, after all, go
"home", in this case presumably to Albania.
All of this predates NATO's involvement. None of it was a response to any action by the
international community or, indeed, by the Kosovans themselves who persistently sought
peaceful solutions. It has no more to do with foreign interference than Hitler's assault
on the Jews had. It was axiomatic for the dominant strain of Serb nationalism that, sooner
or later, one way or the other, the Kosovans were to be eliminated. Their obliteration was
fundamental to the whole Serb project as envisaged by Milosevic and his allies. The
achievement of this aim was a matter of timing and tactics, not of principle.
Because of this, the international community was wrong to assume that Milosevic would give
up Kosovo after a little huffing and puffing, and wrong not to anticipate that bombing
would encourage him to intensify the assault on the Kosovans. But justified criticism of
NATO should not blind us to the truth that a European government was planning genocide
against a European people. Unless we can face that reality and articulate a genuine
response to it, those of us who are unhappy about the conduct of NATO's war are taking
refuge in comfortable evasions.
Serbs Kill 180 Civilians in
Drenica: Kosovar Refugees Give Vivid Accounts Of Serb Atrocities (Reuters)
KUKES, Albania, May. 05, 1999 -- (Reuters) Hatixhe Gerxhaliu holds two small pebbles up in
front of her weeping eyes and describes how she found the mutilated body of her murdered
son.
"When I found him by the stream they had gouged out his eyes. They had cut off his
nose. I placed the eyeballs back inside his head," she says. "Like this."
In interviews Tuesday night and early Wednesday, refugees from the village of Studime near
Vushtri in central Kosova gave what may be one of the most vivid and detailed eyewitness
accounts of Serb atrocities to emerge since the exodus began.
They arrived in a group of about 7,500 that crossed the border into Albania late on
Tuesday. Refugees from other villages who passed through the area confirmed their accounts
of at least 50, perhaps as many as several hundred, bodies strewn across the road from
Studime to Vushtri.
The refugees from Studime said Serb forces had separated men of military age from the
women, children and elderly people and murdered them, often in front of their families.
Most said the victims had been shot. Some said they had also seen people slashed with long
knives.
The refugees spent a night in their tractor trailers in the safety of the Albanian border
town of Kukes, exhausted from their journey and from tireless sobbing.
"They asked me for 2,000 marks, or else they would kill him. I gave them the money.
They killed him anyway," said Hatixhe. Her son Kadri was 42 and had just finished his
studies to become a doctor. "I still have his blood on my shirt."
Metije Gerxhaliu, 47, a relative, lost her husband and her son. While searching for them
among the corpses she found the bodies of neighbors: a young couple with their three
children -- aged eight, six and six months. "I was searching for my people. I was
just turning over the dead bodies and looking at their faces. I remember that I turned
over so many dead bodies that I could no longer count them," she said. When she found
her son, his skull had been blown apart. "I tried to put his brains back in his
head," she said.
Nysret, a 45-year-old man from Studime said he had watched as Serb gunmen executed his
35-year-old brother. "They said absolutely nothing. They just took him from the
tractor and shot him in the face with an automatic rifle. When he fell to the ground they
shot him again," he said. He went on to list the names of seven other relatives he
had seen killed in the same way that day, before asking that the names not be used to
protect other relatives left behind.
"Alongside the road to Vushtri I have seen at least 50 dead bodies.... If you want a
witness to these murders, I would like to be called," he said.
Late on Tuesday Reuters also interviewed survivors of a separate massacre near the village
of Ceceli. Mevlyde Istrefi, 34, said residents of her village of Shale e Bajgores were
driven out two days ago by police with dogs, tanks and armoured vehicles.
"We were stopped in the village of Ceceli. They took every man from the tractors and
executed them in front of their parents." "If someone remained alive, they
stepped on them."
"One young man was first wounded when they shot him. When they saw he was still
alive, they drove over him in an armored personnel carrier," she said. "They
rode over him once and then backed up over him again." "It was so horrible to
hear his screams," she said.
Kosova Albanians leave Czech
Republic to fight against Serbia (CTK)
PRAGUE, May 4 (CTK) - Kosova Albanians are leaving the Czech Republic to fight
against Serbia in the Kosova Liberation Army (KLA), the public Czech Television reported
tonight.
According to the television, more than 200 Kosova Albanians have left Prague over the past
three weeks, and another 20 followed them today.
The Kosova Albanians have decided to leave for KLA by themselves even though they have
been living in the Czech Republic for several years and most of them have never used a
gun. They were joined by Czech woman Zdenka Violova today, who wants to work as a nurse or
help in a kitchen, the television reported.
War report from the OZ of Karadak
(KP)
Gjilan, May 5th (Kosovapress) Since April 15th, the OZ of Karadak is in direct
confrontations with serbian terrorist forces. Enemy had undertaken wide offensives in
order to destroy KLA forces in these regions.With other words,OZ of Karadak was completely
engaged in the combats. Zhegovci was the main point where serbian terrorist forces wanted
to enter. First confrontations between KLA forces and serbian terrorist forces was held in
the entrance of the village Zhegoc i Epėrm. Serbian terrorist forces tried to take this
point under control but the faced in big resistance made by freedom soldiers. In these
fierce confrontations, KLA soldiers showed unseen bravery. Heroically has fallen in these
combats the first soldier of the OZ of Karadak, Pajazit Ahmeti (23), from the highland of
Zhegocit. He was faithfully courier of th Headquarter of the OZ of Karadaku. Another
freedom fighter fell together with him, his name was Alban whereas Agroni, fighter of the
special unit was wounded but this didn`t prevent him to kill three serbian militaries. On
April 18, fierce combat took place in the Highland of Gallap, concretely in Gėrbesh and
in the Viti of Marec. Our units made fierce war there. Enemy has defeated big losses in
human and in military technique.Near the school of Vitia, 18 enemy members were killed and
a pizgauer full of serbian soldiers has been destroyed.In this two day combat, from the
side of KLA 5 soldiers were killed and 4 others are wounded. Heroically have fallen in the
battle field, Muharrem Ibrahimi who died after receiving bad wounds and he was high
superior of KLA. Also, Besnik Maroca one of the first KLA soldiers of this zone has been
killed, including Sylėn , Fatos, Luani and Shaip Pacolli. Enemy unable to face with KLA
forces has killed and massacred many albanian civilians, has burnt the house and the
villages. Serbian terrorist forces had separated men from their families passing in long
columns towards Prishtina and they have executed them.
The list of the identified victims massacred on
April 26 in the village Tėrnavc of Skėnderaj (KP)
Skėnderaj, May 5th (Kosovapress) On April 26th of this year in the village Tėrnavc
commune of Skėnderaj, serbian terrorist forces have committed another massacre over
albanian civil population by killing 24 persons. Up to now, only names of these massacred
persons are being confirmed:
Qerim Ferizi – Zhabar i Poshtėm
Shukri Bislimi – Zhabar i Poshtėm
Hajriz Bislimi – Zhabar i Poshtėm
Feriz Ferizi – Zhabar i Poshtėm
Ramadan Ferizi – Zhabar i Poshtėm
Bahri Ferizi – Zhabar i Poshtėm
Orhan Bislimi – Zhabar i Poshtėm
Xhafer Miftari – from Mitrovica (Profesor)
Two sons of Xhafer Miftarit- from Mitrovica
. Fatmir Rrahimi – Zhabar
. Afrim Beqiri – Zhabar
. Agim Beqiri – Zhabar
. Arafat Beqiri – Zhabar
. Skėnder – surname unknown – Mitrovicė
. Naser – surname unknown – Mitrovicė
The list of civilians killed by Serbs on the
Highland of Zhegoci (KP)
Gjilan, May 5th (Kosovapress)
Serbian criminal forces during their latest offensive have committed barbarious
crimes in the Highland of Zhegoci commune of Gjilan, these civil albanians have been
killed:
Ismet Ajetin (50)
Fadil Ajetin (22)
Bashkim Ramadanin (14)
Fehim Ajetin (18)
Ilmi Hysenin (27)
Ramadan Hysenin
Shaban Hysenin (39)
Fatmir and Blerim Ademin from Bresalci placed here, Tefik Zymberin professor and
Hanumshahe Abdullahun, director of the elementary school "Rexhep Elmazi" in this
village. Also Ismet Sadiku (44),is killed in this village whereas Ibrahim Pacolli and
Zeqir Ismaijli are wounded. Also these displaced persons from Hajvalia have been killed
Sherif Sherifi (66) and Enver Pacolli (24). Meanwhile in the village Zhegoc, these persons
are killed : Shaip Avdiu (40), Sahit Avdiu (44) with his 14 years old son Bahriu,etc.
Also, two other old age people with the surname Oruēi, from Bresalci,who were placed in
Zhigoc, have been burnt.In Gadish are being killed: Njazi Osmani , teacher in the school
of the village Sllakovc and two other unidentified old age people. In Bresalc, serbian
fascists have killed: Hasan Sefė Sylėn (90) and the`ve massacred Bahtir Hysenin (37),
Feride Mujėn (40) mother of 6 children, whereas Shaban Sylėn (66), Hazir Hysenin (60),
Shabi and Nexhat Selimin (30)the other (25) , Kimete Miftarin (11) and the son of his
brother 3 month old, then Florim Hysenin (34) and Istref (35), are being wounded. In the
village Ponesh have been killed in front of their children and the family Servet Shala
(33) professor and Sadik Shala (60). Whereas, there no reports over the fate of 11
arrested albanians from this village.
Albanian civilians are used as
human shield (KP)
Skėnderaj, May 4th (Kosovapress) Yesterday since 15.00 up to 17.30 o`clock, a long column
with albanian civil population circulating with tractor and other transportation means,
has moved from direction of Mitrovica towards Peja crossing through the village Klinė e
Epėrme.This column started to move from Kēiēi of the commune of Mitrovicė. Among this
column, there were several serbian military trucks, which means that serbian terrorist
forces are using albanian civil population as living shields while they are moving from
one place to another, in order to avoid NATO air strikes. Today in the village Klinė tė
Epėrme, serbian military using bulldozer has opened new trenches in the forest between
the wards of Zahiraj and Bajraktari. There large number of serbian forces being placed
there before a week and they are trying to hide from NATO aviation.
Villages of Verboc, Shtuticė, Qirez and Dashec of
Drenica are under serbian enclosure (KP)
Gllogoc, May 4th (Kosovapress) Serbian bad-famed offensive since May 1st and up today, has
put albanian civil population of the villages of Verboc, Shtuticė, Qirez and Dashec under
a total enclosure. All this terror is undertaken under justification that serbian
terrorists are indignated by NATO air strikes. In these villages are concentrated the
population of the zone between the road Klinė e Epėrme- Gllogoc and the mountain of
Qiqavicė. Here it is spoken for over than 100 killed persons, tens of wounded, hundreds
of the kidnapped persons who are sent in unknown direction. Soldiers of the 114 Brigade
"Fehmi Lladrovci", had made a heroical battle against serbian militaries and
para militaries.As result, they have killed over than 30 serbian terrorists and wounding
tens others.The Commander of the 114 Brigade"Fehmi Lladrovci",- Ilaz kodra, has
been killed together with the comrade in arms Antigona Fazliu, who before dying has killed
two serbian terrorists. Together with them, the soldier of II Battalion, Nysret Halili
(43), teacher has fallen, too. Enemy unable to penetrate in KLA bases has set in fire the
forest where the battle took place. Civil population trying to escape from these terrorist
attacks, has gone in the mountains of Qiqavicė and now they are facing there with lack on
food and medicines.
Report Says NATO Plans To Send
Ground Troops To Kosova (Reuters)
French commandos observing the Serb positions. Photo by Jean Luc
Moreau/Paris Match.
WASHINGTON, May. 05, 1999 -- (Reuters) NATO's military strategists have prepared a
plan that, if implemented, would send 60,000 ground combat troops into Kosova by late July
to take over the province from retreating Yugoslav forces, the Wall Street Journal
reported on Wednesday.
It said the plan was not for a combat invasion of Kosova, where 40,000 Yugoslav troops are
dug in, but an overview of how a "semi-permissive" entry by NATO would be
executed once alliance bombing has shattered Belgrade's political will to continue the
war.
About one-third of the proposed force would be Americans, the newspaper said. Allied
commander U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark was expected to discuss the plan with President Bill
Clinton in Brussels on Wednesday, it added.
The July deadline for NATO troops to start moving into Kosova was set mainly because of
weather constraints. NATO planners do not know how long it will take to break the Serbs'
will. The plan estimates it could take as long as six weeks to pacify the province -
disarming any remaining hostile troops or civilians - before winter begins to set in.
Two U.S. Pilots Die In Helicopter
Crash (Reuters)
BRUSSELS, May. 05, 1999 -- (Reuters) Two U.S. Army pilots were killed when an Apache
helicopter crashed on a training mission in Albania early on Wednesday, a U.S. military
spokesman in Germany said.
Military sources said an investigation was under way but "right now it looks as if
they might have hit a power line". The two Apache crewmen were believed to be the
first NATO military casualties in the Kosova crisis and the first U.S. servicemen to die
in the military intervention against Yugoslavia launched by the alliance on March 24.
Their names were not released.
The spokesman at U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Commander Tom van Leunen, had no
further details of the cause of the crash, which occurred in darkness about 50 miles (75
kilometers) north of Tirana's Rinas airport.
It was the second Apache crash since they were deployed in Albania late last month for
action in Kosova after a long delay which the United States said was caused by logistics
problems at Rinas, currently overloaded with refugee aid flights.
NATO said on Tuesday that the alliance had flown some 15,000 sorties in the air strike
campaign against Yugoslavia without losing a single life. The great majority of aircraft
flying in Operation Allied Force are American planes.
U.S. President Bill Clinton arrived at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday to
assess the status of air strikes on the Yugoslav Serb military and brief allies on his
talks with Russia's Kosova envoy, Viktor Chernomyrdin.
Clinton and U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen were informed of the Apache casualties
during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Javier Solana, Supreme Commander General
Wesley Clark and alliance ambassadors, diplomats said. Clinton was due to fly on to
Germany later in the day to visit U.S. troops whose units are involved in operations
against Yugoslavia.
A Pentagon spokesman on Tuesday refused to disclose whether Clinton had given his final
authorization for the use of the heavily armored, tank-busting Apache against Yugoslav
forces carrying out ethnic cleansing in Kosova. The delay in deploying 23 of the aircraft
has fuelled speculation that their use in battle was being held up for political reasons.
In Washington earlier, a Pentagon spokesman said the Apache crashed at 1:30 a.m. local
time (2330 GMT Tuesday). He said there was no indication of hostile fire.
The first AH-64 helicopter went down north of its base at Tirana airport on April 26, also
during a training mission. The two crewmen escaped without serious injury.
The Apaches took more than three weeks to arrive in Albania from their base in Germany.
Their slow movement drew criticism from analysts who point out that the helicopter is one
of the world's most lethal low-altitude weapons against armor and infantry. Pentagon
officials have said the helicopters could launch "deep attack" night strikes on
Serbian forces well inside Yugoslav territory.
Pakistan PM visits Tirana and
calls for effective UN role in Kosova (Dawn)
ISLAMABAD, April 30: Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif on Friday reiterated Pakistan's
call for an effective role of the United Nations Security Council for the settlement of
the Kosova crisis and urged the world body to authorise the deployment of the UN
peacekeeping forces for the Muslim majority region which had fallen victim to the Serbian
aggression.
"Pakistan is ready to contribute to such forces (for the UN peacekeeping
mission)," the premier said in his arrival statement at the Islamabad Airport on his
return from a two-day visit to Albania to express solidarity with the Kosovar Muslims who
were driven out of their homes by the Serb aggressors and were forced to take refuge in
neighbouring states.
He said the ethnic cleansing carried out by the Serb authorities was
"pre-meditated." He added: "The expulsion by force of these Muslim men,
women and children has reached catastrophic proportions."
The Prime Minister said during his talks with his Albanian counterpart Pandeli Majko, he
expressed Pakistan's full support for the Kosovars.
Pakistan has also donated relief goods and financial aid amounting to over US$5 million to
help the Kosovar refugees. "We will coordinate with the UNHCR and the Albanian
authorities to provide more assistance," Mr Sharif said.
He said Pakistan was making efforts with the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) for
a just solution of the Kosovan crisis.
The Kosova conflict also figured prominently in his talks with Prime Minister of
Azerbaijan Artur Rasi Zade during a stopover in Baku on his way to Albania.
Sharif also had meetings with Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema and Premier Bulent
Ecevit of Turkey during brief stops on his way back home.
The Prime Minister said his talks in Tirana, the capital of Albania, and Rome and earlier
in Moscow had focussed on the Kosovan crisis.
In Rome, he said he had detailed discussions with Prime Minister Massimo d'Alema on global
and regional issues of common concern, including the Kosova crisis.
Meanwhile, talking to reporters at the Islamabad Airport, the prime minister said that
Pakistan would play a "bigger role" for the settlement of Kosova crisis.
"We certainly want to play a bigger role to end the Kosova crisis," he said.
"The relief assistance required by Albania and Macedonia must be provided at the
earliest and measures be taken for the settlement of Kosovar refugees which is a big
problem," he added.
Responding to a question, he described his visit to Albania as "good".
Earlier, during his brief stopover in Ankara, the prime minister discussed bilateral
relations and the Kosova crisis with his Turkish counterpart Bulent Ecevit, saying that
Pakistan desired further cementing of its abiding relationship with Turkey.
He was talking to Ecevit who specially came to the Ankara airport early Friday to receive
Nawaz Sharif who had a stop-over here while returning home from Rome.
Ecevit was the fourth Prime Minister, in the last two days, with whom Nawaz Sharif took up
the issue of Kosova.
Nawaz Sharif said he was honoured by the Turkish prime minister who came to see him during
his transit stay and said both the countries enjoyed "very cordial relations."
Shamshad said during his stopover at Ankara, Nawaz Sharif discussed the Kosova crisis and
ways to find its political solution.
The plight of Kosova Albanians has
attracted widespread sympathy in the Arab world
But support is tempered by scepticism about Nato's motives in bombing Yugoslavia, with
some observers suspecting the West of having a hidden agenda.
In Egypt, demonstrators have been protesting against the abuse of Muslims in Kosova and
some have been calling for volunteers to be allowed to join the struggle.
Angry students recently gathered outside a Cairo university chanting: "Rise Up,
Muslim, and wage your holy war. The soil of Kosova is Your Land!"
One protester said: "We want Egypt to open the door to every young man to go there
and fight.
Arab volunteers want to fight in Kosova "Second, we want Egypt to cut every
diplomatic relation with these countries who are fighting Islam, like Serbs."
But the Egyptian authorities have an uneasy relationship with Muslim radicals and are
opposed to their involvment in an Islamic holy war.
Radicals returning from fighting the forces of the Soviet Union after its 1979 invasion of
Afghanistan have been a source of instability in Egypt, with some Islamic extremists
waging war on the country's vital tourist trade.
And last month, Albania handed over twelve men for trial in Cairo.
Commentator Salama Ahmad Salama said: "It's very easy to get extremists lurking there
under the cover of fighting with the Muslims...and then after that they come here to Egypt
to make such crimes."
Official reluctance to encourage activists has been criticised by some as inertia in the
face of the plight of fellow Muslims in Kosova.
Refugees: "Need arms not aid" As one student put it, most of the money donated
has been at "the people level", with unions, students and political parties
working hard to raise funds for the Kosova Albanians.
"The people really feel sorrow for these people," he said.
"And I'm so sorry to say that our regimes and our authorities are not very concerned
about helping those people from that perspective - that we are Muslims and we have to help
each other."
There is a body of opinion, however, that believes aid is not enough and Arab governments
should send arms to the Kosova Albanians.
"They don't need aid. If we give them aid, we'll help to perpetuate their status as
refugees," said another student.
Cruel Cough Adds to Misery of
Refugees (LA Times)
By MARC LACEY, Times Staff Writer
KUKES, Albania--They call it the Kukes cough. Feverish infants wrapped in dirty blankets
who are hauled by refugee mothers to the medical tents have it. So do many of the elderly
women sleeping three or four to a bed in the overrun emergency ward of Kukes Regional
Hospital. The deep, chest-heaving hack can be heard all through the night in the muddy,
garbage-strewn encampments in northern Albania that are home to tens of thousands of
Kosova refugees, most of whom were not so long ago underfed and exhausted. "My baby's
whole body shakes when she coughs," said Sehane Bytyci, a 25-year-old refugee from
the Kosova town of Suva Reka who was coughing, Kukes-style, along with her little girl,
Hyrije. Doctors attending to the massive refugee population here focused at first on
serious war wounds--extracting bullets and shrapnel, reconfiguring faces struck with rifle
butts, treating severe burns and cuts.
"Head wounds, body wounds, wounds on the extremities--I've handled all of them," said Ylber Vata, head of surgery at Kukes' 250-bed hospital. The facility treated as many patients in April--more than 17,000, according to hospital records--as it typically does in a year. But as the flow of refugees has slowed, medical personnel have turned their attention from life-threatening trauma to the respiratory and gastrointestinal ailments that are turning the unsanitary, open-air campgrounds into massive sick bays. Camp doctors are not yet sounding alarms. But with more refugees expected from Kosova and with Kukes' vast camps already crowded, health workers are far from ready to declare the public health situation under control. "You can never feel comfortable," said Bertrand Bainvel, who is overseeing the medical response here for UNICEF. "We have to always prepare for the worst." In the camps, flu-like symptoms are spreading swiftly, fueled by chilly temperatures, strong rainstorms, poor hygiene and weakened immune systems. The most distinctive sounds in Kukes these days are the roar of helicopters delivering relief supplies, the boom of the occasional Serbian artillery shell fired into the surrounding Albanian hills, and the ugly, unsettling heave of the Kukes cough. "Everybody who comes in here is coughing," said Naser Ejupi, a doctor from Kosova province who attends to patients at one camp.
"People have not been washing well or eating well. They've been exhausted and they're getting sick." Ironically, field doctors say, the cold and wet conditions that are causing the flu to flourish are keeping other worrisome ailments under control. Bacterial infections, which can be spread by flies and thrive in warm weather, have so far been held in check. A handful of bloody diarrhea cases have been reported among refugees, which doctors call a disconcerting sign that life-sapping dysentery might be on the rise. Also worrisome have been a few reported cases of measles. To keep sickness from spreading, relief workers have been improving water systems and stressing proper hygiene. Garbage crews have been clearing the camps of dirty diapers, moldy food and other trash, as well as installing latrines to replace the open fields that had been used as bathrooms. Albania's health situation was grim--lagging well behind the rest of Europe--even before the wave of refugees began more than a month ago. A polio epidemic caused 16 deaths in 1996. Cholera hit Albania hard in 1994, killing 25. "The quality of health services is largely inadequate," a UNICEF study issued last year said of the country's health status. "As far as service quality is concerned, the poor and the non-poor population are treated equally bad." Evidence of inadequate conditions is visible at the hospital, a decaying facility that is short of everything from drugs to patient gowns. Awful smells permeate the hallways, and patients sometimes must sleep with one or more strangers in the same bed. Dr. Bajram Cena, the hospital director, acknowledged that his poorly equipped facility has been overwhelmed. Needed most, Cena said, are more medicine and medical equipment, and at least six more ambulances to transport patients in serious condition to the Albanian capital, Tirana. Greece's recent donation of an ambulance doubled the hospital's operating fleet. The facility also lacks clothing for the many new arrivals, Cena said, an important factor because most refugees are arriving in grubby clothing that was not changed during their treks. Despite the deficiencies, relief workers from the L.A.-based International Medical Corps--which recently donated 50 hospital beds and a stockpile of drugs to the facility--say the hospital has the basics to do the job.
"This is not perfect, but it's up to snuff compared to other hospitals I've seen in the world," said Dr. Lawrence Stock, an emergency room physician at Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster, who has traveled in China and Bosnia-Herzegovina. "It's a decent physical structure. It's reasonably clean and it has heat." To buttress Kukes' facilities, relief organizations have set up medical tents inside the refugee camps, many staffed by physicians who are refugees from Kosova. A special immunization campaign has begun to protect children from measles and polio--diseases that if left unchecked could spread quickly. And as a first response to newly arrived refugees, the Italian Red Cross has set up a makeshift hospital near the border with Kosova, a province of the Yugoslav republic of Serbia, complete with an operating room and nursery.
Most of the doctors' attention these days is directed at conditions exacerbated, but not directly caused, by Yugoslav aggression--from asthma and heart disease to diabetes, gallstones and cancer. Take Mustaf Pnishi, flat on his back in the hospital, who suffered a burst appendix during his four-day walk from southern Kosova. Or Fatmira Baftjari, who gave birth prematurely soon after arriving here. "Walking for a long period of time, not eating enough food and suffering so much stress--those are some of the factors leading to all these premature births," said Dr. Safet Elizi, head of Kukes' maternity clinic, where births--and complications--have skyrocketed over the last month. Still, Elizi is heartened by what the births represent--a new generation of Kosovars who may grow up in a far more peaceful place.