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LETTERS OF SUPPORT

SERBIAN MASSACRES

 Updated at 5:10 PM on June 08, 1999

Serb Rockets kill and maim

Arllat, June 8, (Kosovapress)

Today around 12:00, Serb forces launched another barrage of rocket fire against civilians trapped in the Berisha Mountains. Three civilians were killed and 14 others were badly injured.

Those killed were: Sherif Shaban Krasniqi (b. 1960), from Negroc, Ilir Gashi (b. 1997), from Sferkė of Gashi, and Naxhije Krasniqi (aged 56), from Vukoci. Among the wounded: Arif Bytyqi (b. 1960), Bajrush Bytyqi (b. 1952), Sheremet Bytyqi (b. 1952), Salih Bytyqi (b. 1984), Servete Bytyqi (b. 1975), Ismet Bytyqi (b. 1961), Hazir Bytyqi (b. 1981), Selman Bytyqi (b. 1963), Avdi Bytyqi (b. 1950), Adil Bytyqi (aged 15), all from Arllati, Nurije Gashi (b. 1967), from Sferka of Gashi, Sefedin Krasniqi, from Vukoci and Besnik Gashi (b. 1986), from Llapushniku.

Around 14:35 Javor Gorge was rocketed, resulting in one civilian death and four other wounded.

KLA fights on under massive attack

Malishevė, June 8, (Kosovapress)

Today is the ninth day that the soldiers of the Company "Ali Zogaj" of the "Afrim Krasniqi" Battalion, an integral part of the 121st "Kumanova" Brigade, continues fighting Serb forces. Serb forces latest failed attempts to puncture KLA defensive lines resulted in two Serb soldiers killed and seven others injured.

Serb Forces Mine Kosova's Roads

Ferizaj, June 8, (Kosovapress)

Today along the Fusha e Pajtimit-Glloboēicė road which leads to Tetovė, Macedonia, Serb forces have laid mines on both sides of the road. They mined the whole length of the road which leads to the main highway linking Macedonia, suggesting, contrary to NATO demands that Serb forces demine the region, it is seeking to wreck havoc once NATO troops do enter. They also mined the secondary roads near the districts of Dushkaja, in Kaēanik, which links to the main Kaēanik-Ferizaj access road up to the plain of Stagova.

Serbs Shell the villages of Pustenik and Vataj

Kaēanik, June 8, (Kosovapress)

Serb forces have today shelled the village of Vataj. Elsewhere, they shelled yesterday the village of Pustenik.

There has been large material damage reported but no information on casualties.

Serb forces are being reinforced

Shtime, June 8, (Kosovapress)

Serb forces from Lipjan and Ferizaj, have moved through the Gorge of Carraleva and vice versa. From Shtimja towards the direction of the Gorge, a truck pulling a large cannon, an armored vehicle and a truck filled with troops was seen passing.

Serb forces in this area have been filling their trucks with items stolen from Kosovar homes in the area.

In two dwellings in Shtima, the criminal Hysen Olluri, a participant in the massacre at Raēak, offered to displaced civilians items he and Serb soldiers pillaged to eliminate his guilt for committing crimes against Kosovars.

Another Massacre takes place at Volljakė

Klinė, June 8, (Kosovapress)

A reconnaissance unit of 1st Company of the 4th Battalion in the 122nd Brigade noted in the village of Volljakė tė Klinės four dead Kosovar civilians in the so-called place, Zabeli i Bilallve. The unit has verified that before they were executed, they were tortured. A result of this massacre, there are only the remains of bones and torn clothing. The massacre took place on April 3rd and it was conducted by the well-known criminal Kėrstic, Police commander in Klina.

The unit discovered skeletons buried in the village of Qupevė e Epėrme and some other bodies have been identified as:

Sadri Fetah Gashi (aged 63), from Qupevė

Isuf Fetah Gashi (aged 47)

Musė Selman Gashi (aged 45)

Haki Brahim Gashi (aged 45)

Liman Brahim Gashi (aged 24)

Safete Fazli Gashi (aged 26) and

Arif Pantina (aged 67), from Gllarevė, who was living in the house of Haki Brahim
Gashi.

The war continues in Karadaku

Gjilan, June 8, (Kosovapress)

From 8.20 today, Serb forces have begun to shell the villages of Vėrbicė, Zhegofc i Epėrm, Zhegofc i Poshtėm, Gadish, Sllakofc and Kishnapole. The shelling came from Serb positions in Parallovė, Bresalc and Ponesh.

There has been reports of one wounded. Fighting continues.

Canadian MP Meets Two Russians, an Ukrainian and Israeli Fighting for Serbs in Kosova (AFP)

Copyright 1999 by Agence France-Presse

OTTAWA, (AFP) - Six religious mercenaries are in Kosova to "kill Moslems," a Canadian member of parliament said here Wednesday, after having a chance meeting with them in a Pristina hotel. Canadian lawmaker Svend Robinson met the six -- four Russians, one Ukrainian and one Israeli -- in the Grand Hotel while on a mission to Yugoslavia last week. Robinson said he overheard Russian being spoken and saw "six soldiers in full uniform, carrying big Kalashnikovs, and I went up to them and I asked them what they were doing in Kosova."

"One of the Russians said without dropping an eyelid, quite triumphantly ... I am here to kill Moslems," said Robinson, who is from the New Democratic Party. The Russian "went on to say he killed a lot of Moslems ... in the war in Bosnia," he said. "All of them said that they killed a lot of Moslems already," including women and children since going to Kosova a "number of weeks ago," but they would not give a specific number, the lawmaker stated. After asking the mercenaries why they wanted to kill Moslems, Robinson said they stated: "We are Orthodox; the Moslems are our enemies."

"It was appalling. Their objective was to kill as many as possible," including women and children, the lawmaker said. Robinson said only an immediate pause to NATO bombing would allow for negotiating a settlement and deploying an international force in Kosova to help the hundreds of Kosovar refugees whose lives are in danger. "If we don't get aid there very soon, people will die in very large numbers," he added.

CAMPS BEING BUILT IN ALBANIA BY ACT/ORTHODOX CHURCH OF ALBANIA

After the successful opening of the first camp managed by Action by Churches Together (ACT) / Diaconia Agapes of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania in Ndroq two weeks ago, the ACT/DA Team is pleased to announce that work is already in progress to build two new camps near Kavaja to assist the Kosova Refugees. One of the new camp sites is located in the commune of Gose in the district of Kavaja which is located southwest of Tirana.

The other new camp site is located in Luz i Vogel in the district of Kavaja. Each of these camps will host an initial 3,000 Kosova Refugees with further plans for considerable expansion. The goal of the ACT/DA Team is to establish camps for 15,000 Kosova Refugees in Albania. A national Host Family Program in Albania is also underway. In Shkodra, ACT/DA has set up a warehouse and recruited local staff for the distribution of monthly family food parcels to Kosova Refugees living with Albanian host families.

2,460 monthly family food parcels (each parcel weighs 18 kilos comprised of white beans, soya oil, sugar, pasta, milk powder, corn beef, dry yeast, flour and rice) and 180 monthly family hygienic parcels (comprised of laundry detergent, soap, towels, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, toilet papeer, combs and hairbrushes) are arriving in Albania today. Distribution by the ACT/DA Team will begin this Saturday. The goal of the ACT/DA Team is to provide monthly family food parcels, monthly family hygienic parcels and new clothing sets and shoes to 6,000 families (36,000 beneficiaries) in six prefectures throughout Albania.

UN AGENCY REPORTS ON RAPE, ABDUCTION OF Kosova REFUGEES (USIA)

By Judy Aita USIA United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- Kosovar women refugees have told alarming accounts of rape and abduction, according to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).

A report released by UNFPA said that "Gjakova, Pec, and Drenitza were often indicated as places where kidnapping and collective rapes took place. The women were individually raped by many men during a few hours but sometimes even for days.

"It is primarily the young women who are rounded up in villages and small cities," the report said. "The soldiers take groups of 5 to 30 women to unknown places in trucks or they are locked up in houses where the soldiers live. Any resistance is met with threats of being burned alive."

"Women who were released have lacerations on their chests, evidence of beating on their arms and legs," the report said. "Their backs also show signs of beatings and they were covered in dirt. Agonizing screams could be heard for many hours."

The report, the first attempt by a UN organization to verify the accounts and nature of sexual violence among refugees, was prepared by Dominique Serrano, a psychologist who specializes in sexual violence and trauma counseling. She interviewed women refugees and health care workers in camps around Tirana and Kukes, Albania, during the first week of May 1999.

The information comes from victims and direct witnesses. The women spoke on the condition of anonymity, came forward to talk with Serrano on their volition, and were not recommended or pre-selected by any humanitarian organization.

While reports of sexual violence had been circulating for several months the significant upsurge in sexual violence seems to correspond to the first week NATO began bombing, Serrano said.

"New women arriving from Kosova indicate that the violence is increasing," Serrano said. "According to interviews, it seems that the phenomenon, and in particular the abduction of groups of women, is more and more prevalent."

Serrano also fears for the women remaining in Kosova. The daily evolution of the situation and the weight of the evidence collected from the interviews indicate that even though it existed to some extent already, "the politics of terror have proliferated in the last month based on a deep-seated racism," she said.

Kosovar men who tried to interfere were killed on the spot, Serrano reported. One woman was beaten to death in front of the house where her daughters were being tortured.

"Families are generally turned out of their homes by armed men and sometimes even by their Serbian neighbors. They often have only a few minutes to leave the premises and sometimes their homes are burned," Serrano said.

One victim's husband said that he saw a building in Prizren where the first floor contained weapons, the second floor was for the soldiers and the third floor contained about 30 women. One of the women who was able to escape was shot down in the street, she said.

In the city of Berlenitz a group of 30 young girls was forced to follow the soldiers into a house while the mothers waited outside, Serrano also said. "For two hours the mothers listened to the screams of the young victims who then came out one by one. Some were covered in blood, others were crying and their heads were hanging low."

Describing other acts of torture, Serrano said that in Berlenitz young boys had their ears and noses cut off before their throats were slit; many pregnant women's stomachs were cut open and the fetus skewered. The torturers sharpened their knives in front of women and terrorized children.

All the victims Serrano interviewed were raped or sexually violated in Kosova, and none of the women interviewed were locked up for more than three days. Some of the kidnapped women who were taken to unknown places have not yet reappeared, according to their families and neighbors.

Serrano said that the victims felt that rape was a "concrete manifestation" of the profound hate which the Serbians feel toward the Kosovars. "Judging from the insults and threats of the torturers, some victims were allowed to live so that they could tell other people about the determination of Serbian power, and thus eliminate any desire on the part of the refugees to return," she said.

Some of the women described themselves as being forever "dead" to their families after the violation, which carries tremendous stigma in their society.

Serrano discussed the difficulty in getting women to admit to rape let alone seek help for fear of social stigma. Many victims fear being divorced, excluded from their community or family, or fear that a husband will try to take revenge. She added that many women will never discuss what has happened and other cases will only be revealed when women begin giving birth.

There were also many other women who did want to talk to Serrano about what happened but only under appropriate circumstances and on conditions, including no men or journalists present.

Serrano also found reluctance among some medical personnel in the area to discuss incidents of rape and found other aid workers not trained to handle the situation. She told of one aid worker who used a loud speaker to invite women who had been raped to come forward and complete a questionnaire.

While there are volunteers and UN personnel in the maternity hospitals and camps in Tirana who are sensitive to the problems of rape, "unfortunately the amount of work to be done, the number of refugees that need assistance and the lack of specifically trained personnel prevents many women from receiving support," Serrano said.

In response to the report, UNFPA is providing counselling and psychological support training to health professionals to enable them to offer help to victims of sexual violence in Kosova. In addition, local Albanian women's groups will receive counselling training.

Turkish army says it may join a Kosova land war (Reuters)

ANKARA, (Reuters) -- A top Turkish general said in comments published on Friday that Turkey could join in land operations against Yugoslavia, should they be ordered by NATO.

It was the first time a Turkish military or civilian leader had said Turkey's forces, the second biggest in NATO, could participate in any land operations against Yugoslavia.

"There may be a land operation, and we as a member of the alliance may join in," the Sabah newspaper quoted Turkish air force chief General Ilhan Kilic as saying.

Turkey has 11 F-16 warplanes taking part in bombing operations against Yugoslavia from the Aviano base in Italy and is due to host NATO jets in three of its western bases as part of a move to further boost NATO's bombing options.

Some 54 U.S. fighter-bombers soon to arrive at the bases might be reinforced, Kilic said.

"New planes may come in addition to the ones the United States has said it is going to send," he said.

Kilic and the other armed forces chiefs were expected to discuss the Kosova situation with senior ministers later on Friday at a monthly meeting of the influential National Security Council.

The council acts as a forum where civilian leaders meet the powerful generals.

The air force chief said Turkish planes would be able launch strikes on Yugoslavia from the bases and, supported by tankers, even from air bases in the remote southeast of the country.

"We can now use planes taking off from Diyarbakir for operations in the Aegean," he said. Turkey's air force, flying from Diyarbakir, has gained a much combat experience fighting Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq.