Kosova Crisis Center

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SERBIAN MASSACRES

• Serb Paramilitaries attempt to intimidate Kosovars in Uçë
• Norway donates 700 Thousand Dollars to clear Kosova of Mines
• News Briefs From KosovaPress
• Serbs Try to Divide Mitrovica Into Two Parts (KP)
• 10 thousand Albanians, prisoners in the Serb prisons (Radio21)
• International Red Cross in negotiations with Belgrade for the question of the Albanian prisoners (Radio21)
• Clinton visits the refugees and is hailed a hero by Kosovar Albanians (CNN)
• NATO Troops Encounter Resistance; Robin Cook Visits Krusha e Madhe; Milosevic's Assets Frozen in Switzerland (Reuters)

Serb Paramilitaries attempt to intimidate Kosovars in Uçë

Istog, June 23, (Kosovapress)
It is reported today that in the district of Istog, a large number of deportees have returned from forced exile in neighboring countries. Among those interviewed, they say their return, despite the dangers of mines and Serb snipers, is the only way they can assure they have a future in Kosova. After the KLA has controlled the city and its surrounding villages, it informed those waiting to claim their homes that the area was safe to return. The only serious problem, according to KLA commanders on the ground is the remnants of Serb Paramilitaries who took up positions in the villages of Zhakovë, Suhogerllë and Dërvodel and are attempting to intimidate with open threats, those Kosovars returning to the village of Uça. The KLA has promised to protect the inhabitants of the area from these men who have not returned to Serbia as demanded by the agreement between Belgrade and NATO.

Norway donates 700 Thousand Dollars to clear Kosova of Mines

Oslo, June 23, (Kosovapress)
Officials from a number of Norwegian Humanitarian Organizations have announced they will send 30 qualified professionals to help clear Kosova of mines. They are being sent as part of a government aid package of more than 5 million Kruna (700,000 dollars).

News Briefs From KosovaPress

June 23, (Kosovapress)
Kaçanik: KLA forces have begun to reorganize and engage in cleaning the streets and repair destroyed homes in and around the area. Meanwhile, specialized units are working continuously towards clearing Kosova of the hundreds of thousands of mines set by Serb forces.

Kaçanik: The district of Kaçanik is now being supplied by many humanitarian organizations, including, Jeta from Skopje, El-Hilall, and an aid convoy from Mother Teresa which arrived this morning.

Deçan: In Gramaçel, three days ago, a private clinic and a school opened. All teachers and pupils, in particular, are asked to come back as soon as possible to recommence their studies interrupted by the Serb offensive. Bus service along the Junik-Gjakova route has also started. It is now reported humanitarian aid is finally getting through to the area, which was on its own for most of the first week of KFOR intervention.

Serbs Try to Divide Mitrovica Into Two Parts (KP)

Mitrovicë, June 22, (Kosovapress)
In the northern part of Mitrovica, where the Ibri river separates the city, armed Serbs are maltreating Albanian citizens who are trying to return to their homes. The French forces which make up part of the KFOR units, have acted arrogantly towards those Albanians and have caused concern here among local community leaders. Local administrators have issued a direct protest to KFOR leaders about the behavior of the French troops.

It is reported that the representatives of the "World Food Program" visited the administrator in Mitrovica and secured a storage space at the "Sloga" ex- sewing enterprise. French soldiers have checked the location for mines. It is believed that the preparation should start tomorrow so that food can be quickly delivered to the needy inhabitants of the area. The KFOR soldiers thanked the Albanians for their co-operation.

It is also reported that the KFOR forces were interested in knowing if there are any Serb or Albanian civilians imprisoned in the Shala Operational Zone, and received a response that there were none.

The KFOR forces are stationed at the "Migjeni" primary school in Mitrovica and as they were cleaning the grounds they threw out a great percentage of the school's documents which upset local Albanians. Eventually, after protests, KFOR and Albanian representatives met to resolve the problem.

The KFOR forces were informed of the problem of an Albanian population who live in the western part of Mitrovica. There are 25.000 Albanians who were living there before their Serb neighbors violently deported them. A small number of those who remain are being maltreated by Serb security and paramilitary forces who have taken civilian clothes. Such abuse has taken place in front of French KFOR troops. Serb forces are walking freely throughout Mitrovica. They are armed and are blocking the return of Kosovar Albanians to their homes.

The mines at " Trepça" mine in Mitrovica are considered functional and Albanian engineers and miners have asked to be allowed to work the mines in order to avoid further damage to the site.

10 thousand Albanians, prisoners in the Serb prisons (Radio21)

Some 10 thousand Kosova Albanians are being held as prisoners in the prisons within Serbia. The Association of the Political Prisoners of Kosova, is going to organize a protest for their release, on June 25, in front of Grand Hotel in Prishtina.

The citizens are going to march from Grand Hotel to the KFOR headquarters.

Thousands of Albanian prisoners held in prisons within Kosova, were sent into the prisons within Serbia, before the withdrawal of the Serb forces from Kosova.

International Red Cross in negotiations with Belgrade for the question of the Albanian prisoners (Radio21)

International Red Cross is under negotiations with the Serb authorities to take the permission to visit Kosova Albanians held as prisoners in the prisons within Serbia.

European parliamentarians criticized the policy of the European Union concerning the question of the Albanian prisoners in Serbia and the lack of measures for their immediate release. Our correspondent in Brussels, Afrim Gjonbalaj, says that the Euro-parliamentarian Olivier Debuis, is of the opinion that Belgrade should not be given humanitarian aid, without releasing Albanian prisoners.

"One of the conditions, the European Union, should put on Milosevic, is the release of the Albanian prisoners. The European Union should send a clear signal to Milosevic that the humanitarian aid might be blocked until he begins the release of the Albanian prisoners in Serbia", Mr. Debuis says.

The Euro-parliamentarian underlines that the European Union, should undertake quick measures to make Milosevic release Albanians held in the prisons in Serbia.

Clinton visits the refugees and is hailed a hero by Kosovar Albanians (CNN)


SKOPJE, Macedonia (CNN) -- U.S. President Bill Clinton completed a triumphant visit to the Balkans Tuesday, greeting both KFOR troops and the Kosovar Albanian refugees.

He wrapped up his busy day praising U.S. pilots at Aviano Air Base, in Italy, thanking them for their 11-week air campaign that forced Yugoslavia to accept a Western peace plan for Kosova.

Clinton returned to the White House early Wednesday.

"You have repeatedly put your lives on the line to save the lives of innocent civilians and turn back the tide of ethnic cleansing," said Clinton, whose remarks were punctuated by frequent cheers. "Thank you again for this noble endeavor."

Earlier, he thanked Macedonia for its help in supporting NATO's campaign against Yugoslavia and sheltering the refugees.

"No one ever, ever should be punished and discriminated against or killed or uprooted because of their religion or ethnic heritage," Clinton told hundreds of cheering, chanting refugees at the Stenkovec camp, less than 16 kilometers (10 miles) from the Kosova border.


The refugees gave Clinton a hero's welcome as he and his family toured the muddy tent city. Stenkovec housed some 30,000 refugees at the height of Operation Allied Force, NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.

Since the end of that campaign and the withdrawal of Serb troops from Kosova, about 20,000 ethnic Albanians have returned home from Stenkovec. Clinton urged the remaining refugees to wait "a couple more weeks" while NATO forces remove land mines and other unexploded ordnance from the region.

"I don't want anyone else to lose an arm or a leg or a child because of land mines," he said. "Please be patient with us ... you are going to be able to go back. I want to make sure it is a happy return."

After his visit to the refugee camp, Clinton -- accompanied by KFOR commander Lt. Gen. Mike Jackson and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Wesley Clark -- addressed troops waiting to enter Kosova.

He told the largely American group of military personnel that it has "a big, big job" ahead to "show that people can lay down their hatreds."

"People who come from different ethnic and religious backgrounds can live together if they simply respect each other's God given dignity," Clinton said. "Now what it rides on is not the precision of our bombs, not our power to destroy, but your power to build."

Thanking the Balkan neighbors

Clinton arrived in Macedonia's capital Tuesday from a visit to Slovenia, greeted by Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov. The Macedonian leader said after meeting with Clinton that he understood the need for the U.S. presence in the Balkans.

"The war in Bosnia and now in Kosova have confirmed this," Gligorov said.

Clinton, who also met with President Rexhep Meidani of Albania, later thanked the Macedonian people for their assistance during the Kosova conflict.

"NATO could not have achieved its mission without you," he said, speaking at the Macedonian parliament. "The people of Kosova would not be going home to security and autonomy without you. I came here as much as anything else to say thank you."

Clinton also pledged $12 million in food commodities for the financially strapped country, which housed up to 140,000 refugees while NATO bombs tried to drive Yugoslav forces from Kosova. The United States has already sent $72 million in relief to Macedonia, which broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991.

Monday's trip marked Clinton's first to the front lines of the battle he and his NATO allies won against what he called the "murderous rule" of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

Clinton is wrapping up a week-long trip that won support from the European Union to help in the costly reconstruction of Kosova.

"We must build a Europe with no front-line states, a Europe undivided, democratic and at peace for the first time in history," he declared before leaving Slovenia for Skopje.

NATO Troops Encounter Resistance; Robin Cook Visits Krusha e Madhe; Milosevic's Assets Frozen in Switzerland (Reuters)

By REUTERS


British Foreign Minister Robin Cook visits Krusha e Madhe where Serbs have massacred 105 civilians.  Photo by Reuters.

French troops in Kosova arrested three Serb civilians on Wednesday after a gun battle triggered when peacekeepers rushed to help ethnic Albanians threatened by Serbs in a divided town.

The violence showed the dangers facing the new KFOR peace force in a province volatile after the Serb military pulled out under the heat of NATO air raids, allowing Kosova Albanians to return to their homes and confrontations with remaining Serbs.

Many ethnic Albanians seek revenge for mass executions and deportations by Serbian security forces and the latest evidence of Kosova's killing fields emerged with French troops' discovery of a grave with as many as 180 bodies near Mitrovica.

Four European Union foreign ministers got their first look at post-war Kosova Wednesday. British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook was sickened when shown charred, skeletal bodies in a village where 105 men and boys were apparently massacred.

"This is where you see the results of Milosevic's orders and this is why he must be brought to justice," he said. "If I had any doubts about the justice of the campaign to liberate Kosova from this terror, they have been banished."

As he spoke, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's assets in Switzerland were frozen by the Berne government at the request of the U.N. war crimes tribunal which indicted him and four top aides last month. Their assets were frozen too.

Mitrovica's effective division into hostile Serb and Albanian-populated neighborhoods has presented French troops with one of the toughest challenges in KFOR, which has the task of restoring a safe environment for civilian life.

Northern Kosova has a significant, dug-in Serb population unlike the east, south and west -- now controlled by France's British, U.S., Italian and German partners in KFOR -- which are more heavily ethnic Albanian with few Serbs left.

A French army spokesman said Serbs opened fire early on Wednesday at a French patrol which had gone to assist ethnic Albanians being evicted from their homes in central Mitrovica, where Serbs still form a majority.

That shooting broke out was no surprise as Kosova remains swamped with weapons even after the military withdrawal.

A gun battle between the French and Serbs ensued, followed by the arrest of three Serb civilians, the French officer said.

"Our priority was to protect human lives," French Defense Minister Alain Richard told Reuters Television as he arrived in Mitrovica to visit the French KFOR headquarters.

He said preventing killings and looting had been difficult so far because only 2,000 French soldiers had reached a sector stretching 60 by 50 kms (35 by 30 miles).

Tuesday, French troops found the bodies of two Serb civilians, each with a bullet in the head. Two others had been killed and one wounded on a road south of Mitrovica.

NATO Supreme Commander General Wesley Clark said Tuesday that KFOR's planned 55,000 troop strength might not be enough, and he called for contributing states to speed up deployments in the face of a serious security vacuum in Kosova.

Cook and the foreign ministers of Italy, Germany and France were in Kosova to inspect evidence of war crimes and have talks on reconstructing the devastated province of Yugoslavia.

In the western village of Velika Krusa, Cook wore a white protective suit and mask as he toured a farmyard where British pathologists have found the charred remains of around 40 people.

He said he felt "rising indignation against the people who had ordered these atrocities."

Since being deployed in northern Kosova, French soldiers acting on information from local residents have found about 20 possible mass grave sites.

The French Foreign Ministry said a 10-member team of forensic and police experts would leave Thursday for Kosova to investigate war crimes, mostly in the French-run sector.

U.N. tribunal investigators are also fanning through Kosova.

In Geneva, the International Committee of the Red Cross said it was seeking access to a "considerable number" of Kosova Albanian political prisoners taken out of the province by withdrawing Serb forces.

In the first official word on the fate of the missing ethnic Albanians, the agency said it hoped to receive permission soon from Belgrade authorities to see the jailed ethnic Albanians.