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YugoslaviaN MASSACRES

• Prime Minister Thaçi on the killing of Serbs: This act was against Kosova, its people, the international community and it only helps Milosevic
• Jackson orders manhunt after killings of Serbs
• Serb War Criminals who are still in Kosova are waiting for Russian troops to escort them out of Kosova; Not to Hague, but to freedom in Serbia
• The Provisional Governent of Kosova is Concerned About Future Banking Operations in Kosova
• Serb Minister: Serbs Should Admit Defeat In Kosova

Prishtina, July 24, (Kosovapress)

In a press conference given yesterday, the Prime Minister of the Provisional Government of Kosova, Hashim Thaçi strongly condemned the murder of 14 Serbs close to Lipjan. He called the reports unfortunate for both Albanians and the international community. He added the event was truly tragic and impacted both internal and international leaders. The 14 killed Serbs, according to Thaçi represented the death of 14 Kosovars who decided to stay in Kosova and seek a democratic life in Kosova. This act of "madness" is strongly condemned both by the Provisional Government and by Thaçi personally. Thaçi said "this act, unfortunately, was predictable, one that only intensifies intercommunal conflict in Kosova."

"We still do not have the details of the event, it is under investigation; this will make, no doubt, the situation that much more difficult for us, right at the point when things were beginning to normalize. This act of violence ended on the day the second phase of the KLA´s demilitarization, a process which ended successfully and which offended those who do not wish to see the Serb and Albanian communities work towards better relations, " added Thaçi. "This act was against Kosova, its people, the international community and it only helps Milosevic. So we must cooperate closely with the international community to assist in the investigation that will lead to the capture of those who are guilty of this act. We have to, once and forever, convince all in Kosova that we will not allow anarchy and extremism prevail. In Kosova, democracy will reign. This act´s only goal was to disrupt the work of the Transitory Council of Kosova. We had begun to cooperate with the whole Kosovar Albanian political spectrum and with UNMIK, we were prepared to sign the declaration to work towards a harmonious coexistence, tolerance and understanding between national groups. We have begun to visit each other through the offices of UNMIK." Thaçi believed this act of violence was aimed in particular at disrupting this progress. Thaçi added, "The KLA since the very beginning has refused to target civilians in its struggle for freedom, its primary objective was the creation of a democratic order in Kosova, a multiethnic and pluralistic life in Kosova. We, as members of the Provisional Government of Kosova strongly condemn this act. This act has nothing to do with progressive democratic forces in Kosova, it is simply a reflection of those who have no interest in seeing Kosova democratic and free. I use this opportunity to once again to plead to Serbs who are living in Kosova not to leave and not to be afraid of Albanians, but get closer, to help and respect each other and to integrate and build a modern civil society."

""All those who seek to destabilize Kosova are badly mislead. Kosova is now more than ever determined to follow a democratic path towards creating a free civil society which is open, multi-ethnic, pluralistic and equal to all citizens of Kosova."

Prime Minister Thaçi called an immediate press conference to address the international media after the report of the discovery of 14 Serbs killed near Lipjan last night. While the motive and the identity of those who committed the act are still in question, many in Prishtina are concerned this will create a chain reaction, leading to a series of attacks on each community.

The Provisional Governent of Kosova Concerned About Future Banking Operations in Kosova

New York, July 24 (Kosovapress) Representatives of the PGK in the USA responded with an immediate press release to troubling news about a UNMIK agreement with Yugoslav Komercjalna Banka to allow it service all the financial transactions of the UN in Prishtina. Although the news were denied by the office of the spokesman for the UN, lack of further knowledge about ongoing talks regarding the future of banking operations in Kosova part of which are private Yugoslav banks believed to have close ties with the criminal Serb leadership, such as Komercjalna Banka, the PGK is closely following up with the issue. A July 22, 1999 PGK press release states the following: The Provisional Government of Kosova has learned with deep regret and indignation that the UN institutions in Kosova have signed an agreement with the Yugoslav Commercial Bank with headquarters in Belgrade. According to this agreement, the UN civilian mission in Kosova, the UN humanitarian organizations and individuals acting within the UN system will conduct all their financial transactions and payments in Kosova, Yugoslavia and abroad, through this Yugoslav bank. It is utterly incomprehensible, to say the least, that the UN, which has adopted resolutions and sanctions against Yugoslavia should get involved with a financial institution operating in Yugoslavia. This is all the more so when it is well-known that the above bank and its President have well-established connections and close ties with the Yugoslav leadership, including Slobodan Miloshevic, whom the UN War Crimes Tribunal has indicted for atrocities and genocide that his regime has committed in Kosova. The UN cannot be a reliable partner for the Kosova people if it chooses to cooperate with those that have a dubious role in the Kosova conflict, and violating its own resolutions and sanctions. The PGK believes that the right way for the UN to proceed in the reconstruction of Kosova, is to rely on the indigenous Kosova banking institutions which have a great deal of expertise and a sound reputation in handling transactions of this kind. The PGK expects the UN institutions to take the appropriate measures to correct this blatant infringement of its own resolutions.

Jackson orders manhunt after killings of Serbs
By Julius Strauss in Gracko

SIR MICHAEL JACKSON, the Nato commander in Kosova, yesterday launched a manhunt for the killers of 14 Serb farmers, describing their deaths as "a cowardly act of brutal and cold murder".

In the worst incident since Nato peacekeepers deployed in the Yugoslav province six weeks ago ethnic Albanians shot 13 men and a boy of 15 as they worked in fields at Gracko, 10 miles south of the Kosova capital Pristina. The dead farmers were found on Friday night after a Gurkha patrol heard a sustained burst of automatic fire. Seconds later Serb villagers used a special hotline to alert a nearby British base to the shootings.

The killers had already fled when the soldiers arrived on the scene minutes later. The troops found the bodies of 12 men and the young boy lying in a circle. A fourteenth victim died on his tractor 150 yards away.

General Jackson rejected accusations by a villager in Gracko that Kfor was "complicit" with Albanians in "this tragic and murderous attack". He said: "It is plainly absurd and it's rather insulting. We are here to maintain public safety. We will leave no stone unturned to get hold of the murderers."

As word of the killings spread across Kosova, tension between Serb and ethnic Albanians rose to fever pitch, threatening to usher in a new wave of ethnic blood-letting. Major Ian Seraph, a spokesman for British troops in the area, said yesterday: "I'm sure they'll remember the day for the rest of their lives. They saw 13 bodies killed in cold blood lying next to a combine harvester.

"The harvester was still running. About five minutes later they found another body on top of a tractor. They were all killed in a most horrible and gruesome manner." One of the first soldiers on the scene, Lt Col Robin Hedges, said: "It cannot be called a war crime, it is mass murder."

Nato sealed off the scene of the killings which were near a track in a maize field and took the farmers' bodies to a morgue in Pristina. Forensic experts combed the area yesterday.

Leading Serbian Orthodox church officials travelled to Gracko yesterday to reassure the villagers. Father Sava, a young priest, said after talking to villagers: "We must not let the people down by allowing one repression to be replaced by another. We've had enough of Milosevic's crimes here. We mustn't let Albanian extremists do the same thing."

Throughout Gracko, a tidy village with white-washed houses built around a large square, the Serbs were in deep shock. They gathered in small groups, some with heads in their hands or with tears slowly running down their worn cheeks. Three members of a family sat quietly on a short wooden bench at one end of the village.

Dusko Vujecic, the father, said: "Before the war it was all right. We had no problems with the Albanians in the next villages. Even now we get on okay. We always greet each other in the streets. Sometimes we talk in Serbian, sometimes in Albanian. I worked with Albanians for 20 years in a factory. They are good people. But after this, we don't know what to think anymore. Perhaps we should leave, although I don't know where to."

A little further down the road a group of elderly ladies in black dresses cried openly. One woman Stanimir Djekic, whispered: "My brother was with them. Now he is dead."

As British soldiers serving with REME looked on, Slobodanka Ristic, 58, told how her 75-year old husband, Nikola, had been missing for nine days, feared kidnapped by ethnic Albanian guerrillas. She said: "We don't feel safe with Nato. The Albanians are just killing us."

But the paltry hope that the future has for the Serbs of Gracko, surrounded by mostly hostile ethnic Albanian communities, was summed up best by one old man. As he surveyed the village, he said: "I know where I was born and where I live now. But I have no idea where I am going to die."

Serb War Criminals who are still in Kosova are waiting for Russian troops to escort them out of Kosova; Not to Hague, but to freedom in Serbia

SUSPECTED Serb war criminals in an ethnic ghetto in southern Kosova could escape justice if Russian peacekeepers are allowed to take control of their town under a plan being discussed between Moscow and Nato.

Ethnic Albanians fear that the Russians will protect the former Serb paramilitaries and help them to safety in Serbia if the Dutch, who run the town of Orahovac, are forced to hand it over. There is evidence that hundreds of Russian mercenaries fought with the Serbs against the ethnic Albanians during Nato air strikes.

Orahovac became the epicentre for a wave of massacres in early March when Serb forces rampaged through the area killing men, women and children. Two of the largest mass graves found in Kosova are within a few miles of the town.

Last week the Supreme Allied Commander of Nato, Gen Wesley Clark, visited the town to try to reassure ethnic Albanians that they would be safe in Russian hands. He was given an ecstatic welcome by hundreds of Kosovars who see Nato as their liberator. But they chanted: "Nato yes, Russia no!" and carried banners saying "We don't want Russians" and "Russians killed us". A 25,000-signature petition was handed in calling for the Russians to be kept out.

Ethnic Albanians fear that if the Russians take over, Serbs in a ghetto in the town will become emboldened and intimidate them. Dozens of suspected war criminals could escape a net that has been drawn around them by German and Dutch troops. At present Serbs wishing to leave the enclave are screened by Nato soldiers to see if they are among suspected war criminals.

Hivzi Gashi, a military policeman with the Kosova Liberation Army in nearby Malisevo where Russians are already patrolling, said: "Why do you think the Serbs are demanding a Russian escort out, not a German or Dutch one? It's because they think that way nobody will have to check them."

Igor Antic is one such suspected war criminal living in Orahovac. Local ethnic Albanians say he was a paramilitary responsible for the deaths of at least five of their number, including two children.

For Mr Antic the prospect of the Russians taking control of his city is his only lifeline. When I told him that they might soon arrive, his eyes lit up.

But even if the Russian troops fail to protect indicted Serbs from Nato snatch squads, there is always bribery. The Russian army is rife with corruption and contingents are engaged in black market activities and smuggling people.

In the central town of Malisevo the Russians are greeted with whistles and jeers. Milazim Kastrati, a former teacher, runs a small food market there. He said: "We don't like Russians because they took part in this war on the Serb side. We don't trust them." On the main road at the southern end of Malisevo, Russians soldiers have taken over a large checkpoint from German soldiers.

A Nato official said: "The Serb war criminals may think that the Russians will help them out, but I can assure you it will not happen. Once they are indicted, even if the Russians refuse to act, we can send our people in to get them. They won't escape." But few ethnic Albanians believe that.

Serbs Should Admit Defeat In Kosova-Minister

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia's outgoing information minister Aleksandar Vucic said Sunday that Serbs should be told the truth and face up to the fact that they had not won in Kosova.

``Objectively speaking we have undergone a disastrous political defeat,'' Vucic, a member of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party, said in an interview with the independent daily Glas Javnosti.

``We must do what the Japanese did in 1946 (capitulated after WW II) -- tell the people where we stand. We must say we did not win in Kosova and that we must start moving forward on some new energy that must be created among Serbs,'' he said.

The Radical party, headed by Vojislav Seselj, formally left the government in June in protest against Milosevic's agreement to let NATO troops into Kosova after 11 weeks of bombardments by the alliance.

But its ministers are staying on until September when parliament will resume its normal work.

In what seemed to be the start of lobbying in an undeclared election campaign Vucic presented the Radicals as a party always ready to be truthful no matter how hard this might be.

He criticised the government, disregarding the fact that the Radicals were de facto still part of it, and the opposition parties which have been leading a campaign of protests against it.

He said both had initially welcomed the idea of NATO troops in Kosova and then lamented that the agreement under which they arrived was bad for the Serbs.

Serbs have been flooding out of Kosova over the past month fearing revenge attacks by ethnic Albanians who had themselves fled in their hundreds of thousands before the NATO-led KFOR peace force entered the province.

The Serbs' uncertain future in Kosova was underlined Friday when 14 farmers were found shot dead by unknown assailants in a field.

``Now these opposition leaders are wandering from rally to rally and saying the KFOR has not done its task. That is not true, the KFOR has accomplished its task -- there are practically no Serbs in most of Kosova,'' Vucic said.

The opposition umbrella group Alliance for Change and the opposition Serbian Renewal Movement have been organizing gatherings throughout Serbia over the past few weeks demanding changes in the leadership, including Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

All sides, the government, the opposition parties and the Radicals have said they are ready for early elections.

Vucic did not call for Milosevic to step down but said he did not think it would be a disaster if he did.

``I do not think there would be a cataclysm if there was a change at the top in Serbia,'' said Vucic, adding that it was up to the people to choose a new leader in elections.

He also said he did not think it would be good if those who presented themselves as a democratic alternative were to come to power, alluding to the Alliance for Change. However if the people elected the Radicals were ready to ``shake their hand,'' he added.