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Thursday, March 11, 1999, 2:40 PM.
Heavy Gunfire Heard in Border
Villages in Gjakova Area
PRISHTINA, March 11 (KIC) - Heavy Serbian artillery fire was being heard in a number of
Kosovar villages along the border with neighboring Albania today, local LDK sources in
Gjakova said.
The gunfire started in the early hours today, reverberating in the town of Gjakova itself.
The body of Fadil Tolaj (46), a taxi driver from Gjakova, was taken to the town morgue
Wednesday afternoon, sources said.
Tolaj went missing on 9 March, and was found killed with firearms on the road leading to
Cėrmjan village.
Serbian Forces Continue Shelling Mitrovica and Vushtrri Villages
PRISHTINA, March 11 (KIC) - Serbian forces continued shelling today the villages of
Vaganicė and Vėrnicė, Mitrovica municipality, and Oshlan, Pantinė and Lkej of Vushtrri
municipality in northwestern Kosova, local LDK sources told the KIC.
Serb military has been pounding Albanian villages from their positions in Frashėr i
Vogėl and Pirē villages.
A number of Albanian houses in Vėrnicė and Vaganicė have been reported in flame.
Fresh, heavily armed Serbian forces have been reported building up in the area under
attack.
Serbian paramilitary police forces entered Novolan village of Vushtrri at noon today,
local LDK sources in Vushtrri said. Serb forces have been stationed in the Zhabari family
compound. Three Albanian women and a girl have not been evacuated from the area.
Heavy police forces have been checking and harassing tens of passers-by in the town of
Vushtrri today.
Serbian Forces Set Siege to Prizren Villages
PRISHTINA, March 11 (KIC) - Hundreds of Serbian forces have set siege to the Vrrini
region's villages in the municipality of Prizren since today morning, local human rights
sources said.
Over 30 Serbian vehicles, including ten tanks, left Prizren for Hoēė e Qytetit today,
whereas as many 300 armed policemen entered Leskovec village at 9:00 a.m. today. Albanians
fled their homes in fear.
Early in the morning today, a heavy detonation was heard near the Zhur village. Serb army
tanks then left in the direction of Opojė region.
Around 10:00 a.m. today, all the residents of Hoēė were huddled together in the fields,
under a complete siege by Serbian army and police forces. Other terrified Albanian
residents were assembled near the village school at Billushė, the Prizren chapter of the
Prishtina-based Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms (CDHRF) said.
On Wednesday evening, the body of a villager, around 70 years of age, was found in Hoēė
e Qytetit.
The Prizren-Zhur roadway has been blocked by Serbian army and police troops today. A heavy
presence of Serbian forces has been reported in the compounds of the "Farmakos"
pharmaceutical in Prizren, too.
Albanian Population of Half a Dozen Klina Villages Sent Fleeing
PRISHTINA, March 11 (KIC) - The stepped up movement and buildup of Serbian army troops in
several villages of the Klina municipality has prompted the Albanian population of half a
dozen villages (Ēupevė, Volljak, Sferkė, Pėrēevė, Gllarevė and Jashanicė) flee
their homes.
On Tuesday evening, Serbian troops opened gunfire in the direction of Kėpuzė and
Ēeskovė for half an hour, local sources said.
Serbian forces have been firing against UĒK positions in the villages of Gllarevė,
Rigjevė and Burim almost on a daily basis.
Leaflets With Fake OSCE Logo Spread in Prishtina
"It is disinformation, aimed at detracting the peace process in Kosova", OSCE
spokesperson says
PRISHTINA, March 11 (KIC) - "It is disinformation, aimed at detracting the peace
process in Kosova", Beatrice Lacoste, the OSCE KVM spokeswoman told the KIC today, in
reference to leaflets spread today in Prishtina containing an OSCE logo, in which the
Rambouillet accords have been presented from a pro-Serbian view.
In three languages (English, Serbian and Albanian), the leaflets - headlined The Interim
Agreement on Kosova Discussed in Rambouillet - alleged that the Kosova deal means
"giving up the independence and giving up Kosova Republic", as well as
"life in Autonomous Province within the framework of Republic of Serbia".
The OSCE will come up with a statement on this, Lacoste said, adding that the aim was
probably to "make people angry with the OSCE".
59 Albanians Killed in Kosova During February
PRISHTINA, March 11 (KIC) - 59 Albanians were killed and 25 others wounded in Kosova
during the month of February, according to a report issued by the Prishtina-based Council
for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms (CDHRF).
39 Albanians were killed in unsolved circumstances, one was executed by Serb forces,
another tortured to death. The identity of three killed Albanians has not been
established, the major Kosovar human rights group said.
Some 700 Albanians were physically abused by Serbian forces and armed Serbian civilians,
200 others arbitrarily arrested, whereas 84 Albanians were sentenced to prison terms on
political charges.
39 persons went missing in February, and 12 others kidnapped, the CDHRF said.
The road Magurė-Lipjan is sealed-off
Drenicė e Epėrme, March 11 (Kosovapress) Since UĒK units, a week ago, confronted
Serbian military/police forces in the region of Blinajė, municipality of Lipjan, Serb
occupying forces have increased checkpoints along and sealed-off the Magurė-Lipjan road
that connects the region of Drenicė e Epėrme with plane of Kosova. Fearing eventual
reprisals, the movements of people and vehicles along this road has been maximally
reduced. There are no busses running along this route. Thus, this region with 18 villages,
destroyed and burnt-down by Serb Barbaric offensives last summer, has been isolated from
the rest of the world once again. Because of that, there is no supply with basic
necessities, and their absence has began to be noticed. Also, because teachers cannot
reach to their destinations, school process has been interrupted in the High School of
Shalė.
Serb motorised convoy, of around 40 vehicles, has gone through
Komoran
Komoran, March 11 (Kosovapress) Today at around 07.00, a Serb forces motorised convoy,
consisting of 37 different vehicles (20 buses, armoured vehicles, APC,...), came from
Prishtinė, through Komoran cross-road and went towards Pejė. Similar movements and
defiles of Serb forces have been seen along the Komoran-Gllogoc and Arllat-Malishevė road
axes.
Villages of Vėrrini are under the total siege
Prizren, March 11 (Kosovapress) Since the early hours of this morning, large convoys of
Serbian forces have besieged the villages of Vėrrini. More 30 warfare vehicles like,
tanks, armoured vehicles and others, have gone from Prizren, in Hoēė e Qytetit. More
than 300 fully armed Serb policemen have entered in the village of Leskoc, at around
09.00, while, Albanian inhabitants had to flee their homes. At around 04.45 in the
vicinity of Zhur, a powerful detonation was heard, and later Yugoslav tanks were seen
going in the direction of Opojė. At 10.00, in the field near Hoēė, Serbian police and
army have rounded-up all Albanians of this village. Same thing is reported to have
happened near the school of village Bilushė. Prizren-Zhur road is sealed-off and blocked
by Serb military/police forces and a high concentration of these forces have been noticed
in the pharmaceutical factory "Farmakos" of Prizren. Last night, at around
21.00, dead body of Asllan Gani Krasniqi(62) from Hoēė e Qytetit, was found.
Shootings in Mitrovicė
Mitrovicė, March 11 (Kosovapress) We were informed from Mitrovicė that last night, at
around 20.00, in the quarters Kroi i Vitakut, 7 Shtatori, and Romani Quarters of this
town, there were large number of shots fired. Starting at 21.25 until 24.00, Serb forces
have pounded UĒK positions in the villages Vaganicė and Vėrmicė of Mitrovicė and
Oshlan, Pantinė and Liqej of Vushtrri. This shelling was of high intensity, especially at
around 23.00. Citizens of some quarters of Mitrovicė, fearing for their lives, have spent
the night under the open sky. Same thing happened to more than 400 citizens of Lushtė.
Serb forces have started shelling same villages today also. There are no confirmed
information as far as, eventual humans casualties are concerned, but there are large
material damages caused. There are information from Vushtrri, however, that large Serb
military/police forces have gone towards the villages under attack. These forces have
arrived in this town, from Serbia, with a railway. There is smoke and blazes coming out of
most of these villages. Population is blocked and is in a very distressed state.
A dead body was found near Gjakovė
Gjakovė, March 11 (Kosovapress) Yesterday in the road Gakovė-Klinė, at the cross-road
to Cėrmjan, a body of Fadil Tolaj (46), from quarter Piskotė of Gjakovė, was found.
Wounds in the body of a victim suggest that he was killed with fire arms. He used to work
as a taxi driver and there were no information about him since two days ago. Meanwhile,
today, Serbian army has fired from their base in the Ēabrat Hill, towards villages of
Reka e Keqe.
Enver Feka, LDK activist in Lummadh,
Vushtri was killed today
(Radio21)
Albanian sources of Vushtri announced today the death of Enver Skender Feka 36, LDK
activist, while he was working in his shop. The identity of the doer remains unknown.
According to these sources, the unknown person enters, suddenly Enver's shop, shots him
dead, and ran away without leaving any tracks.
Some villages of Vushtri municipality, under heavy serb poundings, last night
(Radio21)
There are also some informations from Vushtri of heavy serb shillings towards Pantinė,
Okrashticė, Liqej and Balincė villages of Vushtri. No informations of possible
casualties.
Two villages of Mitrovica, for two days in row, under heavy serb shillings
Albanian sources from Mitrovica report of Vaganicė and Vėrnicė villages being shelled
last night. Detonations were shocking and the blasting were even heard in the city of
Mitrovica. A missile hit Ramadan Veseli's house in this city but hard to guess from which
direction. These shillings continued still tomorrow but no any further informations given
till now.
Serb forces intervened today in Rigjevė of Klina
LDK sources inform of serb forces attempt to locate themselves in Rigjevė today morning.
No any other details given, but it is said residents of this municipality in fears of any
possible massacre, sought shelter in other safer areas.
KIC informs of new serb forces arrival in Kosova
KIC informs today of a serb military convoy, consisted of 45 vehicles, entering Kosova
regions early this morning. There were 10 buses, full of police forces, several vans and
other military vehicles.
Yugoslav Troops Fire On Rebels In Southern
Kosova
By Deborah Charles
PRISHTINA, Kosova (Reuters) - Yugoslav army and police Thursday began shelling ethnic
Albanian rebels in a village in southern Kosova and international monitors reported a
heavy army buildup on roads in the same area.
``Right now the MUP and the VJ (police and army) are shelling in the direction of Jeskovo,
which we heard the other day was taken over by the KLA (Kosova Liberation Army),'' said an
international verifier.
He said the Yugoslav security forces, equipped with tanks and other heavy artillery, were
based in Hoca Zagradska, a village near Jeskovo, which is not far from the southern town
of Prizren.
``Our verifiers were concerned about the civilians in Hoca Zagradska but they have told us
there is no danger for them,'' the verifier said.
But he said several cease-fire monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) had been deployed in the village to ensure the safety of its inhabitants.
The ethnic Albanian-run Kosova Information Center reported continued shelling overnight in
villages around Vucitrn, north of the Kosova capital Pristina.
The information center also said the chairman of a local branch of the Democratic League
of Kosova, Enver Feka, was shot dead in his shop in a village in Velika Reka on the
outskirts of Vucitrn late Tuesday.
A spokesman for the OSCE's verifiers said they had reports that the KLA had abducted about
40 ethnic Albanians near Kacanik in southern Kosova.
``We have not been able to confirm what we were told by the MUP. They told us the KLA had
said it abducted 40 Albanians who were allegedly loyal to Serbs, and they were beaten,''
the spokesman said. He said verifiers were investigating.
The Kosova Information Center also said a convoy of about 45 vehicles including 10 buses
carrying police as well as trucks, jeeps and other vehicles was seen entering Kosova
across its border with the rest of Serbia.
An OSCE spokeswoman said the verifiers were helping aid workers distribute food to ethnic
Albanians forced to flee their homes in villages near Kacanik, just north of the
Macedonian border, earlier this week.
``We are finally able to help because the fighting has died down,'' she said.
At least two villages were burned and looted earlier this week amid a Serb offensive.
About 4,000 villagers are thought to have sought refuge in the hills, aid workers said.
Milosevic told 'no immunity'
BY MICHAEL EVANS DEFENCE EDITOR, THE TIMES
PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC was offered no concessions yesterday when confronted by American
envoys seeking to persuade the Yugoslav leader to sign a Kosova peace settlement, US
officials said.
Richard Holbrooke, the American envoy for the Balkans, and Christopher Hill, the chief
Kosova mediator, began talks in Belgrade with Mr Milosevic, less than a week before peace
negotiations resume in France.
Although there was no apparent breakthrough after the first session, US officials
emphasised that "no carrots" were being offered to Mr Milosevic.
There was no question, they said, of offering him immunity from prosecution for war
crimes, should he be indicted. Nor was he going to be guaranteed that sanctions against
Yugoslavia would be lifted if he signed a peace settlement.
Meanwhile, two men from the King's Own Border Regiment were injured in a fight between 20
soldiers and waiters at a Macedonian restaurant in Skopje, the Ministry of Defence said
yesterday.
Milosevic rejects idea of peace force
By Patrick Bishop and Philip Smucker in Belgrade
Daily Telegraph
SLOBODAN MILOSOVIC, the Yugoslav President, repeated his firm opposition to any deployment
of foreign troops in Kosova yesterday after initial talks with Richard Holbrooke, the
American special envoy.
Under Mr Holbrooke's peace plan, a 28,000-strong Nato force would be stationed in the
province to ensure the deal's implementation.
But a statement citing Milosevic, issued by Tanjug, Yugoslavia's official news agency,
read: "Attempts to condition a political agreement on our country's acceptance of
foreign troops. . . are unacceptable."
However, intense diplomatic efforts were continuing last night to persuade Milosevic to
change his mind and agree to the plan for Kosova and avert another confrontation with the
West. Meanwhile, commanders of the Kosova Liberation Army (KLA) met in secret to decide
whether to agree to the deal or carry on fighting.
The fate of Kosova again hangs in the balance as both sides prepare to resume negotiations
in Paris after a three-week break in which they were supposed to make up their minds
whether they wanted peace or war. Last night the signs were that if any agreement is
reached it will be arrived at reluctantly, producing only a precarious ceasefire.
Otherwise Kosova will be plunged back into a war that is unlikely to finish before one
side has fought the other to a standstill. Mr Holbrooke has embarked upon a marathon
persuasion exercise with Mr Milosevic to try get his agreement to the plan before the
Paris talks. Mr Holbrooke is said to have a special relationship with Mr Milosevic forged
during the many hours of diplomatic arm-wrestling in negotiations to end the Bosnian war.
The last-minute agreement over Kosova he reached with him last autumn which spared
Yugoslavia Nato air strikes was short lived, however.
Yesterday's three-and-a-half hour meeting ended inconclusively and previous form suggests
that Mr Milosevic will spin out the proceedings until the last moment before he announces
his decision.
The American-authored plan gives substantial autonomy to Kosova, 90 per cent of whose
inhabitants are ethnic Albanians. The main sticking point for the Serbs is the Nato
peacekeeping force. Yesterday, there were reports of hundreds of Yugoslav tanks moving
into areas along Kosova's borders with Macedonia and Albania. Nato analysts said the move
was apparently to deter a Nato deployment and also to disperse armour, making it more
difficult to hit should Nato air strikes be ordered. Observers with the Kosova
Verification Mission said that bridges and tunnels leading into Kosova from Macedonia had
been wired for demolition, another measure apparently aimed at stopping any attempt to
send in peacekeepers against Belgrade's wishes. Mr Holbrooke's task has been complicated
by uncertainty over the intentions of the KLA. Differing signals have been sent over their
willingness to sign up to the plan, which falls short of the aspiration of most ethnic
Albanian Kosovars for independence. The KLA is an incoherent political force in which
opinion is divided over the merits of the plan.
Pragmatists have been arguing that it is a vital first step towards independence, while
hard-liners object to the absence in the plan for a referendum on independence at the end
of the initial three-year period, and the clause which requires the KLA to give up its
guns.
Wolfgang Petritsch, the EU Kosova envoy, is confident that the KLA would back the plan.
After talking to Hasim Thaqi, head of the KLA's political directorate, he said: "His
basic intention was that they are going to sign. They just have to make sure that the last
local commander is on board."
The peace talks will resume on Monday. Officials said that if no agreement was reached
within a few days and the Serbs were judged to be obstructing peace, Nato air strikes
would follow.
Serb Tanks Bombard Rebel Positions in
Kosova
OSLJANE, Kosova (Reuters) - Serb tanks, mortar teams and artillery units bombarded ethnic
Albanian separatists in the hills north of the Kosova capital Pristina Thursday in an
effort to drive back rebel forces, witnesses said.
About midday three separate Serb military teams began to pour mortar bombs and artillery
fire down on Kosova Liberation Army (KLA) lines outside the village of Osljane, 12 miles
north of Pristina.
"They are trying to drive a wedge between two KLA zones," said a local KLA
officer sheltering from the fire, which appeared to be aimed at knocking out KLA mortar
posts.
Houses could be seen burning in Osljane. KLA soldiers said the village had been evacuated
but a local man said six of his elderly relatives had been unable to leave and were
trapped.
Fighting also broke out in southern Kosova, in the latest breach of an October cease-fire
reduced to tatters by an upsurge in combat between Serb forces and rebels fighting for
independence for the majority ethnic Albanian province.
Yugoslav army and police moved in force into an area near Prizren and shelled the village
of Jeskovo, taken over by the KLA a few days ago, an international monitor reported.
Their arrival frightened 300 residents of Hoca Zagradska into fleeing their village, he
said. International cease-fire verifiers from the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) went to the area to persuade them to return.
Near Osljane a Reuters news team saw exhausted KLA fighters returning from the front line
to their makeshift barracks who said their positions had held firm.
Over a nearby ridge, houses in the village of Trnavce could be seen in flames. Fleeing
residents said Serb police had looted homes Wednesday and set them alight the next day.
The Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms, an ethnic Albanian-run rights
group, said in a report obtained by Reuters Thursday that 226 people had been killed in
the province since January.
A spokesman for the OSCE's verifiers said they had reports that the KLA had abducted about
40 ethnic Albanians near Kacanik in southern Kosova.
"We have not been able to confirm what we were told by the Serbs. They told us the
KLA had said it abducted 40 Albanians who were allegedly loyal to Serbs, and they were
beaten," the spokesman said. He said verifiers were investigating.
An OSCE spokeswoman said the verifiers were helping aid workers distribute food to ethnic
Albanians forced to flee their homes in villages near Kacanik, just north of the
Macedonian border, earlier this week.
"We are finally able to help because the fighting has died down," she said.
At least two villages were burned and looted amid a Serb offensive. About 4,000 villagers
were believed to have sought refuge in the hills, aid workers said
Kosova Diplomacy Shifts Gear After Setback
By Sean Maguire
BELGRADE (Reuters) - Diplomatic efforts to end conflict in Kosova shifted gear Thursday
after U.S. Balkan envoy Richard Holbrooke failed to persuade Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic to back a Western peace deal.
As Holbrooke prepared to fly back to New York, foreign ministers from Greece and Russia
were due in Belgrade. Both countries are traditional allies of their fellow Orthodox Serbs
and Moscow is felt to have some influence over Milosevic.
But it is unclear whether Ivanov's meeting with the Yugoslav leader, due Friday morning,
can do more to sway Milosevic than Holbrooke's.
The West fears Russian sympathy for Belgrade might encourage Milosevic to continue his
resistance to NATO troops being stationed in Kosova, the key sticking point of the peace
deal.
Holbrooke told reporters Thursday that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright spoke to
Ivanov before he left Moscow.
Holbrooke urged realism ahead of his departure, repeating that time remains for compromise
before peace talks resume in Paris Monday. ``I don't want to leave you with a sense of
optimism or pessimism,'' he added.
``We came out here to make clear what the American position was. That has clearly and
unequivocally been done,'' he said.
``It was a meeting which was very important but the importance of it won't be clear until
later. Now we move back into the next round of negotiations...in France,'' he said late
Wednesday night.
Fresh clashes in the Serbian province Thursday between Milosevic's security forces and
ethnic Albanian guerrillas served as a reminder of the urgent need for a deal.
Serb military units shelled ethnic Albanian rebels in a village in southern Kosova and
international monitors reported a heavy army build-up along roads in the province's
southwest.
In Washington former U.S. Senator Bob Dole has expressed frustration at the failure of
ethnic Albanian separatists to sign the Western peace deal despite promising to do so.
``Frankly I'm a little disgusted with the attitude of the Kosovars,'' said Dole in a
satellite broadcast aimed at the majority ethnic Albanian population in the Serbian
province.
``If the agreement had been signed Sunday, as we were promised...Mr Holbrooke would have
been in a much better position to put pressure on Milosevic,'' said Dole, long a backer of
the Kosova cause.
He blamed the delay on the disappearance of Hashim Thaqi, head of the Kosova Liberation
Army's political directorate and effective leader of the separatist delegation at peace
talks in France last month.
``We don't know where he is. I think he's hiding out, stalling, its a great disservice to
the people of Kosova.''
But U.S. envoy Chris Hill, architect of the 83-page peace plan, told Reuters he was
confident the KLA would consent to it by the time the talks resume in France next week.
``I would expect we would get the Albanian signatures by the time we get to the
conference,'' he said.
The West wanted early agreement by the ethnic Albanians to the deal, which gives them
autonomy but not the independence they crave, to clear the way to threaten Milosevic with
air strikes.
The KLA's dissent has complicated Washington's efforts to take the robust stand felt
necessary to force Milosevic to back down. A decision by the U.S. Congress to debate
sending 4,000 U.S. troops to Kosova was also criticized by U.S. officials.
Any sign of reluctance to contribute troops would stiffen Milosevic's resolve to refuse
concessions, U.S. officials said.
``A vote at any time to oppose an authorization (of troops) would be seen by both sides
(in Kosova) as a green light to resume fighting,'' Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
told a congress subcommittee.
NATO members in Brussels said Wednesday they were united in believing the Western alliance
should lead the proposed peace force, ruling out in advance any less muscular alternatives
which could be more palatable to Milosevic.
The decision scotched suggestions that NATO be yoked to another organization, which NATO
generals had feared would limit their ability to end a year of war in Kosova that has cost
some 2,000 lives and forced some 400,000 from their homes. |
