Residents
Speak of Heavy Serb Attacks on Deçan Villages on Thursday (KIC)
Heavy Serb artillery was used in the operations, at a time Serb aircraft and
helicopters flew overhead the area, they said
PRISHTINA, Dec 17 (KIC) - Over 100 Albanian residents of the villages in the municipality
of Deçan, who managed to flee their villages and arrived in Skivjan village of Gjakova,
said Serbian forces had embarked today on a large-scale attack on the villages of Shaptej,
Dubravë, Gramaçel, Irzniq. The fiercest attack was directed against the village of
Gllogjan, the residents said.
The LDK chapter in Gjakova quoted the residents as saying the attack was launched at 4
o'clock in the morning. Heavy Serb artillery was used in the operations, at a time Serb
aircraft and helicopters flew overhead the area, they said.
As the villages have been sealed off by the Serb military and police, the local Albanians
who fled their homes could not say anything about the casualties on the Albanian side.
Given the intensity of the Serb attack, they are not excluded. Local Albanian forces, the
UÇK, have been resisting the Serb onslaught, residents said.
A number of OSCE verifiers were reported to have been inspecting the area today.
Meanwhile, a heavy Serb forces's presence was reported in the town of Gjakova today.
The Serb police and hooligans threw stones at Albanians, wounding Shkumbin M. Limani (15),
LDK sources.
Yesterday, the Serb police arrested Kujtim Muhamet Leka (17) and three other youths, whose
names have not been yet learned. Kujtim is still in Serb custody.
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KOSOVA (shelling – Deçan)
The villages of Deçan targeted again (Arta)
Deçan, 17 December (ARTA) 1800CET --
Besides the fact that the village of Gllogjan is still surrounded heavy artillery, there
are reports that large caliber cannons were used to attack the villages of Baballoç,
Dubravë, Shaptej, and Gramaçel ever since 0400CET today.
On the other hand, on Wednesday evening, but on Thursday as well, Serb forces shot, using
heavy weaponry, from Suka e Baballoçit, in the direction of the village of Hereq,
municipality of Gjakovë, where 4 houses were subsequently destroyed. Considerable damage,
from the shooting from Suka e Baballoçit, Suka e Biteshit and other positions, was also
caused to other buildings that survived the previous offensives against the
above-mentioned villages.
According to the "KD" correspondent, there are is no confirmed information on
persons eventually wounded, although the Serb media reported on two killed Albanians and
several arrested. On Thursday, the "Drita" primary school in Gramaçel was
closed down.
The situation is also tense in the town of Deçan, the "KD" correspondent
informs. Police patrols were evidenced everywhere, stopping and thoroughly checking
passersby. The buses are very rare in the Deçan-Pejë, Deçan-Gjakovë lines, due to the
small number of passengers.
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Two Killed in Gllogjan, Many Albanians Arrested in
Peja, According to Serb Sources (KIC)
PRISHTINA, Dec 17 (KIC) - Serbian media reported today about the killing of two Albanians
in the village of Gllogjan, about the arrest of three Albanians, as well as police raids
on the Kapeshnica neihgbourhood of Peja and the village of Gllogjan of Deçan, allegedly
in a bid to track down the perpetrators of the killing of six Serbs in a cafeteria in Peja
on Monday evening.
Serb police sources have been quoted as saying Gazmend Bajrami, Xhevdet Bajrami and
Vllaznim Vergjejaj from Peja have been arrested. They are referred to as
"accomplices" in the 'Panda' killing in Peja.
The Serb regime sources said a number of other Albanians are suspected being 'accomplices'
in the killing of young Serbs: Visar Lataj (1977), Shkëlzen Berisha (1958), Riza Ukaj
(1974), Sead Lataj (1980), Behar Bajri (1980), Agron Kollçaku (1972), Nexhat Gashi
(1975), Faruk Mataj (1974), all of them from Peja, and Gani Ukaj (1969) from Ratish
village of Deçan. Two other persons, with namesakes "Shkëlzen" and
"Fetah", are also being wanted in the connection with the killing of Serbs,
sources said.
Meanwhile, Serb sources said Serb police arrested today (Thursday) morning in Kapeshnica
Agron Kollçaku and tens of other Albanians, whose names are not disclosed.
The Serb police action in Gllogjan, "where police was fired upon in the
morning", has been going on. Two members of the Kosova Liberation Army (UÇK) have
been killed, Serb sources said.
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Fresh Serbian Forces Arrive in Kosova
on a Daily Basis (KIC)
"Serbian military and police presence appears to be increasing on the roads and
in the cities" in Kosova, State Department Spokesman James Rubin said Wednesday in
Washington
PRISHTINA, Dec 17 (KIC) - Serbia sent fresh forces into Kosova today via the north-eastern
town of Podujeva.
LDK sources in Podujeva said around 10 a.m. seven lorryloads of Serb forces passed through
Podujeva in the direction of Prishtina.
Serb police forces left Mitrovica for Skenderaj today.
LDK sources said busloads of Serb policemen arrived in the town of Ferizaj in the past
couple of days.
President Rugova's advisor, Xhemail Mustafa, warned last Friday that Serbia was bringing
in fresh troops in Kosova, in clear breach of international resolutions on Kosova.
"Serbian military and police presence appears to be increasing on the roads and in
the cities" in Kosova, State Department Spokesman James Rubin said Wednesday in
Washington. "US monitors have also seen a pattern of combined military and police
checkpoints and have raised the matter with the [Serb] police authorities", he added.
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Heavy Presence of Serb Forces in Prishtina (KIC)
PRISHTINA, Dec 17 (KIC) - Serbian forces have stepped up their presence in the Prishtina -
Podujeva highway today. Serb police set up random police checkpoints in three locations
from Prishtina to Lluzhan, a distance of 18 km, today.
Serb forces have been building up in Prishtina, capital of Kosova, too. In evening hours,
huge Serb police groups are stationed in the crossroads and other positions, routinely
searching and ill-treating passers-by.
Two plainclothes police abused physically two Albanian students in one of the main roads
of the capital Wednesday evening. Ardian Biba (19), from Peja, and Mehmet Shukolli (21),
from Prizren, students with the Academy of Drama Arts in Prishtina, were beaten up
severely. Ardian said he was, moreover, injected an obscure substance in his leg, for
which he was very much concerned now.
A sort of a night curfew has been put in place in Prishtina, something other Kosovar towns
have already experienced.
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KOSOVA (KLA general political representative)
Demaçi: The incident in Pejë has nothing to do
with the KLA (Arta)
Prishtina, 17 December (ARTA) 1630CET --
Following the incident that occurred on 14 December in Pejë, when six persons of the Serb
nationality lost their lives, and several others were wounded, the KLA general political
representative's office issued a communiqué. "We want to stress that such an act is
not in the framework and concept of the KLA and Albanian people's liberation war for the
freedom and independence of Kosova", said the communiqué.
"The KLA has never undertaken such actions and it had no reason to make such a
precedence, which is against the law and regulations of war, on one side, as well as in
complete opposition with the KLA policy and viewpoints, on the other", said the
communiqué.
"The KLA is an army with regular military formations, the actions and operation of
which are also military. It fights against the Serbian criminal regime, whereas its
struggle, is aimed at defending the Albanian people of Kosova, from the terrorist
campaigns of the Serb regime's forces", says the communiqué.
"The KLA will engage its network and services to investigate this incident and
enlighten the circumstances under which it took place. In this context, we also express
our fear that the Serb regime might be tied to this incident to plant hate and conflict
between the two nations, as well as to subvert the KLA and its righteous liberation
struggle".
"We want to remind that the KLA is still keeping its unilateral armistice, which was
agreed to in a sign of good will and for giving efforts for a political solution a chance,
on 8 October 1998", says the communiqué issued by the KLA general political
representative's office.
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KOSOVA (KLA General Headquarters - communiqué)
"The Serb regime is responsible for late
bloodshed in Kosova" (Arta)
Prishtina, 17 December (ARTA) 1700CET --
The KLA General Headquarters issued a communiqué, stating the following:
"The political and security situation in Kosova has never been more tense and
volatile since the announcement of armistice. The KLA General Headquarters has come to the
conclusion that the Holbrooke-Milosevic agreement is nothing but a continuance of war in
the Balkan region. All the miserable actions that were carried out by the occupier's
forces, the Serb secret police, towards the people of Kosova, including their compatriots,
are the proof for that.
We notified international factors on several occasions, and on time, that the Serbian
Government is not complying with any Security Council resolution, any Contact Group
request, any agreement, and not even the Holbrooke-Milosevic accord for armistice. The KLA
suffered great loss, especially in men, during this period of time, despite the fact that
we complied with the accord and were fully cooperative with the international community,
EU and USA, and although we did not sign any agreement.
The KLA General Headquarters has averted all forms of violence aimed at defenseless and
unarmed civilians, no matter what ethnic community they belong to. The KLA neither
executed, nor induced, the miserable killings of the young Serbs, killed in a cafe-bar in
Pejë. We are convinced that the killings were conducted by the Serb secret police, a
policy that was applied in the past against Albanians and other peoples in Kosova. The
killings in Gllogoc, when a member of the Serb police was also killed, were conducted by
the same executors, as means of hiding evidence of the crime, since the policeman could
have witnessed the Serb crimes in Drenica.
The reason for these killings, especially in the first case, is to worsen the
Serb-Albanian relations, to reinstate chauvinist feelings, to reinstate morale in its
units and deceive global diplomacy.
There are no crimes, not even the killing of more than 30 of our soldiers and commanders
that will make us seek vengeance among civilians, women, children, and elders. We will
retaliate at the Serb police and army. Milosevic's criminal regime is to blame for all the
miserable bloodshed.
Everyone should dissociate from this regime. Even Serb citizens, and especially those
families that lost their loved ones. We are asking the Serb people, the families that lost
their loved ones, not to become victims of a criminal policy and criminals that kill their
prey during night, and mourn when its light.
The KLA General Headquarters wishes to express its deepest condolences to all families
that lost their loved ones, to all families that suffered from the Serb state terrorism.
We guarantee you that we will always be loyal to the victims' wishes and the blood that
was shed for freedom, independence, and democracy. May the memory of them be
eternal", says the 21st communiqué, issued by the KLA General Headquarters.
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BELGIUM (NATO Defense Ministers' conference)
Milosevic cannot use the situation in Iraq for new
offensive in Kosova (Arta)
Brussels, 17 December (ARTA) 1600CET --
Despite the situation created by the British and US strikes on Iraq, the ministers of
defense of NATO member states still focused on the situation in Kosova during the meeting
they held today, said a senior official.
He stated that the "ministers expressed their deep concern with the tense situation
in Kosova, especially because both sides did not comply with the international community's
requests".
A source close to NATO, claimed that the "KLA intensified its exercises and
preparation, that it is recruiting new members, and is getting equipped with modern
armament". He stated that the KLA is also using the vacuum, created with the
withdrawal of Serb forces from some parts of Kosova, by setting up new checkpoints.
"On the other hand, Belgrade is making an effort to send new special police forces to
Kosova", this sources underlined.
The ministers, on Thursday discussed the issue of KLA weapon provision from abroad, as a
special topic in the framework of the meeting held today.
Asked whether the "Yugoslav" President would use the American-British engagement
in Iraq, to launch a new offensive in Kosova, the senior NATO official stated his doubt
that such a scenario would come to pass. "I do not believe that will happen, because
Milosevic is aware that we are following the situation in Kosova with care and that we are
ready to act in case of emergency. Iraq is not a NATO issue at the present, even though
two NATO allies are now engaged there", he said.
"The authorization for air-strikes against "Yugoslavia" because of
Kosova", he added. The diplomat said "NATO is concerned with Belgrade's
increasingly authoritarian approach towards Kosova and that it will not allow the fighting
to recommence in spring as some foresaw".
"We have more than 30,000 troops in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1,800 'rescue forces' in
the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia and we are continuing to monitor the terrain
with 2-6 flights over Kosova on daily basis", the diplomat emphasized.
NATO sources also said that the defense ministers want to encourage the continuation of
the political process for finding a solution to the crisis in Kosova, before the winter is
over. "We expect the Contact Group to come up with a new initiative for Kosova before
Christmas. We believe that this new initiative could result with the beginning of talks
between Belgrade and Prishtina before Christmas", said NATO sources on Thursday.
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AUSTRIA (EU special envoy – Kosova)
Petritch: "The KLA must be included in the
process of any kind of negotiations" (Arta)
Vienna, 17 December (ARTA) 1710CET --
The EU special envoy to Kosova and Austrian Ambassador to Belgrade, Wolfgang Petritch,
believes that the "shuttle diplomacy" will end very soon since it did not
succeed in getting Serbs and Albanians closer together. Subsequently, the EU must find a
solution, which it should impose to the sides in the conflict, before the end of winter,
Petritch is claimed to have said on Wednesday in Vienna, reporting on the mediation
process before the OSCE ad hoc group for former Yugoslavia.
Diplomatic sources told Albanian daily "KOHA Ditore" that the Austrian
Ambassador said that Albanians still don't have a joint team, which could represent them
in a dignified way in possible negotiations with Serbs. Petritch also stated that, after
eight months of fighting with the Serb forces, the KLA now has two elements: a military
one, which is weakening, and the political one, which is strengthening. Meanwhile,
Rugova's position is also gradually weakening. Thus, the EU mediator told the OSCE ad hoc
group that the KLA must be included in any kind of political negotiations, diplomatic
sources inform.
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KOSOVA (escalation of violence – Pejë)
More trouble in Pejë (Arta)
Pejë 17 December, (ARTA) 1600CET --
The situation is grave in Pejë and its surrounding villages. The traffic on the roads has
been reduced to the minimum, while all those who get out in the street are stopped and
maltreated by numerous police forces and armed Serb civilians. Moreover, tanks and other
armed military vehicles have been strolling around the town roads.
The LDK CI reports that, early on Thursday, large Serb forces besieged the suburbs of
Kapeshnicë and Zatra, blocked all the entrances and exits of these suburbs, which are
inhabited by over 20,000 inhabitants. In addition, many IDPs from the war-stricken areas
are sheltered in this area.
The LDK CI also stated that the members of the international verification mission, in
charge of observing Kapeshnicë, were not allowed to enter the suburb. So far, there is no
information about what is happening in the suburbs besieged by Serb forces. The LDK CI
also informs that the Serb forces besieged the suburb of Karagaç in Pejë. Many Albanian
houses were raided, and the Serb forces and vehicles continued to patrol during the night.
The LDK CI in Pejë also informs on the intrusion of the Serb police in the village
Vitomiricë. The house of Brahim Ukë Përgjegjaj (55) was raided, on which occasion his
sons, Mehmet (36) and Xhevdet (20), were arrested and still are being kept under custody.
Many Serb police officers and armed civilians took part in the intrusions in the village
of Vitomiricë, destroying and demolishing many flats and houses.
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KOSOVA (tension mounts – Mitrovicë)
Serb teenagers battered an Albanian child
Mitrovicë, 17 December (ARTA) 1700CET --
A group of Serb high school students, beat Edona Beqiri (10), a third year pupil at the
"Aziz Sylejmani" elementary school in Mitrovicë, yesterday at around 1130CET,
when the Serbs were protesting due to the killing of 6 Serbs in Pejë.
These students first asked the girl if she could speak Serbian, and after she shrugged to
say no, they beat her until she passed out and was covered with blood. The principal of
this school, Osman Rama, said that a day before, a group of Serb hooligans broke the
windows of this school.
On the other hand, three Serb police officers arrested an Albanian of about 16 years old,
today at around 1100CET. His identity is still unknown. Meanwhile, today at 1245CET, 2
Landrovers and a truck filled with policemen was seen going from Mitrovicë, in the
direction of Skënderaj.
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KOSOVA (reinforcements – Malishevë)
Police reinforcements in the town of Malishevë
Malishevë, 17 December (ARTA) 1745CET --
The residents of the town of Malishevë are waiting in a great fear, for the mystery of
the killing of 30 Albanians in the Kosovë-Albanian border, to be solved. The news that
there were also residents of this municipality among the killed, brought about great
concern among the residents.
Meanwhile, Albanian sources notify about an increased number of police officers in the
town of Malishevë, compared to other days. There are also reports that 20-30 policemen,
posted at the checkpoint in the place the locals refer to as Pishat e Lloznicës, go out
to the street time after time, stopping the vehicles and maltreating the residents.
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KOSOVA (tension mounts – Ferizaj)
Added Serb police movements
Ferizaj, 17 December (ARTA) 1820CET --
Following the Serb residents' cruise down the streets of town, in which case they broke
several windows of Albanian-owned stores and quarreled with Albanian residents, the
movements of Serb forces in town have increased, the "KD" corespondent from
Ferizaj informs.
According to CDHRF sources, a "Serb convoy, made of two buses, two vans, one truck
and a vehicle filled with policemen", headed in the direction of Gjilan, on Wednesday
at around 0900CET.
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KOSOVA (trials – Lipjan)
The sentenced denied charges and claimed to be
maltreated in Lipjan (Arta)
Lipjan, 17 December (ARTA) 1845CET --
The District Court in Prishtina sentenced Jakup Rexhepi (23), from the village of Jeta e
Re, near Lipjan, with two years imprisonment and sent him to serve his sentence
immediately. According to the charges, the Serb forces captured Rexhepi on 25 August, in
Blinajë (Lipovicë), dressed in a KLA uniform, with one automatic gun, four bombs, and
360 automatic bullets.
Even before being captured in Blinajë, Jakup Rexhepi was accused of training in Tropojë,
in Albania, for joining the KLA. Before the jury, the sentenced denied the charges, and
testified about the maltreatment he underwent during the investigation procedure.
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RECENT CRACKDOWN ON
ALBANIAN-LANGUAGE MEDIA
The minister of information of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, sent on Thursday,
December 17, 1998, a warning to the Albanian language newspapers and magazines that they
would be taken to court if they don’t change their editorial policy. The minister
wrote, that the newspapers, according to their analysis of texts that were published in
these newspapers and magazines, were “calling for the violent break of the
constitutional order, territorial integrity and unity of the Republic of Serbia and FR of
Yugoslavia” as well as violating the rights of citizens, that is inciting national,
racial or religious hatred.
A fax has been sent to the following newspapers and magazines: KOHA Ditore, KOHA, Zeri i
Dites, Fjala e jone (published in the village of Prugovac), Fjala e jone (published in
Prishtina). Furthermore , a fax has been sent to the newspaper BUJKU, warning the
newspaper that it hadn’t been registered in the Ministry’s register of
newspapers, and that it if didn’t register measures against it would be taken.
The newspapers have not been informed which of the articles have caused a reaction by the
minister. To make the matters worse, the minister himself is claiming that he has seen
offensive articles that have never appeared. Namely, the daily newspaper Zeri i Dites has
not appeared yet, it is planned to be published sometime in March of next year. Or, in the
case of Fjala jone, the minister claims that offensive articles have appeared in a
newspaper that has not been printed or distributed for months.
It is clear therefore that, lacking more serious insight on the media scene in Kosova, the
Serb minister of information, who had sent these kinds of letters to three newspapers in
Blegrade (Nasa Borba, Danas and Dnevni Telegraf) is actually planning to close two of
Kosova’s daily newspapers in Albanian: KOHA Ditore, the most influential Albanian
language outlet, and Bujku (which is actually registered under the Socialist Yugoslavia
register). The only Albanian language newspaper not affected would be Kosova Sot, a new
Albanian language daily.
Veton Surroi,
Editor in chief, KOHA Ditore Prishtina, 17 December, 1998
Back to top
World News Agencies
Serb Police Attack Kosovo Village (AP)
By KATARINA KRATOVAC Associated Press Writer
PEC, Yugoslavia (AP)--Serb police attacked a suspected rebel-controlled village in Kosovo
on Thursday, reportedly killing two ethnic Albanian fighters and arresting 34 in one of
the worst battles in months in the separatist province.
Serb forces said they had launched the assault to hunt for the killers of six Kosovo Serbs
slain in a bar earlier this week in the city of Pec, 45 miles west of the province's
capital, Pristina.
The daylong clash began at dawn near the western village of Glodjane, six miles south of
Pec. International monitors nearby could hear shelling and heavy fighting.
Monday's brutal shootings, carried out by masked gunmen who riddled the Serb bar with
automatic weapons fire, fueled tensions in the province still reeling from more than 1,000
deaths this year in months of fighting between Serb forces and separatist rebels.
Thursday's clash came three days after Yugoslav army border guards killed 36 guerrillas
entering from Albania.
Serb authorities have blamed guerrillas for the bar attack and Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic pledged this week to arrest the ``terrorist bandits.''
But the rebels have denied involvement. Late Thursday the Kosovo Liberation Army issued a
statement accusing Serb secret police of carrying out the bar shootings as a pretext to
crack down further on Kosovo Albanians. The rebel group also promised to retaliate against
Serbian forces over the border killings.
The rebels are fighting to drive Serb police out of Kosovo and break the province away
from Serbia, the main republic in Yugoslavia.
Police sealed off Kapesnica, a northwestern suburb of Pec, as part of Thursday's military
operation. An armored personnel carrier and policemen wearing flak jackets blocked a
bridge leading to Kapesnica, and police snipers looked down from surrounding rooftops.
``We are in pursuit of the perpetrators of the shooting in the Panda bar,'' a police
commander said, referring to the bar where the six young Serbs were slaughtered.
Police told the Serb-run Media Center that officers searching for suspects in Glodjane
came under fire, then police killed two people wearing KLA insignia and armed with assault
rifles and mortars. Police said they arrested 34 people and discovered large quantities of
arms, ammunition and KLA uniforms.
The international Kosovo Verification Mission sent several monitoring teams to the area,
and American and other officials held talks with Serbian police in an unsuccessful attempt
to calm the situation.
In a sharply worded commentary, the state-run Borba daily called Thursday for the
withdrawal of international verifiers and U.S. envoys from Kosovo, saying they are
``direct instigators and helpers of the crimes committed by Albanian terrorists.''
Serbs held a protest rally over the killings for a second day Thursday, this time in front
of the headquarters of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which runs
the verifying force.
About 300 Serbs booed and whistled derisively, demanding an immediate meeting with mission
chief William Walker. The American diplomat said he would meet with them Friday.
Protesters complain that the international verifiers are failing to ease tensions and have
not responded sufficiently to the Pec killings.
The killings have cast further gloom over stalled diplomatic efforts to resolve the
Serb-Albanian standoff in Kosovo.
Serbian authorities are willing to grant only limited autonomy for Kosovo, while most in
the overwhelmingly Albanian-populated province want independence from Serbia.
Also Thursday, Serbia announced a media crackdown in Kosovo, warning the province's ethnic
Albanian newspapers to cease support for ``terrorism'' or face legal charges.
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Kosovo crisis shadows Macedonia's ethnic Albanians
(Reuters)
08:10 a.m. Dec 17, 1998 Eastern
By Kurt Schork
TETOVO, Macedonia, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Macedonia could face a crisis like the one
bedevilling Kosovo next door if it does not move promptly to meet ethnic Albanian demands
for improved rights, a prominent ethnic Albanian leader warned on Thursday.
``We are asking for progress on rights, in matters of education, language and employment,
not making a plea for a Greater Albania,'' Arben Xhaferi, President of the Democratic
Party of Albanians (PDSH), told Reuters at his headquarters.
``If we do not have step-by-step progress we could face the same situation as in Kosovo. I
will begin to lose my credibility and my function in society, just like (Kosovo's ethnic
Albanian leader Ibrahim) Rugova has.''
``The expectations of the ethnic Albanians in Macedonia are so high, so long denied, that
we cannot manipulate them.''
Xhaferi's PDSH is the most junior member of a three-party coalition recently formed to
govern this former Yugoslav republic of about 2.2 million people. Roughly 23 per cent of
the population here is ethnic Albanian.
Most ethnic Albanians live in Albania but they constitute significant minorities in
Macedonia and Montenegro and form 90 percent of the population in Kosovo, a Serbian
province where a separatist guerrilla war broke out this year.
Serbia and Montenegro make up present-day Yugoslavia.
Rugova, an apostle of non-violence, has been elected ``president'' by Kosovo's ethnic
Albanians twice this decade.
His credibility, and that of the passive protest he championed, eroded as YUgoslavia
refused to concede basic rights to ethnic Albanians. A guerrilla army eventually grew up
that provided a radical alternative his approach.
Diplomats have long worried that turbulence in Kosovo could spill over into Macedonia, its
nearest southern neighbour, where ethnic Albanians also feel aggrieved.
Xhaferi, 50, is unequivocal in his support for Kosovo's independence but says it is not
possible or desireable for ethnic Albanians to separate from Macedonia.
``We accept living in Macedonia and cultivating our rights within this state, but there
must be progress,'' he said.
The new coalition is busy alloting positions within the new government, a process whose
results could begin to satisfy ethnic Albanians that they have a real stake in the
country.
The ethnic Albanian leader said he hoped parliament would soon pass an amnesty law to
release four political prisoners, including two mayors imprisoned for raising Albanian
flags.
He wants Albanian to be accepted as an official language in Macedonia and seeks
accreditation for a university in Tetovo, where Albanian is the language of instruction.
Xhaferi says the university issue is vital, given memories among its 6,000 students of a
police intervention on the campus in 1995 in which one person was killed and many were
beaten.
``Their numbers and their anger make this more than an eduational issue. It is now an
issue affecting the security of the state. Fortunately, I believe there is a readiness by
our partners in the coalition to act.''
So far the head of Macedonia's new coalition government, Prime Minister Ljupco
Georgievski, has sounded the right notes to soothe ethnic Albanians.
But if he starts to deliver, ethnic Macedonians, on whom he depends for his political
support, could become uneasy.
``Xhaferi is very clever with his demands. He denies any interest in Greater Albania,''
said one Macedonian parliamentarian who asked not to be named.
``We are obliged to wonder if this is not a game to begin to undermine the state. Ask
Macedonians if they trust the ethnic Albanians, if they think they are loyal to our state,
and most will say no.''
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Friday December 18, 4:34 AM
Briton sees Kosovo sliding back into conflict
(AFP)
BELGRADE, Dec 17 (AFP) - The ceasefire in Kosovo is falling
apart, and peace efforts must be speeded up immediately to avert fresh fighting, British
politician Paddy Ashdown said Thursday. The grim warning came as Serbian police shot and
killed two suspected Kosovan Albanian rebels during a manhunt for suspects following
Monday's cafe massacre of six Serbs.
"We're now on a slide back into conflict," said the opposition Liberal
Democratic Party leader as he and party member Baroness Shirley Williams wound up a
five-day fact-finding mission.
"The situation is becoming more unstable, it is becoming more tense and I think,
almost daily, more dangerous," he told reporters.
It was "essential" to speed up work immediately on a political settlement, and
to get international ceasefire observers on the ground as soon as possible, he said,
echoing the position of US mediators.
In Kosovo, Serbian officials said two men in Kosovo Liberation Armyuniforms were
"liquidated" by police who came under attack in Glodjane village, in the west of
the province.
The police were taking part in a manhunt that took in 34 suspects in connection with an
attack by two masked gunmen Monday on a cafe in Pec city in which six Serbs were killed.
The massacre, plus the killing of 36 KLA fighters in a clash with troops on the border
with Albania, made Monday the bloodiest day since a US-brokered ceasefire took effect two
months ago.
In Belgrade, a spokesman for President Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist party said the Pec
attack proved that the Kosovo Albanians did not want to negotiate a peace agreement.
"Only armed action is possible against terrorists," said Ivica Dacic at a press
conference.
The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), the main group fighting for the independence of the
Albanian-majority Serbian province, has rejected any responsibility for the cafe massacre.
Ashdown was last in Kosovo in September, at the height of a fierce Serbian offensive
against the KLA that saw more than 250,000 people flee their homes.
His gloomy assessment Thursday mirrored the latest report from the US element of the
2,000-member international ceasefire verification mission that is deploying in Kosovo.
In the report, posted on the Internet, it said its personnel had "perceived vague
hints from both police and KLA sources that 'something may happen around Christmas'."
It also appeared to its roaming monitors that more police and military were on Kosovo's
roads and in its cities than seen in recent weeks, it said.
In Kosovo's capital Pristina, some 50 relatives of missing Kosovo Serbs began a hunger
strike Thursday outside the headquarters of the OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission,
demanding that it find out what happened to their kin.
"We have no more confidence in the OSCE team," said Dobrivoj Djoric, a member of
an organization representing around 150 families whose relatives have gone missing.
Serbian authorities say 136 Serbs are missing and presumed kidnapped by the KLA. Kosovo
Albanians, for their part, claim that more than 600 of their people are in Serb hands.
Russia and the rump Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) meanwhile agreed on the need for a
Kosovo peace agreement that would "exclude terrorism and all support for
separatism," during a visit to Belgrade by Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev.
The joint stance was made during a meeting between Sergeyev and Milosevic, the state-run
Tanjug news agency reported.
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Thursday December 17 6:38 AM ET
Serb Police Arrest Kosovo Albanians (AP)
By DAVE CARPENTER Associated Press Writer
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - Serbian police were reported today to have arrested three
Kosovo Albanians in the slayings of six young Serbs whose deaths further inflamed tensions
in the province and prompted harassment against ethnic Albanians.
Police in Pec, where Monday's brutal barroom killings took place, sealed off a suburb of
the western Kosovo city as well as the nearby village of Glodjane and arrested three
suspected accomplices in the crime, the Serb-run Media Center said.
Police were hunting for 11 other ethnic Albanians whom they said organized and carried out
the attack, the report said, citing an unidentified police source. Police released the
names of nine of those suspects: ethnic Albanian men between the ages of 18 and 29.
The political representative of the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army, which is fighting to
drive Serb police out of Kosovo and break the province away from Serbia, has denied KLA
involvement in Monday's attack.
But Serbian authorities have blamed the rebels, and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic
pledged this week to arrest the ``terrorist bandits.''
Serbian state-run media late Wednesday called the United States ``the biggest accomplice
of the most monstrous crimes of the Albanian terrorists.''
Thousands of Serbs gathered at a rally in Pristina on Wednesday to protest the killings,
and 5,000 attended an emotional service in Pec where the victims were buried.
A policeman heading to the funeral in Pec on Wednesday reportedly shot and killed a
suspected rebel in the latest in a wave of violence that has taken dozens of lives since
an October truce.
Some ethnic Albanians elsewhere complained of harassment connected to the killings,
including schoolchildren being beaten by Serb civilians and Albanian shop windows being
broken.
The killings cast further gloom over stalled diplomatic efforts to resolve the
Serb-Albanian standoff in Kosovo, where more than 1,000 people have been killed since
Milosevic began a crackdown on separatists in February.
Serbian authorities say they are willing to grant only limited autonomy for Kosovo, while
most of the overwhelmingly Albanian-populated province wants independence from Serbia, the
dominant republic remaining in Yugoslavia.
In Washington, State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said Wednesday that Serb military
and police have increased their presence on roads and in the cities of Kosovo. Serb police
deny there has been an increase.
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