Says spokesman for the OSCE monitors in Kosova PRISHTINA, Jan 4 (KIC) - "U.S. KDOM and OSCE human rights representatives spoke with a KLA (Kosova Liberation Army, known as KLA in Albanian) representative about a reported mass grave of 11 women and children near Urosevac ('Ferizaj')", KDOM Daily Report, December 30, 1998 said. "Pictures of the grave and its approximate location were provided, but adverse road conditions prevented U.S. KDOM from entering the area. U.S. KDOM asked the OSCE representative to follow up on this report," U.S. KDOM (Kosova Diplomatic Observer Mission) Daily Report added. The OSCE human rights department within the Kosova Verification Mission (KVM) will investigate the whole matter in the coming days, according to a spokesman for the OSCE KVM.

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PRISHTINA, Jan 4 (KIC) - Five Albanians and two Serbs were killed in Kosova in six separate, still unsolved incidents, around the New Year. Ibrahim Shabani (37), resident of Vojnovc village of Shtime, was killed Tuesday, 29 December, around 23:00 hrs on the road leading to the village of Dremnjak, the Democratic League of Kosova chapter in Shtime reported. Democratic League of Kosova sources said the killed Albanian was driving a tractor transporting wheat flour. Ibrahim was shot dead by unknown assailants in a black car without license plates. On Thursday morning, Miftar Murtez Reshani, father of five, a janitor in the Middle Agricultural School in Ferizaj, was found dead near a warehouse of second-hand tyres, at the entrance to the town of Ferizaj ('Urosevac') from the Shtime direction, local Democratic League of Kosova sources said. Automatic weapons fire had been reported heard the previous day, at 20:30 hrs, in the area where Miftar was found lying dead. The bodies of two killed persons were found lying near a Roma neighborhood in the town of Mitrovica on Saturday, 2 January. They were later identified as Serbs - Gojko Jevtic, resident of Suhodoll village, and Dragi Kovacevic, resident of Mitrovica. A few days earlier, three men of Roma community were found killed in the neighborhood. On Saturday evening, around 22.00 hrs, unknown assailants killed Enver Gashi (1960) from Shtime in front of his family house, the local chapter of the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms (CDHRF) reported. Eye-witnesses were quoted as saying two unidentified persons got out of a black Golf car and shot Enver down, while a third person was waiting in the car. The killers run away in the direction of Prishtina, CDHRF sources said. Veton Kelmendi (27), father of one, was found killed Sunday in the village of Gllaviçicë, near the Peja-Prishtina highway. The Democratic League of Kosova chapter in Peja said Veton, resident of Pavlan village, was killed with a bullet some 5 km away from his home. A local KLA (Kosova Liberation Army) officer, Xhavit Jusufi (45), was killed Sunday evening, at around 23:00 hrs, ambushed at "Te varret e Smrekonicës" (the Smrekonica cemetery) in Vushtrri municipality, the Democratic League of Kosova chapter in Mitrovica said. There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the killing of these people from Tuesday through Sunday evening.

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Arms fire reported in two neighborhoods, many Albanian households raided by Serb forces on Sunday and Monday PRISHTINA, Jan 4 (KIC) - Shooting from arms fire was reported in two neighborhoods of the town of Mitrovica ( ("7 Shtatori" and "Kroi i Vitakut") from 17:00 throuhg 24:00 on Sunday. Shooting in Mitrovica - a source of continuous panic for the local Albanian population - has become an almost daily occurrence, the Democratic League of Kosova chapter in town said. Earlier in the day on Sunday, from 10:00 through 15:00 hrs, some 40 Serb policemen were involved in raiding a number of Albanian households in the "2 Korriku" neighborhood in Mitrovica. Members of the Albanian families were taken to police, the Democratic League of Kosova chapter in Mitrovica said, naming the raided house by family heads. Serb police smashed up property and held some 20 Albanians in Serb police custody for five hours. Meanwhile, Democratic League of Kosova sources said heavy Serb police forces were deployed in crossroads and a number of neighborhoods in Mitrovica at 10 o'clock in the morning today (Monday). At around 13:00 hrs today, four carloads of Serb policemen and people in plain clothes went to the house of Agim Hajrizi (37), chairman of the Assembly of the Kosova Trade Unions (BSPK), the Democratic League of Kosova chapter in Mitrovica said. The same Serb police and civilians raided then the home of Sahit H. Parduzi (44) in "Tavnik" neighborhood, as well as the home of Sherif A. Hajzeri (70. In the latter, police smashed up home furniture and robbed the family of DM 1.000. The same Serb police expedition was involved today in the raids of the houses of Brahim Tmava and Avdyl Tmava in the "Shipol" neighborhood. Serbs smashed up everything in their way during the raids, the Democratic League of Kosova said. Tens of Serb policemen on board 2 APCs and 8 other cars left for the Zhabar i Ulët village today. Police later raided the homes of brothers Ilmi, Bedri and Afrim Ferati. After the raid, police took Ilmi Ferati with them. The police were also after Mursel Ahmeti, local leader of the Democratic League of Kosova in the village of Zhabar i Ulët, who happened not to be home at the time. A number of Serb vehicles full of police arrived in Mitrovica from Vushtrri at 10 a.m. today. They stopped at Suhadoll village, and raided a number of Albanian houses, the Democratic League of Kosova chapter said. Tensions run high in the villages of Zhabar i Poshtëm and Suhadoll, as well as the "Tavnik" neighborhood in Mitrovica, Democratic League of Kosova sources said.

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PRISHTINA, Jan 4 (KIC) - A local KLA (Kosova Liberation Army) officer, Xhavit Jusufi (45), was killed Sunday evening, at around 23:00 hrs, in an ambush at "Te varret e Smrekonicës" (the Smrekonica cemetery) in Vushtrri municipality, the Democratic League of Kosova chapter in Mitrovica said. Along with Mr. Jusufi, a resident of the village of Vidishiq, was also another local KLA officer, whose name has not been disclosed, who was reported lightly wounded. The killed KLA officer will be buried Tuesday at 12:30 hrs.

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KOSOVA PRESS news agency and the KOSOVA E LIRë radio to be launched today

PRISHTINA, Jan 4 (KIC) - The General Staff of the Ushtria Çlirimtare e Kosovës (KLA, Kosova Liberation Army) said Sunday in a statement it had decided to establish KOSOVA PRESS, a news agency, and a radio broadcasting station named KOSOVA E LIRë (Free Kosova), which should provide the Albanian and world public with "timely, comprehensive and objective information". The news agency starts work Monday, on 4 January 1999. Likewise on Monday, Kosova e Lirë launches its "trial operations", the KLA said, failing to give the frequencies. "In this way, the authentic voice of the Albanian people of Kosova for freedom and independence will be heard, and the first free state media institutions in Kosova, in territories under the control of our glorious Army, have been founded", the General Staff of the KLA said in the statement, numbered 68.

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PRISHTINA, Jan 4 (KIC) - A one-month infant of Milaim Kastrati, resident of Turjakë village, has died today in the village for lack of medical care, Mr. Cen Desku, member of the Democratic League of Kosova chapter leadership in Malisheva said. Residents of Malisheva area, in central Kosova, do not dare leave their villages amidst permanent Serbian police threats and intimidation, Mr. Desku said. Ms Valentina Maloku, a wounded resident of Plloçica village of Malisheva, was beaten up some time ago by Serb police in hospital, where she was being treated, the Democratic League of Kosova chapter said, failing to say where it happened.

Serb Soldiers and Policemen Brutalize and Arrest Albanian Brothers in Zhur (KIC)

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Kosova Rebels Outline Their Demands (AP)

By ISMET HAJDARI Associated Press Writer

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - Rebel fighters outlined their vision of Kosova's future today, saying the province must be free from Serbia's rule and the rebels recognized as a regular army.

``Kosova should have a position of an undisputed territorial entity ... fully independent from the jurisdiction of Serbia and Yugoslavia,'' the ethnic Albanian Kosova Liberation Army told the daily Koha Ditore.

The KLA statement reflected the rebels' determination to continue operating separately from pacifist ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova.

Kosova is an overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian province in Serbia, the dominant republic in Yugoslavia. The Serbian government refuses to grant the province more than limited self-rule, while ethnic Albanians insist on independence. Until 1989, Kosova enjoyed broad autonomy, which Serbia then revoked.

The KLA leadership's suggestions today contained criticism of an American plan offered to Kosova Albanian and Serb politicians late last year as a possible starting point for future negotiations. Both sides have rejected the plan.

The Serbian government was expected to reject the KLA demands.

The state-run Politika daily said today that the KLA should be outlawed. The daily demanded that the group be declared a terrorist organization.

After the KLA started attacking police and army units, the government launched a crackdown last February that claimed more than 1,000 lives and left as many as 300,000 people homeless.

After suffering losses for much of the year, the KLA has exploited an Oct. 12 cease-fire. It has rearmed and regrouped in recent weeks, leading to fears of more bloodshed this spring.

The rebels said implementation of any agreement for Kosova should be guaranteed by world powers and international organizations. They also demanded a referendum on the final status of Kosova, which is 90 percent ethnic Albanian, following an interim period of three to five years.

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It's time for the U.S. to crack down on Milosevic (LA Times)

Tuesday, January 5, 1999

By BOB DOLE

IN A REGION beset by violent conflict, a dictator with blood-stained hands has been on a bully's binge. Hoping that the two "I's," Iraq and impeachment, have America bogged down, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has been busy shutting down the fledgling free press in Serbia, purging his Cabinet, and replacing it with vehement ultranationalists and blatantly violating his agreement with U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke to halt the fighting in Kosovo.

The Holbrooke-Milosevic deal was supposed to stop war from breaking out in Kosovo at least until after winter. But the continued presence of 20,000 Serb police -- whose violent methods have been felt not only by the Albanian insurgency known as the KLA but also by civilians -- is fueling a rapidly spreading war.

While an all-out humanitarian catastrophe has been avoided, news reports indicate that 175,000 Albanians still cannot return to their bombed and burned-out villages. By day, Serb police units reinforce under the noses of international monitors. By night, they conduct murderous operations while U.S. monitors are confined to their quarters.

What has been the U.S. response to the Serb actions? The U.S. official in charge of the Kosovo monitoring mission has blamed both sides. Yes, KLA insurgents have attacked and killed some Serb policemen, actions we cannot condone. By being "imperial," however, the United States is ignoring the root causes of the conflict and favoring the side with the most guns, the Milosevic regime. This "impartiality" contradicts the recent and long-overdue public acknowledgment by senior State Department officials that Milosevic is the problem in Yugoslavia -- a statement that must be backed up by a consistent policy.

Such a policy must recognize that the majority Albanian population in Kosovo has suffered under martial law and an apartheidlike system since 1989. Year after year, human rights abuses against Albanians have been documented by the State Department.

Thousands of Serb police continue to be the main tool that Milosevic uses to deprive the Kosovo Albanians of their fundamental rights. This pervasive police presence was only marginally reduced by the Holbrooke deal.

Halting the fighting in Kosovo is a first step, not a final objective. An agreement must address the legitimate demands of Kosovo's two million Albanians for self-rule, which can be achieved without independence. Albanian leaders have indicated that they will forgo their immediate pursuit of independence if Kosovo is accorded equal status with Serbia and the other Yugoslav republic, Montenegro.

Any agreement that does not provide for equal status and self-rule on all governmental levels, not just the municipal, will only increase support for the KLA and the use of force to change the status quo. Kosovo's parliament, suspended by Milosevic, must become a fully empowered and democratic law-abiding body. The media in Kosovo, both Albanian and Serb, must be freed from Belgrade's intervention and oppression or democracy will not grow.

A just peace can be achieved if the United States is willing to pressure the Milosevic regime by isolating Serbia economically, by actively supporting the growth of democracy in Montenegro, by opposing the normalization of relations until Serbia democratizes, and by standing ready to use force if Milosevic violates any agreement.

Despite other preoccupations, the United States can draft a policy that seeks a democratic and stable outcome in Kosovo and Serbia as a whole. Our NATO allies might balk about American dominance, but they will allow us to lead in Kosovo. And Russia, besieged by its own economic crisis, is not in a position to actively meddle in the Balkans.

Nevertheless, Milosevic is counting on the United States being unable to juggle more than one foreign policy crisis at a time. He is counting on a U.S. approach that is inconsistent and unengaged at the highest levels.