• Shooting in the direction of Deçan villages
• Police pressure in Rracaj
• Demaçi:" Mr.Hill cannot help anymore-State Department should find another person"
• EU: "Political solution for Kosova should be found"

NATO Reaffirms Committment to Kosova Situation

The Democratic League of Kosova (LDK), the main political force in the country, pressed for "a necessary NATO presence in Kosova", to provide security to the Albanian people PRISHTINA, Dec 8 (KIC) - "NATO's decisions in October made a crucial contribution to the withdrawal of forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) from Kosovo and helped to avert a humanitarian disaster. The Alliance's enhanced state of military readiness continues," a press statement of the North Atlantic Council from a Ministerial Meeting in Brussels on 8 December 1998 said. NATO said violent incidents have been provoked since November by both the Serbian security forces and "the armed Kosovar elements", blaming both sides for failing to comply fully with the UN Security Council resolution. In the statement, NATO said it expected that both sides "facilitate the war crimes investigations by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)", deploring FRY's denial of visas to ICTY investigators. The problems of Kosova can "only be resolved through a process of open and unconditional dialogue between the authorities in Belgrade and representatives of the Kosovar leadership", NATO said, adding that it stood for "a political solution which provides an enhanced status for Kosovo", preserving the territorial integrity of FRY. The Alliance's air verification mission over Kosova, Operation "Eagle Eye", will continue, NATO said, adding that it intended to cooperate fully with the OSCE Kosova Verification Mission (KVM). The North Atlantic Council has authorized an Activation Order (ACTORD) for a NATO-led Extraction Force, Operation "Joint Guarantor", NATO said in its 8-point statement on Kosova on Tuesday. Meanwhile, in a meeting held in Prishtina on Tuesday, the Presidency of the Democratic League of Kosova (LDK), the main political force in the country, reconfirmed the demand for "a necessary NATO presence in Kosova, to provide security to the Albanian population".

Demaçi Reject Hill's Plan, Calls for New U.S. Envoy

PRISHTINA, Dec 8 (KIC) - Mr. Adem Demaçi, the main political representative of the Kosova Liberation Army (UçK), called the new Hill draft on an interim solution for Kosova "utterly unacceptable". The current draft is an essential degraded version of the previous draft, "which was also unacceptable", Adem Demaçi said in a press conference in Prishtina on Tuesday. "Mr. (Chris) Hill is either unfamiliar with the Albanian question or else is taking sides" with the Serbs, "accommodating their demands", Demaçi said. The UçK representatives urged the State Department, "if it is possible, to review the work of Mr. Holbrooke and Mr. Hill, especially the latter, and find people who do not have the prejudices of Dayton, who do not have some deficiencies which we see as the causes of such oscillations which have astonished the Albanian and international public". Demaçi said he would like the State Department to review Hill's record and, possibly, "find a man who would be free of the past and committed to serious efforts...in pursuit of a real solution, a solution that would be lasting against the backdrop of the Albanian-Serbian context". Demaçi said the UçK is very much in agreement with the position the chief Kosova negotiator Fehmi Agani took with regard to the latest Hill draft plan. "I think the time has come for us, Albanians, to offer our own proposal, that we ourselves offer our assistance to the solution of this problem", he added. "We have the right and obligation to offer our own plan and to stand behind it", Demaçi underlined. Asked to say whether he had made hasty statements on the UçK supporting third republic status for Kosova within the Yugoslav Federation, Demaçi said that was not a proposal but rather agreement with the step-by-step approach to the resolution of the Kosova issue. "We have not come up with any proposal that would preclude the ultimate goal of an independent and sovereign Kosova". Adem Demaçi said it was his "historic mission" to unite the Albanians, so that "we be united in force and politics and create our state."

Serbs Open Automatic and Artillery Fire along Mitrovica-Peja Roadway

PRISHTINA, Dec 8 (KIC) - Serbian forces manning checkpoints along the Mitrovica-Peja roadway - at "Kodra e Baranëve" and "Përroi i keq" - opened automatic and artillery fire from 11 through 14:00 hrs Monday, the LDK chapter in Mitrovica said. Meanwhile, a Serb police convoy left Mitrovica for Skenderaj today (Tuesday) morning. A huge Serb police convoy, consisting of 7 busloads of police, but also ten Landrover vehicles, left Prishtina for Peja early in the morning today. The convoy passed across Sllatina village at 7:30 a.m., sources said. Serbian forces have been stopping buses, cars and people on the Prishtina-Peja highway, harassing and maltreating Albanian passengers. A bus commuting between Peja and Prishtina was stopped by police four times on Monday morning. A citizen from a village of Malisheva told the KIC the Serb police stopped today (Tuesday) a bus commuting between Gjakova and Prishtina at the 'Kroni i Mbretit'. Nine passengers were taken off the bus. Some of them were beaten up and injured, he said.

Serb Automatic Fire in Demjan Village, Western Kosova

PRISHTINA, Dec 8 (KIC) - In the night of Monday, Serb military forces stationed in Demjan village of Has region opened fire from automatic weapons. The LDK chapter in Gjakova said the Serb fire lasted for a quarter of an hour, instilling fear and panic in the local village community. The Serb soldiers smashed the windows and the door of a local shop in Demjan and looted goods worth DM 500, the LDK said, adding that the Serb army has been cutting the woods of Albanians in the area.

In November 23 Albanians Killed in Kosova, in First Week of December 14, CDHRF Says

PRISHTINA, Dec (KIC) - In a report issued today, the Prishtina- based Council for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHRF) said 14 Albanians were killed in Kosova in the first week of December alone. In addition, in this week the bodies of 9 Albanians slain during Serb offensives earlier this year were found, the CDHRF said. In the month of November, 23 Albanians were slain, and the bodies of 20 other Albanians killed by Serb forces during earlier offensives were found. Up to 6 December 1998, 1831 Albanians have been killed by Serbian military, paramilitary and police, or else died violent deaths, the CDHRF concluded.

Associated Press

Tuesday December 8 3:27 PM ET

By ISMET HAJDARI Associated Press Writer

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - Serbs and ethnic Albanians joined Tuesday in rejecting the latest U.S. plan for Kosovo, despite a NATO appeal for a spirit of compromise to find peace in the embattled province.

Ratko Markovic, head of the Serbian government's negotiating team, said the U.S. draft would require ``reconstructing the whole of Yugoslavia'' and would pave the way for independence for the majority Albanian province.

The chief spokesman for the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army also rejected the plan drafted by American envoy Christopher Hill. Adem Demaci suggested Hill was biased and should be replaced.

``Mr. Hill either doesn't understand the Albanian problems, or he is leaning toward the Serbs,'' Demaci said. ``The State Department should ... send us more qualified people.''

On Monday, the chief ethnic Albanian negotiator, Fehmi Agani, also rebuffed the plan, saying it made too many concessions to the Serbs.

Although the KLA is not a party to the deliberations, its support is considered critical.

Kosovo is a province in Serbia, the dominant republic in Yugoslavia.

Hundreds of people were killed and almost 300,000 ethnic Albanians forced from their homes in a seven-month crackdown on separatists by Serbian forces before an October peace accord.

The accord, reached under threat of NATO airstrikes, was seen as a way to buy time to allow diplomacy to work.

But with little sign of diplomatic progress, fears are mounting that full-scale fighting could erupt again, perhaps in the spring.

In Brussels, Belgium, NATO foreign ministers endorsed U.S. diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis and called on Serbs and ethnic Albanians to ``move rapidly in a spirit of compromise and accommodation.''

The ministers also reaffirmed that any settlement must respect the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia, putting them at odds with the ethnic Albanians who are seeking independence for the province.

In rejecting the Hill plan, Demaci acknowledged that the KLA was using the lull in the fighting to re-arm.

``It would be dangerous if the Albanians don't continue arming themselves and preparing for resistance,'' he said.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who was attending the NATO meeting, blasted the Kosovo Albanians' ``rhetoric of independence,'' which she said did not ``help us to move forward.''

She also warned the Serb leadership that the Western alliance was ``ready to act if necessary'' to preserve the shaky cease-fire.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, claimed Tuesday that more than 1,000 Kosovo Albanians are being held in Serbian prisons and police stations, and said at least five have died from beatings and torture.

The statement, faxed to The Associated Press bureau in Belgrade, said hundreds of others have been beaten and tortured.

US Vows To Find Solution in Kosovo

Tuesday December 8 6:11 AM ET

By KATARINA KRATOVAC Associated Press Writer

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - The United States vowed to keep working to find a peace formula for disputed Kosovo province after the senior ethnic Albanian negotiator rejected the latest U.S. plan.

Fehmi Agani said the new U.S. formula for the future of the Serbian province and its ethnic Albanian majority was ``unacceptable'' because it was too similar to the views of Serbia, the main republic of Yugoslavia.

Agani told reporters Monday that the latest American draft could not be ``considered a basis for ... future negotiations.''

Following Agani's announcement, White House spokesman David Leavy said the Clinton administration was ``determined to push for a political settlement that will bring autonomy to Kosovo.''

Hundreds of people were killed and almost 300,000 ethnic Albanians displaced in a seven-month crackdown by Serbian forces against separatists in Kosovo. An October peace agreement brought a tentative truce.

Most ethnic Albanians want independence or substantial self-rule, whereas Serbia, in its proposal for Kosovo released last month, has offered only a degree of autonomy while keeping the province firmly under Serbian control.

Leavy said in Washington that the Clinton administration would keep working on a formula for restoring the kind of autonomy that Kosovo enjoyed until Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic rescinded it a decade ago.

That formula, however, may no longer satisfy ethnic Albanians, many of whom were radicalized by the Serb crackdown on the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army, which is fighting for independence.

``The new (American) draft is ... almost identical to the Serbian'' plan, Agani told reporters.

Washington opposes full independence for Kosovo's ethnic Albanians, fearing that would lead to similar demands by ethnic Albanian communities elsewhere in the southern Balkans.

That in turn could destabilize what has historically been one of Europe's most voltile regions.

U.S. envoy Christopher Hill, shuttling between Kosovo and the Yugoslav capital, Belgrade, has so far presented four versions of a U.S. formula for the province. Although fighting has all but ceased since the October accord, many people fear that Kosovo may again explode in violence.

Agani said the fourth and latest American proposal accepts Serbia's main demand of having Kosovo remain a part of Serbia and substantially within Serbia's legal system.

The previous U.S. draft had ``envisaged... independent institutions in Kosovo,'' Agani said. Although the earlier draft was far from ethnic Albanian demands, it had at least ``opened up perspective,'' he said.

The latest changes in the American draft were ``incomprehensible,'' he said.

Ethnic Albanians strongly oppose the proposed role of Kosovo's future parliament which, according to the latest American draft, would not be able to pass laws. Also, the latest draft did not foresee Kosovo having a separate government.

Ivan Sedlak, a Serbian negotiator, said the Serbian government had not yet studied the latest version of Hill's plan. He said the previous U.S. version had been unacceptable because it defined Kosovo virtually as a separate state.

Reuters

Albright Urges NATO To Back Serb Democrats

Wednesday December 9 12:15 AM ET

By Carol Giacomo

BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters) - Secretary of State Madeleine Albright urged NATO allies Tuesday to support Serbia's democratic opposition at a critical stage in political negotiations over Kosovo.

NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana also warned Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic that NATO would hold him personally responsible for the safety of international monitors in the Serb province.

``The core of the problems in Kosovo is the lack of accountable, democratic leadership in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,'' Albright told NATO foreign ministers at a meeting in Brussels.

``And I hope that every nation represented here will find an appropriate way to support the democratic aspirations of the Serb people,'' she said.

``They have been silenced and shackled for far too long.''

The call underscored a recent change in the U.S. approach to resolving the crisis in Kosovo, which includes more direct and aggressive criticism of Milosevic.

It was echoed in a NATO statement which said that stability in the southern province was linked to ``the democratization of Yugoslavia.''

Washington has said in recent days it considers Milosevic the core of all problems in the Balkans, particularly Kosovo, where Serb forces have tried to put down efforts by majority ethnic Albanians to secure independence.

U.S. officials have said they would like to see Milosevic replaced.

NATO expressed concern about the precarious security situation in Kosovo and blamed both the Serbs and ethnic Albanians for a series of recent clashes.

``The security situation in Kosovo remains of great concern to us,'' NATO foreign ministers said in a statement.

Albright said she was deeply concerned by the provocative acts of the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army, and said the United States was working with ethnic Albanians to end such acts.

But she reiterated: ``The primary cause of the crisis in Kosovo has been Belgrade's repression, including Milosevic's ruthless use of terror earlier this year.''

At least 1,500 people have been killed and a quarter of a million forced to flee their homes to escape the Serbian crackdown in Kosovo.

NATO's supreme commander in Europe, U.S. General Wesley Clark, has said a deal in October that averted Western military action against Yugoslavia had only won a four-month winter respite, and fighting would resume unless a political agreement on greater self-rule for Kosovo was reached soon.

U.S.-led negotiations, backed by the threat of NATO air strikes, achieved a fragile cease-fire, but Albright said the Serb police presence in Kosovo was still excessive.

``The aggressive and threatening posture of Serb police and military units has sometimes provoked KLA actions. Serb police should be conducting normal police work, period.''

Albright added: ``(The) crisis will not end until Belgrade accepts Kosovo's need for, and right to, substantial autonomy.''

U.S. diplomatic efforts had made substantial progress and reached an important stage. A draft political settlement now existed that could serve as a basis for new political arrangements between the two sides, she said.

Serbia Trades Threats With NATO Over Kosovo

Tuesday December 8 12:30 AM ET

By Philippa Fletcher

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia threatened Monday to relaunch an offensive against ethnic Albanian guerrillas in Kosovo, prompting a sharp rebuke from NATO Secretary General Javier Solana.

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Nikolic said Belgrade would be forced to act unless international verifiers in the province reined in ethnic Albanian guerrillas.

``If the peace process is established no one will be jeopardized, including the verifiers,'' he said, in comments carried by Yugoslav media.

``But if Albanian terrorists are allowed to strut around, murder, kidnap we shall have to conduct the same action again as this summer but this time we shall go to the end regardless of what others think,'' he said.

Responding to the threat, Solana recalled that a NATO order authorizing the use of force against Yugoslavia remained in effect.

``We are not going to tolerate statements like the ones...that have been made today,'' he told reporters in Brussels after talks with Macedonia's new Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski.

NATO threatened air strikes against Yugoslav military targets in October, forcing President Slobodan Milosevic to pull back security forces which had conducted a devastating crackdown on separatism in Kosovo for almost eight months.

Solana was meeting Georgievski on the deployment of French-led NATO troops in Macedonia to protect the international observers monitoring a fragile six-week old truce in neighboring Kosovo, where about 1,500 people have been killed this year.

The main contingent of the so-called ``extraction force,'' designed to rescue the unarmed observers should they come under threat, began arriving in Macedonia Monday. The 120 French troops followed an advance party of 40 sent Sunday.

Belgrade had warned Macedonia against allowing the force, saying that it viewed its deployment as a hostile act. Solana and Georgievski rejected the charge.

``The mandate of these forces is quite clear, they are peace forces and they are to react only if the life of verifiers is in danger. And we do not treat it at all as a hostile act toward a neighbor,'' Georgievski said.

NATO sources have said Milosevic agreed to the 1,700-strong extraction force during talks with U.S. Balkans envoy Richard Holbrooke in October which averted the NATO air strike threat.

Milosevic also agreed to allow the establishment of an international verification mission in Kosovo on condition its 2,000-odd members were unarmed.

That mission is now being set up, but some of the Western countries contributing members are worried it will be very vulnerable unless a political settlement can be achieved to secure the truce.

Ethnic Albanian guerrillas, who have moved into positions vacated by the Serbs, Monday demanded a fuller Serbian withdrawal, saying many Kosovo Albanians were still too scared to return to homes they fled earlier this year.

An estimated quarter of a million people were displaced by the Serb offensive, and relief agencies believe 175,000 are still living away from home.

At NATO headquarters in Brussels, alliance sources said Serb authorities were stoking tensions by refusing to pull out of the former KLA stronghold of Malisevo and were trying to shift the blame for any deterioration of security onto others.

Despite recent killings, security was still far better than in September, a NATO source said.

But hopes for peace suffered a new blow Monday when an ethnic Albanian negotiating team rejected a new U.S.-drafted autonomy plan, part of a mediating mission which envoy Christopher Hill wants to complete before a spring thaw encourages more fighting.

The team, which like most ethnic Albanians wants independence for Kosovo, issued a communique saying the latest draft, drawn up after comments from both sides on an earlier version, swung too far Serbia's way.

The team said it would now draw up its own plan, as Belgrade has already done to international condemnation.

ARTA

(KOSOVA - Shooting)

Shooting in the direction of Deçan villages

Deçan, 8 December (ARTA) 1530CET --

A large number of villages of the municipality of Deçan are submitted to a great police repression, Albanian field sources state. Following a few day calm, police forces maltreated the Latifaj family, from Prejlep and several other residents of this village, with the pretext that two policemen were killed there under mysterious circumstances. Two days ago, Serb forces shot against the village of Irzniq. The burned and destroyed villages of Prekollukë, Irzniq, Gllogjan, Shaptei, Dubravë, Gramaqel and Baballoç, were additionally shot at on Monday. Yesterday's shooting that lasted throughout the day, induced great fear among the few returned residents, who are living in plastic tents and on the occasional humanitarian aid, Albanian sources claim.

According to the same sources, the shooting is conducted mainly from the village of Irzniq, where the Serb forces are stationed at the police station, at the local health station and school buildings.

 (KOSOVA – oppression)

Police pressure in Rracaj

Gjakovë, 8 December (ARTA) 1800CET --

The population of the village of Rracaj in Lugu i Çarragojës, Gjakovë municipality, has lately been undergoing great Serb police pressure. Albanian sources of information notify that the houses of this village were raided many times during the past couple of days. Witnesses also state that large police forces on APCs and heavy armed, headed in the direction of this village, which has so far not been the target of attacks.

(KOSOVA – Press briefing)

Demaçi:" Mr.Hill cannot help anymore-State Department should find another person"

Prishtina, 8 December (ARTA) 1600CET--

"Although we are used on not being surprised, this time we were really flabbergasted with the draft of Mr.Hill ", declared the KLA political representative at the beginning of the regular press briefing held in the Writers Association of Kosova.

"There is an essential backwardness noticed in the new draft", stated Demaçi, concerning the recent project proposed by the American mediator, Christopher Hill.

"We were not happy neither with the third draft, while this fourth one is entirely unacceptable".

Demaçi claimed further that, he would give no firm statement since "we highly appreciate the American policy, as it is more advanced than the European one".

"Nevertheless, this new draft provides indisputable arguments that, Mr. Hill either is not acquaint with the Albanians cause or supports the Serb side. Therefore we would ask State Department that if possible to reconsider the works of Holbrooke and especially Hill", he claimed and estimated the mediating efforts of the two American envoys as unsuccessful.

"Mr.Hill cannot be anymore the person who could help avoiding of new conflicts", he claimed.

Further on he proposed that, the State department should appoint another person who would seriously commit itself (without being influenced by the prevailing circumstances) on "finding a genuine and permanent solution of the historical contest between Serbs and Albanians".

The KLA political representative expressed compliance with the viewpoints of Agani concerning the recent draft, but he stated that he would provide a more detailed statement later on.

"We would present our opinion, when the stands of all the partners are unified", he claimed.

Demaçi stated that, "on the main points, all the Albanians are unified". Yet, such a project is not difficult to be compiled, but the difficulty is to protect it. Asked about his previous statement according to which he accepts the status of Kosova as the third Federal Republic for a temporary period, Demaçi answered that:,

"We have not made any project so far, the final objective-the independence and sovereignty of Kosova is not excluded at all, but we have accepted to achieve that step by step".

"We have not made any concessions....but there are some balances of the forces incurring behind the curtains and we could not comprehend those properly....and they are messing the things up", he claimed, reminding that, "we have all shared the opinion that Albanians would have the right of self-determination after three years".

Concerning the recent threats from Belgrade, Demaçi claimed:"Belgrade does not have anything else but the argument of violence. These threats show the real face of the Belgrade regime".

"Although always being ready to contribute with all its force for the political solution.... KLA never had the illusion that it would force the Serb regime give up its brigandish and hegemonist character", claimed Demaçi adding further that, "we are sure that the Belgrade regime will not be democratized only by threats (without punishments) and while still having its military and police structure".

"This is an additional argument for the just strategy of KLA and all those who estimated that the Belgarde regime could not be forced to achieve a peaceful agreement without the NATO intervention", he claimed.

Asked whether the OSCE verification mission will lose its point under these circumstances, Demaçi responded negatively,

"We think that this mission will finally be successful, because NATO is staying behind it and it does not give up its right to react if it is necessary", he claimed.

"Judging from their behaviors, Serbs will compell NATO to react".

While mentioning the recent killings, Demaçi once again appealed the Albanian political subjects to unify and establish the General Assembly from its thoroughs.

He added further that, "A new Government of a wider spectrum would emerge from that Government, and that would be a structure of the joint political powers of Kosova, including KLA".

"That Government would be able to complete as much as it is necessary the Negotiating team", evaluated Demaçi.

"I also recommend the people to join by all their means to KLA-as a force which is the protector of the national interests and resistance", he claimed.

In this case he denied all his aspirations for any kind of promotions adding further that,

"My historic duty is to unify the Albanians, to put them into action, namely to join their powers and establish their state".

(BRUSSELS- Conference of Ministers’)

EU: "Political solution for Kosova should be found"

Brussels, 8 December (ARTA) 1500CET --

Due to unplanned delay of discussions about the program of EU expansion, the conclusions of the Ministers' meeting on "Western Balkan", were approved in the late evening hours. Ministers expressed their concern about the recent events in Kosova and the escalation of violence there. They once more requested from both sides to restrain themselves from the use of violence and comply with the obligations called by the respective UN Security Council resolutions.

Ministers consider the increase of the KLA activities to be the reason of the great presence of Serb security forces. EU expressed their support for the efforts of the American mediator, Christopher Hill, and of the EU special envoy, Wolfgang Petritch, to find a political solution for the Kosova problem.

Ministers hailed the fact that the increase of the humanitarian organization presence and the European Commission aid, enabled the return of the dislocated to their homes, adding that, the international institutions should continue to provide all the needed help. The EU expressed its willingness to help in the process of rebuilding Kosova and stressed the European's Commission proposal for a Conference of Donators' on the level of experts.

Nevertheless, EU sources stated that, this will be contemplated by the beginning of the next year and that the conditions giving help for rebuilding will most surely be related to finding an interim solution for Kosova.

The attendants also expressed support for the OSCE initiation for the dominating operation in Kosova. In this case, EU expressed its readiness to finance these operations and demands from the OSCE to draft concrete projects on this. The EU Foreign Ministers said they were disappointed by the refusal of Belgrade bodies to cooperate with the Verifying Mission and the European Commission in Kosova, recalling that their obligation to cooperate is called by the UN Security Council resolutions. "The greatest obstacles of Belgrade's authorities towards this mission, as well as towards the humanitarian activists, have to do with granting visas, connections, radio connections and registering them", is one of the conclusions of the EU Foreign Ministers. They made an appeal to the "FRY" to allow the presence of this mission in Prishtina, Podgoricë and Belgrade.

The EU Ministers' Council requested, last evening from the competent EU bodies to come out with concrete proposals to prevent funding money and gathering weapons for the "armed Albanian groups in Kosova". They also condemned the recent attacks of the Serb bodies against the independent media in Serbia and consequently approved a decision to set an embargo for issuing visas for those senior officials of Serbia and "Yugoslavia", responsible for such attacks.