Serbian Military Pounds Half a Dozen Podujeva Villages with ArtilleryBradash, Peran, Obran^&, Llapashtic&, Katunisht& and Gllamnik
villages under heavy Serb artillery fire today afternoon PRISHTINA, Jan 9 (KIC) - An LDK
activist in Podujeva told the KIC at 13:40 hrs today (Saturday) heavy Serbian military and
paramilitary police troops backed up by tanks and heavy guns have launched an artillery
attack on half a dozen villages in the Podujeva area, some 30 km north of Prishtina.
Shelling from army tanks is being heard in every couple of minutes, the activist said,
adding that Serbs are pounding Peran, Bradash and parts of Obran^& and Katunisht&
('Velika Reka') villages from their position at Peran. From their position at 'Tabet e
Llapashtic&s', near the town of Podujeva, Serbs are attacking parts of Obran^&,
Llapashtic& and Gllamnik villages, west and south-west of Podujeva. Peran and Bradash
are situated half a dozen km north of Podujeva. Columns of smoke billowing from the
Llapashtic& villages can be seen in the town of Podujeva, where Serb forces have set
up a heavy presence, too. Heavy Serbian military and police forces, backed up by scores of
tanks and other artillery pieces, have been building up today in northern Kosova, along
the Prishtina-Podujeva road, between the villages of Lluzhan and Llapashtic&, some 12
km long, and Podujeva- K&rpimeh, some 10 more km northwards, local sources said.
Meanwhile, yesterday and today, heavy Serb military troops have been building up in the
roads leading to Shal& e Bajgor&s - a region straddling Mitrovica, Vushtrri, and
Podujeva - where U^K (Kosova Liberation Army) units yesterday took prisoner eight Serb
(Yugoslav) soldiers, who had been shooting in the direction of the local Albanian
population. More than 40 Albanians, most of them non-combatants, were killed in two Serb
military offensives in the Podujeva area in September and December of 1998, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Kosova capital, Prishtina, was under a heavy Serb military and police grip
Friday night, with between 300 and 500 soldiers and policemen keeping Kodra e Diellit and
a number of other neighborhoods under siege for several hours.
Kosovo monitors say Serbs are main mischief
05:26 p.m Jan 08, 1999 Eastern
WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. head of the monitoring
organisation in Kosovo on Friday blamed the Serb side for most of the violations of a
ceasefire-and-withdrawal agreement negotiated by the United States in October.
William Walker, who leads the Kosovo mission for the Vienna-based
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said the Serbs also regularly
turned down his requests on the grounds that they went beyond the agreement.
The other side in the conflict is the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA),
the ethnic Albanian force which took up arms last year for the independence of the
troubled province. Ethnic Albanians outnumber Serbs 10 to one in Kosovo.
``In our view, the majority of the instances of non- compliance have
emanated from the government side,'' Walker told a State Department briefing during a
visit to Washington.
``We have been quite upset. Their words are very ample ...
but in terms of implementing those words, I think we would have to
say we are less than satisfied,'' he added.
``There have been any number of areas in which we have made requests
of the government and the answer has been: 'That is not in the agreement. It is not
specifically spelled out in the agreement. Therefore you can't have it,'' he said.
Walker, whose verification group now stands at a strength of more
than 600 members, said the Serbian government might give an especially bad impression
because the Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM) tended to ask more of it.
``They are not cooperating in terms of landing rights for planes
that might be bringing in supplies or quibbles at the border over customs. Those are
things you ask for from a government. You don't ask that from the KLA,'' he said.
But he also gave anecdotal evidence favourable to the KLA.
When the KLA released two Serbian journalists and two local
politicians, for example, the government did not reciprocate by releasing anyone sought by
the KLA, he said.
Walker's assessment contradicted that of French Defence Minister
Alain Richard, who last week blamed the KLA for recent fighting in the troubled province.
Richard said: ``The main destabilising factor today is the KLA, not the Serbs.''
Asked to comment, Walker said: ``I find it hard to explain that
comment. If it was purely a statement as portrayed that the KLA is essentially totally
responsible for recent violence, I would disagree with it, quite emphatically.''
Walker implied that the Serbs had been the aggressors from the start
of the conflict, through the way they treated the ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo.
``This government, which has responsibility for treating the people
of Kosovo equally and indiscriminately, does not perform those tasks very well. Much of
the genesis of the violence derives from that lack of decent government,'' he said.
Walker showed no signs of dismay that the KVM falls so far short of
its original target strength of 2,000. It is growing at between 100 and 150 members a week
and will reach ``optimal level'' within some weeks, he said.
The monitors go about Kosovo unarmed, sometimes facing down heavily
armed forces on both sides. Walker said that if he had his way, some members should be
able to carry sidearms.
Serbs move to free hostages
The team of international monitors in Kosovo, the OSCE, says Serbian
security forces have begun a military operation in the north of the province to free eight
soldiers being held by ethnic Albanian rebels.
The BBC Correspondent in Belgrade, Jackie Rowland, says talks
between international mediators and the rebels went on through the night and continued on
Saturday to try to resolve the crisis peacefully. Observers fear the escalating violence
might destroy the shaky cease-fire reached in October.
The Serb Media Center in Pristina, which is close to Serbian
authorities, said the operation began around 1000 (0900 GMT) on Saturday.
Jurgen Grunnet of the OSCE confirmed that columns of Yugoslav army
troops and police were moving from Pristina to Mitrovica, about 40 kilometres (25 miles)
northwest of Pristina, where the soldiers are being held.
There were no immediate reports of fighting.
The eight were taken captive on Friday when rebels attacked a
Yugoslav convoy carrying rations to troops stationed in the field.
According to the Serb Media Center, the soldiers were unharmed on
Friday.
Policemen killed
Serb authorities reacted to the incident by deploying tanks
throughout the provincial capital and threatening strong measures to combat ethnic
Albanian "terrorism" in Kosovo.
The renewed shelling by the Serb forces has made many Kosovo
Albanians flee their homes to seek safer surroundings in the hills. One group told the
BBC: "They are bombing our houses. They are shelling. We are suffering."
Mr Grunnet of the OSCE added that the KLA had recently become more
aggressive, but said he could not predict whether the increased tensions denoted an end to
the cease-fire.
Serb Officials Warn of 'Energetic Actions'
to Curb Rebel Attacks
AP 09-JAN-99
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Serb authorities are threatening strong
measures to combat ethnic Albanian "terrorism" in Kosovo after rebels killed
three Serb policemen and seized eight Yugoslav soldiers in separate ambushes.
Veljko Odalovic, a top Serbian official in the province, told the
government's Tanjug news agency that security forces will use "energetic and
efficient action" to "normalize the situation" in Kosovo.
Teams from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
were trying to convince the rebels to release the soldiers, fearing the escalating
violence will destroy the shaky cease-fire reached Oct. 12 to end seven months of
fighting.
Two columns of Yugoslav army vehicles were seen leaving their
Pristina garrison late Friday, headed north toward the area where the soldiers were being
held. The army also deployed tanks throughout the provincial capital.
The Serb Media Center said the troops were deployed for security
reasons, which is "normal" in such a situation.
The center also reported the eight soldiers were unharmed late
Friday. They were taken captive Friday when guerrillas attacked a Yugoslav convoy carrying
rations to troops stationed in the field near Kosovska Mitrovica, about 25 miles northwest
of Pristina.
In a separate ambush, three policemen were killed when Kosovo
Liberation Army rebels fired an anti-tank weapon at their armored vehicle near the village
of Suva Reka, 30 miles south of the provincial capital Pristina, the Serb Media Center
reported.
Four policemen and two civilians were seriously wounded in a fierce
gunbattle that followed, the Serb center said. Rebels in the area told reporters they
attacked in retaliation for government shelling of a nearby ethnic Albanian village.
It was the first time that guerrillas have been known to destroy an
armored vehicle since fighting began in February. The attack confirmed reports that rebels
have obtained better weapons.
The KLA is fighting for Kosovo's independence from Serbia, the main
republic in Yugoslavia.
The continuing violence has increased fears that the three-month-old
cease-fire deal between Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and U.S. envoy Richard
Holbrooke is on the verge of falling apart.
The attacks have alarmed the province's minority Serb population. On
Thursday, Serb crowds blocked all roads into Pristina, demanding that Milosevic or Serbian
President Milan Milutinovic come to Kosovo to personally guarantee their safety.
On Friday, the Serbs dismantled the barricades on all but the main
road linking Pristina with Prizren, the province's second largest city. Milosevic's
Socialist Party urged civilians not to block the roads.
Under the October agreement, ethnic Albanians and Serbs were to have
begun negotiations on the future of the province. But no face-to-face talks have been
held, and both sides have rejected American proposals for expanded self-rule.
Ethnic Albanians make up about 90 percent of the 2 million people in
Kosovo, and most want independence. The Americans and Europeans reject that, fearing it
could lead to similar demands by ethnic Albanian communities elsewhere in the southern
Balkans.
Serbs Launch Kosovo Operation to Free
Captive Soldiers
AP 09-JAN-99
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) -- After threatening strong measures to
combat ethnic Albanian "terrorism," Serb forces launched a military action today
to try to free eight soldiers held captive by the guerrillas, Serb sources said.
The Serb Media Center, which is close to Serbian authorities, said
the operation began this morning. It did not specify what the action consisted of, but a
large army convoy was seen moving through the provincial capital of Pristina toward the
northwestern town of Kosovska Mitrovica.
Teams from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
had been trying to persuade the rebels to release the soldiers, fearing the escalating
violence will destroy the shaky cease-fire reached Oct. 12 to end seven months of
fighting.
But an army source who declined to be identified told Belgrade's
independent B-92 radio today that "all deadlines have expired."
The OSCE could not immediately confirm the report.
The action came soon after the Serb side promised to respond to the
captures and the killing of three Serb policemen in a separate ambush.
The soldiers were taken captive near Kosovska Mitrovica, 25 miles
northwest of Pristina, on Friday when guerrillas attacked a Yugoslav convoy carrying
rations to troops in the field.
The rebel Kosovo Liberation Army said today it had surrounded a
vehicle and forced the eight to surrender after it entered KLA-held territory and opened
fire on ethnic Albanian civilians.
"The captured were handed over to judicial bodies and will be
treated according to international conventions of war and prisoners of war," the
rebels' regional command for northwestern Kosovo said in a statement distributed to ethnic
Albanian media.
Serb authorities reacted to the incident by deploying tanks
throughout Pristina late Friday.
The three policemen were killed Friday when Kosovo Liberation Army
rebels fired an anti-tank weapon at their armored vehicle near the village of Suva Reka,
30 miles south of Pristina, the Serb Media Center reported.
Four policemen and two civilians were seriously wounded in a fierce
gunbattle that followed, the Serb center said. Rebels in the area told reporters they
attacked the police in retaliation for government shelling of a nearby ethnic Albanian
village.
It was the first time that guerrillas have been known to destroy an
armored vehicle since fighting began in February. The attack confirmed reports that they
have obtained better weapons.
The KLA is fighting for independence from Serbia, the main republic
in Yugoslavia.
The continuing violence has increased fears that the cease-fire deal
between Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke is on the
verge of falling apart.
The OSCE observer mission in Kosovo condemned the attack on the
police as an "unacceptable breach" of the cease-fire. In a statement, the
mission said such "terrorist attacks" undermine efforts to reach a political
solution to the conflict.
The attacks have alarmed the province's minority Serb population. On
Thursday, Serb crowds blocked all roads into Pristina, demanding that Milosevic or Serbian
President Milan Milutinovic come to Kosovo to personally guarantee their safety.
Under the October agreement, ethnic Albanians and Serbs were to have
begun negotiations on the future of the province. But no face-to-face talks have been
held, and both sides have rejected American proposals for expanded self-rule.
Ethnic Albanians make up about 90 percent of the 2 million people in
Kosovo, and most want independence. The Americans and Europeans reject that, fearing it
could lead to similar demands by ethnic Albanian communities elsewhere in the southern
Balkans.
Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
