Kosova Crisis Center
link to alb-net
By Verena Dobnik Associated Press Writer Sunday, April 11, 1999; 7:45 p.m. EDT
YONKERS, N.Y. (AP) -- Hundreds of Americans in store-bought camouflage uniforms stood in the parking lot of a suburban New York hotel on Sunday, volunteering to fight the Serbs.
The men and women were ready for guerrilla war: They pulled shiny new combat boots and army-green sacks from their Volvos, Chevys and Mercedes-Benzes.
``Albanians are willing to die for freedom!'' yelled Joseph DioGuardi, head of the Albanian-American Civic League, to the more than 400 recruits in military formation.
``Yeah!'' responded 4-year-old Laura Muriqi, whose father, a Manhattan doorman, stood at attention in his camouflage uniform.
``It's dangerous, but it's the last chance to be free or die,'' said Remziga Gjonbalaj, tears in her eyes. About 500 family members and friends watched, weeping and cheering, in the lot outside the Albanian-run Royal Regency Hotel.
Her brother, a waiter in a New York restaurant, was among the would-be soldiers leaving this week on charter flights from New York to Tirana, Albania.
They are to be trained there before attempting to cross the mountainous border sprinkled with land mines to join the Kosovo Liberation Army.
``I'm very happy I'm sending my son, I'm very proud,'' said Elfet Kodra, a mother clutching her youngest son's camouflage jacket.
Born in Brooklyn, 19-year-old Isa Kodra is a National Guard platoon sergeant who was helping with the training. On Sunday, he stood facing the makeshift battalion, an American flag gracing the sleeve of his camouflage shirt above an Albanian one. He's taking a leave of absence from the Guard to fight.
The families were told to say their last good-byes on this raw spring day at a swearing-in ceremony.
``Bye, daddy!'' said Laura, waving from her aunt's arms to her 34-year-old father, Feriz Muriqi, who joined up with his 31-year-old brother, Besim.
Wearing her best leather shoes and snow white tights, she held up her tiny hand and shaped two fingers into a ``V.''
As the recruits placed their hands on their hearts, a soprano with an Albanian accent sang ``The Star-Spangled Banner,'' followed by the Albanian anthem.
Then the crowd chanted ``U.S.A.!''
``Are you proud to be American?'' one speaker yelled from a platform bearing the red-and-black Albanian flag and an American flag. ``Yes!'' they answered, then broke into roars of ``Kosovo Liberation Army! Free Kosovo!''
That's the mission of Timmy Zherka, 31, who left his wife and three children, and a job as manager of a Manhattan restaurant, to fight. ``I'm anxious, but I'm not afraid. I'm going to fight for what we talk about here -- freedom, liberty, democracy.''
Some recruits spent time in the U.S. military or in the Yugoslav army, but most are untrained. Their uniforms from Army-Navy surplus stores were brand-new.
They planned to join the Kosovo rebel force in a last-ditch effort to save hundreds of thousands of Albanians who have fled their decimated towns and villages. Most in the Yonkers parking lot had relatives there who are either dead or missing.
Sanije Bruncaj, 19, was toughened up for combat by her stint as a wide receiver -- and the only female player -- on her Yonkers high school football team. About 30 women were among the recruits.
A light rain began to fall as the military formation dissolved into tear-drenched hugs.
The Kuka family took snapshots.
``I'm happy to go, because they're raping women and killing children there,'' said Ymer Kuka, 56, who left his job at a Bronx pizzeria.
``If she were there,'' he said, squeezing his 1-year-old granddaughter Nora in his arms, ``they would kill her too.''
Confessions from the people
who escaped the serbian 'cleansing' in Bellanica of Malisheva
April 12, (Kosovapress) On April 2nd of this year, serbian fascists deported to Albania
over than 30.000 civil albanians from communes of Malishevo, Suhareka and Rahovecit,
people that were placed in village of Bellanicė of Malishevo. From the police enclosure,
only two sisters, Have Buqaj (1976), Violeta Buqaj (1979), with their brother Astrit Buqaj
(1985), were the one who reached to escape. Their father is Havir Buqaj from Lladroci of
Malishevo. Their mother together with two other children was let in the serbian hands and
they have been deported to Albania. Here are their confessions:
My name is Violetė Buqaj, from Lladroci, commune of Malishevo. I`ve been accommodated in
Bellanicė. We went in Bellanicė on Thursday evening about 21°°o`clock. In the next
day, at 4°°o`clock in the morning we went to met our family which was placed in the road
and we stayed there till 12 °°o`clock. At 12 °° they started to shot and they have
ordered to stay in the road. Then about 500 serbian soldiers came there. There were three
kinds of soldiers: with masks, civilians and some were wearing handkerchief around their
neck, with uniforms and with some emblem. They watch about us during all night. Then early
in the morning about 3 °°o`clock we wanted to go back in our home in Lladroc, but some
albanians said to us that if you go there serbs are going to cut us.
My name is Have Buqaj. Serbian police beatted every albanian during that day, particularly
the younger one, drivers of the tractors and other cars. If the had no money, they were
beaten badly.They have moved them during all night. They took the younger ones and they
put them inside in houses and nobody knows nothing about them anymore. Even today, we
don`t know nothing about them.
Violeta Buqaj: Serbian police has committed rapes over the albanians women and young
girls. The came with electric batteries in their hands, thea watch for a while, they
selected them and after this, they wre taking somewhere.All men were beaten. My paternal
uncle was with 12 members of the family and he was ordered to drive the tractor, first he
rejected and he was badly beaten, then he get in tractor cab together with us.
Have Buqaj: they did not let the people to sleep in the tractors, we have been staying in
feet during whole day, and they watch on us during all night, they checked for money
everywhere.They came in several groups to search for money and even if had our bank full
of money there, it wouldn`t be enough for them. And in the cases when they couldn`t find
money, the beaten us bydly and they destroyed everything, they broke glasses, doors etc.
Violetė Buqaj: We were placed in a big house, then 10 military-police soldiers with masks
came there, and they have slept with us for four nights. There have been a lot of
shootings in the house.They have killed even the dogs. Women were maltreated in front of
their children, we didn`t dare even to look on them because if they saw us watching on
them, then we were beaten at once. Both of us had were in the tractor when they shoot ed
with fire arms and when they insulted us, „piqka vam materina". The mass of
people was terribly scared, especially the children, we had nothing to eat or to drink, we
were not allowed to cook or to take water nearby the fountain.
Have Buqaj: We were all in the road, women, children and old age people. We were from the
surrounded villages of Lladroc, Tėrpezė, Senik, Morali, Geriq, Pagarushė, Samadraxhė,
Studenqanė, Mepėrbisht, Peqan, Mirushė, Semitishtė, Malishevė, Banjė, Gajrak,
Blacė, etc. We didn`t knew how much we were, nor what was happening with us.
Astrit Buqaj: That day when we were surrounded by "shkiet"(serbs), we were under
pouch shelters. In the next day, at 6 °° o`clock in the morning, we woke up, I took my
sisters and passing through the lorries and tractors, through houses we escaped from
police enclosure and we hide in the mountains. Our mother with our two other sisters was
left in the serbian hands. We now nothing about their fate. Maybe they have sent in
Albanian. Serbian fascists, took our cars, our things and everything that belonged to
albanians.
Violeta Buqaj: We were in the pouch shelters, when serbians with electric batteries came
for women and for girls, they took them a sent in unknown place.Then we reached to escape,
we moved slowly flat on our bellies, and we went in our house, they have shoot ed on us,
so we were forced to leave in the mountains again.We thought that we will never escape
from them but we were determined not to stay in their hands any more. If we had knew that
we will escape , the we would take our mother with other two sisters with us, but they
were left there together with our paternal uncle and 12 members of our family, most of
them were small children, and my next paternal uncle was left there his wife and his
children, and also the wife of my third paternal uncle with 3 other children has been left
there.
Have Buqaj: All the houses of the village have been burnt during that day, the have came
with tanks in the center of Bellanica, then the enter in every house and the looted
everything.
Violeta Buqaj: I`ve saw a woman while she was beaten by them because his son had no money
to give. All jewelers that belonged to women has been taken by serbian looters.
P.S. For all these testimonies and evidences, there is a tape record.
Another massacre, executed by serbian criminals in
near Malisheva
Malishevė, April 12th (Kosovapress) 18 other albanians are being massacred are found in
the environs of Malisheva, 15 of them are from the village Astrazub, and for each of these
villages Simetishti, Studenēani and Samadraxhe of Suhareka, one person is being killed.
The killed persons are old age people except one 20 years old. They are executed before
April 1st, nearby the village Burim, in the place where they were hide to escape from
terrorist forces.
The massacred people are:
Name, Surname, Age, Village, Commune
01. Hasan Amrush Morina, Astrozub, Malishevė
02. Hamėz Ali Morina, Astrozub,Malishevė
03. Ali Sylė Morina,Astrozub, Malishevė
04. Idriz Nuhi Morina, Astrozub, Malishevė
05. Qazim Musė Morina, Astrozub, Malishevė
06. Beqir Musė Morina Astrozub, Malishevė
07. Valon Rrahmon Morina (20), Astrozub, Malishevė
08. Danė Ymer Morina, Astrozub, Malishevė
09. Rrahmon Vesel Morina, Astrozub, Malishevė
10. Milazim Alush Morina,Astrozub, Malishevė
11. Bajram Haxhi Morina,Astrozub, Malishevė
12. Qazim Demir Morina,Astrozub, Malishevė
13. Hajdar Hajdin Morina,Astrozub, Malishevė
14. Isuf Hamdi Morina,Astrozub, Malishevė
15. Shaban Osmon Morina, Astrozub, Malishevė
16. Mustafė Muharrem Mustafa, Semetishtė, Suharekė
17. Ismet Islam Makica, Studenqan, Suharekė
18. Avdi Qazim Hoti, Samadraxhė, Suharekė.
Dragobil, 21 albanian civilians massacred by
serbian criminal forces
Dragobil, April 12th (Kosovapress) In the last serbian offensive over the villages of
Malishevo, offensive which is going on yet, at least 21 albanians from Dragobili are being
massacred.From these massacred people only 17 bodies are identified, while 4 others are
carbonized in a tractor trailer in Dragobil and they could not be identified. The cadavers
are found in these days in the village Burime, not far away from Dragobil and they are
buried there. The victims are suggested to be killed before two weeks. The massacred
people are:
Name and Surname- age- 01. Rexhep Hajdar Paēarizi (85) - carbonized and found the a car (
Alfa Romeo)
02. Zyle Rexhep Paēarizi (70) – carbonized and found in a car ( Alfa Romeo)
03. Hamit Ymer Paēarizi (68),
04. Baftiar Liman Paēarizi (70),
05. Jahir Liman Paēarizi (54),
06. Ilaz Latif Paēarizi (68),
07. Muharrem Haxhi Paēarizi (70),
08. Rifat Abedin Paēarizi (65),
09. Behram Xhemė Paēarizi (60),
10. Ramė Hamėz Paēarizi (55)
11. Ymer Zymer Tredhaku (50),
12. Xhevat Ibush Tredhaku (34),
13. Sheftki Muharrem Paēarizi (40),
14. Malush Salih Paēarizi (65),
15. Hamit Musli Paēarizi (82),
16. Daut Paēarizi (70),
17. Shaqe Zekė Paēarizi (60),
And there 4 other unidentified carbonized cadavers.
There is fear that more than 60
albanians were massacred in Kaēanik
Kaēanik, April 12th (Kosovapress) There are doubts that during the attacks of the serbian
terrorist forces in Kaēanik and its environs, in April 9th of this year, only in Kaēanik
have been massacred more than 60 albanians, civilians, mainly old men. Our sources,
because of the impossible links, have not confirmed this information yet, but there are
reports on several people killed, particularly in the town of Kaēanik, at Prroi i
Rakocit.
New Serbian reinforcements in the villages of
Anadrin
Xėrxė, April 12th (Kosovapress) On April 9th, massive serbian forces have been placed in
the villages of Anadrin, and have been sheltered in many private houses of the albanians,
where they have settled and disguised their military means, such as tanks, armoured
vehicles, and various military means. In the south-east side of the village Ratkovc, at
the place called „Baraka", they have disguised even the anti-aircrafts in two
places, then in the village of Drenoc they have disguised the techniques in the houses of
the albanians. There are serbian forces positioned in the village Kramovik, too. The
population of the villages of Senoc, Drenoc, Ratkoc and Kramovik is expelled from villages
and is sheltered in the nearby villages. Now, dense sounds of serbian arms can be heard.
The civil population is facing lacks of food and medicines. All the albanian properties
have been usurped from the serbs, such as tractors, cars, trucks and food. The movements
of the serbian forces are usual, from Xėrxa and Kramoviku, implying that the
reinforcements are helping some possible offensive, in the days to come.
Serbian patrol destroyed in Pavlan
Pejė, April 12th (Kosovapress) Yesterday, a car with two serbian policemen and one
officier have tried to penetrate in the village of Pavlanė. The units of KLA have
reacted, killing two of them, while the third has been wounded. The serbian police and
army, pla<ced in Gorazhdec, have attacked with grenades the village of Pavlanė, then
have burnt some houses of this village. The serbian forces have been helped by local serbs
of Gorazhdec.
Some villages of Rugova have been under grenade attacks
Rugovė, April 12th (Kosovapress) Yesterday, the occupator serbian forces have attacked
with grenades some villages of Rugova. Our units have reacted and serbian forces have
retreated. Serbian forces have had reinforcements in the pass of Milishec, down the road
Pejė- Rugovė.
Attack of the serbian forces in Grykė of
Llapushnikut
Llapushnik, April 12th (Kosovapress)
Today, about 6:30 in the morning, serbian forces placed in the Grykėn e Llapushnikut,
have undertaken an extended attack against the nearby albanian villages. They are using
all their heavy armaments including also infantry.The shootings are executed from the
village of Gjurgjicė. Llapushniku has become one of the most concentrated serbian
dislocations in Kosovo.
The displaced population surrounded by serbian
forces
Magurė, April 12th (Kosovapress)
In the valley of the village Risinoc, about 1000 albanians citizens are being placed
there.They are surrounded by serbian terrorist forces and they are preventing them to move
from there.
Meanwhile, in the hills of Blinaja, there over than 1500 displaced citizens and they are
also under the serbian enclosure. This population is from the villages of Fushticė Eperme
and Miremė.
Albanian population is used as protection for
serbian armaments
Lipjanė, April 12th (Kosovapress)
In Medvec, commune of Lipjan, an anti-aircraft system of the serbian forces is being
placed there. All around this place, albanian civil population was forced to be placed in
order to protect this system from eventual NATO airstrikes.
Whereas in the village Harilaq, commune of Fushė Kosovės, there anti-aircraft systems
being placed too and albanian population is placed by force over these serbian military
anti-aircraft systems and they are used as living protection to avoid NATO airstrikes.
Signing Up in Yonkers to Fight in
the Balkans (NY Times)
Volunteers gathered in a parking lot in Yonkers, dressed in fatigues with
the insignia of the Kosovo Liberation Army. Photo Credit: The New York Times
By BARBARA STEWART
NEW YORK -- When Majria Shala's favorite cousin drove her to Kennedy International Airport
for an Easter visit to Detroit, she remembers him making a little joke: "Maybe when
you get back, I will be gone to liberate Kosovo."
Ms. Shala was still in Michigan on Friday when her cousin, Victor Ljekocag, called.
"He said, 'I'm going to be a soldier,' " Ms. Shala recalled yesterday. " 'I
love my country. If you want to see me, come Sunday at 1.' "
Saturday Mr. Ljekocag and about 300 other Albanian-Americans -- mostly young men, and a
handful of women -- formed ranks on a parking lot in Yonkers, dressed in newly bought
camouflage fatigues bearing the red-and-gold insignia of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
The volunteer soldiers -- who included a 17-year-old female high school student from the
Bronx and a 60-year-old man -- were to fly from Kennedy International Airport this week to
Europe, and from there to training grounds in Albania.
Albanian émigrés say it is a story repeated among other Albanians in Europe since NATO
started bombing Yugoslavia and the Serbs drove ethnic Albanians in Kosovo from their
homes.
While all the recruits in Yonkers say they have relatives in Kosovo, many were born in the
United States. Some some have never set foot in the Balkans.
Ms. Shala and 15 or 16 relatives flew in early yesterday to see Mr. Ljekocag off. "We
all tried to stop him," she said, "but he's doing it from the heart."
As patriotic exhortations of Albanian-American leaders boomed from loudspeakers, the
recruits and relatives shivered in the raw chilly wind -- weather that seemed to match the
sorrow in the air. One woman, her face spotted with drizzling rain and tears, said she was
sending three sons, a brother-in-law and her favorite uncle.
"I don't know if they are coming back, but Milosevic is a Hitler, this is another
Holocaust," she said.
Many people around the country have felt revulsion toward the Serbian offensive in Kosovo,
but for Albanian-Americans -- many of whom have family members there -- these weeks have
been the most agonizing in a year of grief, since the undeclared war between Serbian
security forces and the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army erupted in March 1998.
The calls for volunteers to stave off the destruction of the homeland began showing up in
Albanian-language newspapers and radio programs after the first NATO bombings two and a
half weeks ago.
Spokespersons for the State Department and the Immigration and Naturalization Service,
asked if there was any legal ban on Americans joining such a rebel force, said they were
not aware of any.
Before the urgings to sign up, "the K.L.A. wanted our money more," said Shaban
Brahimaj, a computer programmer who lives in the Bronx and is an American citizen.
"However, now they are saying 'Help our country now or it will be never.' "
There is no way to tell whether these new recruits will ever make it into Kosovo, or
fight.
Albanian-Americans are deeply attached to Albania, and to Kosovo.
They say they had long sent money to the underground Albanian government in the Serbian
province, helping run Albanian schools, hospitals and other institutions after President
Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia stripped Kosovo of autonomy in 1989.
The massacre of guerrilla fighters and their families in Kosovo in March last year
galvanized support for the once ragtag rebel army. Expatriate Albanians began supporting
the guerrillas, too. The money enabled the rebels to buy guns and helped their ranks
swell, said an Albanian-American leader who requested anonymity.
Albanian-American leaders say there are about 500,000 people of Albanian descent in the
United States, half in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. They are now donating tens of
thousands of dollars to the rebels, said Hysni Syla, a rebel representative in the United
States and Canada. Those figures could not be confirmed.
On Thursday night, about 300 would-be soldiers were gathered at a catering hall in North
Bergen, N.J., for the first meeting -- a kind of strategy session and pep rally -- of the
newest American recruits.
"We must fight the big beast!" cried a man who said he represented the rebels.
"We must liberate the motherland! Today we are all Albanians in Kosovo!"
Another man shouted, "We may die, but not Kosova!"
Many feel torn between their country overseas and their lives and family here. Mr.
Brahimaj has to support his parents, wife, 5-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son, and a
niece, 13, who is orphaned. Yet, he said, "if I don't go there, I would feel like a
very bad person."
Mr. Brahimaj had volunteered for the Kosovo Liberation Army and the United States Army,
planning to choose the one that took him first. Last week, he received calls from both.
And Friday, he said, with regret in his voice, he accepted the United States Army's offer.
"I had doubts," he said of the rebels. "Where are they going to get guns?
And believe me, you need a little training."
Agin Gjevukaj, 26, who has volunteered to join the rebels in his native Kosovo, said,
"I know we are not going to a wedding." He arrived when he was 16, settling in
the Bronx. Last week, after 10 years making pizzas, he quit and signed up.
"We are going to war," he said. "We'll be killed, some of us. I love my
country, and my people are very strong. I am very happy."
Americans fly overseas to join
Kosovo rebels
April 12, 1999 Web posted at: 11:16 AM EDT (1516 GMT)
YONKERS, New York (AP) -- It was a tale of two cultures ready for war in Kosovo: Hundreds
of Americans in camouflage uniforms in formation at a suburban parking lot, saying
good-bye -- perhaps forever.
A light rain began to fall Sunday as more than 400 soldiers-to-be dissolved into
tear-drenched hugs with their families.
This week they fly to Albania, to be trained for a death-defying mission, crossing the
mountainous border sprinkled with land mines to join the Kosovo Liberation Army.
An old man in a traditional Muslim skullcap wiped his eyes, standing alongside red-eyed
grandmothers in headscarves. And tough youths from the Bronx wearing Yankees caps fell
into bear hugs with weeping young men headed for guerrilla war.
They live in America, these men and women who volunteered to fight the Serbs in Kosovo.
And on Sunday, they pulled shiny new combat boots and army-green sacks from their Fords,
Chevys and Mercedes-Benzes.
"Albanians are willing to die for freedom!" yelled Joseph DioGuardi, head of the
Albanian-American Civic League, to the recruits and their families.
"Yeah!" responded 4-year-old Laura Muriqi, whose father, a Manhattan doorman,
stood at attention in his camouflage uniform.
"It's dangerous, but it's the last chance to be free or die," said Remziga
Gjonbalaj, tears in her eyes. She was among about 500 Albanian-Americans weeping and
cheering in the lot outside the Albanian-run Royal Regency Hotel.
Her brother, a waiter in a New York restaurant, was one of the would-be soldiers leaving
this week on charter flights from New York to Tirana, Albania.
"I'm very happy I'm sending my son, I'm very proud," said Elfet Kodra, a mother
clutching her youngest son's camouflage jacket.
Born in Brooklyn, 19-year-old Isa Kodra is a National Guard platoon sergeant who was
helping with the training. On Sunday, he stood facing the recruits, an American flag
stitched to his sleeve. He's taking a leave of absence from the Guard to fight.
The families were told to say their good-byes on this raw spring day at the swearing-in
ceremony. As they listened to rousing speeches, many clung more tightly to their children.
"Bye, daddy!" said Laura, waving from her aunt's arms. Wearing her best black
leather shoes and snow white tights, she held up her tiny hand and shaped two fingers into
a "V."
Her 34-year-old father, Feriz Muriqi, and his 31-year-old brother, Besim, placed their
hands on their hearts as a soprano with an Albanian accent sang "The Star-Spangled
Banner," followed by the Albanian anthem.
Then the crowd chanted "U.S.A.!"
But there was no doubt which nation drew their fiercest allegiance.
"Kosovo Liberation Army! Free Kosovo!" they roared.
Little Laura echoed softly, "Free Kosovo..."
Some recruits have U.S. military experience or, in the case of the older men, as soldiers
in the Yugoslav army, but most are untrained. Their Army-Navy surplus uniforms were brand
new, still sharply creased.
Sanije Bruncaj, 19, was toughened up for combat by her stint as a wide receiver -- and the
only female player -- on her Yonkers high school football team.
"It's not going to be pretty," said the Mercy College student, gently stroking
the crewcut head of her 7-year-old brother, Gezim.
IT'S A WILD WORLD FOR ROB VICTIM
CAT STEVENS
By BILL HOFFMANN
NY POST
Macedonian border guards robbed former pop star Cat Stevens of $35,000 as he tried to
cross into Albania to hand out the cash to starving refugees, the former singer charged.
Stevens, who now goes by the name Yusuf Islam, said he was forced to give up the money
before the guards would let him pass.
The hitmaker - who rode the charts in the 1970s with hits such as "Peace Train,"
"Wild World" and "Morning Has Broken" - is among those taking part in
the relief effort for Kosovo Albanians fleeing from Serb oppression.
He had been distributing aid to people in Macedonia who had been sharing their homes with
refugees, before he was stopped trying to take aid into Albania.
"It's absolutely tragic," Stevens told the BBC in London.
"We're absolutely furious. Obviously everybody knows why we're here - to help those
people who have tragically gone through this and who are going through this problem of
ethnic cleansing - and they've robbed us."
Border guards made the "small procedural issue" of getting through the border
with aid for Albania into a "torturous bureaucratic obstacle," he said.
"Quite frankly, it's just another obstacle which I think has been repeated throughout
this tragic event."
Last year, the singer launched a charity album for Bosnia more than 20 years after he said
music was not compatible with his newfound Islamic faith.
The record - called "I Have No Cannons That Roar" - features Bosnian artists
singing songs from the war period, as well as an a cappella track sung by Islam.
He said music helped strengthen the spirit of survival among Bosnian Muslims.
MACEDONIAN REFUGE IS NO REFUGE AT
ALL (NY POST)
By NLIES LATHAM
NY POST
POGRADEC, Albania. AJETE BEGA survived the Serbian hit squads, a harrowing flight to
freedom and the hellish conditions of the no-man's land at the Kosovo-Macedonia border.
But what really disturbs this 29-year old mother of two children from Pristina, Kosovo, is
the coldhearted treatment she received when she got to Macedonia.
"The Macedonians, they treated us badly," Bega said through an interpreter.
"They didn't even let us get off the bus to get food or water, and we went a long
time without food and water," she said.
Bega sat, surrounded by family and other Kosovar Albanians, in a chilly, dark and dusty
courtyard in a fabric factory that has been converted into a teeming refugee center in
this lakeside city near the mountainous Macedonian border.
She was one of 1,500 Kosovar refugees who had been bused here by a Macedonian government
that had suddenly grown hostile to the plight of the victims of Serbian ethnic cleansing.
More Kosovars from Macedonia are in other cities south of here. Relief workers say
thousands more may be on the way.
On the southern border of Kosovo, the country that once opened its doors to the Kosovars
now fears economic and political turmoil, and its official cold shoulder is creating new
tensions with the Albanians and complicating this already dire Balkans crisis.
"The Macedonians have treated these people like animals," said Joost van Den
Hee, a worker for Agrinas, the Dutch humanitarian organization running this camp.
"It's just like what the Serbs are doing - kicking the Albanians out. The Macedonians
are worried that there will soon be too many Albanians in their country, which will limit
their power, so they are just throwing them out," he said.
Van Den Hee said there are "several" families in his camp who were deliberately
separated by the Macedonians when they crossed the border to Albania.
Other Kosovars who crowded around in the courtyard were also angry at their treatment by
the Macedonians.
Ismet Kera, 52, a phys-ed teacher from Vishtria, said he saw a handful of Kosovar
Albanians beaten by Macedonian police when they tried to get off the bus to get a drink of
water, after their long, agonizing stay in the no-man's land near Blace, Macedonia.
Astrit Tourlan, 21, from Pristina, said she was invited to stay in her cousins' home in
Macedonia but was bused to Albania and dumped in this faraway camp.
Others said they weren't told where they were going.
Still others were promised they were going to Germany or other Western European cities but
ended up here - without money or identity papers, in the middle of the mountains.
To understand the confusion and desperate anxiety that this particular group of refugees
was subjected to, Ajete Bega's story is particularly compelling.
She said she was routed from her Pristina home 10 days ago by "Arkan's men,"
referring to the most fearsome Serbian paramilitary unit, also known as the
"Tigers."
"They robbed us of all our money and jewelry and sent us to the train station where
we waited for two days," she said.
Once she and her family reached the Macedonia border, they waited six days in the misery
and mud in the cold night air, waiting to be let into Macedonia.
"It was terrible. There was an epidemic. Many, many people got sick," Bega
recalled.
"The Serbs were already starting to make people go back. They were telling people to
go home, that it was safe. We didn't believe them. We knew they were going to use us as
hostages for the NATO bombing. Many people were beaten and forced to go back," she
said.
Finally, because of the growing health crisis at the border, Bega and her large, extended
family were among the last group to be admitted into Macedonia.
Like other Kosovars, she had family and friends she wanted to stay with near the Skopje
area.
But instead of being cared for after he ordeal, she was quickly carted onto a bus and sent
to Albania without being told anything.
Now she's a two-time refugee - living a double nightmare.
Local reps see need for ground
force (Newsday)
By Ellen Yan
Washington Bureau
Washington -- In an orphanage in Rome last week, Rep. Joseph Crowley met the face of
Kosovo's desperation, a 14-year-old boy whose mother put him alone on a rubber raft to
sail more than 80 miles across the Adriatic Sea to safety in Italy.
"He's living in an orphanage where there are orphans from all parts of the
Balkans," said Crowley (D-Elmhurst), whose congressional trip to Italy was taken up
by classified briefings from NATO commanders and Italian officials. "He was happy to
be where he was. It put a human face on it for me, a mother who feared for her son's life
and the risks they're willing to take."
All the Queens and Long Island delegation members polled last week -- three could not be
reached -- said that sending ground troops to Kosovo is necessary or inevitable. Their
views against Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic have been hardened by reports of
atrocities against ethnic Albanians there. Few have clear views of the endgame, but more
and more, they have begun to steel themselves for the likelihood of U.S. casualties.
Disturbed by a lack of specifics from the White House, they expect to air their questions
on the House floor this week while they decide how to fund the conflict.
"I would tend to approve of sending ground troops in if it makes a difference in
people's lives," said Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola), who was also in Italy and
met with NATO military leaders. "You cannot have an ethnic cleansing. As a
superpower, we cannot have this go on."
But U.S. officials may have helped Milosevic, boxed in NATO and played down the atrocities
by saying they have no intention of sending in ground troops, said several members of the
New York delegation.
"He [Milosevic] doesn't have to set up any defense formation," said Rep. Pete
King (R-Seaford), co-chair of the congressional Albanian Issues Caucus and an
international relations committee member. "He doesn't have to block roads. All he has
to worry about is killing Kosovars."
Crowley, a member of the House international relations committee, said Milosevic should be
removed as leader and tried for his crimes. "The only way you can do that is an
all-out conflict," he said, and "not have any question as to whether or not we
committed enough of ourselves to the effort."
In his eyes, Milosevic's actions have drained any life out of the Rambouillet peace
proposal, which was signed by Kosovar Albanians and would have allowed Serb troops to
remain in Kosovo in reduced numbers. "I don't know if any of those people can go back
to Kosovo and live under the jurisdiction of Milosevic," Crowley said.
Some New York representatives wonder why the Serb leader is still in power after more than
two weeks of bombing. They have been critical of the military tactics and surprised that
they and White House advisers could not predict Milosevic's speed in emptying Kosovo.
"There's no reason why a country the size of Ohio with 10 million people, which was
defeated by Croatia in 1995, should be allowed to get the upper hand in the first two
weeks of the war," King said. "When it first started, I was assuming the air
attacks would be all-out like we did in Baghdad. There were more bombs dropped in Baghdad
on the first day of the war than on the first 10 days of Kosovo."
During the Easter recess, King visited five European countries, getting his information
from NATO officials and Allied leaders. U.S. military leaders in NATO were hobbled from
conducting an all-out attack, he said, because any tactic requires the nod from all 19
countries. Army Gen. Wesley Clark, commander of NATO's U.S. forces, wanted to bomb the
Yugoslavian capital of Belgrade on the first day of strikes, but it took him about eight
days to get approval, King said.
King favors giving Kosovo autonomy and stationing NATO troops there for years to keep
peace.
Others in the New York delegation are less certain about how to settle the fate of Kosovo.
But in a state with a large Jewish population, they are haunted by images of Kosovo
refugees pushed out of the country in rail cars. It is the specter of trains packed with
people bound for World War II death camps.
"There are some eerie parallels," said Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn).
"Many people think that a small commitment of air power at the beginning of the
Holocaust could have been used to knock out the train tracks to the camps."
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Far Rockaway) and Rep. Michael Forbes (R-Quogue) were on vacation
last week. The office of Rep. Rick Lazio (R-Brightwaters) said he was unavailable to talk
about Kosovo.
At stake is U.S. credibility and its resolve, said Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Queens/L.I.).
Milosevic is banking on the public turning against intervention when the first American is
killed, just like the 1993 peacekeeping mission in Somalia. "A lot of people are
watching this very closely in different parts of the world," Ackerman said. "If
we fail this test, we're going to be in much bigger trouble all over the place."
Massive cemetery near the factory
of the munitions in Skėnderaj
Skėnderaj, April 12th (Kosovapress) Even in the village Prekaz i Poshtėm, at the factory
of munitions there is a massive cemetery, where is supposed to have been buried all the
disappeared people from Skėnderaj and the villages around. In the Commune of Skėnderaj,
the massive military and police serbian forces are hidden in two scholar objects, in the
object of the Koperativės Bujqėsore in Klinė tė eperme, in Klinė tė mesme and in the
quarter of e Boshnjakve. A big arsenal is hidden also in the villages of Galicė,Dubofc
and Beqiq of Vushtrri. The military police serbian forces burnt today the villages Qubrel,
Kotorr, and partly the village Kuqicė. In Mitrovica, a big armament arsenal is hidden in
this places: In the location of the first tunnel, in Zveqan tė vogėl, all the industrial
objects in Mitrovica are filled with military arsenal and soldiers, in the public bars of
Mitrovica, in the medium technical school, in the House of Culture, in the nursery of
children, in the football stadium, in the house of merchandize, and in the typography.
The criminal serbian forces shoot, burn and loot in the
city of Mitrovica
Mitrovicė, April 12th (Kosovapress) The serbian ēetniks, helped by the serbian army and
police in Mitrovica and environs, every day are shooting, burning and looting the innocent
albanians. Yesterday, in the vicinity of Urės tė Ibrit, some armed serbian women have
physically ill-treated the albanian women and children that had gone to the quarter of
Iber to get food from their dwelling houses from which they had been violently expelled by
the serbian police, while every night ēetnik groups leaded by Bozhuri, Mirosllavi,
Ratkoantonijeviq, Dean Saviq, Devan Paviqeviq and Boban, helped by other policemen are
burning houses and quarters such as the quarters at Kroni i Vitakut, Kodra e Minatorėve,
Rruga e 2 Korrikut, Qendra Bair and the villages Suhadolli i epėrm and Suhadoll i
poshtėm. In the village of Qabėr, the serbian army and police burnt 44 albanian houses,
while the village of Rahovė is completely burnt. There have also been burning in
Stantėrg and Shupkofc. In the entrance of the village of Qabėr, the serbian military
forces have excavated the ground, placing there many dead bodies of the albanians. They
have further covered this cemetery with killed cattle.