[ALBSA-Info] {QIKSH «ALBEUROPA»} NEWS: BBC/AP: Albanians remember Mitrovica killings / Kosovo Victims Remembered at Ceremony (February 3, 2001)

[Wolfgang Plarre]

http://news6.thdo.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1152000/1152148.stm

Saturday, 3 February, 2001, 18:34 GMT 

Albanians remember Mitrovica killings

Italian K-For troops distribute leaflets appealing for calm
By Nicholas Wood in Mitrovica
    Up to 3,000 ethnic Albanians have been holding a candle-lit vigil in
the divided Kosovan city of Mitrovica to mark the deaths of nine people
killed in inter-ethnic violence one year ago. 
    After one of the most violent weeks Mitrovica has seen in almost a
year, the Nato-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo had feared the ceremony
would degenerate into violent protest. 
    Much of the violence has been focused on French troops, whom the
protestors blame for failing to protect Albanians living in the
Serb-dominated north of the city. 
    But the head of the United Nations mission in Kosovo, Hans
Haekkerup, and the commander of K-For, General Carlo Cabigiosu, had been
lobbying local politicians hard to ensure the protests remained
peaceful. 
    There were 2,000 troops deployed for the occasion. 
    They included over 200 soldiers from the US army who rarely leave
their area of operations in south-eastern Kosovo. 
    Ultimately the heavy military presence was not needed; the
protestors melted away as quickly as they had arrived, leaving hundreds
of candles lining doorways, pavements and roads.

Further violence?

This week's violence was sparked off by the killing of a 14-year old
Albanian boy. 
    Albanian leaders say there is a strong possibility of further
violence unless action is taken to curb gangs of self-appointed security
troops who roam the north of the city. 
    The UN mission in Kosovo says it has devised a plan to tackle the
problem - when it will be implemented is less clear.
_______________________________________________________________________
http://news.excite.com/news/ap/010203/21/int-kosovo

Kosovo Victims Remembered at Ceremony

Updated 9:43 PM ET February 3, 2001
By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer 

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Yugoslavia (AP) - Thousands of ethnic Albanians held
a vigil Saturday to commemorate nine people killed in clashes with Serbs
a year ago. After four days of unrest, the gathering was marked by a
lack of violence. 
    Clutching lit candles, the crowd stood silently for about a
half-hour to mark the first anniversary of the killings in the northern,
predominantly Serb part of the industrial, ethnically divided city. 
    While peacekeepers have sought to prevent ethnic clashes, violence
has flared several times in recent months and again for four consecutive
days this week. The violence involved mainly ethnic Albanian radicals
seeking to storm a bridge leading into the predominantly Serbian quarter
and French peacekeepers firing tear gas and stun grenades to stop them. 
    The demonstrators met Saturday in the southern center of town in
front of a French base, the scene of this week's clashes. Besides those
in town, hundreds of peacekeepers were deployed in Kosovska Mitrovica to
head off new violence, but they were not visible in an attempt not to
provoke the crowd. There were no speeches. 
    On Feb. 2, 2000 a rocket attack on a United Nations bus killed two
Serb civilians, sparking some three weeks of unrest in which at least a
dozen people were killed and many injured. 
    "We are protesting today the killing ... which happened last year,"
said Bajram Rexhepi, a local Albanian leader. 
    Rexhepi said he and other local officials consider themselves
guarantors of an agreement with the peacekeepers concluded on Thursday
to ensure that peace return to the tense city. 
    The document called for more troops and U.N. and local police; the
extension of a so-called confidence zone set up nearly a year ago on
both sides of the main bridge separating the city's Serb and ethnic
Albanian communities, and creating conditions for freedom of movement
and the return of displaced families. 
    Many ethnic Albanians in Kosovo distrust the French peacekeepers
because they believe they are pro-Serb. 
    "The French are keeping our town divided, but if there's a need I am
going to fight in order to get it united," said 22-year-old Lulzim
Ramadani. "The French should go back to France and leave the city to
us." 
    There is broad agreement among foreign and many Albanian officials
that a pullout of French and other troops providing security in the town
is unthinkable for a long time to come. 
    Kosovska Mitrovica, located 25 miles from the capital, Pristina,
remains the province's most tense town, more than 1 1/2 years after NATO
ended its 78-day air war. The air campaign was launched to force former
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to halt his crackdown on ethnic
Albanians. 
    Kosovo remains a province of Serbia, the larger of Yugoslavia's two
republics.

©2001 AP All rights reserved


------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-~>
eGroups is now Yahoo! Groups
Click here for more details
http://click.egroups.com/1/11231/1/_/920292/_/981315058/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->

Na dërgoni vërejtjet dhe sugjerimet tuaja, që QIKSH Albeuropa të jetë më e pëlqyeshme, më efikase dhe më e dobishme - në shërbim të Mërgatës, të mbarë kombit dhe të atdheut tonë - Shqipërisë Etnike.

Nëse e sheh të arsyeshme dhe të dobishme, dërgo shkrimet e ALBEUROPËS në E-mail-et e miqve tuaj dhe i regjistro ata në:

albeuropa-subscribe at egroups.com

Nëse don të çregjistrohesh nga ALBEUROPA, dërgo një Email në:

albeuropa-unsubscribe at egroups.com