[kcc-news] (Kosova ) Bugajski: "For the kind of Yugoslavia that exists now, I see no future"

[Mentor Cana]

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____________________________________________________________________

	Another genocide is happening, another holocaust...
	It is 1998....
	It is Kosova....
	UN, EU, US and the world are letting it happen....
____________________________________________________________________

(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.

The European Commission will sketch the list of such persons, by the end of
this year, it is stated in the conclusions of the EU Foreign Ministers.





(Bugajski-second part of the interview)

"For the kind of ‘Yugoslavia’ that exists now, I see no future
"

KD: Let's pass on something else. Before the offensive during the summer,
the foreign diplomats created a negative image for the KLA. Then came the
offensive. Many considered it was done after the international community's
"green light". How do you see KLA present positions and how do you see it in
the future?

Bugajski: I think that KLA's perception in the past was up and down.
Initially, I was against it also. KLA was considered in Washington as a
terrorist organization. However, my belief was that if someone needed to be
called a terrorist, then they are the elements of the Serb security forces.
But then, due to the situation at the beginning of the year, when the Serbs
more or less thought that the international community will intervene, a
vacuum appeared in Kosova, and it was filled by the KLA. Then, KLA began to
be seen as a much stronger force than it really was, better organized,
better directed, well structured, better furnished than it really was. Yet,
when the Serb offensive came along, they lost the territory very quickly.
That gave me indications that this force in a way served Milosevic's
aspirations to exaggerate its force, and thus managed to present the KLA as
a destabilizing force for the entire region, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro
and hence gained the world's support for his attack against this
organization.

But what we saw was that KLA was never a strong organization, but at the
same time is not that weak neither. It is an organization that shows how
well are the local defensive forces, the small guerilla forces, organized.
Now, hopefully, KLA will come out more as a coherent organization,
politically active and involved, that is not engaged in attempts to hold the
territories, if such a thing is done, but it engages in what it is capable
of doing in the given circumstances. I think KLA has an important role to
play now and this should be the next step. In other words, it should be
included in the negotiating process, it should be included in the
administration of Kosova, because it includes large measures of the people
of Kosova and it could simply be ignored.

KD: How do you see the Albanian political scene? President Rugova seems to
have lost a good part of credibility, he once had. Nevertheless, he
continues to have support from the American diplomacy...

Bugajski: I think what happened is, that not he personally, but his strategy
lost a good part of credibility, because it showed that it wasn't leading

towards the results of the referendum of 1991, the results of the
aspirations of Kosova people. It is a feeling that the passive resistance in
a way leads to nowhere (because the international community did not help the
process of self-determination of the Kosova people ), so I can understand
the frustration and fear as well as aspirations that have started to boil,
but also the support for the KLA and for the other political parties. I
don't believe that Rugova is now a lost political figure. He still has an
important role to play, maybe not the only one, but he is most surely a very
respected figure internationally.I think Americans are in his favor, because
he spoke in our language, in the sense of the political solution of the
conflict. But I think that now is the time when the other political actors
also need to be included and I believe they will be included in this
process. This, I have even seen in the previous days and weeks. I would not
ignore Rugova, I know him personally, he holds in his heart, what is the
best for Albanians of Kosova and some even think that he avoided a bloody
conflict during the past few years, by not provoking an aggressive military
challenge of the Serb authorities. So there are different ways of viewing
his policies over the past few years, but I think he has to obviously
continue to be involved in the process, because his voice still carries a
lot of weight.


KD: Political negotiations are going towards an interim settlement. The
Albanian side, with its political and military wings, showed a flexibility
by giving up from the demand for immediate independence. However, it insists
that the referendum be a part of the interim settlement. Do you think a
solution that does not consider this demand would be successful?

Bugajski: I think that, to have an agreement you have to have some version
of the permanent, ultimate agreement and the pressure the agreement will
depend on:

First, the position of "Yugoslavia" if it still exists after three years,
whether Milosevic is still in power or whether we have in fact a democratic
system.

Second, the will of the Albanian majority in Kosova. I can understand the
position of the KLA, Demaçi and others, who are demanding some kind of a
referendum, and at the end of this period to be able to express the will of
the population. I think you may also come through other forms that don't
necessary have to be a referendum. The elections themselves, if they indeed
take place under these interim accord, will bring to power, the people that
represent and have the voice of the majority of the Albanian people. So it
may not be necessary to have a referendum at this point, but there must be
something in the agreement, which allows that government to make some
decisions about the status of Kosova after this interim accord expires.

KD: But, if the authorities in Kosova, of whom you are talking about, will
be elected as a result of their political programs that propagate
independence for Kosova, does this mean their will would be respected?

Bugajski: I think the will of the people of Kosova should be respected.

KD: Recently there have been a lot of rumors about the change of the course
of the American policy towards Milosevic. What do you think about this?

Bugajski: I am personally hoping that it is not just a verbal strategy, but
it is actually a practical strategy. It has to be backed up by actions and
not just words. But it is for sure that a lot of people in the American
administration, and also in the NATO allies capitals, are very frustrated
with Milosevic and finally understand that he is not the solution but the
problem in this region. And with him in power, there is a danger for first
of all; increasing the non-stability, secondly-of prolonged military
presence deployment in Bosnia, in Macedonia, maybe in Kosova in the future,
(maybe even in Montenegro and other places) , which is something that

neither Washington nor NATO powers would like to see. In order that there be
stability in the region, I personally believe that, there has to be a
systemic transformation in Serbia, not just a change in the government. But,
I think Milosevic is problem number one, and our people have realized it.
Yet, our question is, what are they going to do about it now. Unfortunately,
we still depend on him, less though I would say than in Bosnia, but
increasingly because of this interim accord in Kosova. If the interim accord
isn't signed, then his position I think will weaken still further and the
negative perceptions on him will increase correspondly.

KD: Do you believe the remains of "Yugoslavia" will decompose?

Bugajski: For the kind of "Yugoslavia" that exists now, I see no future.
Whether it is going to be a restructured "Yugoslavia" depends, first of all
on the systemic transformation, and in the will of the nations in this
country. And I don't see any will or prospect in the immediate future that
this will happen.


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