[kcc-news] Serb troops continue to attack Albanian villages

[Mentor Cana]

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KCC Headlines, December 20, 1998

Serb troops continue to attack Albanian villages... 
    * Gllogjan attacked again on Saturday (Arta) 
    * Shootout in the Klinë region (Arta) 
    * Two-hour-long shooting in Qesta e Reqakut (Arta) 
Statements... 
    * Koh: "The Belgrade regime accused media for activities, for which is
    responsible itself" (Arta) 
    * Solana: Air strikes threat is still on (Arta) 
    * Qosja: "We are tragically late to agree between ourselves" (Arta) 
Army reinforcements in Kosova... 
    * Large military forces deployed in the Batllavë airport (Arta) 
World Press 
    * Yugoslavs cross into Albanian border, fire shots (Reuters) 
    * SERBIA GAGS OPPOSITION MEDIA, PRESSES ATTACKS IN KOSOVO (Chicago
Tribune) 


KOSOVA (escalation of violence – Deçan)

Gllogjan attacked again on Saturday

Deçan, 19 December (ARTA) 1700CET --

The village of Gllogjan was attacked, first with light weapons and then, 
large caliber cannons, for several hours, on Saturday, the "KD" 
correspondent, from Deçan informs.

No reports on eventual consequences of the attack this Saturday, were 
issued, although there is information on two young Albanians, killed during 
the attack on Thursday. Their unidentified bodies are still in the Gjakovë 
hospital morgue.

There are claims that two more houses were burnt in the village of Gllogjan 
and 25 villagers were arrested on the streets of the Deçan villages, as they 
returned to their destroyed villages a day before.

Along with the 23 other Albanian arrested, the brothers Hazir and Musa 
Kasumi, education workers in Gramaçel, were also held for several hours at 
the police station in Gjakovë. They had just recently returned to their 
burnt homes, and were arrested on the street just outside. The "KD" 
correspondent quoted the arrested as saying they were severely maltreated.

The population that had just returned to their homes in Baballoç, Gramaçel, 
Dubravë, and Shaptej, fled them again on Thursday.

Xhavit Rexhahmetaj (23), from the village of Isniq, who was among the 36 
killed in the village of Lugishtë, of Has, on 14 December, was identified. 
Whereas, Xhevdet Tolaj,

was added to the list of missing persons. He is supposed to be from the 
village of Pobërgjë, of Deçan, the "KD" correspondent reports.

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KOSOVA (shooting – Klinë)

Shootout in the Klinë region

Klinë, 19 December (ARTA) 1800CET --

There were frequent movements of Serb forces, equipped with full fighting 
gear, from their positions at the bauxite mine in Volljakë, in the direction 
of the villages of Përçevë, Sferkë, Volljakë and Çupevë e Epërme.

Whereas, the "KD" correspondent from Klinë, notifies that the villages of 
Sferkë and Dush were subjected to heavy shooting at around 2200CET.

Firepower was also on display late Saturday in Klinë proper, as there was a 
large presence of Serb forces in town the next day.

In the meantime, the Serb Court in Prishtina, sentenced Albert Shala, from 
Ujëmir with two years imprisonment.

On the other hand, it has been confirmed that one of the victims killed at 
the Kosova-Albanian border, is the 21 year old Bashkim Krasniqi from
Zllakuqan.

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KOSOVA (shootout – Shtime)

Two-hour-long shooting in Qesta e Reqakut

Shtime, 19 December (ARTA) 1730CET --

Automatic gunfire directed towards the Qesta e Reqakut locality, was carried 
out today from 2000CET to 2200CET. Witnesses believe that the shooting came 
from the nursing house and the police station in Shtime. The CDHRF informs 
that there were no victims, although there were cases when Albanian 
residents were arrested and maltreated in the town proper during Friday and 
Saturday.

On the other hand, Asim Asimi, from the village of Balincë, was arrested on 
17 December, in the administration office, where he went to get his IDs. He 
was sent to the police station in Ferizaj, where he is still being kept. Isa 
Tërshani, the imam of the mosque in Shtime, was also taken to the police 
station for two days in a row.

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KOSOVA (reinforcements – Podujevë)

Large military forces deployed in the Batllavë airport


Podujevë, 19 December (ARTA) 1720CET --

Large military forces and fighting technique were deployed in the Batllavë 
airport, on Friday at around 0900CET, CDHRF and LDK sources in Podujevë
inform.

These sources inform that these military forces that were coming from the 
direction of Prishtina, started stationing in the Batllavë airport from 
0830CET until 0930CET. According to the same sources, over 33 military 
vehicles, 20 tanks and other armored vehicles were stationed in this 
airport. Police and military forces were posted in different points along 
the Prishtina-Lluzhan-Batllavë road, during the early morning hours, even 
before these forces arrived, the "KD" corespondent informs.

Meanwhile, over 30 police officers were posted on the Lluzhan crossroad, 
part of which conducted checked all passersby thoroughly. The other part, 
took their positions on the bridge over the Llap river, in several spots, 
monitoring the terrain, while three tanks were safeguarding the crossroad. 
Three other tanks were placed in Vranidoll, at the local military base.

According to the same sources, large police reinforcements were also 
witnessed on Friday, at the police stations in Podujevë, Lluzhan, and Orllan.

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KOSOVA (US Deputy Secretary for democracy
 - Prishtina)

Koh: "The Belgrade regime accused media for activities, for which is 
responsible itself"

Prishtina, 19 December (ARTA) 1900CET --

"What I have seen concerning the situation of human rights in Kosova is very 
disturbing", said in a press conference held last evening at the USIS 
offices, the American deputy secretary for democracy, human rights and 
labor, Harold Koh.

"The US condemn the violence from all sides, and requests from Serbs and 
Albanians, to give up the new cycle of retaliation strategy", said Koh. He 
added that he was very sorry to hear about the killing of the six Serbs in 
Pejë and the deputy-mayor in Fushë Kosovë.

The threats made by the Serb authorities to close down the Albanian daily 
newspapers, Koh evaluated as "intolerant attacks against the rights to free 
press and a violation of the human right standards".

"Ironically, the Government's letter, accuses the newspapers for urging 
non-tolerance, which is an act for which the Belgrade regime is to be 
blamed. Through its actions, Belgrade's regime is telling all newspapers 
that they cannot work without feeling fear", said he. Koh visited Kosova to 
get informed on the human rights’ situation. During his stay, he met with 
the leaders of Kosova, Ambassador Walker, journalists and also visited 
prisons and hospitals.

"I saw a policemen, posted, outside the hospital of Prishtina. Common 
residents of Kosova, continue to be treated as military targets", stated 
Harold Koh.

"The press is being threatened and closed down by the Government without any 
reason. The poor and discriminating condition continues to prevail in 
prisons. Milosevic's regime continues to illegally prevent the work of the 
investigators of The Hague International Tribunal for War Crimes and of 
independent forensic experts. I saw tired and disconsolate people and a 
catastrophe of human rights that is still going on", said Koh expressing in 
several sentences, the situation in Kosova that he managed to see during his 
one day stay in Kosova.

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KOSOVA (Contact Group Ambassadors – Prishtina part I)

Qosja: "We are tragically late to agree between ourselves"

Prishtina, 19 December (ARTA) 2000CET --

The Contact Group Ambassadors visited Prishtina on Saturday, on their first 
round of talks to unite the Albanian political forces in one negotiating 
group. Wolfgang Petritch, the Austrian Ambassador to Belgrade and the EU 
envoy for Kosova, headed the team of six Contact Group member states, found 
after the disintegration of the former

Yugoslavia.

Petritch and the French Ambassador to Macedonia, Jacques Huntzinger, held 
their first meeting with President Rugova, on Saturday, to stress the 
urgency of "forming a real negotiating team, which would include all 
Albanian political forces of Kosova".


The Austrian and French Ambassadors, initially "expressed their concern with 
the deteriorating situation in Kosova and the fact that the political 
process of negotiations was blocked".

"Time is passing", said Huntzinger adding, "the negotiations will be 
starting in a short period of time".

Concerning the meeting with Agani, Ambassador Petritch, said that they "got 
positive replies that lead to the right direction".

"But, there is still no complete devotion that would be leading towards the 
formation of some sort of a negotiating team", said Petritch.

Meanwhile, the head of the Albanian negotiating team, Agani stated that "the 
Contact Group member state Ambassadors in Belgrade, came here to convey the 
Group's message, which consisted on stressing the urgent moment and need for 
the negotiating process to recommence with as much seriousness as possible".

They had a few warnings for the Albanian side, said Agani adding that they 
had to do with the readiness to negotiate but also with the last events on 
the ground.

Asked whether he was ready to accept KLA presence in the process, Agani 
stated the following: "all political forces that are present in Kosova, 
should participate in the negotiations that are to take place".

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BELGIUM (NATO - Kosova)

Solana: Air strikes threat is still on (Arta)

Brussels, 19 December (ARTA) 1730CET --

NATO Secretary General, Javier Solana, reiterated that NATO stills views 
that the crisis in Kosova can be solved only through political means, and 
not militarily. Solana said in a press briefing that NATO would continue to 
pay heed to the developments in Kosova, adding that it will keep the 
activation order for air strikes on, in case of need.

"NATO is now carrying out its air observing mission dynamically, with 2-6 
flights daily. The Extraction Forces are now stationed in the Former 
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, ready to act, whereas cooperation with the 
OSCE is also on the level", said Solana.

Another official declaration on Kosova also emerged from the ministers' 
meeting, in a form of the meeting's final document. In the final document 
that was adopted in the conference held in Brussels, the ministers of 
defense of NATO member states expressed their stand in favor of continuing 
to pressure the "FRY" through threats of air strikes.

The official declaration says that the "threats have so far resulted with 
the agreement for the beginning of the NATO air observing mission over 
Kosova and for the deployment of the OSCE Verifying Mission in Kosova".

The option of air strikes is still open for making the sides involved in the 
conflict in Kosova comply with the requests as foreseen by the UN Security 
Council resolutions, says the declaration of NATO ministers.

The ministers of defense of NATO member states saluted the deployment of the 
OSCE verifying mission, expressing their conviction that these two 
organizations will cooperate. The ministers also expressed their deep 
concern with the recent incidents in Kosova and called both sides to 
restrain from violence and provocation.

They stated their support to earlier decisions of NATO foreign ministers for 
finding a political solution for Kosova, through a status of broader 
autonomy and self-administration, with the perseverance of the "FRY" 
territorial integrity at the same time. The crisis in Kosova, says the 
declaration, must be solved through open and free dialogue, through 
compromise and trust, with international presence.

The situation in Kosova was discussed in the NATO-Russian Permanent Joint 
Council meeting as well. In the absence of the Russian Minister of Defense, 
Igor Sergeyev, the Russian Ambassador to NATO, Sergey Kiselak, represented 
the Russian side. The situation in Iraq and the situation in Kosova were 
given most attention during the meeting.

"There is a high level of acquiesce between NATO and Russia in the case of 
Kosova. Both sides agree that the crisis should be solved through political 
dialogue, they do not support the independence of Kosova, and they both 
agreed that the blame should not be put on one side only", said a senior 
NATO official after the meeting.


However, NATO views that despite KLA provocation, the "Yugoslav" President, 
Slobodan Milosevic, has the greatest responsibility for the crisis in 
Kosova. "The problem should be seen in a more substantial way and the cause 
of the crisis should be analyzed", said the senior NATO official.

The diplomat refused to comment the Russian minister's absence in the 
meeting, but did comment the minister's visit to Belgrade. "I hope Sergeyev 
conveyed the clear message to Milosevic, that he must give up violence and 
get engaged for the beginning of political dialogue with the Albanian side, 
based on the Contact Group proposal", he said.

NATO expects Russia to join the air-observing mission over Kosova. NATO 
sources claimed that Russia has expressed its readiness to do so, but has 
not yet presented the formal request for participation in the mission.

There are still essential differences between NATO and Russia concerning the 
methods of pressure that should be applied on Belgrade. Russia strongly 
opposes the possibility of NATO air strikes against "Yugoslavia" without an 
explicit UN Security Council mandate.

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Yugoslavs cross Albanian border, fire shots (Reuters)

03:47 p.m Dec 19, 1998 Eastern

TIRANA, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Yugoslav soldiers crossed from Serbia's Kosovo 
province into Albania on Friday and fired into a village but there were no 
casualties, Albanian police said on Saturday.

The Yugoslav attack followed the killing of 38 ethnic Albanian guerrillas on 
Monday, part of a larger group of more than 100 separatists who were 
ferrying arms and ammunition from Albania into Kosovo.

``Six Yugoslav soldiers crossed into Albanian territory and opened automatic 
fire at the Zharke village,'' an Albanian Interior Ministry statement said.

``The firing lasted (45 minutes) while 14 other soldiers watched from 
Yugoslav territory. Then they withdrew,'' the statement added.

Guerrillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which wants Kosovo to be 
independent, have been battling Serbian security forces inside Kosovo since 
February.

Soldiers and arms are smuggled into Kosovo from northern Albania across a 
rugged mountain border. Incidents in the area are relatively common.

Yugoslavia claims a total of 16 border incidents have occurred since October 
16 when it agreed to the deployment of 2,000 international peace 
``verifiers'' by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

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SERBIA GAGS OPPOSITION MEDIA, PRESSES ATTACKS IN KOSOVO

By Guy Dinmore Special to the Tribune December 18, 1998

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Serbia on Thursday responded to U.S. efforts to 
revive the peace process in Kosovo province by closing an Albanian-language 
newspaper and pressing ahead with a border offensive against separatists.

Western diplomats were dismayed by developments in Kosovo, which they fear 
could lead to a resumption of full-scale war and described Belgrade's 
actions as a slap in the face to U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke.

Returning to Belgrade this week for the first time since reaching a deal two 
months ago that averted NATO airstrikes, Holbrooke raised the issue of media 
freedom in talks with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on Tuesday.

Holbrooke's pleas for both sides to show restraint in Kosovo after an 
escalation of fighting also appeared to have been ignored; ethnic Albanian 
politicians reported heavy attacks by government forces on villages close to 
the border with Albania.

Binak Kelmendi, editor in chief of Bujku, one of three Albanian-language 
dailies in Kosovo, said that the state-controlled printing house in the 
provincial capital Pristina refused to publish Friday's edition.

Earlier, Kelmendi received a letter from the Serbian information ministry 
accusing Bujku of violating a newly passed media law that also has resulted 
in the closure of several independent Serbian publications. Electricity to 
the Bujku newsroom was cut Thursday, Kelmendi said.


Koha Ditore, another Albanian-language daily, and the weekly Zeri also 
received the letter, warning them of court action if they continued to 
publish articles deemed to be inciting interethnic hatred. The three 
publications broadly support the pro-independence aspirations of Kosovo's 
ethnic Albanian majority.

Diplomats said Belgrade's attack on the Albanian-language media would 
further complicate U.S.-led efforts to negotiate a political settlement to 
the conflict in Kosovo, which has taken more than 1,500 lives this year and 
displaced some 300,000 people.

Under the threat of NATO attack, Milosevic agreed in talks with Holbrooke on 
Oct. 13 to a partial withdrawal of his security forces from Kosovo and the 
presence of 2,000 unarmed international observers to verify the peace 
process. In recent weeks, some special police forces have returned to Kosovo 
and diplomats expressed concern about the movement of armored units of the 
federal Yugoslav army.

Serbian officials said police killed two rebels of the separatist Kosovo 
Liberation Army in the village of Glodjane on Thursday and captured large 
quantities of weapons.

Police in the western town of Pec also rounded up ethnic Albanians suspected 
of involvement in an attack on a cafe on Monday in which six Serb youths 
were killed.


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