From mentor at alb-net.com Tue Aug 3 02:35:24 1999 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1999 02:35:24 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [kcc-news] The Sunday Times: Nato chief tried to block Russians, Jackson ref used to risk Armageddon (fwd) Message-ID: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ! READ & DISTRIBUTE FURTHER ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kosova Crisis Center (KCC) News Network: http://www.alb-net.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kosovapress http://www.kosovapress.com/ Kosova Information Center http://www.kosova.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- -------> Want to HELP the people of Kosova?? <-------- http://www.alb-net.com/kosovahelp/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/99/08/02/timkoskos01002.html?1996766 Nato chief tried to block Russians, Jackson refused to risk Armageddon Generals at war over Kosovo raid FROM IAN BRODIE IN WASHINGTON LIEUTENANT-GENERAL Sir Michael Jackson's refusal to risk Armageddon was at the heart of his tensions with General Wesley Clark, Nato supreme commander, as the occupation of Kosovo began. "I'm not going to start the Third World War for you," the British general was reported to have told General Clark after refusing his orders to send assault troops and helicopters into Pristina airport to block the Russian forces. The clash, in which the British Government backed General Jackson, and the American Government did not support General Clark, surfaced just days after the Nato commander had been abruptly told in a midnight call that he would be replaced next April. Trouble between the generals started immediately after the air war had ended and General Jackson had been made commander on the ground in Kosovo. Talks on Russia's role had broken down in Moscow and 200 Russian troops entered Pristina at 1.30am on June 12. According to Newsweek, General Clark was so anxious to stop the Russians from stealing a march to Pristina airport that he ordered an airborne assault by British and French troops to take the field. But General Jackson would not carry out General Clark's orders, not believing that an assault was necessary. General Clark was not mollified. He asked Admiral James Ellis, the American in charge of Nato's Southern Command, to order helicopters to land on the runways at Pristina so that Russian Ilyushin transports could not land. This time Admiral Ellis balked, saying General Jackson would not like it. The Ilyushins were in fact blocked by the intervention of American officials who persuaded Hungary to deny overflight rights to the Russians. Both General Jackson and General Clark appealed to their political leadership back home for support. General Jackson got all the help he needed. General Clark did not, meaning effectively that his orders had been overruled. General Clark eventually arrived in Kosovo on June 24, saying he had come to consult General Jackson as the commander of Kfor on the progress of Nato's deployment.It was at this meeting that General Clark complained that his orders were not being followed and General Jackson made his remark about the Third World War. General Clark apparently also complained about General Jackson having gone through political channels. The two generals could not be more different, according to David Hackworth, America's most decorated soldier and now a commentator and frequent critic of General Clark and the Pentagon. Last night he said: "Clark is one of those 'Perfumed Princes' at the top of the American military leadership. These are the guys who are totally out of touch with the guys at the bottom. "Mike Jackson has spent his career not worrying about getting his ticket punched but in leading troops. He is the ultimate warrior. Clark has only got eight years of leading troops. Jackson had that before he was a major." The irony for General Clark is that he won the air war in 78 days without a single casualty. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this list send a message to majordomo at alb-net.com In the body of the message include: UNSUBSCRIBE KCC-NEWS From mentor at alb-net.com Thu Aug 5 21:13:36 1999 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1999 21:13:36 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [kcc-news] HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS DEMAND INFORMATION ON THOUSANDS OF DETAINEES AND MISSING PERSONS FROM KOSOVO Message-ID: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ! READ & DISTRIBUTE FURTHER ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kosova Crisis Center (KCC) News Network: http://www.alb-net.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kosovapress http://www.kosovapress.com/ Kosova Information Center http://www.kosova.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- -------> Want to HELP the people of Kosova?? <-------- http://www.alb-net.com/kosovahelp/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS DEMAND INFORMATION ON THOUSANDS OF DETAINEES AND MISSING PERSONS FROM KOSOVO International Community Urged to Press Issue (Pristina, August 6, 1999) -- Six human rights groups, four from Kosovo and two international, called today on the Serbian government to release information about the thousands of ethnic Albanians who are known to have been taken into custody by Serbian forces during the NATO bombing campaign between March 24 and June 15, 1999. More than 2,000 Albanian Kosovars are in detention in Serbia, while at least 1,500 others are unaccounted for, and the lists are growing daily. The precise number of detainees is unknown since the Serbian government has failed to provide accurate figures to lawyers or human rights groups. According to a list compiled by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), based on information from the Serbian Ministry of Justice, approximately 2,000 ethnic Albanians are in Serbian prisons, including people who were arrested on charges of anti-state activities before the NATO campaign. The Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms, a Kosovo-based human rights group, indirectly obtained a list from the Serbian Ministry of Justice with approximately 2,000 names, although some of these detainees are not on the ICRC list. The Society for Political Prisoners in Pristina reports that many families know of relatives in Serbian prisons who are not on either list. The Humanitarian Law Center, with offices in Belgrade and three cities in Kosovo, has thus far confirmed that twenty persons previously considered missing are in Serbian prisons, but they are also not on the lists. Complicating matters is the high number of people taken into custody by Serbian forces during the NATO bombing whose whereabouts are currently unknown. In the city of Djakovica (Gjakova in Albanian) alone, 1,041 people are reported missing as of August 1, 1999, many of whom are known to have been arrested between March and June 1999. Given the frequency of extrajudicial executions throughout Kosovo and the large number of unexamined graves throughout the province, there are very strong reasons to fear that some or all of the missing are dead. The joint appeal called on the Serbian government to immediately inform family members of detainees and missing persons believed to be in custody of the locations of detainees and the reasons for their detention. According to international law, all criminal charges must be made public and the accused must be provided with unrestricted access to a lawyer and family visits. Trials must be in full accordance with international standards. The international community active in Kosovo should press the Serbian government at all opportunities for information on detainees and missing persons, and demand their fair treatment. The status of detainees was not addressed in the Kumanovo Agreement between NATO and the Yugoslav government or in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244/99, which mandated the international presence in Kosovo. Only concerted international pressure will help ensure these people's safety, the organizations said. Human Rights Watch, New York Contact: Fred Abrahams, +3275-528-890 Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms, Pristina Contact: Bexhet Shala, +381-38-26153 Humanitarian Law Center, Belgrade and Kosovo Contact: Natasa Kandic, Teki Bokshi, +381-11-444-3944; +381-63-210-535; Mustafa Radoniqi, Ariana Zherka, +381-63-210-534; Society of Political Prisoners, Pristina Contact: Berat Luzha, +4179-929-01253 Kosovo Helsinki Committee, Pristina Contact: Gazmend Pula, +381-38-26153 Amnesty International, London Contact: Paul Miller, +44-374-114-767 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this list send a message to majordomo at alb-net.com In the body of the message include: UNSUBSCRIBE KCC-NEWS From kosova at justiceforall.org Mon Aug 9 19:09:06 1999 From: kosova at justiceforall.org (Kosova Task Force, USA) Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1999 17:09:06 -0600 Subject: [kcc-news] KosovaTaskForce - Let Kosovars Cross the River Message-ID: <199908092203.PAA25063@newshub1-work.home.com> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ! READ & DISTRIBUTE FURTHER ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kosova Crisis Center (KCC) News Network: http://www.alb-net.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kosovapress http://www.kosovapress.com/ Kosova Information Center http://www.kosova.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- -------> Want to HELP the people of Kosova?? <-------- http://www.alb-net.com/kosovahelp/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kosova Task Force, USA Alert 8/9/99 Ethnic Partition Unacceptable Kosovar refugees tried to return to their homes on Saturday, but were forcefully turned back by French troops. The heavily armed French troops guard a bridge over the Ibar River which runs through Kosovska Mitrovica, a town in northern Kosova. Before the ethnic cleansing campaign by Serbia, this was home to a Kosovar majority which lived peacefully wih the Serb minority. The Serb aggression forced the Kosovar majority to leave their homes in order to save their lives. Under NATO's promise of peace, the Kosovar refugees have returned only to find their town has been divided. They are now only allowed to remain on one side of the river while Serbs occupy the other side. Many Kosovars have tried to cross the river to return to their homes only to be forced back by the Serbs. Meanwhile, Serbs freely cross the bridge and freely mingle on the Kosovar side. Frustrated with the de facto partition of their town, over one thousand Kosovars held a demonstration at the bridge. Serbs gathered on the other side of the bridge and began to taunt and jeer at the Kosovars demanding to be allowed back into their homes. When some Kosovars tried to cross the bridge to return home, French troops stepped in and a shoving match ensued. French troops handcuffed several Kosovars to lamp posts. Kosovars have complained that it is not only the Serbs who are preventing them from returning home, but the French troops as well. The Kosova Task Force, USA, demands that the Kosovar refugees be allowed back to their homes. ACTION REQUESTED: Please participate in the media discussion and raise the following points: ? It is unacceptable to deny the Kosovars their right to return to their homes, thereby creating an ethnically partitioned Kosova. ? An investigation must be conducted into the actions of the French troops preventing the Kosovars from returning to their homes. ? The only solution to this situation is an independent Kosova. Call the French embassy to express your feelings. Be polite and firm. Talking points: ? French troops should be helping Kosovars return to their homes ? French troops should not be used to partition Kosova thereby rewarding ethnic cleansing French Embassy 202-944-6000 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this list send a message to majordomo at alb-net.com In the body of the message include: UNSUBSCRIBE KCC-NEWS From mentor at alb-net.com Wed Aug 11 09:44:40 1999 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 09:44:40 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [kcc-news] LA Times: Kosovo Wells Emerging as Mass Graves (fwd) Message-ID: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ! READ & DISTRIBUTE FURTHER ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kosova Crisis Center (KCC) News Network: http://www.alb-net.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kosovapress http://www.kosovapress.com/ Kosova Information Center http://www.kosova.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- -------> Want to HELP the people of Kosova?? <-------- http://www.alb-net.com/kosovahelp/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kosovo Wells Emerging as Mass Graves By VALERIE REITMAN, Times Staff Writer YSK, Yugoslavia--Dozens of villagers gathered outside the Memaj family's home in this remote hamlet in Kosovo, watching as several masked men clustered around the well, trying to dredge up what lay below. Their worst fear: that the well might be the watery grave of as many as a dozen men. So many corpses have been dumped into wells in Kosovo that the wells are emerging as a major health and reconstruction problem, says the United Nations, which is working to establish a government in the Serbian province. Private wells provide a good deal of the water supply in rural Kosovo. In the Djakovica area in the southwest, for example, the wells in 39 of 44 villages have been contaminated with either human or animal bodies, according to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. Serbian forces apparently stuffed so many bodies of ethnic Albanians into wells during their campaign of terror last spring that the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia is treating them as mass graves in their own right. The Memajs had been waiting for local authorities to help them tackle the job they'd started three weeks earlier, when they pulled three dead cows and a dog out of the well and then the body of 39-year-old Arif Mazrekaj. Mirrors indicated that several objects--possibly bodies--remained, and bullet shells nearby fueled fears. Serbian forces had yanked Mazrekaj, along with more than 70 other men, from a column of refugees attempting to flee Kosovo on March 30. Perhaps some of the others, including the dead man's son--whose jacket and ID card also had been fished out--would be found at the bottom of the well too. Similar scenes have been occurring all over rural Kosovo, as returning ethnic Albanian refugees have come home to find their wells contaminated with bodies. Many have been waiting weeks for help in cleaning them out. Just a few days before the well dredging at Qysk, the mutilated corpses of two teenage boys--one with his ears cut off, the other with his skull smashed--were pulled out of a well in the town of Dedaj. When word of the discovery got out, more than 100 people from the surrounding countryside, their relatives still missing since the war, came to view the corpses, towing wagons behind tractors in case they needed to bring home a body to bury. War crimes investigator Ben Hogan was on hand in Qysk. "It is all part of the [Serbs'] ethnic cleansing, the scorched-earth policy of trying to render the place uninhabitable," Hogan said. Human rights workers and war crimes investigators speculate that Serbs dumped the animals atop the humans to hide their crimes. In Dedaj, the locals found sponges floating in the wells, perhaps to staunch the horrific odor of decaying bodies. Once they pulled the sponges off, the smell of death polluted the entire valley, villagers say. The corpses keep surfacing. Every day, the international aid group Doctors Without Borders receives numerous requests for body bags. In the town of Demjane, near the Albanian border, the bodies of brothers Ymer Pnishi, 63, and Zyber Pnishi, 60, were found along with a middle-aged retarded woman whose name local villagers did not know. Near Kamenica, in the eastern part of the province, the bodies of seven women, who are believed to have been raped, were found in early July, according to the Council for the Defense of Human Rights, a nongovernmental organization in Pec. North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops, their hands full with trying to keep law and order, have not been of much help, leaving the aid groups to step in. Members of the Memaj family said that when they contacted the Italian troops patrolling the region, one soldier told them: "There are no humans there. It's a crocodile." (One soldier did assist when the body was pulled out. A spokesman for the Italian-led brigade says that "there are so many things in so many places." As of the end of last month, the brigade already had found 748 bodies, including those at 31 confirmed mass grave sites.) Doctors Without Borders logistics specialist Luc Castell says he has never seen anything on the scale of the bodies he's seen in wells in Kosovo, despite tours in hot spots such as Sudan, Liberia, Cambodia, Haiti and Ivory Coast. One recent morning, Castell brought the group's water pump to Qysk, where he began helping the Memaj brothers and local villagers clean out the Memaj well. They set up a pulley, and a man was lowered into the well to secure an object below: Up came the remains of a dog. The villagers, who had gathered not far from the waist-high wall around the well, retreated as a nauseous odor struck. The women from surrounding towns who had come to see whether their relatives were buried in the well were invited by the Memaj women to sit on the porch while the work proceeded. One of the two houses in the extended family's compound had been destroyed by fire, so that only its walls remained. The other, where they are living, was heavily damaged. Olimbije Shabanaj, 38, and Ajshe Zukaj, 34, waited anxiously to see if the bodies of their fathers would emerge from the well. Fatime Mazrekaj, 65, was there too, trying to determine the fate of her 70-year-old husband. The men were among 66 still missing from the refugee column that fled the nearby towns of Beleg, Decani and Isniq on March 30. The Memajs didn't have the heart to tell the wife of the one man they had found in their well that they also had found his 16-year-old son's identification. "She has no other sons," the women said. As the women talked, the odor became particularly fierce, and they put handkerchiefs across their faces: Another dog had just been fished out of the well. The smell became nearly insufferable each time an animal was pulled out. The women dreaded seeing their relatives emerge, but at the same time they were desperate for closure. "I would like to find him alive--I wait all night for him to knock on my door," Zukaj said of her father. "But I also want to find his bones and bury him properly if he's dead, because it's also hard not knowing what happened to him. I've saved my last dime to buy him a casket." By 4:30 p.m., the two Memaj brothers thought they had dredged up everything from the well. Altogether, there were seven dogs and what looked like a pig, in addition to the cows, the dog and the man's body they had found three weeks earlier. But no other human remains were discovered. "You cannot pay for that relief," said Demush Memaj. Castell, the Doctors Without Borders logistician, explained to Memaj that it would be possible to chlorinate the well and render the water drinkable. But like most Kosovars who have found bodies in wells, Memaj never wants to use the well again. He said he wanted it treated and covered as soon as possible. Castell poured about a pound of chlorine into the well. The Memajs will continue to go into town to get water for the foreseeable future because new wells are expensive to dig: $1,000 or more, depending on the depth. The women who had come to watch were relieved. They faced the prospect of other, similar dredgings, but that seemed a small price to pay. Said Shabanaj: "It's good not to find anybody in a well because wherever [the missing bodies] are, it's better than being in a well." Copyright Los Angeles Times --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this list send a message to majordomo at alb-net.com In the body of the message include: UNSUBSCRIBE KCC-NEWS From mentor at alb-net.com Fri Aug 13 15:00:50 1999 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 15:00:50 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [kcc-news] Clark Sees No Evidence KLA Behind Attacks On Serbs (fwd) Message-ID: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ! READ & DISTRIBUTE FURTHER ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kosova Crisis Center (KCC) News Network: http://www.alb-net.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kosovapress http://www.kosovapress.com/ Kosova Information Center http://www.kosova.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- -------> Want to HELP the people of Kosova?? <-------- http://www.alb-net.com/kosovahelp/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday August 13 12:38 PM ET Clark Sees No Evidence KLA Behind Attacks On Serbs PRISTINA (Reuters) - General Wesley Clark, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, said Friday he had no evidence the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was behind attacks on Serbs that have occurred since a peace plan was signed in June. Clark, on a visit to the province, said KLA leaders had consistently backed calls for Serbs to remain in Kosovo. ``I'm not going to point fingers at the KLA. The KLA leadership has been very co-operative with us at the top level,'' the U.S. Army general told reporters at the headquarters of KFOR, the NATO-led international peacekeeping force. Several international officials have recently said they suspected the KLA, or rogue elements, must be behind some of the ethnic Albanian revenge attacks which have driven up to 170,000 Serbs from Kosovo in the past few months. But Clark said much of the violence seemed spontaneous or, particularly in southeastern Kosovo, was linked to organized crime. ``From the leadership of the KLA, we've seen continuing expressions of support for multi-ethnicity and the goals of the international community so I can't put a finger on who is doing this,'' he said. Clark, who held talks with political leaders from both the Albanian and Serb communities, stressed that the violence had to stop. He said KFOR had asked the KLA to use whatever influence it had to bring the attacks to an end. The KLA fought a 16-month guerrilla campaign against Serbian rule in Kosovo. It agreed in June to begin disarming and demilitarizing and its leaders say it is not involved in any violence against Serbs. More than 800,000 ethnic Kosovo Albanians fled from Kosovo during the 16-month conflict with Serbia. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this list send a message to majordomo at alb-net.com In the body of the message include: UNSUBSCRIBE KCC-NEWS From mentor at alb-net.com Wed Aug 18 11:33:38 1999 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Kosova Crisis Center News and Information) Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 11:33:38 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [kcc-news] Communique by General Staff of KLA on August 18, 1999 (fwd) Message-ID: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ! READ & DISTRIBUTE FURTHER ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kosova Crisis Center (KCC) News Network: http://www.alb-net.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kosovapress http://www.kosovapress.com/ Kosova Information Center http://www.kosova.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- -------> Want to HELP the people of Kosova?? <-------- http://www.alb-net.com/kosovahelp/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.kosovapress.com/english/communique/kosova_liberation_army.htm The Kosova Liberation Army The General Staff For immediate release Communique The migration of Serbs from Kosova, the uncivil actions of a number of persons from different ethnic backgrounds against the life and the property of some citizens of Kosova, as well as attacks on various buildings have been represented as actions committed by individuals and persons affiliated with the KLA and it has been insinuated that these actions have been committed by the KLA itself. Once again we wish to affirm our conviction that those individuals that have committed these crimes are not soldiers of th KLA. Regretfully, there are individuals who, taking advantage from the current situation, attack the life and the property of other individuals. In many cases, such actions have been committed to distract the attention of the international community from what is really happening in Kosova. Such actions are intended to throw a shadow over the extraordinary efforts of the people of Kosova to build a normal life and a democratic and a multiethnic society. Also, due to such uncivil actions, the serious and continuous efforts of all the KLA effective to become a part of these processes have not been properly appreciated. While the KLA rejects these accusations and forcefully condemns these actions, at the same time, it invites all the Kosova citizens that belong to the Serb and other minorities not involved in crimes committed against other people, to stay in Kosova, so we altogether could work for the building of a safe future for all its citizens. The KLA is the army of all the citizens of Kosova. The KLA belongs to all the people of Kosova. The KLA considers that its mission, in close cooperation with other authorities, is to guarantee security and protection for all the citizens of Kosova. During the war, we did respect to a letter all the international conventions on war, and in no case have we failed to respect the rights of the innocent civilians, regardless of their ethnic background. It is a duty and an obligation for all the KLA effective to respect the human rights and the international conventions that regulate them even in peace time. The KLA invites all the citizens of Kosova, regardless of their ethnic background to stay in Kosova so that they can contribute to the building of free and democratic society based on respect for human rights, tolerance, and diversity. The General Staff of the KLA assures all the citizens of Kosova that the KLA is an institution that belongs to all the people of Kosova, that its soldiers and officers are committed to the establishment of peace and ethnic harmony in Kosova. The KLA will do whatever is necessary so that the cooperation with the international authorities in their mission is fruitful and contributes to the peace and security in Kosova. Gen. Agim ?eku Chief of General Staff Prishtin?, August 18, 1999 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this list send a message to majordomo at alb-net.com In the body of the message include: UNSUBSCRIBE KCC-NEWS From mentor at alb-net.com Mon Aug 23 16:05:08 1999 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Kosova Crisis Center News and Information) Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 16:05:08 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [kcc-news] U.N. OPENS KOSOVO TO ANTI-FAMILY ZEALOTS Message-ID: ->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> READ & DISTRIBUTE FURTHER <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kosova Crisis Center (KCC) News Network: http://www.alb-net.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kosovapress http://www.kosovapress.com/ Kosova Information Center http://www.kosova.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- U.N. OPENS KOSOVO TO ANTI-FAMILY ZEALOTS By ROD DREHER 8/22/99 http://www.nypost.com/082299/commentary/1565.htm NOW that NATO troops have ended ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, there's reason to fear that the United Nations Population Fund will do what the Serbs failed to: pacify the region by reducing the Albanian population. So say Catholic human-rights activists, who worry that UNFPA's activities in Kosovo dovetail ominously with Slobodan Milosevic's longstanding determination to slash the ethnic-Albanian birth rate, which is far higher than that of Serbs. Last summer, Milosevic's minister for family affairs, Rada Trajkovic, denounced the "demographic bomb" ticking in Kosovo. Using language worthy of Nazi eugenicists, she called Albanian women "child-bearing machines." She also claimed the high child-bearing numbers were the result of an oppressive ethnic patriarchy - all the more reason for Slobbo, that noted feminist and humanitarian, to call in right-minded progressives to save Albanian maidens from brutish husbands. UNFPA confirms that months later, Milosevic invited the agency into Kosovo - and, tellingly, nowhere else in Serbia - to assess the situation. Full-scale ethnic cleansing erupted before a report could be filed. Today, with Kosovo administered by the United Nations, population-control operatives are there running programs to ensure that, in the words of UNFPA spokesman Alex Marshall, "women get decent basic reproductive health care." To Austin Ruse, that's a euphemism for pushing a secular Western "contraceptive mentality" - including acceptance of abortion, the abortifacient "morning-after pill," birth-control tablets, condoms and the like - upon an uninterested Muslim population. Ruse, the director of the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute, a U.N. lobbying organization, recently returned from a tour of refugee camps in Albania. Ruse discovered that not only were the Kosovar women strong and confident - hardly weak sisters needing rescue - but that they delight in motherhood. "An American nurse in one camp told me that telling a Kosovar woman she's pregnant is like making her whole world," Ruse says. The concerns of Ruse and others are "garbage" to UNFPA's Marshall, who claims his agency merely offers Kosovars "the kinds of services that women in New York City would be outraged if they couldn't get." Marshall maintains that if legitimate authority asks UNFPA to leave, the group will. But for now, Slobbo technically still runs the place. That UNFPA justifies its presence by claiming a Milosevic mandate should give Kosovar Albanians sufficient reason to resist Belgrade's pill-pushing emissaries. For the time being, nobody is forcing Albanian women to contracept or abort, so what's the big deal? Population Research Institute director Steven Mosher, the man who first exposed China's forced abortion policy, says that's not the way authoritarian regimes do population control. In countries like Serbia, he says, "the state often runs roughshod over the rights of people, especially poor people." In Peru, for example, a PRI investigator found evidence - later presented to Congress - that government agents denied food aid to illiterate campesinas unless the women agreed to sterilization. The same thing could easily happen with U.N. approval in a Milosevic-run Kosovo, Mosher warns - and even in an independent Albanian-run state desperate for Western financial aid. The World Bank often ties development loans to the willingness of governments to implement population-control schemes. It's wonderful that the United Nations protects ethnic Albanians from Milosevic. But who will protect these peasants from U.N.-backed population-control zealots who evangelize for the same materialistic, anti-child creed that has resulted in Europe's looming underpopulation crisis? Westerners have forgotten that large families are a blessing, not a curse. The Kosovars, poor and unsophisticated, have not. Their strength and their hope lies in their families, and not even the Butcher of Belgrade could take that away from them. So why must we? --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this list send a message to majordomo at alb-net.com In the body of the message include: UNSUBSCRIBE KCC-NEWS From mentor at alb-net.com Tue Aug 24 12:28:18 1999 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Kosova Crisis Center News and Information) Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 12:28:18 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [kcc-news] Report Says Serbs Used Toxic Chemicals On Kosovar Albanians Since Early 1990s (AFP) Message-ID: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> READ & DISTRIBUTE FURTHER <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kosova Crisis Center (KCC) News Network: http://www.alb-net.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kosovapress http://www.kosovapress.com/ Kosova Information Center http://www.kosova.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Report Says Serbs Used Toxic Chemicals On Kosovar Albanians Since Early 1990s LONDON, Aug 24, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) Serb forces used toxic chemical agents against the ethnic Albanian population in Kosovo between the early 1990s and the end of NATO's air campaign in June, Jane's Defence Weekly reported Monday. The report was based on conclusions by A. Heindrickx, professor of toxicology at the University of Ghent in Belgium and an expert for the United Nations. Serb forces used toxic gases including sarin which left "toxicological patterns" resembling those seen in Iran after Iraqi bombings and in Angola, Heindrickx said. Heindrickx, who visited Tirana, the capital of neighboring Albania on the invitation of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), estimated that some 4,000 ethnic Albanians, mostly children had been affected by neuro-toxic gas use in the 1990s. He said some 20 of the worst affected victims, members of the KLA, were currently receiving treatment in Western Europe. The FBI has also been to Tirana to investigate reports by the KLA of chemical weapons use. "The international community has a very big responsibility in this human catastrophe and has to make (these findings) known," Heindrickx wrote. ((c) 1999 Agence France Presse) --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this list send a message to majordomo at alb-net.com In the body of the message include: UNSUBSCRIBE KCC-NEWS