[kcc-news] Demaci, the KLA Political Representative: Rugova should unite, not divide

[Mentor Cana]

               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
               !     READ  &  DISTRIBUTE FURTHER    !
               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
---------------------------------------------------------------------
   Kosova Crisis Center (KCC) News Network: http://www.alb-net.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Kosova Crisis Center (KCC): http://www.alb-net.com
ARTA News Service:              http://www.kohaditore.com/ARTA
Kosova Information Center(KIC): http://www.kosova.com
Radio21 (English/Albanian):     http://www.radio21.net/english.htm
---------------------------------------------------------------------

ARTA (7 January 1999)

	- Looting and burning of Albanian houses
	- Atacks on the Albanian Media during
	- Kosova Liberation Army Political Representative on Albanian
	  Television (TVSH)
	- Gjakovë: Albanians arrested
	- Looting and burning of Albanian houses
	- "The Macedonia factor" by  Janusz Bugajski


Kosova Liberation Army Political Representative on Albanian Television
(TVSH)

Demaçi: Rugova should unite, not divide

"He (Rugova) should have spoken as the commander of this army and the
people, stating that an army fighting for the liberation of the people
cannot be a terrorist one. However, he declined in doing so"

Prishtina, 7 December

"The President must unite the people, not divide them. He should protect the
army of his people and not offend and underestimate it", Adem Demaçi, the
KLA political representative, said in an interview on the Albanian Radio
Television, broadcasted via-satellite on Wednesday.

"He (Rugova) should have spoken as the commander of this army and people and
say that an army that fights

for the liberation of a people, cannot be a terrorist army", added he. "But
he declined in doing so. During his stay in Hague, in summer, he said the
Kosova institutions will fully engage in calming the 'extremists'. Six days
after, after he took the liberaty of reffering to the KLA as 'extremists',
the Belgrade regime, got the green light to launch the offensive in Llap and
attack the innocent population.

As for his meetings in Tirana, KLA Political Representative said he was
pleased by Albanian PM statement that he will "support Kosova Albanians and
those who want their support".

"This is the best statement. It prejudges nothing and it makes Albania a
serious country", Demaçi evaulated.

"Today, we face the final stage of our national evolution. The tasks ahead
are very difficult", stated after being asked on the difficulties in
unifying the Albanian political structures.

"We need to gather around the KLA. The ones ready to join and accept the
sacrifice, will promote unity, victory and solution to our issue. Those who
intentionally sabotage this unity, will prolong the process of liberation,
despair and bloodshed", Demaçi concluded.

Demaçi valued as "great hipocrisy" the fact that the "international
community" recognized Rugova as the only legitimate Kosova Albanian
political representative during the talks with Belgrade.

"If the world respects the will of Kosova Albanians, it should recognize the
one expressed on the '91 Referendum, and then accept Rugova. They disrespect
both Rugova and that will. What they need is an obedient man who supports
the imposing of autonomy to Kosova Albanians, thus solving the Albanian
problem once for all".

"Let us help our army", stated Demaçi reffering to the KLA, "through
knowledge, fundraising and personal readiness, so it can become more
qualitative".

He that "it is not true that the KLA is not allowing the officers throughout
the world to go out and fight. The KLA will not allow to enroll in its
units, people that are here to gain posts, and disappear during the
offensives".

"I am ready to talk to everybody. I am even ready to get down on my knees,
if necessary, only to get the work done properly", said in the end Demaçi.



Unclarified killing of a Serb worker triggers Bosnia scenarios

Prishtina under armed Serbs siege

All major entrance roads to the capital were blocked by armed Serb
civilians, as Serb police followed them by setting up moveable roadblocks --
Buses and vehicles were prevented from entering or leaving town -- Incidents
came as U.S. Kosova peace mediator Chris Hill arrived in Pristina

Prishtinë, 7 January

Armed Serbs of the village of Prellc blocked the Prishtina – Prizren road,
denying access to the village even to police, say Serb sources in Prishtina,
local and Belgrade media, is reported in Thursday.

According to the BETA news agency, frustrated by the killing of a Serb
civilian Nebojsa Denic (35) under unknown circumstances, the villagers
blocked this road from 06:00, sources reported.

Denic, a security worker in Kosova Electroeconomy power plant was killed in
an ambush by automatic gunfire.

Serb villagers demanded Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic and
Serbia's president Milan Milutinovic to visit them, chairman of the Movement
of Serb Resistance – Democratic Changes (SPO-DP) Momcilo Trajkovic said to
Beta.

"Going to Liberate Prishtina"

The siege started around 05.00 AM, when some 100 Serb villagers from Prellc
blocked a 100 meters of the road strip, being followed by their compatriots
from the villages nearby villages of Çagllavica and Llapleselë. At noon,
Beta agency reported that a group numbering some 50 Serb civilians from
Çagllavica were seen mounting a roadblock in a road peak called Veterrnik,
at the entrance to Prishtina from the direction of Shkup. They were reported
armed and holding banners which stated: "Going to liberate Prishtina".

Serb police units were blocking the road, as Serb civilians were claiming
they will persist in keeping the road blocked "for indefinite period of
time". On both sides of the road Serb police had sustained a so-called
"tampoo-zone" preventing all persons from getting close to the area.

Trajkovic said that they are preventing all persons from passing through and
that the efforts of the local authority representatives in Prishtina to
convince them to move the blockade have failed.

The president of SPO-DP thinks that Milosevic and Milutinovic are those "who
bare the greatest responsibility" for the killings in Kosova and called on
them to "do something rapidly" to stop the killings.

"We've had enough. Terrorists are killing us at our workplace, and throw
bombs at our kids," a protester told a local journalist at one roadblock,
some 10 km (six miles) south of Pristina on the road to the Macedonian
capital Skopje, Reuters reported on Thursday.

Siege as a retaliation

The Serb-run Media Centre said it was an attack by "terrorists" -- a term
used by the Serbs for the ethnic Albanian Kosova Liberation Front (KLA)
guerrillas.

Another roadblock was set up by some 60 armed Serb civilians on the southern
outskirts of Pristina, the provincial capital. Police prevented foreign
reporters and ethnic Albanians from heading in that direction for security
reasons.

"The protesters prevent everyone, including police, from getting close. We
had to use walkie-talkies to contact our people in the area," a source close
to police in Pristina said.

The local journalist said protesters had threatened to flee Kosova.

Police also said they had mediated the release of three young ethnic
Albanians detained briefly by the protesting Serbs. The three were released
unharmed, police said.

Sandy Blyth, spokesman for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE), said a team of OSCE observers was discussing the situation
with police.

"We have OSCE verifiers from the regional centre who are at this moment
speaking with the police, trying to ascertain what the problem is," Blyth
told Reuters.

The roadblock incident came as U.S. Kosova peace mediator Chris Hill arrived
in Pristina on Thursday.

Kosova Information Center sources in Lipjan, 13 km south of Prishtina, said
the road has been closed off by Serb civilians in Çagllavicë and Llaplesellë
villages. Serb police has not allowed cars to proceed to Prishtina via these
villages


Prishtina-Podujevë road remained closed until late afternoon

The passengers on board two buses commuting between Prizren and Prishtina
were turned back by police at Veternik, at the south-eastern entrance to the
Kosova capital.

On late afternoon the Prishtina-Podujevë road was the next route to be
closed by Serb civilians armed with rifles and automatic guns, ARTA sources
reported from Podujevë. Witnesses from the suburbian areas of Prishtina
reported that a heavy gunfire could be heard above the Dragodan neighborhood
(north part of town). The shooting reportedly lasted from 16.00-16.30 GMT.
The claims were confirmed by Sandy Blyth, spokeswoman for the OSCE
Verification Mission in Kosova. Witnesses add that during the day, a large
number of buses and vehicles were stuck between villages of Orlloviq and
Stanoc -- Prishtina-Mitrovica road -- after being stopped by a group of
armed Serb civilians wearing masks, numbering some 200-250.

The road was later on reported open. According to the local witnesses claims
and Reuters agency reports, the Podujevë road was closed, whereas armed Serb
civilians groups were to be seen mounting a roadblock at the entrance of
Devet Jugoviq village.

Entrances to Prishtina from the direction of Shkup (FYROM), as well as the
Kosovar towns of Prizren, Gjilan, Ferizaj, and Lipjan remain completely
closed, KIC report said.


Armed Serbs roam the streets of Lipjan

The LDK source in Shtime, southwest of Prishtina, quoting accounts by bus
commuters turned back, said a 'chaotic' situation prevailed in the village
of Çagllavicë, whereas in the small town of Lipjan they said they had seen
armed Serb civilians roaming the streets.

LDK sources in Lipjan and Shtime have been unable to account for the kind of
situation created in Lipjan and the Serb villages of Çagllavicë and
Llaplasellë.

Another KIC information report on heavy shooting from Serb civilian
villagers during the past 24 hours. Serb citizens were reported as "engaged
in an unprecedented shooting spree in capital Prishtina", arguably in
connection with the Christmas festivities of eastern Orthodox Serbs.



US mediator to Kosova reaches Prishtina using side-roads in the aftermath of
Serb civilians roadblock operation

Hill: Guns and roadblocks solve nothing, absolutely nothing

"People are carrying guns, I saw that myself and there is a great deal of
frustration and a great deal of concern and the only way to deal with that
is to have an invigorated political process"

Prishtina, 7 December

"Nothing can be solved by guns and blocking the roads, absolutely nothing",
stated the main American mediator to Kosova, Christopher Hill, who arrived
in Prishtina to "invigorate the political process", sunk in crisis following
the last Christmas incidents in northeast of Kosova, ARTA sources reported
Thursday.

"People are carrying guns, I saw that myself and there is a great deal of
frustration and a great deal of concern -- and the only way to deal with
that is to have an invigorated political process", Hill stated after
reaching Prishtina through side-roads, since the main ones were blocked in
the morning hours by armed civilians.

"I had to take an side-road to get to Prishtina, because the main road was
blocked and this is an indication more that we have to get a political
process going; it can gain momentum and lead us to a peaceful spring", Hill
said on his way out from meeting Ibrahim Rugova, President of the Republic
of Kosova.

According to Hill, they were aiming at invigorating the political process
which remains "the only way to solve the problem, and not the violent
incidents in the field".

The US Ambassador to Shkup (FYROM), said that recently they were discussing

the ways of approaching properly the political agreement on which they have
some specific ideas. The talks will eventually resume the forthcoming week,
ARTA sources claim.


"I am working widely on the framework issue -- on how we can continue with
further negotiations and further political settlements", he said.

Recently, Hill noted that "the shuttle diplomacy" he has used in trying to
put a lid on escalating situation in Kosova by travelling back and forth to
Prishtina and Belgrade, is approaching the end of its functioning, and that
the time has come "for both sides to deal with the issue together",
announcing the possibility for direct Albanian-Serb negotiations.

Late Thursday evening Hill was supposed to return to Shkup.


Kosova - 24 hours

After Kalasnikov-Christmas Eve, the Roadblock-Day Dawns

The fiercest shooting was reported around the municipal villages of Deçan --
the Orthodox Christmas Eve passed through continuous Serb shooting --
Villages of the municipality of Klina, spent Wednesday night through Serb
machinegun shooting

Prishtina, 7 January (ARTA) 1800CET --

A tense situation has prevailed all the towns of Kosova during the Orthodox
Christmas celebrations. Shooting from different weaponry was witnessed in
all locations, as no information were issued about the eventual victims or
material damages.


The fiercest shooting was reported around the municipal villages of Deçan,
local sources reported, adding that the shooting from artillery from the
Serb positions at Suka e Baballoçit, Bitesh, Gllogjan and Irzniq, in the
direction of the villages of Baballoç Dubravë, Gramaçel and Ratish, started
on Wednesday at 1800CET.

The same sources notified that no victims resulted from this shooting.

Shooting to celebrate the Orthodox Christmas was also heard in Deçan, Junik
and other localities.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Serb police patrol arrested Avni Selmanaj, from
the village of Baballoç, for the second time. Reportedly, he is still kept
under arrest at the police station.

Gjakovë: Albanians arrested

Gjakovë, 7 January (ARTA) 1810 CET --

In Gjakovë, as well, the Orthodox Christmas Eve passed through continuous
shooting from different weaponry. In many town squares, Serbs gathered about
fires they set, singing and shooting with automatic weapons, LDK information
and CDHRF sources in Gjakovë inform.

Artillery shelling was also evidenced along the bordering belt, particularly
by the village of Morinë.

According to LDK sources in Gjakovë, the Serb police arrested on Wednesday,
Agim Thaçi (19) from the village of Skivjan, Haki Idrizi (35) from Ponoshec,
Natyrë Rama (21) and Afrora Rama (16) both from the village of Jabllanicë.
After 4 hours Afrora Rama, was the only one to be released.

Hydajet Beqiri (29), from the village of Rracaj, was also sent to the Pejë
prison on Wednesday.

After the wounding of Rasim Rexhaj from the village of Dobrosh, in the
village of Tomoc, municipality of Istog, increased movements of police
patrols were witnessed in the area.


Suharekë: The bullets hit an Albanian house

Suharekë, 7 January (ARTA) 1820CET --

Heavy shooting was heard starting from 1800CET and lasting until the early
morning hours, in the Serb resided localities and in points where the Serb
police\military forces are concentrated, local sources from Suharekë
reported on Wednesday.

Same sources claim there were cases of bullets hitting the Albanian-owned
houses, such as the house of Ilmi Bujari, from the village of Duhël,
inducing great fear among the people.

Representatives of the OSCE Verifying Mission, went out in the field from
1900CET, and visited the village of Mushtisht.

Klina: Automatic guns shootout in Volljakë, Dush and Sferkë

Klinë, 7 January (ARTA) 1830CET --

The villages of the municipality of Klinë, also spent Wednesday night
through Serb machine gun shooting, the KD correspondent from Klinë informs.

He further notified that a Serb soldier committed suicide, at the Serb
stationing place at Pishat e Volljakut. The spot was visited by OSCE
verifiers, immediately after.

The villages of Volljakë, Dush and Sferkë were shot at throughout the nigh
on Wednesday and during the early morning hours of Thursday. 18 Albanian
villages were also shot at with machine guns, from 11 Serb stationing spots.

On the other hand, three Serb soldiers robbed a 70-year old woman, on the
road that leads from Sferkë to Volljakë.




Looting and burning of Albanian houses

Mitrovicë, Podujevë, 7 January (ARTA) 1845CET --

Serb police and civilians shot in the direction of the neighborhoods of
"Kroi i Vitakut", "Ibri", "7 Shtatori" and in one part of the "Tavnik"
neighborhood in Mitrovicë, on Wednesday afternoon, LDK Information sources
in Mitrovicë inform. These shooting continued until Thursday. There are
reports that fire arms shooting was also witnessed in the villages of
Frashër i Madh, Frashër i Vogël, Suhadoll and Zveçan i Vogël.

On the other hand, Albanian sources from the villages Klinë e Epërme,

Municipality of Skënderaj notify that the Serb police arrested Jetullah
Behrami (40), from Kotorr, a teacher at the "Idriz Berani" elementary
school, in Klinë e Epërme, of whose whereabouts nothing is still known, ever
since the day of his arrest.

Meanwhile, a police APC, drove to the house of Bajrush Murati, which was
burned during the attack against Tabet e Llapashticës on Wednesday at around
1300CET, the "Kosova-Press" agency informs. According to these sources, this
time, the police went there to loot the things that survived the fire. This
event was followed by the OSCE representative who was there for an official
meeting with the Command of the Operative zone in Llap, stated the KLA
information service of this Operative zone.






The Macedonia factor

Progress in Macedonia would in turn become an important force of stability
throughout the south Balkans. However, if the current VMRO-DPA agreement
were to break down then the reverberations could be severe

Writes: Janusz Bugajski

6 January 1999

There are several keys to security and stability in the Balkans and
Macedonia remains the critical door. Domestic and external factors of
instability are closely interwoven in this central Balkan state.

Although the recently formed coalition government in Skopje is a progressive
step, caution is necessary among policy makers in case many of the former
doomsday prophecies about Macedonia rapidly turn to euphoric predictions
about the country's future.

The new coalition government, however positive and pragmatic, faces an
uphill struggle to prove its conciliatory and constructive credentials.

It has made a promising start but it faces numerous problems that have
accumulated under the previous administration including economic stagnation,
rampant corruption, and a lingering ethnic division.

The solution to long-term stability, regardless of any potential external
threat, is the settlement of the internal Albanian question, as well as
progress on the economic front.

These goals can only be accomplished by giving the Albanians a substantial
political and economic stake in the survival of an integral state. Progress
in Macedonia would in turn become an important force of stability throughout
the south Balkans. However, if the current VMRO-DPA agreement were to break
down then the reverberations could be severe.

For example, the Kosova scenario (in other words, the creation of a parallel
governmental structure) could become increasingly appealing among the
Albanian political elites. This could in turn intensify KLA activities in
Macedonia and throughout the region. At present, this prospect seems highly
unlikely as the war in Kosova may have dampened rather than kindled calls
for separatism in Macedonia. But we only dismiss worst case scenarios at our
peril.

Escalating conflicts in the neighborhood will have definite repercussion
inside Macedonia, and most of these will be negative. There are several
destabilizing possibilities on the horizon. The non-settlement of the Kosova
question is clearly the most urgent issue. The probable resumption of
large-scale violence this spring could challenge Skopje even more severely
than in the past because the violence is likely to be bloodier, more
intensive, and more prolonged.

There are several dangers for Macedonia regardless of the policies of the
current government. These include, a large outflow of refugees that will
further strain the country's resources and undermine ethnic coexistence; the
use of Macedonian territory by KLA supporters and volunteers that may
radicalize a section of Albanian youth; the possibility of a military
spillover either through hot-pursuit operations by Yugoslav forces or
attacks by the KLA on Yugoslav border posts; and the further corruption of
the Macedonian economy as a consequence of growing arms smuggling and other
illicit trade.

The biggest danger is that the government in Skopje will split on major

policy questions, particularly on how to handle refugees, guerrillas, and
illicit traders, and on Macedonia's relations with both Belgrade and
Pristina. This could ultimately push the Albanians out of the coalition and
precipitate ethnic polarization and radicalization at the cost of economic
reform.

Closely related to the Kosova effect is the potential breakup of the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia and the impending independence of Kosova and
Montenegro. We must not automatically assume that the breakup of what is
left of Tito's Yugoslavia will provoke a regional war, although it certainly
could if NATO simply remained on the sidelines. At present, it is the
survival of Milosevic's Yugoslavia, and Belgrade's attempts to hold this
anomaly together by force, repression, and nationalist propaganda, that
continues to be the major destabilizing factor in the region.


Moreover, we should not assume that because the international community
currently opposes Kosova's and Montenegro's independence that both entities
will necessarily remain under Serbian control. Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and
Macedonia gained statehood irrespective of prevailing international opinion.

Given that the democratization of Yugoslavia is nowhere in sight, the big
question on the agenda is how we can shield Macedonia from Yugoslavia's
probable disintegration particularly if this disintegration is bloody and
prolonged.

In other words, how can the West prevent Milosevic from exporting
disintegration to Macedonia, through provoking of ethnic conflict, and how
can we prevent the pan-Albanianists from exporting a chunk of Macedonia.

Clearly, ethnic accommodation and economic progress in Macedonia hold most
of the answers as far as the majority of Albanians are concerned. Greater
Albania or Greater Kosova will have little appeal if Macedonia becomes more
stable and prosperous and the international community has a permanent and
constructive presence in the country.

Moreover, it will become incumbent on the international community to
diminish any serious aspirations to Macedonian territory and a part of
Macedonia's population. For instance, any new Kosovar administration would
need to quickly sign a bilateral treaty with Macedonia and recognize the
existing border, something that Belgrade has consistently failed to do.

Lawlessness in Albania will continue to have negative effects on Macedonia
even without any Greater Albania project. The conflict in Kosova may help
fuel the conflict in Albania but it is not the cause or the consequence of
that conflict. The challenge is how to help Albania restore a fully
functioning, territory-wide government while eliminating the worst criminal
gangs operating across borders. The process could take years and even then
not all parts of the country will necessarily remain loyal to Tirana.
However, it is difficult to see a Greater Albania arising from a turbulent
state such as Albania.

The potential for a Third all-Balkan war certainly exists. It has almost
become ritualistic to repeat the scenarios of Bulgarian, Turkish, and Greek
involvement and entrapment if the ethnic peace in Macedonia were to collapse
and the authorities begin to loose control of the state. At present, such a
scenario does not seem probable as Macedonia's relations with all three
south-eastern neighbors are visibly improving.

What we should fear most, however, in the months and years ahead, is that a
prolonged politically inspired ethnic conflict and a low-intensity war
anywhere in the south Balkans will directly and indirectly effect all the
neighboring states. It will distract attention from pressing economic
reforms, it will divert energy toward ethnic and territorial questions and
away from critical issues such as citizens education, institution building,
and infrastructural development, and it will discourage foreign trade and
investment throughout the region.

Hence, the Balkans may fall further behind the European mainstream at a time

when all countries in the region need to conduct painful and necessary
reforms simply in order to catch up with the Central Europeans whose
progress into NATO and the EU has already been assured.





Atacks on the Albanian Media during Christian-Orthodox Christmas Eve

"Koha Ditore" paper-distribution worker beaten -- vehicle smashed

As the bystanders report, from a greater group of Serbs three got out from
the group and smashed the "Koha Ditore" paper-distribution vehicle


Prishtina, 6 January -

"Koha Ditore" paper-distribution worker was brutally beaten by Serb police
in Prishtina during the Christian-Orthodox Christmas Eve, on Tuesday, ARTA
reports.

Rrahim M. Sadiku, 50, says that he was beaten in the road in and a lot of
passers-by could see the incident.

"I suffered rib and leg injuries", Sadiku said.

A certain amount of paper copies was destroyed while a significant amount of
money was confiscated by unknown Serb civilians. This case represents the
second beating of "Koha Ditore" employees in the campaign of brutalities
against Kosova Albanian media.

While rallying the main streets of Prishtina under the police guard, a group
of Serb youngsters smashed the "Koha Ditore" paper-distribution vehicle with
rubber and wooden sticks.

Three Serbs separated from a larger group, which was celebrating the
Christmas Eve with an unseen brutality and gunfire, and attacked the vehicle
in the presence of several "Koha Ditore" workers.


---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this list send a message to majordomo at alb-net.com
In the body of the message include: UNSUBSCRIBE KCC-NEWS