[kcc-news] Human Tragedy Unfolding in Kosova

[Sokol Rama]

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March 28, 1999

The latest news coming from Kosova comprise horrible stories of Serb army,
paramilitary forces and armed Serb gangs massacring ethnic Albanian
civilians indiscriminately, setting ablaze their houses, using them as
human shields, and forcing them to leave their homes at gun-point.
According to Nato estimates more than 500,000 Kosova Albanians have been
displaced by the Serb offensive in the province. That is more than 25% of
the entire population of Kosova. Nato said Serb troops were carrying out a
scorched earth policy. Mr Shea, the NATO spokesperson said Europe is "on
the brink of a major humanitarian disaster, the likes of which has not been
seen in Europe since the closing stages of World War II." 

Below is an incomplete summary report from the latest news from Kosova.

      [1]	There are reports that 12 ethnic Albanians were executed in Peja.
Serb paramilitary cut the throat of Isa Muriqi right in front of his
children and his wife, the latter told.

       [2] 	Almost the entire population of Suhareka, Rahovec and Prizren,
a city of 50.000 Albanians have been displaced at gun-point and are being
forced towards the border with Albania.

       [3]	 Serb military have displaced by force the entire ethnic
Albanian population in Istog, Istog i Poshtëm, Dubrava, Muzhevina, Tomoci,
Kovraga, Llukavci Begut, Gurakoci, Banja, Lluga, Lubova, Lubozhda, Rashica,
and Carralluka. In Rozhaja all its 1.500 albanian inhabitants have been
displaced at gun-point.

      [4]	In the triangle  Vrella - Banja - Radavc there is a concentration
of an estimated 50.000 displaced Albanians from Peja and its suburbs. They
report of attrocities, massive indiscriminate killings of Albanians,
looting and  burning by Serb military, paramilitary forces and armed gangs
of Serb civilians.

      [5]	There is no information about the fate of  20.000 ethnic
Albanians displaced from Qirez under Serb gun-point and army tanks. The
fate of the thousands in  Krajkova,  Gllogoc, and Skënderaj is still
unknown.

      [6]	Saturday, in Gjakova 20 ethnic Albanian men  detained the
previous day were executed by Serb paramilitary. A quarter in the old town
of Gjakova (an ancient town near the border with Albania that is almost 100
percent ethnic Albanian) was set ablaze.

      [7]	A witness from Pristina reports that in the morgue of the
Pristina hospital are the corpses of at least 200 mutilated and maimed
Albanians.

      [8]	Serb forces murdered 20 teachers and the director of a school in
front of their pupils before driving the population over the
border.The 20 ethnic Albanian teachers had been executed in the village of
Goden in southern Kosova. Women who escaped and trekked into Albania told
refugee officials that Yugoslav forces separated men from women and
children and killed the men in front of them. 

      [9]	A clinic belonging to the Mother Teresa charity, was set on fire
by Serb troops and paramilitary. Human Rights Watch confirmed the  the
burning of the Pristina warehouse of the Mother Theresa Society, the
largest local humanitarian organization in Kosova. The warehouse was filled
with food and medicine and the society had to suspend operations.

     [10]	Bajram Kelmendi, a human rights lawyer and his two sons,Kastriot
and Kushtrim, were found shot dead at a gas station between Pristina and
Kosova Polje, southwest of the capital. The lawyer and his sons were taken
from their home early Thursday morning by police, according to Human Rights
Watch. Kelmendi had defended many political prisoners in Kosova over the
last decade.

      [11]	 More than 60 per cent of Podujeva, in northern Kosova, was
razed after being hit by Yugoslav artillery fire.Serb MiG 29s targeted
civilian areas in the surrounding Llap region. To the south the town of
Suva Reka was being purged of Albanians, their houses left in flames. 

      [12]	 The following is a partial list of the fifty-three identified
ethnic Albanians executed by Serb forces at Bellaja Bridge that connects
Rugova with Belacerka and Celina on Friday's punitive incurssion on
Albanian civilians of that area. All were males, with the exception ofr one
woman.The common last names shows that they came from the same families:
 
	1.Nazmi Selim Popaj
	2.Nesim Selim Popaj
	3.Shëndet Sabri Popaj
	4.Agon Sabri Popaj
	5.Azllan Remzi Popaj	
	6.Ethem Halim popaj
	7.Kreshnik Ethem Popaj
	8.Hazer Malush Popaj
	9.Bedrush Avdullah Popaj
	10.Avdullah Bedrush Popaj
	11.Mursel Vesel Popaj
	12.Sahit Vesel Popaj
	13.Behlul Mursel Popaj
	14.Isuf Haki Popaj
	15.Vehap Haki Popaj
	16.Mehmet Isuf Popaj
	17.Xhavit Sylë Popaj
	18.Rrustem Halit Popaj
	19.Hysni Smail Popaj
	20.Eshref Demë Zhuniqi
	21.Fatos Demë Zhuniqi
	22.Labinot Fatos Zhuniqi
	23.Muhamet Hamz Zhuniqi
	24.Reshit Muhamet Zhuniqi
	25.Bilall Hamz Zhuniqi
	26.Shemsi Bilall Zhuniqi
	27.Muharrem Shemsi Zhuniqi
	28.Xhemail Xhemë Zhuniqi
	29.Bajram Xhemë Zhuniqi
	30.Abedin Hasan Zhuniqi
	31.Himë Shaip Zhuniqi
	32.Destan Jupë Zhuniqi
	33.Qamil Zymer Zhuniqi
	34.Hasim Hajdin Zhuniqi
	35.Hysni Ali Fetoshi
	36.Dush Fetah Fetoshi
	37.Fatmir Hamz Fetoshi
	38.Halim Ethem Fetoshi
	39.Habib Shaqir Gashi
	40.Murat Berisha
	41.Musa Qazim Berisha
	42.Xaje Ibrahim Kelmendi-Morina


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