[Kcc-News] KOSOVA: Sectarian violence leaves seven dead in Kosovo (AFP, February 5, 2000) (fwd)

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http://www.excite.com.au/news/story/aap/20000205/10/international/kosovo-unrest-eur.inp

Sectarian violence leaves seven dead in Kosovo

10: 26 AM AEST February 5

International peacekeeping troops evacuated ethnic Albanians from the
mainly Serb northern half of Kosovska Mitrovica today after seven died
in sectarian violence.
     Soldiers of the NATO-led Kosovo Force(KFOR), who clashed with
furious Albanian protesters today, imposed a curfew and closed both
bridges over the Ibar river which splits the town after the worst ethnic
clashes in months.
     The violence broke out late Thursday between Serbs and ethnic
Albanians in the north of the town after a grenade was thrown into a
Serb cafe and an elderly ethnic Albanian couple were found shot in their
apartment.
     UN spokeswoman Susan Manuel described the flare-up as a "terrifying
and appalling increase in multi-ethnic violence".
     KFOR troops evacuated international aid workers and UN staff from
northern Mitrovica overnight and were moving many of the 4,500 ethnic
Albanians thought to live there to the Muslim south.
     The evacuation was expected to continue beyond the 8pm to 5am (0600
AEST to 1500 AEST) curfew announced by KFOR.
     The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it moved its
offices south of the river after three of its vehicles in the north were
destroyed by mobs, together with two vehicles of the Organisation for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
     The unrest erupted a day after two elderly Serbs were killed and
three wounded when unidentified attackers fired a rocket-propelled
grenade at a UNHCR bus full of Serbian refugees escorted by KFOR troops.
     UNHCR spokeswoman Paula Ghedini said Albanians from the Serb sector
had told "horrifying stories" of having doors "blown in by plastic
explosives" and being physically abused and warned to leave the area or
be killed.
     KFOR helicopters were flying over the town dropping leaflets in
Serbian, Albanian and English alerting the population about the curfew.
     Peacekeepers put the death toll at six ethnic Albanians, while
another six were injured, two seriously.
     Three were initially reported killed, including an elderly couple
shot dead in their apartment, but another two bodies were found today by
peacekeeping troops, KFOR officials said. A boy of 14 later died of his
wounds in a Moroccan run hospital in the south.
     But surgeon Aleksandar Belovic in the northern hospital said
another ethnic Albanian woman had died of grenade injuries, bringing the
total to seven dead.
     At least 15 Serbs were reported injured in the unrest, KFOR
officials said, after a grenade was lobbed into the Belami cafe late
yesterday.
     Hospital sources said 11 young Serbs were still fighting for their
lives late today.
     Five French peacekeeping soldiers were slightly hurt early today
when some 400 ethnic Albanians, furious at the deaths, pelted the bridge
dividing the town with stones and bottles.
     The French troops responded with tear gas but the crowd was calmed
by members of the Kosovo Protection Corps, the civilian successor of the
rebel Kosovo Liberation Army.
     A similar number of Serbs gathered on the other side of the bridge
but remained calm, troops and witnesses said.
     Some of the Albanian protesters later told AFP of their anger.
     "We think we must liberate the town and cross to the other side as
soon as possible," said Seser Shapbani, 17, who said that ethnic
Albanians would have to "take up arms and make war".
     Shahim Shapare, 38, said that "if the international community does
not act to free the town we will have to organise ourselves and liberate
it by our own means".
     Mitrovica has been divided between the rival communities since KFOR
troops replaced Serbian forces last June, after a NATO air war to end
Serbian oppression of the ethnic Albanian majority.