Reuters: Natasa Kandic on Serb
Atrocities and Albanian Revenge in Kosovo
INTERVIEW-Serbs urged to face up
to Kosovo crimes
RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC_______________________________________________________________________
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 3, No. 152, Part II, 6 August 1999SERBIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST SAYS PARAMILITARIES WERE ATTACHED TO REGULAR UNITS...
Natasa Kandic of the Humanitarian Law Fund (FHP) told Reuters in Belgrade on 5 August that most of the killings in Kosova were carried out by paramilitary units "established by orders from a very high level" and attached to regular forces. "Their task was to expel people from villages, and to kill," she said, adding that they included Bulgarian and Russian mercenaries. Kandic called on Serbs to "start talking about responsibility, to support the UN war crimes tribunal, and the investigation and punishment not just of perpetrators, but also those responsible at a high level, starting with Milosevic." The FHP was the only Serbian NGO to investigate Serbian war crimes during the conflict, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service noted. FS
...WARNS OF ALBANIAN 'CULTURE OF BLOOD FEUDS.'
Kandic on 5 August also urged the Kosovar Albanians to "face up" to the wave of revenge killings of Serbs since June. She added that the revenge attacks are rooted in the Albanian "culture of blood feuds" and warned that if left unchecked they could "spiral out of control." Kandic stressed that "this is not revenge in the usual sense--'you robbed me, I'll rob you.' Nothing like this happened in the wars in Croatia and Bosnia. It is part of the Albanian mentality." She urged "new discussion" of the problems, adding that "otherwise it will go on till the last minority [in Kosova] is eliminated." FS
Here is the full text of an interview given recently to Reuters by Natasa Kandic, Director of the Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Center.INTERVIEW-Serbs urged to face up to Kosovo crimes
07:08 a.m. Aug 05, 1999 EasternBy Colin McIntyre
BELGRADE, Aug 5 (Reuters) - A leading Serbian human rights activist has called for a public debate on alleged atrocities committed by Serb forces in Kosovo, saying it was time for the country to face up to what happened there.
Natasa Kandic, head of the Humanitarian Law Fund, also called for similar discussions among Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority on the wave of revenge killings of Serbs and other ethnic minorities that has swept the province since NATO's air war against Yugoslavia ended two months ago.
Kandic said the revenge attacks were not the usual kind, but were rooted in the Albanian mentality and culture of ``blood feuds'' that can be handed down through generations, and if left unchecked could spiral out of control.
In an interview with Reuters in her modest office in central Belgrade, Kandic said it was time for Serbs to face up to alleged atrocities committed by Serb forces in Kosovo from the start of NATO's bombardment in March to the entry of peace troops 11 weeks later.
``They have to accept that it happened, to start talking about responsibility, to support the U.N. war crimes tribunal, and the investigation and punishment not just of perpetrators, but also those responsible at a high level starting with (Yugoslav President Slobodan) Milosevic,'' she said.
Milosevic has been indicted by the Hague tribunal for alleged atrocities committed by Serb army, police and paramilitary forces during the forced expulsion of hudreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo.
Kandic, a regular visitor to Kosovo before, during and after the NATO bombardment, said no publication in Serbia had published the indictment against Milosevic, nor had it been publicly discussed by legal experts.
``What about Izbica -- it's mentioned in the indictment?'' Kandic said, referring to a Kosovo village where investigators found clear signs that mass graves had been tampered with.
``What happened there, and elsewhere? This is an issue for our media, political parties and public opinion. To start a public debate on the atrocities.''
Kandic said her own investigations in Kosovo, particularly in the western town of Pec, which was virtually destroyed by Serb forces, backed up testimony by refugees that they had been systematically expelled by Serb forces.
She said a third of the Albanian population were expelled by order, and the rest fled. Around 30 Albanians in the town were killed during the expulsions, and later there were mass killings in villages around Pec.
According to witnesses she interviewed, most of the killings were done by paramilitaries, which she said were not independent units, as some Serb authorities have alleged, but were attached to regular forces.
``There were special units established by orders from a very high level,'' Kandic said.
``Based on information from the field, I know that the army and police had paramilitary units, especially the police. Their task was to expel people from villages, and to kill,'' she said.
She also said some of the atrocities were committed by Russian and Bulgarian mercenaries who were directed to Albanian-owned homes by local Serbs.
On the question of revenge attacks by ethnic Albanians she said this was a very serious issue for which NATO-led peace troops appeared to have been unprepared.
``This is not revenge in the usual sense -- 'you robbed me, I'll rob you'. Nothing like this happened in the wars in Croatia and Bosnia. It is part of the Albanian mentality.''
She said that over the past few years Albanian intellectuals had been studying the question of the vendetta tradition, and in a programme of discussions with villagers across the province had partly succeeded in turning people away from it.
``Now it is back in strength, and there needs to be new discussion on it. Otherwise it will go on till the last minority in Kosovo is eliminated.''
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.
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