Tagesnachrichten 16. Juli 1998
von ALBANEWS und anderen
weitere Presse-Meldungen
further press news
Tagesnachrichten 16. Juli 1998
16 july 98_______________________________________________________________________
Financial TimesALBANIA: Call to convene Kosovo parliament
By David BuchanKosovo's longest established Albanian party yesterday called for the local parliament to convene, for the first time since the province lost its autonomy eight years ago, in an attempt to halt its political decline in the face of the battlefield successes of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
But the move by the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) to "constitute" the parliament, in which it holds 90 out of 130 seats after last March's clandestine election, was immediately contested by the parties that boycotted that poll.
It thus risks creating division instead of the unity the international community has urged on Kosovar Albanian politicians, to prepare for negotiations with Belgrade.
After dissolving the Kosovo assembly in 1990, the Serb authorities prosecuted Albanians for adopting a secret constitution and refused to recognise their parallel "government" or subsequent "parliamentary elections".
But the success of the KLA in capturing about a third of the disputed province is fast making negotiation look attractive, with the pacifist leader of the LDK, Ibrahim Rugova, the best negotiating partner.
The Parliamentary party of Kosovo (PPK), which with 10 other parties and associations boycotted the March poll, yesterday denounced the LDK move. The PPK is dominated by Adem Demaci, who served 28 years in jail, while the other main party, the Albanian Democratic Movement, is also directed by former political prisoners.
Both parties appear increasingly close to the KLA. Bajram Kosumi, PPK vice-president, said all Kosovo's political parties "are now in decline because of the war and of the strengthening of the KLA", He stressed his party's role of complementing the KLA by using any future talks with Belgrade to speed the withdrawal of Serb security forces from Kosovo.
But even Veton Surroi, the independent politician, yesterday decried the LDK's attempt to build a legislature on elections "neither free nor fair in the western sense". It was "a futile attempt to stop the decline in the LDK's position".
Mr Surroi complained the west had been overtaken by events. When the international Contact Group on Kosovo had first swung behind Mr Rugova, "the KLA had at most 1,000 fighters. Now it has 30,000; that could be 50,000 when the Contact Group next meets".
--
Kosova Information Centre - London
1 -STATE DEPARTMENT NOON BRIEFING, JULY 15, 1998.
EXCERPTS.
2 -WHITE HOUSE DAILY BRIEFING, WEDNESDAY, JULY
15, 1998 .EXCERPTS.
_______________________________________________
15 July 1998
TRANSCRIPT: STATE DEPARTMENT NOON BRIEFING, JULY 15, 1998
EXCERPTS. (8420)
State Department Spokesman James Rubin briefed.
....
KOSOVO
16 Serb military
activity has modified somewhat recently Military contingency planning continues
on an accelerated basis
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 1998 1:00 P.M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
.....
Q: About Kosovo - there was a panel of Defense
Department experts this morning briefing on the subject. They said that
since - and I would ask you to - how does this sound to you - since Milosevic
went to Moscow and talked to Mr. Yeltsin, there hasn't been the kind of
Serb offensive that was so indeed so offensive and so damaging. In other
words, the Serbs have been laying off somewhat. The NATO people, when asked
- not NATO, excuse me - the military people, when asked what the solution
to this problem would possibly be, they said they have not a solution.
Does the State Department have a better idea; because they were looking
for better ideas today?
RUBIN: I received a report of that briefing and it was ever so slightly different than the one that you just provided me.
Q: It was?
RUBIN: Just ever so slightly. I think I indicated
to you about a week ago that it is correct that there has been some modification
in Serb activity, and that the kind of massive crackdown that we saw has
not recurred, but there continues to be fighting that we're concerned about;
that the issue is complicated - that on the one hand, as I've indicated
to you, it is clear that President Milosevic is still President Milosevic
and he is still pursuing policies that are reprehensible and ill advised,
the way he did in Bosnia; but that the situation between Bosnia and Kosovo
is not the same -- that Bosnia was a country that was recognized by the
international community, that it had leaders who were capable of exerting
influence over its citizens, and one could therefore pursue a policy with
that difference.
The Kosovar Albanian
situation is different. The people there have every right to be very, very
angry at the Serb authorities who have stripped them of their legitimate
rights. We support their legitimate rights and we want to see fundamental
changes in the way the Yugoslavia is made up so that the fundamental rights
and the legitimate rights of the people of Kosovo can be improved.
But that does not mean
that military planning for a military action is easy. As I understand it,
DOD officials were simply pointing out the complexity of military planning.
But that planning continues; it's on an accelerated basis; and no options
have been ruled out.
Q: Just to make sure we hit all the buttons on the Middle East peace talks, is there any new information on --
RUBIN: I have nothing new for you today.
Q: And is Dennis Ross still --
RUBIN: He's still here, yes.
(The briefing concluded at 2:45 P.M.)
(end transcript)
_______________________________________________
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
July 15, 1998
PRESS BRIEFING BY MIKE MCCURRY
The Briefing Room
EXCERPTS.
...........
Q: I was told that during the meeting between Sandy Berger and the Turkish General, Ismail Karadayi, here at the White House, a crucial discussion with focus on the Aegean Cyprus issues, and specifically on CBMs. The same subject would also be discussed between White House officials and the NATO Secretary General, Mr. Solana. Could you elaborate more -
MCCURRY: Well, I want to separate those two meetings,
because they are not directly connected and the subject matter of one should
not be interpreted being relevant to the subject matter of the other. The
NATO Secretary General will be here tomorrow to see the National Security
Advisor. I expect that they will discuss a full range of issues. We have
a lot of things to review with the Secretary General -- first and foremost,
the Balkans, Kosovo, those issues, although I would not be surprised if
matters related to the Aegean arise. We'll have to let you know afterwards.
General Kardaya, who
is here in Washington, is here at the invitation of the Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs. He has an unrelated meeting scheduled with Mr. Berger, and
I'd expect the current situation in the Aegean to be among the issues related
to NATO southern flank that arise in that meeting.
Did that occur?
COLONEL PJ CROWLEY: Both are tomorrow.
MCCURRY: Both of these meetings are tomorrow.
........
Taken without permission, for fair use only.
Kosovo clashes persist
Large areas of Kosovo said under KLA control
NATO schedules Albanian exercises, FYROM visit
NYTIMES: NATO Threat to Intervene in Kosovo Fades
as Rebels Succeed.
NATO Not Close to Kosovo Decision
Kosovo Intervention Said Not Near
Kosovo Albanian Rebuffs Peace Mission
Diplomat Delegation Visits Belgrade
Islamic countries back Western efforts on Kosovo
Officials: Invite KLA to Kosovo talks
Western Europe discusses Kosovo refugees
Demirel to focus on Kosovo conflict
_______________________________________________
Kosovo clashes persist
02:33 p.m Jul 15, 1998 Eastern
By Douglas Hamilton
PRISTINA, Serbia, July 15 (Reuters) - Serbian
security forces and ethnic Albanian insurgents fought sporadically in parts
of Kosovo this week ahead of the arrival of an expanded international mission
to monitor the conflict.
Ethnic Albanian media
said on Wednesday at least four Albanians, whose names were published,
had been killed in the previous 24 hours.
They said the use of
artillery by the Serbs, setting fire to houses, was driving many villagers
from their homes. United Nations officials confirmed an upsurge in the
flow of refugees.
Independent accounts
of the fighting were not available.
Sources on both sides
reported rumours that the government in Belgrade had ordered police and
troops to take no offensive action for the next 10 days as observers from
the major power Contact Group join European Union monitors for the new
mission.
There was, however,
no official confirmation that such a ``self-defence only'' order had been
issued, and some ethnic Albanians dismissed the rumours as a propaganda
device.
The ethnic Albanian
Kosovo Information Centre reported three Albanians killed in a Serbian
army and police attack on Tuesday on two villages in the western area of
Decani. Serbian sources said a policeman was wounded during an Albanian
guerrilla assault on a checkpoint in the same district.
Serbian shelling of
villages near the western border with Albania, the origin of most of the
weapons and ammunition for the insurgents, was also reported by the Kosovo
centre. There was no confirmation from the Serb authorities.
The Serb Media Centre
in Pristina, the Kosovo provincial capital, said 14 Serbian policemen were
wounded, three seriously, in an ambush of a police bus on the main road
between Pristina and Pec on Wednesday afternoon.
Over 300 people have
been killed since fighting erupted in February in the Serbian province,
where ethnic Albanians make up 90 percent of the 1.8 million population.
The United Nations refugee
agency said some 3,000 refugees had fled fighting near the western city
of Pec in recent days, heading for the republic of Montenegro. It said
there were now 18,000 in Montenegro and 13,000 in northern Albania.
Western observers in
Pristina on Wednesday said diplomats preparing to join the monitoring team
were still going through the process of accreditation in Belgrade. They
include United States and Russian observers.
The monitoring operation,
with over 40 observers, was not likely to get into full swing until next
week, they said.
The major powers, led
by the United States, are trying to pave the way for a general ceasefire,
permitting the resumption of negotiations on a political settlement which
would give the ethnic Albanians autonomy in Kosovo.
Details of their latest
initiative, setting the basic elements of a solution in broad terms, remain
confidential. in Pristina, the main ethnic Albanian political party, the
LDK, said it was preparing ``the inaugural session of the Parliament of
the Republic of Kosovo.''
Elected in 1993 and
again in March this year, the parliament, which is not recognised by Serbia,
has never sat.
The Kosovo Liberation
Army (KLA), which is fighting for Kosovo independence and does not recognise
the parliament, now claims to control half of the province and large areas
have become effective no-go areas for Serbian security forces.
KLA fighters say foreign
powers do not seem to understand that ethnic Albanians, who suffered harsh
Serbian rule during a decade-long, non-violent campaign for autonomy, would
no longer settle for anything less than their own state.
``I can say with complete
confidence that we now control 50 percent of Kosovo, and we are present
legally, semi-openly or underground in 90 percent of it,'' said a senior
KLA officer in Likovac, a hilltop regional command headquarters.
The red and black double-headed
eagle flag of Albania flew from a pole outside the command post and black-uniformed
military police guarded the building.
The KLA now insists
it is a national army with a fully integrated command structure. But the
identity of its leader remains secret.
REUTERS
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
_______________________________________________
Large areas of Kosovo said under KLA control
11:32 a.m. Jul 15, 1998 Eastern
By Douglas Hamilton
PRISTINA, Serbia, July 15 (Reuters) - Serb security
forces and ethnic Albanian insurgents fought sporadic skirmishes in parts
of Kosovo this week ahead of the arrival of an expanded international mission
to monitor the conflict.
The clashes appeared
limited, but ethnic Albanian reports said the use of artillery by the Serbs
was driving many villagers from their homes, and United Nations officials
confirmed an upsurge in the flow of refugees.
Independent accounts
of the fighting were not available.
Sources on both sides
reported rumours that the government in Belgrade had ordered police and
troops to take no offensive action for the next 10 days as observers from
the major power Contact Group join European Union monitors for the new
mission.
There was, however,
no official confirmation that such a ``self-defence only'' order had been
issued.
The ethnic Albanian
Kosovo Information Centre reported that two Albanians were killed by Serbian
police on Monday near Suva Reka, on the main highway between the capital,
Pristina, and the southern city of Prizren, and that police had advanced
on villages west of an important open-cast coal mine near Pristina.
The centre also reported
Serb shelling of villages near the western border with Albania, the origin
of most of the weapons and ammunition for the insurgents, and to the north
of Pristina in the region of Titova Mitrovica.
There was no confirmation
from the Serb authorities.
Over 300 people have
been killed since fighting erupted in February in the Serbian province,
where ethnic Albanians make up 90 percent of the 1.8 million population.
The United Nations refugee
agency said some 3,000 refugees had fled fighting near the western city
of Pec in recent days, heading for the republic of Montenegro. It said
there were now 18,000 refugees in Montenegro and 13,000 in northern Albania.
Western observers in
Pristina said on Wednesday diplomats preparing to join the monitoring team
were still going through the process of accreditation in Belgrade. They
include United States and Russian observers.
The monitoring operation,
with over 40 observers, was not likely to get into full swing until next
week, they said.
The major powers, led
by the United States, are trying to pave the way for a general ceasefire,
permitting the resumption of negotiations on a political settlement which
would give the ethnic Albanians autonomy in Kosovo.
Details of their latest
intiative, setting the basic elements of a solution in broad terms, remain
confidential.
The Kosovo Liberation
Army (KLA) which is fighting for independence for Kosovo, now claims to
control half the territory of the province, and large areas are barred
to Serbian security forces.
KLA fighters say foreign
powers do not seem to understand that ethnic Albanians, who suffered harsh
Serb rule during a decade-long, non-violent campaign for autonomy, would
no longer settle for anything less than their own state.
In the uplands west
of Pristina, where access is controlled by KLA checkpoints, the countryside
was largely peaceful, with children bathing in the rivers, cattle grazing
and peasants taking in the grain harvest with scythes.
One village market had
a plentiful supply of vegetables and local produce, and on a hilltop track
into the KLA-held fief a convoy of tractors with trailers hauled a consignment
of supplies from the city, including cigarettes and soft drinks.
But villagers in settlements
within range of Serbian positions said they did not dare venture into the
fields to tend their crops and were forced to ration bread.
``I can say with complete
confidence that we now control 50 percent of Kosovo, and we are present
legally, semi-openly or underground in 90 percent of it,'' said one senior
KLA officer in Likovac, a hilltop regional headquarters.
The red-and-black, double-headed
eagle emblem of Albania flew from a flagpole above the command post and
black uniformed members of the KLA military police guarded the building.
The KLA claims to be
growing in strength constantly as ethnic Albanians and members of the Kosovar
diaspora in Europe join up to fight for self-determination, and it is demanding
recognition from political parties as the national army.
In response to doubts
that it has the organisational coherence and discipline to play the main
role in determining the future of Kosovo -- whether in battle or in eventual
negotiations with Belgrade -- the KLA appears intent on consolidating its
structure.
But the identity of
its top commander remains a secret.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
_______________________________________________
NATO schedules Albanian exercises, FYROM visit
12:56 p.m. Jul 15, 1998 Eastern
By Janet McEvoy
BRUSSELS, July 15 (Reuters) - The NATO military
alliance, seeking to step up its visibility in countries bordering Serbia's
troubled Kosovo province, will stage military exercises in Albania between
August 17-22, NATO sources said on Wednesday.
The 16-nation transatlantic
alliance's Secretary-General Javier Solana will also discuss tensions in
Kosovo during a long-scheduled visit to the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia (FYROM) next week, the sources said.
The Albanian exercises,
agreed to in principle by NATO foreign ministers in May, are being advanced
to reflect growing concern at the crisis in Kosovo, which the West fears
could destabilise the volatile Balkans region as it recovers from the 1992-1995
Bosnia war.
The ``Cooperative Assembly''
peace support exercises are expected to involve troops from the United
States, Britain, Germany, Greece, Spain, France and Italy, along with Albanians.
Russia has expressed
interest in taking part, but has not offered confirmation, while several
non-member ``Partnership for Peace'' countries -- including Lithuania,
the Czech Republic, Austria, Denmark and Sweden -- will have observer status.
The exercises, to be
carried out around 100 kilometres from capital Tirana, will involve paratroop
drops, vehicle check-point controls, close air support, forward air exercises
and humanitarian assistance. Troops will also rebuild a school.
``They will practice
what NATO is doing for real in Bosnia,'' said one NATO source, referring
to NATO's peacekeeping role there under the 1995 Dayton peace agreement
which ended the war.
The exercises will also
provide an opportunity for Albanians to have their teeth done as U.S. soldiers
will bring a special dental unit to treat the local population.
During his July 22-23
visit to Macedonia, where NATO will carry out scheduled military exercises
dubbed ``Cooperative Best Effort'' in the second week of September, Solana
will ask top officials for their views on the Kosovo situation.
``Given the situation
in Kosovo the trip becomes politically more relevant,'' said one NATO source.
``He will discuss with the authorities the situation in FYROM and how they
see the development of the crisis in Kosovo.''
During the trip NATO
will examine the Krivolak military training centre outside the capital
Skopje, which FYROM authorities have offered as a permanent training centre
for NATO's Partnership for Peace programme.
The exercises in FYROM,
to be held between September 12-18, are expected to involve more than 1,000
troops from more than 20 NATO and partnership countries.
NATO sources said the
alliance continues to keep all options on the table for future involvement
in helping stem trouble in Kosovo, where more than 300 people have been
killed this year during a bloody Serb crackdown on Kosovo Liberation Army
(KLA) guerrillas fighting for independence from Yugoslavia.
Ethnic Albanians make
up 90 percent of the southern province's 1.8 million population.
The United States, Russia
and Europe are trying to broker peace talks leading to self-determination
for Kosovo, short of independence which they reject as a potentially catastrophic
redrawing of borders in the volatile Balkans.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
_______________________________________________
THE NEW YORK TIMES
July 16, 1998
NATO Threat to Intervene in Kosovo Fades as Rebels Succeed
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
WASHINGTON -- The already remote prospect
of NATO military intervention in Kosovo has quickly faded as the Serbian
crackdown there has let up and the rebels expand their campaign, Pentagon
officials said Wednesday.
A month after NATO warplanes
staged a noisy show of force over neighboring Albania and Macedonia, the
officials said that NATO had not ruled out the use of force to halt the
growing civil war in the Yugoslav province. But they said that for now
the success of ethnic Albanian insurgents in the Kosovo Liberation Army
had significantly undercut that possibility.
While NATO's strategists
have drafted preliminary plans, including possible air strikes against
Serbian forces in Kosovo, the officials said neither the United States
nor NATO had any intention of helping the rebels in their campaign for
independence from the Yugoslav government by bombing the Serbs.
"They need to know --
and NATO has made this clear and the U.S. government has made this clear
-- that the cavalry is not coming," a Defense Department official told
reporters at the Pentagon Wednesday, speaking only on the condition of
anonymity.
The officials said they
remained worried that the fighting could spread to neighboring countries,
an event that would almost certainly draw in NATO, but those fears have
diminished since the Serbs have eased their crackdown.
Other officials in Washington
and at NATO's headquarters in Brussels said Wednesday that NATO's military
planning had virtually ground to a halt and that the United States and
its allies had focused their attention on diplomatic efforts to end the
fighting. The officials emphasized, though, that NATO could still launch
a strike against the Serbs on very short notice.
"The emphasis is very
much on the political side," a Western diplomat said Wednesday.
Another meeting of the
"contact group" of countries monitoring the fighting -- the United States,
Russia, Germany, Italy, Britain and France -- is to take place in London
next Tuesday. President Clinton's senior national security aides met at
the White House this evening to discuss the situation.
In recent weeks the
United States and its allies have become frustrated by the rebels' apparent
unwillingness to consider a peaceful resolution. Compounding the frustration
is the confusion over who, if anyone, can speak for the loosely organized
rebels.
"We actually are having
a hard time in our community understanding exactly who is in charge --
who is in charge of the military, who is in charge of the politics," an
intelligence official at the Pentagon said Wednesday, referring to the
intelligence community.
The Serbian crackdown
has eased significantly since NATO's air exercise on June 15, in which
more than 80 aircraft coursed across the skies over Albania and Macedonia.
Though largely symbolic, the exercise showed NATO could quickly assemble
air power in the Balkans. A day later, Milosevic met with President Boris
Yeltsin of Russia and pledged to halt the bloodshed.
"Over the past two to
three weeks, we've seen a definite leveling off and perhaps even drop in
offensive-type of operations on the part of the Serbs," one of the officials
said Wednesday.
That raised hopes that
a political solution was still possible, but those hopes have dimmed because
of the rebels, who are vowing to establish an independent state of Kosovo,
whose 2 million people are overwhelmingly ethnic Albanians.
The Kosovo Liberation
Army, once a couple of hundred irregulars, has grown in size and strength
since Milosevic ordered his crackdown. Still, the officials said, it is
unable to wage a sustained military campaign against the better-trained
and equipped Serbs. The rebels control their land, these officials said,
because the Serbian forces have not pursued them.
"In the face of determined
Serb resistance or counterattacks, the KLA have not shown yet that they
are capable of holding ground," one said. "They can harass and temporarily
occupy and hold ground, but they hold the ground because the Serbs are
allowing them."
The officials, who spoke
to reporters on events of the last few weeks, offered details that contradicted
a number of recent reports about the size and strength of both sides.
While reports have suggested
that 50,000 Serbs have taken part in the fighting, intelligence reports
indicate that only 10,000 soldiers from the Yugoslav National Army are
involved, along with a smaller number of special police units, the officials
said. The rebels, by contrast, have only 2,000 soldiers, although they
can rely on the support of "tens of thousands" of armed supporters in Kosovo.
The officials also displayed
a map suggesting the rebels control far less than the 30 to 40 percent
of territory often cited.
The rebels are receiving
money and weapons from ethnic Albanians outside Kosovo, including expatriates
in Germany and North America, the officials said.
_______________________________________________
Thursday July 16 1:41 AM EDT
NATO Not Close to Kosovo Decision
SUSANNE M. SCHAFER AP Military Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The military balance in the
restive Yugoslav province of Kosovo has changed so much that the United
States and its NATO allies are reluctant to make any quick decision on
using military force.
``From a policy perspective,
we're not anywhere near making a decision for any kind of armed intervention
in Kosovo right now,'' said one senior defense official, speaking Wednesday
to reporters at the Pentagon.
The official joined
several other defense and intelligence analysts for a briefing on the situation
in Kosovo. All spoke only on condition their names and positions not be
identified.
The fighting between
Serbs and Albanians has killed more than 300 people since February.
The officials said diplomacy
is the preferred route, but even that option is difficult because of problems
ascertaining who is in charge of the ethnic Albanian insurgency, and whether
the two sides can be enticed to the bargaining table.
The ethnic Albanians
have been fighting for greater autonomy. They have clashed with local Serb
police forces and Yugoslav military forces, touching off flights of refugees
across the border with Albania. Kosovo is a sector of Serbia, which along
with the state of Montenegro forms the nation of Yugoslavia.
But the officials pointed
out that the situation in the area has changed dramatically since last
month, when NATO warplanes engaged in a show-of-force air exercise designed
to intimidate the Serb-led forces of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic
and halt attacks on ethnic Albanians in the province.
In the wake of the Serb
attacks, the ethnic-Albanian insurgent force has swelled to about 2,000
``hard-core'' members, plus tens of thousands of supporters, the officials
said.
Their military training
has increased and they have acquired additional weaponry, the analysts
said. But much of the force's activity and leadership remains in the shadows,
giving alliance analysts little chance of determining exactly what is going
on and making it tough for diplomats to negotiate an end to the bloodshed,
the officials said.
This has been coupled
with recent restraint by the Serbs. They do not have the manpower to effectively
battle the insurgency, the analysts said, and they have found that the
harder they crack down on the ethnic Albanians, the more effective the
insurgency becomes.
They have done ``rather
poorly'' and have not contained the growth of the insurgency, ``so it appears
that there's no military solution to the conflict,'' another intelligence
analyst said.
The officials also argued
that the ethnic Albanians have made gains on the ground because the Serbs
are allowing them to hold it. The first official called it a ``classic
insurgency'' that depends on local support and said the Kosovo Liberation
Army has not shown it could hold ground in the face of determined Serb
operations.
The officials also pointed
out that NATO leaders, including Defense Secretary William Cohen, have
been adamant that the alliance will not step in to support independence
for Kosovo, and instead backs increased autonomy within Yugoslavia.
_______________________________________________
Wednesday July 15 6:13 PM EDT
Kosovo Intervention Said Not Near
SUSANNE M. SCHAFER AP Military Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Barring an outbreak of ``intolerable''
atrocities, NATO remains far from using military force to put down unrest
in the Serbian province Kosovo, the Defense Department said Wednesday.
``From a policy perspective,
we're not anywhere near making a decision for any kind of armed intervention
in Kosovo right now,'' a senior Defense official told reporters at a Pentagon
briefing.
In fact, said another
official, speaking of the NATO planning process, no decision is near on
any option to deal with the tumult in southern Yugoslavia.
They and several other
U.S. defense and intelligence analysts spoke about NATO's planning regarding
the embattled province on condition their names and positions not be further
identified.
The officials stressed
that diplomacy remains the preferred route, but even that option is difficult
because of problems ascertaining who is in charge of the ethnic Albanian
insurgency and whether negotiations can be organized.
Serb-Albanian fighting
over Albanian autonomy has killed more than 300 people in the province
since February and sent flights of refugees across the border with Albania.
Serbia and Montenegro, just north of Kosovo, comprise Yugoslavia.
The American officials
said the situation in the area has changed sharply since last month, when
NATO warplanes engaged in a show-of-force exercise designed to intimidate
the Serb-led forces of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to halt attacks
on ethnic Albanians.
In the wake of the Serb
attacks, the ethnic Albanian insurgent force has swelled to about 2,000
``hard-core'' members plus tens of thousands of supporters, the officials
said.
Military training has
improved for the Albanian fighters, who have acquired additional weaponry,
the analysts said. Much of the force's activity and leadership remain in
the shadows, however, yielding little chance for NATO analysts to ascertain
what is happening and for diplomats to negotiate an end to the bloodshed,
the officials said.
``The Serbs have done,
overall, to date, rather poorly. They have not contained the growth of
the (insurgents), so it appears that there's no military solution to the
conflict,'' a third intelligence analyst said.
``This is a classic
insurgency. There's a lot of cells out there. They depend on local support
in villages,'' the first defense official said.
``In the face of determined
Serb operations, the (Kosovo Liberation Army) has not shown yet that they're
capable of holding ground. ... Don't confuse the KLA with any kind of an
organized military force.''
Asked what might force
the NATO alliance to take military action, the first defense official said,
``I think if some levels of atrocities were be reached that would be intolerable,
that would probably be a trigger.''
The officials also pointed
out that NATO leaders, including Defense Secretary William Cohen, have
been adamant that the alliance will not step in to support independence
for Kosovo but backs increased autonomy within Yugoslavia.
``They need to know
... that the cavalry is not coming. We are not supportive of Kosovo independence,''
the second defense official said. ``NATO planning is not ostensible movement
towards some kind of a military action there.''
_______________________________________________
Wednesday July 15 3:49 PM EDT
Kosovo Albanian Rebuffs Peace Mission
JOVANA GEC Associated Press Writer
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) - The 54-nation Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe sought Wednesday to set up a permanent
mission in Kosovo aimed at mediating an end to fighting in the separatist
province.
But a hard-line ethnic
Albanian politician in Pristina, Kosovo's capital, said the OSCE effort
comes six years too late.
Yugoslavia was suspended
from the OSCE and other international organizations in 1992 for allegedly
fomenting ethnic conflict in Croatia and Bosnia. Belgrade has resisted
the organization's attempts since then to set up permanent offices in the
country.
This is the first OSCE
mission in six years that is exploring ways to reinstate Yugoslavia's membership.
Hansjoerg Eiff, a German
diplomat, said after meeting with Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic
that ``we came to talk about all aspects of relations between OSCE and
Yugoslavia.''
In Pristina, Bajram
Kosumi, considered among the more hard-line Kosovo Albanian officials,
criticized the OSCE for sending a mission after the conflict has advanced
to such a bloody state.
``The return of the
OSCE mission in Kosovo could be a symbolic gesture, which would stress
the concern and interest Europe and the international community in general
have for Kosovo,'' he said. ``But effectively, it will have little influence
in the field.''
After strong pressure
from the United States and Russia, their greatest ally, Yugoslavia agreed
last Thursday to let an initial fact-finding mission visit Kosovo, where
fighting between Serbs and ethnic Albanians has killed more than 300 people
since February.
Other areas where OSCE
would like to see permanent missions include the Muslim Serbian region
of Sandzak and Vojvodina, a Serbian province with a large Hungarian minority,
Yugoslav media reported.
Meanwhile, fighting
flared Wednesday in several areas of Kosovo.
The pro-government Serb
Media Center said a group of armed ethnic Albanians attacked a police checkpoint
near the southwestern Kosovo town of Decani, 45 miles west of Pristina,
wounding one policeman. Police repelled the attack, the center said.
The ethnic Albanian
Kosovo Information Center said three Albanians were killed in an attack
by Serb forces near Decani late Tuesday. Serb forces also attacked two
villages on the road leading to the border with Albania, setting fire to
seven houses before KLA fighters forced them to retreat, the center said.
Fighting also continued
Wednesday in two other regions, Djakovica - where one Albanian was killed
and five were wounded Monday - and the KLA stronghold of Drenica, the center
said.
No independent confirmation
was available.
The leadership of the
political party that supports Ibrahim Rugova - elected Kosovo president
in elections Serbia did not recognize - met in Pristina Wednesday to decide
when the ethnic Albanian assembly, also elected unofficially, is to convene.
No date was agreed on.
Attempts by world powers
to rally the splintered ethnic Albanian politicians behind Rugova have
been unsuccessful. With political efforts to gain independence faltering,
the Kosovo Liberation Army continues to gain support.
_______________________________________________
Wednesday July 15 10:32 AM EDT
Diplomat Delegation Visits Belgrade
JOVANA GEC Associated Press Writer
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) - The 54-nation Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe today began its first mission to
Yugoslavia in six years amid international efforts to resolve the crisis
in separatist Kosovo province.
But an ethnic Albanian
politician in Pristina, Kosovo's capital, said the OSCE mission comes too
late.
Hansjoerg Eiff, a German
diplomat, said after meeting Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic
that ``we came to talk about all aspects of relations between OSCE and
Yugoslavia.''
Eiff said he hoped OSCE
will set up permanent missions in Kosovo, in the Muslim Serbian area of
Sandzak and in Vojvodina, a region with a large Hungarian minority, according
to Yugoslav media.
Eiff also said OSCE
would like former Spanish Premier Felipe Gonzales to start a mission to
mediate in the Kosovo conflict as soon as possible. The Yugoslavs' reaction
was not immediately known.
The group will talk
to other Serbian, Albanian and Montenegrin officials in Belgrade, Pristina,
and Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, Serbia's partner in the Yugoslav
federation, Eiff said.
Yugoslavia was suspended
from the OSCE and other international organizations in 1992 for allegedly
fomenting ethnic conflict in Croatia and Bosnia. Belgrade had refused to
allow an OSCE mission into the country until its membership was restored.
Under international
pressure, the Yugoslavs agreed last week to let an initial fact-finding
mission visit the country, including the Kosovo province, where clashes
between Serb and Albanian forces have killed more than 300 people and forced
thousands of others to flee their homes.
In Pristina, Bajram
Kosumi, a top official in the ethnic Albanian Parliamentary Party, said
the OSCE delegation now can do little to halt the conflict.
``The return of the
OSCE mission in Kosovo could be a symbolic gesture, which would stress
the concern and interest Europe and the international community in general
have for Kosovo, but effectively it will have little influence in the field,''
he said.
``I am afraid there
is no space for the work of this mission in Kosovo where conflicts have
advanced,'' said Kosumi.
Also today, ethnic Albanians
attacked a police checkpoint near the southwestern Kosovo town of Decane,
wounding one policeman, said the pro-government Serb Media Center. The
center said police repelled the attack.
_______________________________________________
Islamic countries back Western efforts on Kosovo
05:57 a.m. Jul 15, 1998 Eastern
By Fiona Fleck
BONN, July 15 (Reuters) - Iran has assured Germany
that it and the rest of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference support
Western efforts to achieve a political solution to the Kosovo conflict,
the German foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
Iranian Foreign Minister
Kamal Kharrazi, whose country holds the presidency of the 55-nation group,
had informed his German counterpart Klaus Kinkel of their position in a
telephone conversation, the ministry said.
Kharrazi had also thanked
Kinkel for the efforts on the part of the major powers Contact Group to
end the conflict between ethnic Albanian rebels and Serbian security forces
in the southern Serbian province, it said.
Iran and the rest of
the Islamic Conference were opposed to ethnic Albanian seccession there,
he said.
About 90 percent of
the population in Kosovo are ethnic Albanians who are traditionally Moslem.
Foreign Minister Kharrazi
thanked Minister Kinkel for Germanys diplomatic efforts to end the Kosovo
crisis, the German foreign ministry statement said.
He said that the Organisation
of the Islamic Conference, whose presidency Iran currently holds, wanted
to support the efforts of the international Contact Group in its search
for a political solution -- just has had been the case in finding a solution
to the conflict in Bosnia, it said.
The statement said Kinkel
had spoken to Kharrazi during a visit to the Baltic republic of Lithuania.
The telephone call had been on the request of the Iranian minister, it
said.
The Contact Group is
made up of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia.
It was originally created to help end the 1992-95 war in Bosnia.
Kharrazi dismissed reports
alleging that Islamic Mujahideen fighters from Iran were taking part in
the battles in Kosovo.
Iran is just as interested
in finding a political solution within the framework of the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia as the Contact Group. Iran backs autonomy for Kosovo, just
like the Contact Group, the statement said quoting Kharrazi.
A break-up of the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia would have a destabilising effect on the whole of
the Balkans and would jeopardise the peace process in Bosnia, it said,
quoting Kharrazi.
He said that, despite
reports to the contrary, no Iranian Mujahideen fighters were participating
in the battles in Kosovo, the statement said.
Hundreds of mujahideen,
including Iranians, Afghans and Arabs, volunteered to fight for the Moselm-led
Bosnian government during the 43-month-long war. Most left the country
or were deported under U.S. pressure after the arrival of U.S. troops in
January 1996 to help implement the Dayton peace treaty.
The ministry statement
said that Kinkel and Kharrazi agreed to remain in close contact on the
issue.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
_______________________________________________
Wednesday July 15 7:14 PM EDT
Officials: Invite KLA to Kosovo talks
By MIKE BILLINGTON
WASHINGTON, July 15 (UPI) - The Kosovo Liberation
Army has gained in strength and should now be invited to participate in
peace talks aimed at ending the ethnic violence that has swept through
the Yugoslavian province since March, say senior U.S. defense and intelligence
officials.
The officials, speaking
on condition of anonymity, say the KLA has grown from a small band of about
200 fighters in March to a solid core of about 2,000 well-armed fighters
who are gaining in sophistication.
They say the rebels
can also draw on support from several thousand heavily armed insurgents
scattered throughout the province and nearby Albania.
But they say the KLA
still cannot mount an effective challenge to the well-trained and well-equipped
Yugoslavian army.
A Defense Department
military analyst says the KLA ``controls about a third of the province
right now, but only because the army is allowing them to for political
reasons.''
Previous peace talks
have been conducted only between the Yugoslavian federal government and
provincial leaders.
The peace process has
stalled in recent weeks, and both defense and intelligence officials say
it may be difficult to get it started again, because the Kosovars are engaged
in a major debate over what their eventual goals should be.
The KLA is seeking independence,
but many Kosovars are interested only in forcing the government to return
the region to the autonomous status it enjoyed until about a decade ago.
An intelligence official
said, ``It's difficult to negotiate if one side is confused about what
it is negotiating for.
Defense officials say
NATO planners are continuing to examine all possible military options,
including armed intervention by allied troops.
They were quick to point
out, however, that armed intervention is unlikely unless there are ``appalling
atrocities'' committed by either side.
Copyright 1998 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
_______________________________________________
Thursday, July 16, 1998 Published at 10:24 GMT
11:24 UK
BBC
Western Europe discusses Kosovo refugees
Interior Ministers from five Western European
countries Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Switzerland are meeting in
Austria to discuss the problem of refugees from the Serbian province of
Kosovo.
The Austrian Interior
Minister, Karl Schoegl, has said they will seek ways of sharing the responsibility
for the refugees between all fifteen member states of the European Union.
He warned that the countries
closest to the province may not be able to take as many refugees as during
the war in Bosnia.
Earlier this week the
United Nations refugee agency reported a big increase in the number of
ethnic Albanians fleeing the fighting in Kosovo.
But so far few among
them have sought refuge in Western Europe.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
_______________________________________________
turkish daily news
july 15, 1998
Demirel to focus on Kosovo conflict
Ankara - Turkish Daily News
President Suleyman Demirel met on Tuesday his
Albanian counterpart Rexhep Meidani and Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano
on his third state visit to Albania in the last six years.
Underlining the importance
Turkey attaches to Albania, Demirel emphasized the necessity of finding
a peaceful solution to the Kosovo conflict, arriving in Tirana on Tuesday
for a two-day visit.
Demirel, at the head
of a 140-member Turkish delegation, including Foreign Minister Ismail Cem,
Labor Minister Nami Cagan, Sports Minister Yucel Seckiner and a delegation
of leading Turkish businessmen is expected to focus on the Kosovo crisis
and its impact on the Balkans as well as economic relations.
During his visit, cooperation
agreements are also expected to be signed between the two countries in
the fields of social assistance and social insurance.
On Wednesday, Demirel
will visit the Albanian Parliament.
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