JULY 17, 1998
1 - WHITE HOUSE REPORT, FRIDAY, JULY 17, 1998
EXCERPTS
2 - TRANSCRIPT: COHEN WELCOMES PRESIDENT CONSTANTINESCU
OF ROMANIA
EXCERPTS
3 - July 17, 1998: PRESS GAGGLE BY MIKE MCCURRY
EXCERPTS
________________________________________________________
17 July 1998
WHITE HOUSE REPORT, FRIDAY, JULY 17, 1998
(Uruguay, Russia, Kosovo) (320)
White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry briefed reporters at a late morning session.
EXCERPTS
........
DIPLOMATIC PRESSURE CONTINUES ON SERBS IN KOSOVO
Asked about the situation in Kosovo currently,
McCurry said, "Well, we still have been putting enormous pressure diplomatically
on the Serbs. And we are very concerned about what the Serbs have been
doing to disrupt efforts by the Kosovar Albanians to form some coherent
political structure that can engage in negotiations. But, meanwhile, you
have to acknowledge that the Kosovar Albanians have done a better job on
the ground militarily and that has affected somewhat the climate for what
we believe is everyone's preference and that is, or should be everyone's
preference, which is peaceful resolution of the conflict. We have (Ambassador)
Chris Hill continuing the work and Ambassador Holbrooke continues to have
contact with folks over there and preemptive diplomacy by other Contact
Group nations as well."
________________________________________________________
17 July 1998
TRANSCRIPT: COHEN WELCOMES PRESIDENT CONSTANTINESCU
OF ROMANIA
Following is a transcript of the media availability:
(Begin transcript)
EXCERPTS
OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (PUBLIC
AFFAIRS)
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20301
Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen
President Emil Constantinescu, Romania
Media Availability
Friday, July 17, 1998 - 10:30 a.m.
SECRETARY COHEN: Let me take this occasion to
welcome President Constantinescu. This is his first visit to the United
States as President of Romania and his first visit to the Pentagon.
I am also pleased the
Defense Minister Babiuc and Foreign Minister Plesu were able to join him.
We have just completed
a very good discussion this morning. As President Clinton said yesterday,
Romania is making impressive progress in its efforts to rebuild its economy
and its military. This progress is going to advance Romania's candidacy
for NATO membership.
As part of the United
States-Romanian strategic partnership, we're working together to help Romania
continue its military reform efforts. We agree that Romania needs to develop
a smaller, well-trained military able to operate better with NATO forces.
Romania has helped to
maintain stability in Europe. Last year it sent troops to Albania; its
forces are in SFOR [NATO-led Stabilization Force] in Bosnia today. They're
also willing to commit to UN forces in the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia. Romania is also preparing to contribute to the multinational
peace force, Southeastern Europe.
The foundation of the
strategic partnership that President Clinton announced in Romania last
year obviously is our shared commitment to work together for peace and
prosperity in Europe.
Let me say I was most
impressed with the President. He engaged in a very direct, open, candid
discussion of his country's hopes and aspirations and the enormous challenge
that he faces and the enormous success that he is currently enjoying, so
it was a very good meeting and one that was very impressive.
PRESIDENT CONSTANTINESCU: Ladies and gentlemen,
I very much appreciated the talks we have just had here at the Pentagon.
They were very pragmatic and open.
We talked about a broad
array of issues going from the political position, bilateral relations,
the situation in the region, and also military relations. Romania presented
its capacity as a pillar of stability in the region, and it appreciated
the position that whenever the hot situations, as in the case now in Kosovo,
efforts must be made for a political settlement.
Romania has reaffirmed
the fact that it is acting as if it were already a NATO member. It has
undertaken responsibilities and obligations in this sense. We underline
the importance of economic reform of a nature to support these efforts.
The United States expressed
its support in the process of reforming the Romanian armed forces with
special emphasis on the NCOs and interoperability. We have a special appreciation
for future cooperation with the United States within UNPREDEP (United Nations
Preventive Deployment Force) in Macedonia.
We thank the United
States for the decision to set up in Romania the Regional Center for the
Management of Military Resources and their willingness to help contribute
to this center.
We also feel that the
strategic partnership with the United States is a very good road towards
preparing Romania for integration into Euro-Atlantic structures, and, within
this, military and strategic cooperation plays a particular role.
........
______________________________________________
17 July 1998
TRANSCRIPT: WHITE HOUSE PRESS GAGGLE IN MCCURRY'S
OFFICE JULY 17
EXCERPTS
(Girls' Nation 1998, reunion of Boys' Nation 1963, Arkansas, week ahead, Uruguay, Saturday Radio Address on aggie issues, Secret Service, Saddam Hussein, Russia, GM strike, tax relief, Social Security, IRS, Kosovo, Court) (2690)
White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry briefed reporters in his office at 11am July 17, just an hour before the President left for Little Rock.
Following is the transcript:
(begin transcript)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
July 17, 1998
PRESS GAGGLE BY MIKE MCCURRY
McCurry's Office
EXCERPTS
...........
Q: Mike, is there anything new on Kosovo, reports about the Serbs -
MCCURRY: We still have been putting enormous pressure
diplomatically on the Serbs and we are very concerned about what the Serbs
have been doing to disrupt efforts by the Kosovar Albanians to form some
coherent political structures that they engage in negotiation. But meanwhile,
you have to acknowledge the Kosovar Albanians have done a better job on
the ground militarily, and that has affected, somewhat, the climate for
what we believe is everyone's preference, which is -- or should be everyone's
preference -- which is peaceful resolution of the conflict. Where we've
got -- Chris Hill is continuing to work it, Ambassador Holbrooke continues
to have contact with folks over there, and there has been pretty active
diplomacy by other Contact Group nations, as well.
.......
NEWS: KOSOVA
UPDATE, JULY 18, 1998
___________________________________
Taken without permission, for fair use only.
Fighting Erupts Near Albania Border
British woman aid worker said missing in Kosovo
'Angel' arrested in Kosovo
Morale Low Among Forces in Kosovo
CSMONITOR-Serbia's Peace Faction Ignored as Hotter
War in Kosovo Looms
President Elected Before Police Break Up Session
of Kosovo Parliament
Albanian Politician Defies Serbs
Kosovo Albanians set up parliament
No special status for Kosovo - Serb deputy PM
___________________________________
NYTIMES
July 18, 1998
Fighting Erupts Near Albania Border
By The Associated Press
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Fighting raged today
on Kosovo's border with Albania, with Serb forces shelling villages located
along a gunrunning route used by ethnic Albanian guerrillas. Albanian border
guards reported many dead and wounded.
Farther inside the province,
separatist ethnic Albanian guerrillas seeking to tear Kosovo province away
from Serbia were reportedly launching their own attack on Serb security
forces controlling a mostly Albanian town.
While the Serb assault
seemed intended at disrupting arms smuggling routes into Kosovo, the attack
by the Kosovo Liberation Army, or KLA -- estimated to control up to 40
percent of the province -- appeared to be aimed at trying to grab more
territory.
Albanian border police
spokesmen said some of the shells fired in Kosovo were falling up to hundreds
of yards inside Albanian territory.
Artan Bizhga, an Albanian
Interior Ministry spokesman, said border guards had seen many killed and
wounded by shelling of the Padesh village area.
Padesh was the main
route for about 13,000 Kosovo refugees that crossed the border into Albania
in June, escaping a Serb attack in their villages. It is used by the KLA
to smuggle guns and ammunition from Northern Albania into Kosovo.
Bizhga said at least
five wounded KLA members had crossed into Albania to escape the shelling.
The ethnic Albanian
Kosovo Information Center said at least one person was reported killed
Friday in Zun, apparently near the border fighting.
In Pristina, British
Embassy officials said they were searching for a British aid workers feared
missing in western Kosovo.
The separatists' assault
was centered on Orahovac, about 30 miles southwest of Pristina, capital
of the province where ethnic Albanians form a 90 percent majority.
The Kosovo Information
Center could not say whether Serb police controlling the mostly ethnic-Albanian
town of 20,000 might have been forced to cede some ground.
Serbia is the largest
of the two republics remaining in Yugoslavia and dominates the Yugoslav
federation. The five-month Yugoslav crackdown on ethnic Albanian militants
has triggered a backlash in Kosovo not only against the government but
also against ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova, whose commitment to
nonviolence has failed to end the bloodshed or win self-rule.
That has resulted in
converts for the militant KLA and deepening splits among ethnic Albanians.
__________________________________
British woman aid worker said missing in Kosovo
04:54 a.m. Jul 18, 1998 Eastern
By Douglas Hamilton
PRISTINA, Serbia, July 18 (Reuters) - British
aid worker Sally Becker was captured by the Yugoslav army while trying
to smuggle a Kosovo Albanian family across a border battlefield into Albania
proper, Serbian sources said on Saturday.
Becker, 37, known as
the Angel of Mostar for her daring freelance aid missions during the Bosnian
war, was being held by police at Djakovica in western Kosovo and a British
diplomat was trying to secure her release.
The sources said Becker
was detained on Friday by Yugoslav soldiers patrolling an area where fighting
with separatist guerrillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) had ended
only 15 minutes earlier.
The Serbians said Becker
was unharmed. There was no immediate word of the fate of the Albanian family
or how she located them.
Thousands of ethnic
Albanians have fled across the mountain border to Albania during more than
four months of fighting between Serbian security forces and the KLA who
are seeking Kosovo's independence from Serbia.
Becker, a self-proclaimed
enemy of bureaucratic red tape in war zones, was reported to have crossed
into Kosovo illegally from northern Albania.
She made her reputation
in 1993 when she rescued 25 wounded children from the Moslem sector of
the southern Bosnian town of Mostar while it was under Croat tank, artillery
and sniper fire.
She clashed repeatedly
with official U.N. aid workers who accused her of acting irresponsibly
in Bosnia and later in Chechnya when it was under attack by the Russian
army in 1995.
"She has a flair for
publicity and she has achieved some results but they've come at what I'd
call plainly unacceptable risk to those she's helped and to herself," one
aid source in Chechnya said.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
___________________________________
BBCNEWS
Jul 18, 1998
'Angel' arrested in Kosovo
A British aid worker has been arrested by the
Serb authorities in Kosovo. The aid worker, Sally Becker, who gained fame
in Bosnia as the "Angel of Mostar", had been missing for two days.
Details are still unclear,
but official sources have confirmed the aid worker was arrested by the
Serb authorities near the border with Albania having reportedly crossed
into Kosovo illegally.
Serb authorities say
she is unharmed and being held in the town of Djakovica near the Albanian
border.
Sally Becker first gained
fame as the so-called 'Angel of Mostar', supplying aid to that city during
the Bosnian conflict.
'Maverick' reputation
She operates independently and the BBC's correspondent
in Pristina says she has a reputation as something of a maverick amongst
other aid agencies.
As a member of British
aid agency Operation Angel she led a team of 26 women volunteers which
left Britain last month on a mission to deliver clothing and medecine to
Kosovo.
The reason for her arrest
is unclear, but it is believed she went to the border region to try to
rescue refugee women and children and it is rumoured she ran into an area
of fighting between the Serb army and the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army.
___________________________________
Friday July 17 6:36 PM EDT
Morale Low Among Forces in Kosovo
ADAM BROWN Associated Press Writer
JUNIK, Yugoslavia (AP) - A bored policeman gestured
obscenely toward ethnic Albanian guerrillas taking pot shots at his bunker,
swallowed another sip of brandy and didn't bother to shoot back.
"Why are we here?" the
32-year-old Serb asked as the shooting faded and the snipers disappeared
into the trees. He'd left a wife and child in Belgrade in April for the
sandbagged bunker in western Kosovo. Like his comrades, he refused to give
his name.
As the ethnic conflict
in Kosovo drags on, morale is waning among Serb police who are bored, homesick
and untrained to combat hit-and-run raids by rebels who move about familiar
mountain trails under cover of darkness.
The rebels of the Kosovo
Liberation Army, meanwhile, are showing signs of increasing confidence,
if only because they are holding their own in their fight for independence.
Kosovo is located in
southern Serbia, the dominant of two republics that make up the remainder
of Yugoslavia.
Signs of tumbling Serb
morale are apparent at many police bunkers and roadblocks, where liquor
bottles are scattered among empty bullet casings.
According to Belgrade
media, dozens of Serb police have refused to go to Kosovo since fighting
escalated in February. Those who go complain of constraints placed on their
actions and that they lack proper equipment: flak jackets, bulletproof
vehicles and maps.
Serb forces tend to
be unfamiliar with the terrain, while many guerrillas are fighting around
their home villages. Police and the army have dealt few serious blows to
the poorly armed but highly mobile guerrillas since the crackdown began
in late February.
"The police feel they
are sitting ducks," said Dejan Anastasijevic, a military specialist who
writes for the Belgrade-based weekly, Vreme.
"They're not trained
for this kind of fighting and they're in a situation they know they can't
win," Anastasijevic said.
Some police have complained
to journalists that they have been reined in by the government since a
March sweep through the village of Drenica killed dozens of ethnic Albanian
civilians.
That operation brought
international condemnation and threats of NATO military intervention. Since
then, police say they have been ordered to shoot only in self-defense.
Anastasijevic said boasts
by police that they could crush the KLA if given more firepower reflect
the need to blame someone for losses in a province where ethnic Albanians
outnumber Serbs 9-to-1.
Even Kosovo Serbs frequently
lambaste police for failing to provide them with weapons to defend themselves.
Meanwhile, the KLA's numbers have swollen and the guerrillas control up
to 30 percent of the province.
Their commitment, too,
appears strong.
"We will die to the
last man," vowed Abi Beleim Berisha, a KLA commander in Kosovo's northwestern
mountains.
___________________________________
FRIDAY, JULY 17, 1998
Serbia's Peace Faction Ignored as Hotter War in Kosovo Looms
By Justin Brown
Special to The Christian Science Monitor
BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA
In a basement where rock 'n' roll plays and peace
slogans cover the walls, Aleksandar Olujic waits by a phone that rarely
rings.
"It's been slow this
morning," says Mr. Olujic, a twentysomething activist in the Belgrade-based
Anti-War Campaign. "There's not much we can do right now. We have no money,
and in three days we'll lose our office. I think we're finished."
Such is the life of
a peace worker in Serbia, the dominant republic of Yugoslavia that is on
the brink of a war in its southern province of Kosovo.
Since Serbian forces
launched a crackdown in late February aimed at separatist ethnic Albanian
guerrillas in Kosovo, dissent has been barely audible in the Yugoslav capital,
Belgrade.
"This campaign made
people think, which is good," says Olujic, whose organization handed out
some 700,000 fliers. "But we did not change policy. That's impossible to
do in this country."
Unlike other issues
for which Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic draws constant fire from
his opponents, Kosovo is a political taboo in Serbia.
"It would be suicidal
for any of the major opposition parties to say they would give up Kosovo,"
says a Western analyst in the Balkans. "Whoever did that would be considered
a traitor."
Calling Kosovo the "cradle
of Serbian culture," Mr. Milosevic has argued that the impoverished region
is not the concern of the international community. He has said he would
discuss autonomy for Kosovo, but his offers are vague and he seems more
inclined to prolong the conflict.
But as it becomes apparent
that Milosevic's isolationist policy in Kosovo is leading toward all-out
war, opposition leaders are slowly distancing themselves from his hard-line
stance.
"The main problem in
Kosovo is the same totalitarian politics of Milosevic that we have been
fighting all these years," says Vesna Pesic, president of the Civic Alliance
of Serbia.
This week, Ms. Pesic
and other opposition politicians from Belgrade visited Kosovo and concluded
that international intervention may be the only way to stop the fighting.
"We need observers from
the [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] in both Kosovo
and the rest of Serbia, and we need them fast," says Serbian Democratic
Party President Zoran Djindjic. "And if [they] say our internal forces
can't manage the situation, then international forces should be used."
Although Yugoslavia
was kicked out of the 54-nation OSCE in 1992 for its role in the wars in
Croatia and Bosnia, OSCE representatives were in Belgrade this week to
explore the possibility of reinstating the country.
A coalition of Mr. Djindjic's
and Pesic's parties is also calling for a cease-fire, echoing the demands
of the international community, which does not support independence for
Kosovo but favors broad autonomy.
Since February, close
to 300 ethnic Albanians and scores of Serbs have died fighting in Kosovo,
where ethnic Albanians account for about 90 percent of the 2 million population.
An ethnic Albanian guerrilla
movement, the Kosovo Liberation Army, claims to control 40 percent of the
region. And Kosovo Albanians in Pristina, Kosovo's provincial capital,
yesterday inaugurated their own parliament. Serb security forces reportedly
stormed the building in response.
While some Serbian civilians
are taking up government-issued arms, others have denounced the quick-trigger
policy of Milosevic. Among the Kosovo-based critics are the Serbian Orthodox
Church and the Serbian Renewal Movement, both of which advocate international
mediation.
"Milosevic is in power
nowadays, but Milosevic is not Serbia, and he is not democracy," Renewal
Movement leader Vojislav Mihajlovic told reporters during a recent visit
to Washington. "There are other forces in Serbia which can help solve the
Kosovo problem in a democratic way."
Nevertheless, the Serbian
opposition's support of gradual autonomy for Kosovo is far from the overwhelming
ethnic Albanian demand for independence.
Two of the top opposition
vote-getters in last summer's presidential elections - radical Vojislav
Seselj and monarchist Vuk Draskovic - are now hard-line partners in the
ruling coalition.
A year-and-a-half ago,
when the opposition joined students in a united front called "Together,"
Belgrade was full of optimism. But infighting broke down unity.
"Everyone is tired of
protests," says activist Olujic. "People don't want to know how serious
the situation is in Kosovo. They just don't want to think about it."
___________________________________
Friday, July 17, 1998
President Elected Before Police Break Up Session of Kosovo Parliament
Yugoslavia: Delegates elevate moderate leader Ibrahim Rugova, a key U.S. ally, to top post.
By DAVID HOLLEY, Times Staff Writer
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia--Serbian police broke up
the first session of an ethnic Albanian parliament in restive Kosovo province
Thursday but not before Ibrahim Rugova was sworn in as the self-declared
republic's president.
The separatist body's
action was aimed at strengthening the hand of the moderate Rugova in complex
dealings with rival political parties in Kosovo, with the guerrilla forces
of the Kosovo Liberation Army, with the Serbian-dominated government of
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and with the international community.
Rugova, a former professor
of Albanian literature whose political trademark is extreme caution, had
been under intense pressure from his supporters to call a meeting of the
parliament, which was elected March 22 in underground voting.
"The bottom-line significance
is simply that by convening the parliament, Rugova was able to satisfy
some of the demands of the rank and file in his own party, and therefore
it strengthens Rugova," said a Western observer in Pristina, capital of
the Serbian province, where the meeting took place.
Rugova, who advocates
a nonviolent path to independence, is the key partner of the United States
in the search for a peaceful settlement to the Kosovo crisis, so anything
that makes him stronger could contribute to a diplomatic solution.
About 20 heavily armed
police equipped with Kalashnikov semiautomatic rifles circled Rugova's
party headquarters as the clandestine parliamentary session was underway
inside. Then about 10 plainclothes officers entered the building to demand
a halt and seize documents. There were no reports of violence, injuries
or arrests.
"The police action wasn't
brutal, but it was very swift," Nekibe Kelmendi, a top official of Rugova's
party, told reporters. "They gave us a two-minute ultimatum to hand them
the documents from the . . . session, which we did."
Kelmendi called the
meeting of the parliament "a historic act and the result of a new reality
in the region which the international community will have to consider."
The Serbian Interior
Ministry issued a statement that the documents seized were "submitted together
with criminal charges to the district prosecutor in order for legal steps
to be taken against responsible persons."
While the possible convening
of the parliament had been openly discussed in Rugova's party in recent
days, no date had been announced, and it was unclear whether Thursday's
session was a well-kept secret or a spontaneous decision.
Alush Gashi, a spokesman
for Rugova's Democratic Alliance of Kosovo, said Thursday's meetings began
with a party caucus. Deputies of smaller parties then took part in joint
discussions, and a decision was made to convene parliament on the spot,
Gashi said. "After everything was in place, the feeling was we'd better
use this occasion, not invite people a second or third time," Gashi said.
Besides installing Rugova
as president of the "Republic of Kosovo," the parliament elected a chairman,
Idriz Ajeti, three vice chairmen and a secretary-general, Gashi said. Out
of 118 deputies elected in March, 73 were present Thursday, he said. "We
also elected 19 different parliamentary commissions, which in the future
will be different ministries," he said. "We hope that in line with the
constitution, President Rugova will now appoint a prime minister."
Rugova is seen as an
essential figure in a peaceful solution to the fighting in Kosovo, in which
more than 350 people have died this year.
But his influence is
limited by the refusal of other key political leaders in Pristina to participate
in his shadow government. Most significantly, the second-largest party,
led by former political prisoner Adem Demaci, boycotted the March poll,
and Demaci recently declared that he would not cooperate with Rugova in
any political body.
The guerrillas have
also said they will not recognize Rugova's leadership because his policy
has failed.
"We are trying to find
a peaceful solution with the Serb side," Gashi said. "The reality is that
people are dying, Albanians in big numbers and Serbs too. That is not good
for anyone. . . . We are trying our best to continue to be part of a solution--to
have elected people who will have support in negotiations for a transitional
settlement."
Gashi also renewed one
of Rugova's refrains: a plea for stronger international action. "We cannot
solve this issue alone," he said. "We believe we are all fighting for global
goals of freedom, peace and justice. But we need help."
___________________________________
Friday July 17 10:34 AM EDT
Albanian Politician Defies Serbs
ISMET HAJDARI Associated Press Writer
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - Defying Serb authorities,
Kosovo's leading Albanian politician pledged today to continue building
government institutions in the rebellious province despite a police crackdown
on his unauthorized parliament.
Ibrahim Rugova, Kosovo's
self-styled president, made his pledge as an international fact-finding
team met with Serb officials here in the latest diplomatic bid to end the
fighting and start peace talks with the Yugoslav government.
Hansjoerg Eiff, the
German leader of the team from the 54-nation Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe, said he found a "positive reaction" from Serb
officials in Kosovo to the OSCE's desire to establish a permanent monitoring
mission here.
The deal could falter
if President Slobodan Milosevic sticks by his demand that Yugoslavia first
be readmitted to the OSCE, from which it was suspended in 1992 after ethnic
wars in Croatia and Bosnia.
The 11-member OSCE team
- including diplomats from the United States, Germany, Russia, Austria,
Denmark, Britain and other countries - meets later today with pro-independence
hard-liner Adem Demaci.
Team members are to
meet Saturday with Rugova, the ethnic Albanian politician the Americans
and Europeans want to lead a delegation in talks with Milosevic.
But Yugoslavia's bloody,
five-month crackdown on the secessionist Kosovo Liberation Army has triggered
a backlash not only against the government but also against Rugova, whose
commitment to nonviolence has failed to end the bloodshed or win self-rule.
That result has been
converts to the extremist KLA, which is fighting for independence from
Serbia. Albanians outnumber Serbs in Kosovo 9-to-1.
In a bid to shore up
his political position, Rugova on Thursday convened the 120-member Kosovo
parliament, elected in March but never authorized by the Belgrade government.
No sooner had Rugova
taken his oath as president than Serb police raided the party's headquarters,
where the session had taken place.
There were no arrests,
but police said charges could be filed because of the "attempt to constitute"
the illegal parliament.
Nevertheless, Rugova
said today that "after convening parliament, we will continue to build
other bodies of government in Kosovo" and invite ethnic Serbs in the province
to take part.
In Washington, State
Department spokesman James Rubin said the raid Thursday was part of a "repressive"
strategy that is driving ethnic Albanians into the extremists' camp.
Like the KLA, Rugova
also supports independence but his opposition to violence has won him international
support.
Yugoslavia has said
it was willing to negotiate autonomy, which the government rescinded in
1989, but not independence for the province.
___________________________________
MSNBC
Friday July 17 9:43 AM ET
Kosovo Albanians set up parliament
Kosovo's top Albanian leader said his movement
will keep forming government institutions in the rebellious province, even
after Serb forces cracked down on the groups newly former parliament on
Thursday.
According to the Associated
Press, Ibrahim Rugova, Kosovo's self-styled president, made his pledge
as an international fact-finding team met with Serb officials here in the
latest diplomatic bid to end the fighting and start peace talks with the
Yugoslav government.
The AP said the team
from the 54-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
is to meet Rugova later in the day. He is the ethnic Albanian politician
whom the Americans and Europeans want to lead a delegation in talks with
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
But Yugoslavia's bloody,
five-month crackdown on the secessionist Kosovo Liberation Army has triggered
a backlash not only against the government but also against Rugova, whose
commitment to nonviolence has failed to end the bloodshed or win self-rule,
the AP said.
That result has been
converts to the extremist Kosovo Liberation Army, which is fighting for
independence from Serbia. Albanians outnumber Serbs in Kosovo 9-to-1.
In a bid to shore up
his political position, Rugova on Thursday convened the 120-member Kosovo
parliament, elected in March but never authorized by the Belgrade government.
Rugova's Democratic
League of Kosovo party, or LDK, controls 90 percent of the seats, in part
because hard-line groups boycotted the election. No sooner had Rugova taken
his oath as president than Serb police raided the LDK headquarters, where
the session had taken place.
There were no arrests,
but police said charges could be filed because of the "attempt to constitute"
the illegal parliament.
Nevertheless, Rugova
told reporters today that "after convening parliament, we will continue
to build other bodies of government in Kosovo" and would invite ethnic
Serbs in the province to take part.
In Washington, State
Department spokesman James Rubin said the raid Thursday was part of a "repressive"
strategy that is driving ethnic Albanians into the extremists' camp.
Like the KLA, Rugova
also supports independence but his opposition to violence has won him international
support. In the Yugoslav capital, Belgrade, a senior aide to Milosevic
was willing to negotiate autonomy, which the government rescinded in 1989.
But the aide, Gorica
Gajevic, said the government would never agree to an independent Kosovo
established "through terrorism and banditry."
Meanwhile, the AP said,
both Serb and Albanian sources reported scattered clashes in the province,
which is part of Serbia. Serbia and Montenegro constitute the Yugoslav
federation.
Serb sources said a
policeman was shot and killed late Thursday in the town of Kosovska Mitrovica,
about 19 miles northwest of Pristina, when suspected Albanian extremists
opened fire from a speeding car. Police set up roadblocks in the area in
hopes of catching the assailants.
___________________________________
No special status for Kosovo - Serb deputy PM
BELGRADE, July 16 (Reuters) - A senior Serbian
minister said on Thursday that Kosovo must remain within the country's
borders and insisted the province would not be permitted special status
despite its ethnic Albanian majority.
"Kosovo must remain
within Serbia within current constitutional provisions. There will be no
special status for it and there will be no third federal unit," said Vojislav
Seselj, deputy prime minister and leader of the ultra-nationalist Serbian
Radical Party.
"One of fundamental
pricipals of the Serbian coalition government is to preserve Kosovo and
not to allow presence of any foreign troops. Those principles will not
be abandoned," he told a news conference.
The Kosovo Liberation
Army (KLA), backed by most Kosovo Albanians, is fighting for the independence
of Serbia's southernmost province which has a population bof 1.8 million.
More than 300 people
have been killed and up to 86,000 forced to leave their homes following
fighting between the Serbian security forces and KLA insurgents since the
beginning of the year.
The internatinal community,
fearing the conflict could spill over into neighbouring Albania and Macedonia,
has called on both sides to end fighting and resolve the issue through
a dialogue.
The major powers, led
by the United States, reject full independence for the province but insist
on a political settlement that would give ethnic Albanians autonomy in
Kosovo.
Kosovo along with the
region of Vojvodina, inhabited by many ethnic Hangarians and other ethnic
groups, enjoyed autonomy within Serbia until 1989 when their special status
was revoked by hardline Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.
Earlier this week Belgrade
received a delegation from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) en route to Kosovo.
The delegation is expected
to present to OSCE bodies a preliminary assesment of the situation in the
region.
Seselj criticised its
presence and said: "This mission came only to spite us, give support to
Albanian terrorists and separatists and exert pressure on Serbian political
structures to accept resolutions that are not in the interest of Serb people."
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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