Tagesnachrichten 28. Juli 1998
von ALBANEWS und anderen
Daily Report No 1504 July 28, 1998
Kosova Information Center
Tagesnachrichten 28. Juli 1998
7. to call on the Commission and the Council to provide all necessary humanitarian aid to the victims of and the refugees from the acts of violence and call on member states to stop returning refugees and asylum seekers to Kosova where protection cannot be guaranteed;________________________________________________________________________
Augsburger Allgemeine 9. Juli 1998:
Still there is no stop of deportations !
newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine reports on July
9, 1998
Serb Troops Execute 20-Member Albanian Family in Junik
PRISHTINA, July 28 (KIC) - Serbian troops executed
an extended, 20-member, Albanian family in the huge village of Junik today,
although the family had surrendered and held up a white sheet as a sign
of it, Osman Cacaj, the head of the LDK Information Commission in Deçan
reported. He did not disclose the surname of the family, out of respect
for next of kin to the killed, "who should be informed first."
The family had been surrounded by Serb military
and police troops, it surrendered, but Serbs shot them dead any way, in
clear violation of universally-acknowledged standards of behavior in such
cases. Reportedly most of the family members were children, Cacaj said.
Well into the third day if Serb attack on Junik
and villages in the vicinity, Serbs have been using artillery, motorized
and infantry units.
Junik and the outlying villages are being attacked
from three strategic direction, the LDK Information Commission said, adding
that at least one member of Albanian resistance forces has been killed
and 15 others wounded. Serb forces have suffered three killed policemen,
and two tanks destroyed.
Junik and the other villages are being shelled
by Serb forces positioned in Podi i Gështenjave, Suka e Baballoqit,
Suka e Biteshit and Kodra e Çabratit.
Reports said the medical center in Junik was
hit by shells today. Some 15 wounded, being treated there, were not injured.
The reported execution of the 20-member Albanian
family in Junik today comes after several witnessed executions of Albanian
families or groups of rounded up people by Serb forces since end of February:
Likoshan, Qirez, Lubeniq, and Poklek are house-hold names by now for this.
Latest Report: 17:00 hrs
Tens of Thousands of People Surrounded by
Serb Forces in Two Malisheva Villages
PRISHTINA, July 28 (KIC) - Xhevdet Bajraj,
a writer from Rahovec, who has found refuge in a village of Malisheva in
the aftermath of the Serb crackdown in his native Rahovec, told the KIC
at 16:30 that members of the UÇK (Kosova Liberation Army) had fled
Malisheva.
Tens of thousands of people have found themselves
surrounded by Serbian forces in two villages of the Malisheva municipality,
he said.
Bajraj described the situation as dramatic there.
There is danger of the Albanians being massacred by Serb forces, he said
to the KIC by phone.
Tens of thousands of people are in one of the
village, in Ponorc.
Serb forces have shelled the villages of Llazicë,
Balincë, Vërmicë, Bubavec, Drenoc, Lubizhdë, Turjakë,
Carralllukë, Domanec, and Bubël, Xhevdet Bajraj said, adding
that the population has been driven out of these villages.
The village of Ponorc is a dozen km north-west
of Malisheva, in the direction of Klina.
Serb forces are said to have been advancing towards
Ponorc, and got half a dozen km near, according to Bajraj.
The sound of gunfire and shelling targeting the
villages of Turjakë e Madhe and Turjakë e Vogël, Lubizhë
and Domanek, can be heard. The rest are in flames, Xhevdet Bajraj said.
Extremely Volatile, Dangerous Situation Prevailing
in Malisheva
(Today Morning)
PRISHTINA, July 28 (KIC) - The situation in the
municipality of Malisheva, in central Kosova, has been reported extremely
volatile and dangerous because it has been placed inside an effective Serb
siege, local sources said.
The population in the area has been on the move
since the last weekend, when Serb police and army forces mounted a huge
offensive against Albanian settlements and positions in central Kosova
and on the Prishtina-Peja highway.
People live in panic and constant fear of new
Serb onslaughts.
LDK activists in Malisheva described the situation
in the municipality as highly explosive today. With Serb/Yugoslav army
aircraft flying overhead and the a siege imposed on all sides, it looks
as if Serbs are intent on launching an all-out attack there, they said.
Dozens of thousands of uprooted people from other
parts of central and south-west Kosova, who have sought refuge in Malisheva
outnumber the local population, several times. However, the most vulnerable
are the villages in the fringes of the municipality surrounded by Serb
forces' checkpoints, local LDK activists said.
A great number of farmsteads and homes of Albanians
have been destroyed or leveled to the ground in many villages in the area,
including the villages of Mleqan, Llazicë, Bubavec, Carrallukë.
Serb Police Takes 7 Human Bodies to Gjakova Town Morgue
PRISHTINA, July 28 (KIC) - Early in the evening
on Monday, the Serbian police took seven human bodies to the town morgue
in Gjakova, local LDK sources said.
It was impossible to obtain further details,
as the hospital area, where the morgue is, was sealed off, they added.
Serb regime sources said earlier in the day Monday
seven Albanian fighters of the UÇK had been killed in Junik, near
the Kosova- Albanian border.
Names of Five Albanians Killed in Fighting with Serb Forces Revealed
PRISHTINA, July 28 (KIC) - Ymer Alishani, resident
of Komoran, and Halit Bobaj, resident of Lladrovc village of Malisheva,
members of Albanian resistance forces were killed in fighting with Serb
forces in the Gryka e Llapushnikut, local sources said.
On Saturday, near Rahovec, Ali Zogaj and Ruzhdi
Biliqi, both residents of Maliesheva municipality, died in clashes with
Serbian forces, sources close with the Albanian resistance sources said.
Meanwhile, sources from Peja said Demush Shala
(34), who was killed a few days earlier in clashes with Serb forces in
a suburb in Peja, was buried yesterday in the town cemetery as an 'unidentified'
person. Police ordered the Peja Muslim Community bury him.
One Albanian Killed, One Wounded, by Serb Police in Bardh i Madh ('Belacevac')
PRISHTINA, July 28 (KIC) - Yesterday (Monday),
Serbian police killed Hashim Tërmkolli (65) and wounded Ejup Gërguri,
in their native village of Bardh i Madh ('Belacevac').
Police shot at them from a half-kilometer distance
while they were herding cattle in a location called Kalaja, local sources
told the KIC.
The village of Bardh i Madh has been sealed off
by Serb police, which mans five check-points around the village, ill-treating
Albanians on a daily basis. The Albanians were trickling back to their
homes in Bardh i Madh.
Yesterday's incident has made some returnees
flee their homes for a second time in a month.
Fierce Fighting Reported in Reka e Keqe Region
Heavy Serb artillery is pounding Albanian villages
PRISHTINA, July 28 (KIC) - Heavy fighting has
been reported today in the border villages of the Reka e Keqe region and
the area around Junik between Serbian military, paramilitary and police
forces and local Albanian resistance units and the UÇK, the LDK
Information Commission in Gjakova said.
Reports indicated an increase in the intensity
of fighting which stretches in a area from Nec, Smolicë, Stubëll,
Berjah, Nivokaz in the Gjakova municipality to the suburbs of Junik, the
huge village in the municipality of Deçan.
Serbian troops are pounding the Albanian villages
with heavy artillery, while infantry units have closing in, all this amounting
to a frontal offensive.
Local Albania resistance forces have been putting
up a strong resistance, sources said.
Last night, the Serb military shelled the border
villages in the region of Has, such as Goden, Prush and Zylfajn. Serbs
positioned in the Suka e Godenit pounded the villages, in the border belt
with Albania, for two hours, local sources said.
Reports said an increasing number of people have
been moving out of the villages under direct Serb attack, seeking refuge
in relatively safer areas.
Meanwhile, Serbian police has set up a new police
check-point in the suburbs of the town of Gjakova. The population lives
under a virtual curfew imposed by the Serb police, with a threatening presence
of an increasing number of snipers in town.
Serbs Attack Nine Villages in Deçan Area
PRISHTINA, July 28 (KIC) - Yesterday and today,
Serb forces shelled the villages of Shaptej, Gramaçel, Irzniq, Prejlep
and Kodrali, in the municipality of Deçan, local LDK sources said.
One Albanian was reported wounded, and considerable material damage suffered
by Albanian settlements.
The village of Kodrali was shelled by Serbs for
the first time in the past two days.
Meanwhile, fighting was reported in Strellc i
Epërm, Carrabreg i Poshtëm, Prejlep and Lëbushë villages.
Albanian farmhouses are being plundered by Serb forces. The latter have
suffered two dead in action in these villages, reports said. At lunchtime,
heavy fighting was going on today in the village of Strellc i Epërm.
Many houses were on fire, smoke billowing from them, local sources said.
Serb Army Officer, Two Soldiers Killed in Clashes in Kosova
PRISHTINA, July 28 (KIC) - Vladan Mikicevic (32),
captain of the 'Yugoslav' army, was buried yesterday in Kragujevac with
all military honor, Nasa Borba daily reported today.
The Serb newspaper said it had learned Mikicevic
died in last week- end's fighting in Kosova.
A Serb army captain and two Serb soldiers died
and half a dozen others were wounded, some press reports said Sunday.
There has been a notable omission of the casualty-toll
suffered by the 'Yugoslav' in the reports of news agencies or reporters
(mainly Serbs) keen on advancing the Serb regime's propaganda that the
Serbian army is not involved in the offensive in central Kosova.
A Serb reporter with a Western state-run broadcasting
news organization, while reporting from the Serb regime Media Center in
Prishtina, referred Sunday all the time to 'Serb police' fighting Albanian
insurgents.
Serb Troops Resume Bombarding Llapushnik Tuesday Morning
PRISHTINA, July 28 (KIC) - Heavy fighting between
the encroaching Serb forces and the local resistance and UÇK units
was reported Monday night and today morning along the area stretching from
the Gryka e Llapushnikut (Llapushnik mountain pass) to Kijeva, on the east-west
Prishtina-Peja highway.
Llapushnik and a number of Albanian villages
on both sides of the highway have been successively pounded by heavy Serb
artillery and mortar fire since the last weekend.
The LDK chapter in Gllogovc said Serbian troops,
backed up by heavy artillery and tanks, have attempted again today to advance
in the direction of the Gryka e Llapushnikut. The villages around the mountain
pass are being bombarded from several Serb positions. The loud echo of
blasts can be heard in the town of Gllogovc, local LDK activists said this
morning.
The LDK Information in Commission in Gllogovc
said two Albanian shepherds from Llazica village of Malisheva were released
today morning after having been tortured badly in Serb police station in
Gllogovc overnight. The two men were apprehended by Serbs retreating from
the fighting Monday afternoon.
Three Suhareka Villages Under Renewed Serb Artillery Fire Tuesday
PRISHTINA, July 28 (KIC) - Serbian troops have
resumed today (Tuesday) shelling the villages of Bllacë, Reshtan and
Duhël, in the municipality of Suhareka, local LDK sources said.
The LDK chapter in Suhareka reported the Serb
attack against Bllacë and Duhël was kicked off in the small hours
today. The two villages are being pounded from two Serb bases, at Qafa
e Duhlës mountain pass on Shtime-Suhareka road and the "Kryqi i Belincit"
near Shtime. The third village - Reshtan - has been fired upon from Maja
e Hisarit (the Hisar upland) military and police base.
Local sources said the village of Bllaca came
under a heavy Serb fire last evening for over two hours, 20 through 22:30
p.m. Several houses in the village were damaged or burned to the ground
in the shelling yesterday and last night, including the ones of Shaban
Çallaku, Mehmet Bllaca, Selim Bllaca, Rexhep Lumi, Osman Hoxha,
as well as some in the Sukaj and Bajraktari extended families.
A 60-year-old Albanian Abaz Ndrecajt (60) from
Maçiteva has been missing since Monday morning. Sources said he
was seen last when he returned to his village to evacuate a local resident
who was believed trapped in the village after the Serbs had shelled it.
Albanians Flee Ferizaj Villages Fearing Imminent
Serb Crackdown
Jezrec village has been attacked on a daily basis
by Serb police and armed civilians
PRISHTINA, July 28 (KIC) - Three Albanian villages
in the municipality of Ferizaj, south-east Kosova, were attacked for hours
by Serb forces on Monday.
Local LDK sources said besides Jezerc village,
which has been intermittently attacked by Serb police for over a week now,
the villages of Nerodime e Epërme, Nerodime e Poshtme and Manastirc
were attacked yesterday, too.
The LDK chapter in Ferizaj said armed Serb civilians
were involved again yesterday in the attack against Jezerc, Nerodime e
Epërme, Nerodime e Poshtme and Manastirc. The villages were fired
upon with heavy machine-guns and mortar shells. No immediate report about
possible casualties has been available, but material damage in the houses
and property of the Albanians has been immense, the LDK said.
Fearing new Serb attacks and possible massacres,
the local population in the four villages, Jezerc in particular, have been
quickly fleeing homes, witnesses said.
Serbs Pound Blindly Klina Villages, Scores of House in Flames
PRISHTINA, July 28 (KIC) - The Serb forces have
resumed pounding Albanian settlements in Klina municipality during the
whole course of today.
Ismet Raci, head of the LDK chapter in Klina,
described the situation in the area as exceptionally dramatic this morning.
Serb forces have been bombarding villages in the area with heavy artillery.
He mentioned several villages under Serb fire today, including Gjurxheviku
i Madh, Pograxha, Jashanica, Këpuzi, Jellovc, Gllareva, Rixheva and
Stapanica. The local LDK leader said the Serb have been blindly pounding
villages, their aim being to drive the Albanians population from their
homes.
Serb forces in the Kijeva checkpoint and base
have been shelling the outlying villages of Bubavec, Leçan and Drenoc.
Yugoslav army aircraft have been flying overhead Klina and the neighboring
municipalities since 5 a.m. today, sources said.
Ismet Raci said scores of houses on both sides
of the Prishtina- Peja road are in flames.
On behalf of the local population in Klina municipality,
he appealed on the Red Cross International and other humanitarian organizations
and agencies to intervene with food and hygienic supplies as the civilian
population is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe.
Serb Police Raids Premises of Relief Agency in Prishtina
PRISHTINA, July 27 (KIC) - The Serbian police
raided today morning the offices of the Emergency Relief Council of Kosova,
one of the major Kosovar aid agencies, in Prishtina.
Over a dozen of Serbs in uniforms and plain clothes
broke into the offices of the Council at around 10:30 a.m. The Serb police
sealed off the area, and until afternoon, access was denied to everyone
there. A couple of foreign reporters who happened to be in the vicinity
of the offices said they were shouted at with a 'Get lost!' order by the
police.
Witnesses said that several activists and officials
of the Emergency Relief Council, including its chairman Selatin Novosella,
were inside before the police intruded.
Three activists of the Council, who are also
members of the recently-formed Kosovar political part, the Albanian Democratic
Movement (LDSH) lead by Rexhep Qosja, have been in Serb custody since last
Saturday.
Isa Kastrati, Hazir Borovci, and Gani Sopi, were
arrested by police in Prishtina, but the Serb police authorities have refused
so far to say where they are being held, the party said on Monday. Isa
Kastrati is head of the Prishtina chapter of the Emergency Council.
Kosova Information Center
Last page
_______________________________________________________________________RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
___________________________________________________________
RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 143 Part II, 28 July 1998SERBS MAKE BIG GAINS IN KOSOVA.
Yugoslav army forces and Serbian paramilitary police have driven the Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) from large stretches of the Prishtina- Pec highway, including the Llapushnik area, in an offensive that began on 24 July (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 July 1998). Reuters reported on 27 July that the Serbs "left [behind] a combat zone landscape resembling central Bosnia, with burnt- out houses, shot-up vehicles, abandoned trenches, roads littered with spent bullet casings, wandering farm animals and the ever-present danger of sniper fire." It is unclear how many persons died or how many fled. The army and police have meanwhile cut off the UCK stronghold of Junik and called on its defenders to surrender. In Prishtina, the Democratic League of Kosova said in a statement that the Serbian goal is "ethnic cleansing and a Kosova without Albanians." PM
KOSOVARS CHARGE SELL-OUT.
The Prishtina daily "Bujku" wrote on 27 July that "the crime, which is assuming dimensions of genocide and large-scale ethnic cleansing, is being committed with the [tacit] approval of the European Union and the U.S. administration.... Milosevic was given a green light to carry on with ethnic cleansing in Kosova... The fact that the world has not criticized the Serbian government's [recent] decision to extend to five kilometers the security zone along the [Kosova-Albania] border is also evidence that the Balkan criminals are being pampered.... In the wake of the crime they have condoned, the EU and the U.S. will see to it that the parties come to the negotiating table: Albanians as victims, Serbs as victors." PM
ALBANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS BELGRADE CONDUCTING 'ETHNIC CLEANSING.'
Speaking in Tirana on 27 July, Paskal Milo accused the federal Yugoslav government with carrying out "ethnic cleansing operations" in Kosova. He also condemned the recent mining by Serbian forces of areas along the border with Kosova as "violations of international law." He said that move was intended to "prevent Kosovar refugees from crossing into Albania." Milo also sent a strong protest letter to the Yugoslav embassy over a series of recent border incidents (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 July 1998). Meanwhile, an Interior Ministry spokesman said that a Serbian shell landed on Albanian territory near Tropoja that day. FS
U.S. 'DEEPLY CONCERNED' ABOUT KOSOVA.
State Department spokesman James Rubin said on 27 July that the U.S. is "deeply concerned about the increased fighting that has taken place... over the weekend. We are concerned in particular about the increased involvement in the fighting by the Serb army. We are especially concerned about the large number of displaced persons this new fighting has caused, and they are currently inaccessible to humanitarian assistance because of the fighting. We urge both sides, in the strongest possible terms, to cease the fighting and work towards a negotiated settlement." PM
RUSSIA, GREECE URGE NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENT.
Russian Foreign Minister Yevgenii Primakov said on 28 July at the ASEAN summit in Manila, the Philippines, that "the main task is to resume, without preconditions, the interrupted negotiating process between Belgrade and the leaders" of the Kosovars. He added that the problem of Kosova's status "could be solved through granting the province a broad autonomy. We oppose any solution which would lead to secession...as well as any outside intervention with the use of force." Primakov stressed that Russia is "actively contributing to the efforts to overcome the crisis while stressing the need for a balanced pressure on both sides." In Athens, Greek Foreign Ministry spokesmen said that Prime Minister Kostas Simitis sent a letter to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic the previous day calling for a peaceful solution to the Kosovar crisis and an increase in the number of Western observers allowed to monitor developments there. PM
GLIGOROV WARNS CRISIS COULD SPREAD.
Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov said in Skopje that the Kosovar conflict could spread to Macedonia, which has a 23 percent ethnic Albanian minority, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 27 July.
He added that the expanded war "could lead to changes in the ethnic map of Macedonia," which in turn could prove "dangerous" for neighboring countries. He did not elaborate. Also in Skopje, Defense Minister Lazar Kitanovski and Victor Babiuc, his Romanian counterpart, signed an agreement on military cooperation. Kitanovski turned down Babiuc's offer to contribute Romanian troops to the UN's peacekeeping mission in Macedonia, UNPREDEP, Radio Bucharest reported. Kitanovski told Babiuc that Macedonia prefers to limit UNPREDEP to U.S. and Scandinavian forces "in order to avoid problems." He did not elaborate. Babiuc noted that the UN has not responded to Romania's offer of 300 soldiers for the mission. PMBOSNIAN SERBS SACK MEDIA CHIEFS.
Republika Srpska Information Minister Rajko Vasic said in Banja Luka on 27 July that the government has replaced the directors and editorial staffs of 11 radio and five television local stations. Vasic added that those fired were hard-line nationalists who were "frequently a source of misinformation and inflammatory reports...[and] prevented the truth from reaching the residents of the Republika Srpska." Spokesmen for the Serbian Democratic Party of Radovan Karadzic said in response to the sackings that the Banja Luka authorities are "terrorizing their political opponents," Reuters wrote. General elections are slated for 12-13 September. PM
EVIDENCE LACKING AGAINST TOP ALBANIAN GANGSTER.
Prosecutor- General Arben Rakipi told "Shekulli" on 27 July that he does not have enough evidence to launch legal proceedings against imprisoned gang leader Myrteza "Zani" Caushi. Rakipi added that eyewitness testimony alone is insufficient to start a trial. He added that he is legally obliged to release Caushi on 28 September, which will be one year after his arrest, if sufficient evidence is not submitted by that date. Caushi led dozens of armed bandits in Vlora during the March 1997 uprising and is widely suspected of having killed four people and kidnapped six, including one child. In other news, unidentified gunmen shot and killed the head of the local Socialist Party in Sukth, west of Tirana, on 27 July. FS
Serb forces torch quarters in Komoran, Llapushnik, Negrofc, Arllat villages_______________________________________________________________________PRISHTINE, July 28 (ATA) - A state of war continues to prevail in commune of Gllogofc, central Kosova. Following intensive attacks of heavy artillery, the Serb forces are torching a number of quarters in Komoran, Llapushnik, Negrofc and Arllat, Center for Information in Kosova (QIK) said on Tuesday.
Serb forces are positioned in parts of Negrofc and quarter Gjergjica of Arllat and continue to pound incessantly the Albanian settlements.
Six Albanians were reported wounded, the population has fled the above villages and sheltered in safer villages, particularly in mountains of Kosmaz. /pta/eva/ak/Albanian producer focuses Kosova drama in celluloid
TIRANA, July 28 (ATA) - By Eno Popi:
The Albanian wellknown producer Kujtim aashku has cooperated recently with the private television studios "Gjeli Vizion" and "Ora Studio" to realise a documentary film on tragedy bearing the name of Kosova.
"Our idea is to give the tragedy under way in Kosova through the eyes of children," Agim Buxheli, owner of "Gjeli Vizion" said to ATA on Tuesday.
The authors of this 90-minute documentary film have worked for almost three years to realise this. They have used films highlighting Kosova life in all its dimensions.
"Showing the tragedy through the life of children aims at personifying peace which is too far from Kosova," Buxheli said, whose studio has produced a series of documentary films and variety shows.
The documentary film of aashku and Buxheli is thought to be seen soon by a team of the Albanian television, which wants to buy it. pas/ak/Heavy fighting in villages of Rreke e Keqe
PRISHTINE, July 28 (ATA) - Bloody weekend in some areas of Kosova engulfed even the region of Gjakova, particularly the villages of Rreke e Keqe: Necin, Smolice, Berjahen, Stubellen as well as the Junik area, bordering Albania, Center for Information in Kosova said on Tuesday.
Operation of Serb military-police and paramilitary forces were focused in the place called "Kallavaj", near Novokaz village. The Serbian army, backed by special police and paramilitary units, tried to infiltrate the villages of Shremet, Dobrosh and Junik following an intensive shelling on the area but the local resistance forces and those of the Kosova Liberation Army (KLA), who are defending every inch of the front, fired back when they came under fire, QIK said.
There are no reports on casualties and wounded.
Serb forces have pounded the village of Dujake near the Gjakova-Dezan automobile road, while sources on the ground do not report on casualties but the people of Gjakova have been anxious in the last two days about the attacks of the Serbian forces. Serbian snipers have been positioned on all main buildings in Gjakova.
13 Albanian citizens from Babaj i Bokes were blocked on Monday by the police checkpoint at "Ura e Tabakut" in access road to Gjakova. pta/eva/ak/
Alia: international community should reconsider options on Kosova status_______________________________________________________________________
(Interview of former Albanian president Ramiz Alia with ATA)TIRANA, July 27 (ATA)-
Question: Which are the real factors of the tragedy?
Answer: From any point of view, responsible for the bloodshed, besides the Serb aggressors, is the international community, whose passiveness, delays, undecisive stands, affected the deterioration of the situation. The decisions of the first meeting of the Contact Group in London in March 1998 kindled hope that the war of Serbs would be stopped.
Almost five months have passed since that day. The Serb aggression and violence have intensified, it has extended from Drenica to the whole territory of Kosova affecting also the Republic of Albania.
Evidently nothing can be resolved in this way. On the contrary, it creates possibilities of war, it endangers a flare-up of the conflict all over the Balkans and broader. In fact, Serbs and Milosevic have been encouraged by an "indulgent" and non-consequent stand of the Contact Group.
Question: What do you thing of KLA as a factor of the situation in Kosova?
Answer: The Kosova Liberation Army (KLA) is neither an isolated sect nor a terrorist organisation, but it is Kosova itself, its entire people.
Question: Western diplomacies have undertaken some endeavours to resolve the crisis. What is your evaluation?
Answer: All signs show that the Kosova people do not trust great powers.
Given these stands, it is quite logical that the Albanians themselves recall the historical fact that there were these great powers which at the Congress of Berlin in 1878 and the Conference of Ambassadors in London in 1913 ignored and violated the rights of Albanians, truncating their territory and putting a part of it under the foreign occupation.
Question: Which is the adequate solution to halt the war in Kosova?
Answer: Kosova has neither wanted not wants a bloody solution to its rights. But, Albanians explicitly ask why the recognition of their rights only harmed the balances in Europe? Frankly, they are asking nothing but the implementation of the international conventions on the rights of peoples for self-rule as it is sanctioned in the basic documents of the United Nations Organisation and the Organisations for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
They ask for Kosova win as much as the other nations comprising Yugoslavia won after its dissolution.
Question: Do you want to say that nothing should be expected from the international community on Kosova issue but everything should be resolved by Albanians, themselves.
Answer: Certainly, Albanians need an outer support to resolve their issue. But this does not mean that they should automatically accept their views and options. Albanians, today, need a unique stand on the basis of which they should try to convince the international opinion that Kosova is fighting for liberty and independence as the only and most efficacious way to secure durable peace in the Balkans.Ramiz Alia, after the death of Enver Hoxha, was elected first Secretary of the Central Committee of the Albanian Labour party (the only party during the communist regime in Albania) and later President of Albania until democracy was introduced in 1990. He is considered as the one who did the gradual change from the communist regime into democracy. ake/das/ak/
Milo says a second Dayton, without casualties for Kosova
TIRANA, July 27 (ATA) - By Irena Luto:
Albanian Foreign Minister Paskal Milo told late on Monday Anne-Mari Lizin, head of the foreign commission of the Belgium Senate, that the international community should not allow a repetition of another Bosnia.
"A second Dayton, without casualties, is needed," chief of the Albanian diplomacy said.
Milo said that "we will support a peaceful solution and would like to see powerful actions by the European community."
Anne-Mari Lizin said that the alliance between Europeans and Americans was very important in the framework of a possible short term and indefinite mandate intervention. She said that Albanians should be united in their demands and in unison for what they are asking. ake/pas/ak/Ten Albanians killed, twenty seven wounded in heavy fighting
PRISHTINE, July 27 - ATA correspondent in Prishtina Behlul Jashari reported that ten Albanians were killed and 27 others wounded in heavy fighting in different regions in Kosova during the last 24 hours, Albanian sources said.
Serb forces using surface-to-surface rockets on Monday torched and destroyed hundreds of Albanian houses in Drenica, a border region with Albania, in Dukagjin and other regions of Kosova.
Serb forces reported on seven Albanians killed in Junik, near the border with Albania, a report not confirmed by Albanian sources.
In fighting in Prishtine-Peja highway, Serb forces are using over 60 tanks, cannons and other armoured carriers but their march has been stopped in Gjergjice village by the powerful resistance of the Kosova Liberation Army forces.
Convoys of military-police forces are being sent in from Serbia. Serb forces have had considerable losses. eva/ak/
Prishtina, 27 July (ARTA) 1900CET --
"Milosevic can be pushed to understand what the
political solutions are and that is what we are working on", stated the
international mediator for the problem of Kosova, Christopher Hill, during
his visit to Prishtina today.
The American diplomat visited Prishtina for the
third time this week. He met with Kosova Albanian leader again today.
"I think something must be done fast, because
this violence is not going to end by itself", said Hill in a briefing held
in front of the USIS premises.
He stressed that "violence must be replaced with
a political process", because, as he put it, "the longer this will last,
the more people are going to die and abandon their homes".
The US Ambassador to Macedonia, whom the Contact
Group appointed as the mediator between Prishtina and Belgrade, reiterated
his stand that the issue of Kosova "cannot be solved through military means".
"If you want to get Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait,
you can do it militarily, but I am telling you that the problem of Kosova
cannot be solved that way", he said.
Hill also stated that "military violence must
be replaced with a political process very soon, adding that he himself
is engaged in this aspect. He claimed that he will continue with his "flying"
diplomacy, by visiting Prishtina again.
KOSOVA (Hill in Prishtina)
Christopher Hill meets with Rugova again
Prishtina, 27 July (ARTA) 1845CET --
The American Ambassador to Macedonia, Christopher
Hill, visited Prishtina today, where he met with the Kosova Albanian leader,
Ibrahim Rugova once again.
This is the third visit that the American Ambassador,
whom the Contact Group authorized for mediation in Kosova, made to Prishtina
in the past week.
Ambassador Hill refused to make any comments
after meeting with Rugova, at the Albanian leader's residence in the neighborhood
of Velania.
It seems that Hill had other meetings concerning
the situation in Kosova, in his schedule.
KOSOVA (Albanian Foreign Minister)
Milo: "Kosova is a priority for the Albanian
Government"
Tirana, 27 July (ARTA) 2130CET --
"Albanians who live in the border region are
living under tension and very difficult conditions and the government understands
them and backs them in all of their concerns be it of political, economic
or social nature", said the Albanian Foreign Minister, Paskal Milo, in
a press conference held to mark the first anniversary of Nano's government.
He stated that Kosova still remains the priority
for the government. "The Albanian Government once again condemns measures
of mass repression and genocide against the Albanian people in Kosova,
which the Serb forces carry out aiming at creating a territory in Kosova
which is empty of Albanians. Serbs are very cautious and tactical, they
undertake operations during weekends when the international community's
attention is not focused", said Milo.
Asked whether the attack against the border cross-point
in Morinë meant that the Albanian police is not alert, Milo stated
that "war is in Kosova and what business do the Albanian police and military
forces have in Kosova".
"Bullets come from Kosova and fall at the border
crossing point in Qafa e Morinës. What business do the Albanian police
and military forces, who are there to defend Albanian territory, have with
the fighting which is taking place in Kosova?", Milo asked.
"There has been an intensification of international
diplomatic activities for finding a political solution to the problem of
Kosova. Efforts are being made especially for finding different options
concerning the future status of Kosova. Albanians should use the little
time they have at their disposal to find a joint representative, to create
an all-national representing institution to enter negotiations which will
undoubtedly take place", said Paskal Milo.
KOSOVA (fighting - Suharekë)
Albanian sources claim that they still hold
their positions in Bllacë
Suharekë, 27 July (ARTA) 1900CET --
The Serb offensive against the KLA, along the
frontline in the villages of Bllacë, Duhël, Grejçec, Luzhnicë
and Javor, entered its third day today. The shelling was of lower intensity
in the villages of Bllacë and Duhël, but more powerful in the
region of Luzhnicë and Javor. Albanian sources claim that several
KLA members have been wounded, although they claimed that the exact number
was impossible to tell, adding that the Serb side suffered its losses as
well. There have been reports on large material damages, as many houses
have been burnt down, while fields and sheds were also set on fire.
Thousands of inhabitants from the village of
Bllacë have fled their homes after hearing rumors that the KLA positions
in the village were broken. However Albanian sources state that Bllacë
did not fall into the hands of Serb police\military forces.
The diameter of territory caught in shelling
has increased, with occasional grenades reaching the village of Bellanicë
and the neighborhoods of Brahaj and Hasanaj in the village of Nishor.
On the other hand, Albanian daily "Koha Ditore"
sources notify about a new wave of repression in Suharekë. They say
that three Albanian youngsters were kidnapped in town today.
KOSOVA (shelling – Gjakovë)
One Albanian killed and several others wounded
Gjakovë, 27 July (ARTA) 1900CET--
The attacks in the bordering area with Albania
recommenced today. The long shelling destroyed the few remaining houses
in this area.
During a fierce attack, KLA forces have destroyed
several motorized vehicles and APCs and there are claims that several policemen
and soldiers were killed.
The attack of the Serb army started yesterday
during the evening hours, at the place called Kallavaja e Nivokazit. It
is claimed that the army units used all available military arsenal to shell
many houses.
KOSOVA (tension mounts - Gjakovë)
Seven corpses were brought to the hospital
morgue in Gjakovë
Gjakovë, 27 July (ARTA) 2115CET --
Fighting took place in the region of Rekë
e Keqe today as well. There are claims that the Serb police and soldiers
brought seven corpses of KLA members, to the hospital morgue of Gjakovë
today. They were all from the municipality of Gjakovë, died during
an attempt to resist Serb attacks on this region. They were not identified
so far, because it is impossible to enter the hospital.
KOSOVA (casualties - Ferizaj)
One old and one Albanian wounded
Ferizaj, 27 July (ARTA) 2120CET --
The Serb police\military movements along the
Ferizaj-Shtime road have intensified and are now followed with added police
brutality. There are reports that shooting against the villages of Mollopolc
and Gllavicë began after the arrival of 4 terrain vehicles, 1 APC
and 1 jeep, loaded with policemen, close to the village of Koshare yesterday.
The local LDK Information Commission informs
that 65 year-old Osman Buri, was wounded during the shooting, as he was
looking after the herd. He is now recovering at home. On the other hand,
Albanian sources from the village of Lloshkobare, claim that the police
also wounded 17 year-old Shpëtim Ramadani, as they were shooting in
the direction of the mountains nearby. The wound, on his left leg, was
not serious and he is now recovering home. This shooting at random frightened
the local population, as several houses in Gllarevë are already abandoned.
There are reports about new police movements
in the region. These forces were mainly seen heading towards the villages
of Nerodime, Tankosiq, Greme and Gaqkë.
KOSOVA (reinforcements - Istog)
New barricades and police checkpoints
Istog, 27 July (ARTA) 2045CET --
Every attack against the region of Drenica undoubtedly
reflects in this municipality as well. This way, during the last attack
that the Serb forces undertook in the villages of Suhogërllë,
Padalishtë, Radishevë, Runikë and Kotorr, a "preventive"
operation was undertaken in the villages of Uçë and Rakosh.
The Serb forces first blocked the roads leading to these villages (with
chunks of wood), only to continue their activities with shooting in the
air.
On the other hand, more and more people are being
harassed in the center of Rakosh. Among the people to be mistreated and
beaten yesterday, were the vice-chairman of the humanitarian association
"Mother Theresa", Imer Shatri (44) from Tomoc, and member of the association
leadership, Sokol Zogaj from Istog.
Nexhmedin Shoshi from Jashanicë was stopped
the same day at the moving checkpoint in Vitomiricë. He was later
sent to the police station in Pejë were he was also beaten for several
hours.
Another checkpoint has been set along the Istog-Rakosh
road, where nearly all passersby are stopped and inspected and sometimes
mistreated.
The police and local Serbs also built new barricades
in strategic positions, like on the hill next to the village of Lubizhdë,
where heavy artillery is believed to be stationed.
KOSOVA (tense situation – Mitrovicë)
The Romany armed to "protect" themselves from
Albanian "terrorists"
Mitrovicë, 27 July (ARTA) 1920CET--
Long automatic bursts were heard throughout the
night, coming from the police checkpoint in Stantërg, the Floatation
Factory and the grounds of the "Trepça" mine.
On the other hand, at 1130CET, 1 APC, 1 truck
and one armored terrain vehicle, loaded with police and armed civilians
departed from Mitrovicë in the direction of Zubin Potok, i.e. Istog.
Several military planes flew at a very low altitude
over the town of Mitrovicë, making a very loud noise, that disturbed
very much the inhabitants. Inhabitants of the Romany neighborhood "Fabriçka"
are being provided weapons by the Serb police. They have also been "authorized
to protect" the neighborhood from "Albanian terrorists".
Sources claim that a total of 11 heavy machineguns
and a considerable amount of light automatic weapons were distributed in
this neighborhood.
KOSOVA (IDPs from Rahovec – Prizren)
The number of the evacuated reached 3.500
Prizren, 27 July (ARTA) 1845CET--
The Serb repression does not avoid the humanitarian
activists either. Mentor Bytyçi (32) was arrested by the police,
while he was gathering humanitarian aid for the inhabitants of the war
afflicted areas that settled in Prizren. He was held in detention for 29
hours.
Increase of pressure was evidenced in the checkpoints
at the entrance-exits of the town, the checkpoint in Lubizhdë, in
Sredskë and on the Prizren-Kukës road. The risk is particularly
increased in Landovicë where many people were arrested.
The number of the evacuated in Prizren has now
reached 3.500 people, who are in a very difficult situation.
The inhabitants of Rahovec that were sheltered
in Malishevë, have now started coming to Prizren, thinking that they
will be safer here. The majority of IDPs have found shelter in the village
of Mamushë (around 2 thousand), 500 of them settled in Prizren, 400
in Medvec and 1500 in the village of Randobravë.
On the other hand, today at 1300CET, three wounded
people were brought to the hospital in Prizren from Rahovec. Among them
is a eight-year-old child. They all have severe wounds, but their condition
is not critical.
KOSOVA (reinforcements - Podujevë)
The police gives weapons to Serb refugees
Podujevë, 27 July (ARTA) 1815CET --
The LDK Information Commission and CDHRF branch
in Podujevë, notify that numerous convoys of Serb police\military
forces arrived to Kosova from Serbia. Serb forces started streaming in
last night and there are reports that new reinforcements are still arriving
today. These sources state that 20 military vehicles arrived yesterday
at around 2100CET, in Podujevë, as well as ten trucks loaded with
soldiers. They claim that fighting technique, including cannons, were tied
to the end of the vehicles, adding that police escorted the convoy. These
sources say that 4 transportation trucks, one of which was armored, several
APCs and terrain vehicles, followed 30 minutes later. A military helicopter
was used to observe the terrain before this convoy passed.
Sources say that another convoy, including 2
buses loaded with armed policemen and escorted by two APCs, came from Nis
at around 1200CET and headed towards Prishtina, only to be followed by
a line of 10 military trucks, which also headed in the same direction at
1330CET.
On the other hand, sources the local CDHRF branch,
claim that the police distributed weapons to local Serb refugees.
It is also claimed that the Serb police mistreated
several youngsters at around 2000CET, as they were playing close to the
Orthodox Church in Merqez, Podujevë.
KOSOVA (communiqué of the Rashka-Prizren
Bishopric)
KLA members did not maltreat monks during
detention
Prishtina, 27 July (ARTA) 2100CET --
"The Orthodox Church has never approved, nor
will it ever approve any form of violence against innocent civilians and
defenseless houses and will always condemn all kinds of violent acts, no
matter which side conducts them. We also oppose the use of shrines for
military aims. However, our Church is not responsible for the actions of
those, who do not pay attention to their Church or respect its rules",
says a communiqué issued by the Rashka-Prizren Bishopric, signed
by bishop Artemije.
The communiqué states that the Church
is "against a military solution" adding that "the innocent, civilians,
women and children usually pay the highest price in such cases".
The communiqué calls all the people of
Kosova, members of the Muslim, Catholic and Orthodox confession, to transmit
the message of peace and appeal to everyone to put an end to the conflict
and violence.
As for the accuse that weapons were found in
the Monastery of Zoçishtë, the Bishop states: "Neither the
monks, nor the refugees resisted or used the weapons which the Serb police
left there when they withdrew from the region. This is the reason why KLA
members did not harm the monks and civilians they found in the monastery.
They were not even mistreated, which also proves that they did not try
to resist".
KOSOVA (Albanians under investigation - Prokuplje)
54 Albanians under investigation
Prishtina, 27 July (ARTA) 2100CET--
A group of 54 Albanians employed abroad who were
detained seven days ago in a bus that was taking them back home, is undergoing
investigation as of today, Albanian sources confirm.
According to Albanian attorneys that were in
the Regional Court in Prokuplje (Serbia), have declared that the 54 Albanians
will be transferred from the Regional Jail of Prishtina to that one in
Prokuplje. Attorneys Bajram Kelmendi and Fazli Balaj claim that the arrested
will be interrogated in the Prokuplje Regional Court. They are all suspected
of "Association for hostile activities" to commit the crime of "terrorism"
, pursuant Art. 136:1 and 125 of the Criminal Code of "FRY".
KOSOVA (kidnapping - Prishtina)
The police kidnaps LDSH and Emergency Council
activists
Prishtina, 27 July (ARTA) 1915CET --
The Serb police kidnapped the chairman of the
III Albanian Democratic Movement (LDSH) branch in Prishtina, Isa Kastrati,
the vice chairman of the branch, Hazir Borozi and LDSH leadership member,
Sahit Mushica, sometime last night.
The above-mentioned politicians are also Emergency
Council activists in Prishtina. There is still no information on their
well being, says a communiqué issued by the LDSH Information Section
today.
KOSOVA (tension mounts - Prishtina)
Prishtina died!
Prishtina, 27 July (ARTA) 1930CET --
The capital of Kosova, Prishtina, has now turned
into a ghost town. Large police forces, accompanied by paramilitary ones,
can be seen in town since the fighting that took place in Rahovec. The
movements of people have somewhat decreased during daytime as well, although
it is after 2200CET, that the streets carry the mask of seclusion. This
situation in Prishtina seems to have been created after Albanians started
telling their unpleasant experiences in the streets at night, caused by
Serb policemen and vulgar civilians.
These forces have surrounded Prishtina. Groups
of them are concentrated in the neighborhoods Velania, Taslixhe, Lakrishte
and Dragodan, with the largest number concentrated in front of the District
Court premises and close to the market, along the street that leads to
the neighborhood of Kodra e Trimave. In these neighborhoods, especially
in Taukbahçe, they wait for "terrorists" and usually stop passersby
and inspect them for weapons, because, according to them, the inhabitants
of Prishtina have begun to get armed.
After ordering people to turn their lights off,
they start beating their prey severely, pointing automatics to their victims'
head as they do so. Some can pass them easily, others...many are missing,
abducted, arrested or beaten ruthlessly. If there are no passersby, automatics
are pointed at the sky.
Many witnesses assert that Serb civilians are
all armed. Some say that snipers have taken positions in Velania, Dragodan
and the buildings of the neighborhood Dardania. It is even claimed that
the elementary school in Dardania has turned into some form of center of
Serb forces. Most of the clubs close early, as the last lights in houses
shut down before the clock strikes midnight. Those that cannot make it
home by 2300CET, usually spend the night at their friends’. Many stay the
night at work if they are kept until late due to safety reasons. Many people
appoint members of their families to keep watch during the night. The next
day, they ask their close ones what happened in this or that neighborhood
while they slept.
Many make speculations like: "I heard from a
friend, who is the cousin of this or that man..., well I heard that it
is going to start in Prishtina as well". This might well be true judging
by the brutal actions and unknown faces which are now walking around Prishtina.
Others, though, say that this is nothing but paranoia.
Nonetheless, Prishtina is full of policemen and
the paramilitary, while the CDHRF notifies that Albanians are increasingly
being harassed in Prishtina. However, these cases have become part of every-day-life
and do not leave as much impact when compared to what is happening in other
parts of Kosova.
KOSOVA (KLA political statement # 5)
"All should join the unique front of war"
Drenica, 27 July (ARTA) 2100CET--
"By the middle of July, the occupying Government
of Belgrade has undertaken the largest military offensive, ever since World
War II, in the largest part of Kosova. Its primary aim is KLA's elimination
from the political scene, forcing it to give-in to the so-called moderate
elements, so that the Albanian people in general and the Kosovar in particular,
be imposed a very insignificant and very subjugating solution.
This is followed by the engagement of a large
military arsenal. In these clashes, the enemy has engaged over 150 tanks,
transporters, armored vehicles and other motorized vehicles, as well as
heavy artillery, including surface to surface missiles.
Burning, destroying and ruins are all over Kosova.
Although with lighter weaponry, KLA is replying in the battlefield with
determination, and we are convinced that this struggle will make KLA even
more stronger and professional. Everyone will be convinced about this.
The enemy, as always, has shown its cowardice everywhere. Not being strong
enough to face with our army, it is shelling from the distance, burning
the houses and other property, killing undefended women, children and elderly.
Our people and army are firmly standing up. The use of the heavy artillery,
forced KLA to start using two tactics, highly important in this phase of
war: surpassing the active defense and the withdrawal of the population
from the shelled areas. It is true that these clashes resulted with the
deaths of the people from our side as well, like the freedom martyrs usually
fall, but the enemy losses in humans and fighting technique, are very high,
even though they do everything to minimize them. Besides a number of others,
these clashes claimed the life of the commander of the punishing military
unit in Rahovec, on whom highly important military material was found and
a considerable amount of weaponry was confiscated.
KLA is a strong guarantee that the tragic fate
of our people is coming to an end. Our warriors with heroism and sacrifice
are showing how the country should be defended and honored. Our civilian
population touched by the flame of the war, along with the boys and girls
are standing right beside the brother and sister soldiers and do not depart
even for a moment from the liberating wars, in defense of the country.
Everyone in its own way, has become a KLA soldier,
looking at the flame of war and hearing the echoes of the cannons, while
in our capital, people are living and thinking as if all of this is happening
in some African tribe, striving and getting ready for authority under an
occupying Government. Once more from the war battlefields, we make a call
to all the professional, political and military parts, that for the sake
of the future that can exist only under complete freedom, which has never
been this close, join the KLA and its national front.
We demand from the Government in exile that the
people's contributions are oriented for national freedom and liberation,
and leave the careers for later.
We make an appeal to the international community
to make a serious warning to Belgrade not to harm the civilian population,
to support our just liberation war, which is covered by all international
covenants, and at the same time condemn the fascist policy of Belgrade's
regime, which can understand all languages but that of civilization. We
make a call to the Albanian people, wherever they may live and work to
give their contribution to our liberation war, to put all the national
means in the service of the freedom in the service of the national honor
and dignity.
The General KLA headquarter believes that even
from this large scale offensive, that the enemy has undertaken, we will
come out stronger and we will give the final blow to the barbaric enemy.
KLA will continue with the war for freedom and
it will win.
Honor to all of those who fell in defending the
freedom and the future".
By TIM WEINER, New York Times 26 July 1998
WASHINGTON -- After spending more than
two years and tens of millions of dollars preparing missions, training
commandos and gathering intelligence, the United States has dropped its
secret plans to arrest Bosnia's two most wanted men accused of war crimes,
senior administration officials say.
Plans for clandestine
missions to seize the men -- Radovan Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic, the
wartime political and military leaders of the Bosnian Serbs -- have been
scuttled by U.S. commanders who fear a blood bath, by French officers who
are reluctant to act and by U.S. government officials who share a growing
sense that the mission could rekindle Serbian aggression, present and former
U.S. officials say.
Karadzic, a psychiatrist,
and Mladic were indicted three years ago Sunday by an international criminal
tribunal on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The U.N. court charged them with killing, persecuting, shelling and deporting
civilians throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina; launching sniper attacks against
civilians in Sarajevo; and taking U.N. peacekeepers hostage and using them
as human shields.
The court said all members
of the United Nations had a legal obligation to try to arrest the men.
Some U.S. officials felt they had a moral obligation as well.
"There was a big effort
to collect intelligence and to make plans" to arrest Karadzic and Mladic
in 1996 and 1997, said a former senior State Department official.
The National Security
Agency, which conducts electronic eavesdropping for the United States,
spent millions of dollars tracking the men. FBI agents and U.S. Marshals
went to Bosnia, where they scouted the men's homes and hideouts.
A secret cell of United
States and NATO military officers, code-named Amber Star, shared intelligence
and developed ideas. The British favored a mission, but French officers,
whose international peacekeepers control the zone where Karadzic and Mladic
have been living, were deeply skeptical. U.S. officers were reluctant to
share intelligence with the French, fearing it would leak.
Still, two plans for
an arrest operation took shape. The CIA's Balkans Task Force supported
those plans with fresh information on the targets' whereabouts, although
senior U.S. intelligence officials were dubious about the missions.
Over two years, the
cost of the intelligence-gathering, the planning and the training for an
operation grew to tens of millions of dollars -- more than $100 million,
by one estimate. At one point last summer, U.S. special operations soldiers
were sent to Germany, ready to carry out a plan to swoop down on Karadzic.
But it all came to nothing, in part because senior U.S. military officers
found the plans too perilous.
Discussions about the
mission echoed a recurring argument within the Clinton administration:
civilians calling for military operations in the murky territory between
diplomacy and war, and military men wary of undertaking unorthodox, potentially
controversial missions to police the world's unruly neighborhoods.
Unless U.S. soldiers
and their allies went in with overwhelming force, some of them might die
trying to arrest Karadzic and Mladic, the military argued. And even if
they went in with overwhelming force, the commanders contended, the risks
outweighed the potential political rewards.
The risks, one senior
administration official said, were that several hundred Serbs would die
in such a military assault by U.S. and NATO troops. Those deaths, in turn,
would galvanize the most violent and bitter elements among the Serbs. And
that, he said, could re-ignite war fever in the Balkans.
"If you were to try,
you've got to make some decisions about casualties -- and not just among
NATO troops," this official said. "How many people do you want to take
out on the way? If you don't care about taking out several hundred people,
that would be one kind of operation. There would be a big political element
to an operation of that scale. You make NATO safe by creating a lot of
casualties."
Senior U.S. diplomats
argued, to no avail, that no lasting peace is possible in Bosnia until
Karadzic and Mladic are brought to justice.
"You have to seize these
guys," said Peter Galbraith, the former U.S.ambassador to Croatia. "Justice
isn't served unless they're dead or in the dock." Richard Holbrooke, who
negotiated the peace pact in Bosnia and has been nominated as representative
to the United Nations, contends that their arrest is the most important
unfinished business in the Balkans, and the biggest impediment to a lasting
peace.
But White House officials
-- including President Clinton -- could not convince the military that
arresting the indicted men was a risk worth taking, present and former
administration officials said.
"They've certainly been
cautious," Galbraith said. "One wants one's military to be cautious and
careful, but still operational."
Opportunities to arrest
them have not been lacking. "We could have captured them easily," but for
resistance at the highest military levels, said a former senior Clinton
administration official. Evidence of the U.S. military's reluctance to
use its power to arrest the men is replete in public and classified records,
he said.
Finding the men would
have been among the least-difficult aspects of the operation. One day in
February 1996, for example, Karadzic drove unchallenged through four NATO
checkpoints, two of them manned by Americans.
Today, Karadzic is believed
to have left his base in Pale, in the mountains above Sarajevo. He moves
from town to town within Bosnia with an escort of loyal security officers,
traveling freely.
Mladic, accused of overseeing
the killing of thousands of Muslims from Srebrenica three years ago this
month, is said to be living comfortably in Belgrade, the capital of neighboring
Serbia, writing his memoirs, unconcerned with the threat of arrest.
After the Dayton peace
accords were signed in November 1995, "the unfinished business of war criminals
loomed very large," said a senior White House official. "That calculus
looks very different right now." The decision to abandon plans for secret
military operations to arrest the men now appears set in stone.
With no deadline for
the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces, the consensus within the administration
is that discretion is the better part of valor in the Balkans.
Now U.S.policy is to
wait the men out, to reduce their economic, political and personal power.
In time, the thinking goes, they will "drop like rotten fruit" into NATO's
hands, another official said.
Though Karadzic and
Mladic remain at large, nearly half of the 62 men indicted on war-crimes
charges by the international tribunal are now in custody, and the power
base built by Karadzic is slowly but surely eroding, officials said.
"The ice is getting
thin, particularly under Karadzic," said a senior administration official.
"His ability to buy off the police, to pay for security guards, is heavily
diminished. Some people think he might surrender someday." That, evidently,
is the best hope U.S. officials have of bringing him to justice.
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