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           NEWS: KOSOVA UPDATE, AUGUST 13, 1998/B

Taken without permission, for fair use only.

-Red Cross struggles to deliver aid to refugees near Kosovo
          MSNBC, August 13, 1998
-FOCUS - Kosovo Albanians unveil peace talks team
          Reuters, August 13, 1998
-Hopes rise for talks to end Kosovo crisis
          Reuters, August 13, 1998
-Albania complains of new Kosovo border violations
          Reuters, August 13, 1998
_______________________________

Thursday August 13 8:57 AM ET

Red Cross struggles to deliver aid to refugees near Kosovo

By Preston Mendenhall

SHTUTICE, Serbia - Thousands of ethnic Albanians who fled fighting between Serb police and Kosovo rebels began to return home this week, but international aid officials said the refugee crisis showed no signs of easing.
     As they trickled back toward their homes, most of the refugees said they didn't know whether their villages were safe or if their property and livestock survived a furious Serb offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas.
     In a gorge near Shtutice, known as the Valley of Apples because of the surrounding fruit orchards, dozens of tractors full of men, women and children - healthy and infirm - braved the dry heat and threat of Serb gunfire to beat a path back to their villages.
     The now dwindling 2-week-old Serb offensive brought shelling near the refugees' villages, forcing them to abandon a ripe harvest, livestock and their homes.
     While they didn't know what to expect, some refugees said they would risk the trip rather than the perils of disease, dehydration and diarrhea while living in the open for weeks.
     "Our house is gone, but we can't live here. We can't survive in the open much longer," Myftar Zogaj told MSNBC. "If I have to rebuild my house, I must start now - before it gets cold." Zogaj also hoped to salvage what was left of the harvest.
     Yet others were too scared to leave.
     "We do not know what to do. We know it will get colder, but we can't go back," said Abeden Makoli, a 26-year-old father of five who has been camping in the woods with nine members of his family. We think that the Serb police will slaughter our children."
     Tens of thousands of people in Kosovo have been displaced in the past two weeks alone, Amanda Williamson, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in Geneva.
     She said thousands of people may still be living in the woods or hills after being forced from their homes by recent clashes.
     The Red Cross has delivered more than 100 tons of aid to various places around Kosovo in recent days, but Williams warned that international aid might not be enough.
     "We have a big crisis on our hands," she said.
     Williamson said a Red Cross team evacuated 55 Albanians, including ill children and elderly people, who had been sheltering on a dried-up river bed in the central Drenica area.
     The Kosovo Liberation Army is fighting Serb forces for independence for Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians make up 90 percent of the population. About 240,000 people have been displaced in five months of fighting, according to U.N. estimates released Tuesday.
     In the Valley of Apples, international aid organizations scrambled to give medicine and food to the ethnic Albanian refugees.
     "It's getting pretty desperate out there; the people are in bad shape," said Keith Ursel, the Kosovo emergency coordinator for Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders). Ursel and his four-truck convoy were traveling to the villages of Gullovac, Llapushnik and Komoran in central Kosovo, where thousands of refugees have gathered on their way home.
     The nine-member Makoli family didn't join the returning refugees, however. In a makeshift shelter fashioned from trees, branches and plastic sheeting, the Makolis waited for the evening shade to go to neighboring villages to look for food. They have been living in the woods for more than a week and have been on the run for three months. The youngest, a 4-month-old boy, was weak and doctors who examined him believed he's suffering from hepatitis.
     The Makolis initially fled from their home village of Chikatova, in western Kosovo, to Gradica. But then further shelling forced them to Lausa and Obrije, and then Shtutice. They were surviving on handouts from villagers in the area.
     "They are very kind to us, and give us tomatoes and other vegetables," Drita Makoli said.
_______________________________

FOCUS - Kosovo Albanians unveil peace talks team

01:33 p.m Aug 13, 1998 Eastern
By Mark Heinrich

PRISTINA, Serbia, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Separatist Albanians named a team on Thursday to pave the way for peace talks in Kosovo and Western envoys urged Yugoslav authorities to join in negotiations to end the bloody conflict.
     But ethnic Albanian political leaders were unable to coax representatives of the hard-line Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) into the negotiating front for the time being, raising doubt about prospects for a settlement soon.
     Six months of fighting between the KLA and Serbian security forces have killed over 500 people, devastated populated areas and forced more than 200,000 people to flee into the hills.
     With the start of winter cold just two months away, peace talks must start soon to avert a humanitarian disaster.
     Ibrahim Rugova, leader of Kosovo's biggest party, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), announced the Kosovar talks team in the company of Big Power Contact Group envoys, the European Union presidency and the current chairman of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
     "The situation in Kosovo is very dangerous and very grave so we must move into a negotiating process. We want to have a climate for negotiations that will eventually take the people under protection," Rugova told reporters.
     "I have appointed a negotiating team which encloses representatives of the political parties represented in the parliament of Kosovo," he said.
     The assembly was elected last March in a vote unrecognised by Yugoslav authorities who for a decade have maintained harsh police rule in Kosovo, a province of Serbia whose 1.8 million population is 90 percent ethnic Albanian.
     "We appeal to the Yugoslav side to take this chance and enter into a substantial dialogue," said Austrian Ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch, whose country now holds the revolving presidency of the EU.
     Rugova named five Kosovar political party chiefs as negotiators but he himself will not be on the team, a gesture to Western mediators anxious to overcome internal Albanian feuding revolving around Rugova's lofty style of leadership.
     The negotiators are Fehmi Agani, Fatmir Sejdiu and Edita Tahiri, all of Rugova's LDK, Tadej Rodiqi of the Christian Democratic Party and Ilaz Kurteshi of the Social Democrats.
     Western diplomats said Adem Demaqi, a former longtime political prisoner regarded by some as the Nelson Mandela of Kosovo, and Redzep Qosja, intellectual father of Kosovo Albanians, had rejected a role in the negotiating front.
     Earlier, sources at the ethnic Albanian Koha Ditore daily newspaper had said the KLA had sent it a fax saying they had named Demaqi as their envoy on the talks team. But diplomats could not confirm this and Rugova made no mention of it.
     Rugova's relations with the KLA have been poor to non-existent and the guerrillas, funded by right-wing emigre Albanian groups, have resisted political control throughout the insurrection that erupted in February.
     Rugova said two other prominent ethnic Albanians, Bajram Kosumi, vice president of the Parliamentary Party of Kosovo, and Mehmet Hajrizi, secretary of the Albanian Democratic Movement, had refused invitations to be part of the team.
     But Rugova urged them to reconsider, saying any peace process was open to people across Kosovo's political spectrum.
     U.S. special envoy Chris Hill, spearheading mediation efforts in Kosovo, told reporters: "With the formation of this team, Albanians are demonstrating their readiness to engage in meaningful negotiation.
     "The other (Yugoslav) side must do the same...This team will have the critical task of negotiating agreements that end the violence, foster democracy and establish the basis for a fair solution to the overall problem of Kosovo," said Hill.
     Ethnic Albanians demand complete independence from Yugoslavia while Belgrade is prepared to discuss only as yet undefined forms of autonomy.
     The Big Powers support significant autonomy for Kosovo but not statehood, fearing this would destabilise nearby southern Balkan countries with disgruntled minorities of their own, incoluding Albanians in Macedonia.
     "Let me be very clear. The violence must stop and it must stop immediately," said Hill. In an oblique message to the KLA, he added: "To those who for whatever reason do not support this (peace) process, I ask that they reserve their judgment and allow the process to go forward."
     Hill, underlining the urgency the West has placed on ending Kosovo's bloodletting quickly, said a senior adviser to U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright who helped draft Bosnia's 1995 peace treaty would come to Kosovo on Friday to help the Albanians drafting negotiating documents.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
_______________________________

Thursday August 13 11:17 AM EDT

Hopes rise for talks to end Kosovo crisis

By Mark Heinrich

PRISTINA, Serbia (Reuters) - Efforts to organize peace talks in Kosovo appeared to make some progress Thursday as fighting continued in the restive Serbian province.
     The ethnic Albanian newspaper Koha Ditore, known to have close links to Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas, said it received a KLA fax naming Adem Demaqi as its representative on an ethnic Albanian delegation for talks with Belgrade.
     Receipt of the fax was made known to Western journalists by newspaper sources amid indications from local media, ethnic Albanian and diplomatic sources that an ethnic Albanian negotiating team could be identified later in the day.
     Demaqi is a legendary figure among ethnic Albanians. His 28 years in jail have earned him a reputation as the "the Nelson Mandela of Kosovo."
     Naming a KLA representative to negotiate with Belgrade along with other ethnic Albanians would be the first time that the KLA, which has been fighting a six-month battle for Kosovar independence, has agreed to talks with Serbian authorities.
     Ethnic Albanians led by the community's elected president Ibrahim Rugova rejected talks with the Serbian leadership in June, saying there could be no negotiations until Belgrade pulled its special police units out of Kosovo, whose population of two million people is 90 percent ethnic Albanian.
     Meanwhile, fighting continued in western Kosovo where Serbian forces are trying to stamp out the last pockets of ethnic Albanian rebels.
     The Serb Media Center in the provincial capital Pristina denied radio reports that the key rebel stronghold of Junik, close to the Albanian border, had fallen after a siege of nearly two weeks.
     But the center said mopping-up continued in western areas of Serbia's southernmost province, where a three-week-long offensive by security forces has largely swept away KLA rebels.
     "There is no attack on Junik today," said a spokesman of the Serbian-run media centre.
     "In fact, not a single bullet has been fired on Junik for the past 10 to 15 days," he said, adding that police had surrounded the town but civilians were free to leave.
     He said what fighting was going on was probably in the hills, where small bands of KLA fighters have taken refuge.
     Serb sources said sporadic fighting continued around Glodjane, a former KLA stronghold east of Decani that Serb security forces captured after a firefight on Wednesday.
     On Wednesday, the European Union Commission condemned the siege of Junik and said the town's 1,000 civilians were "confined in the worst conditions."
     But Serb security sources said that, far from being confined, civilians were being urged by police to leave Junik.
     "Police forces are in control of the wider surroundings of Junik but all civilians are allowed to leave the town using mainly the Junik-Rastavica road, which is linked to the main Decani-Djakovica road," police Colonel Bozidar Filic told Reuters.
     "A large number of civilians has left Junik over the past few days," he added.
     Junik is considered one of the last remaining bastions of the KLA following the fall of Glodjane, taken after a fierce gunbattle which Serb media said lasted two days.
     The Serb Media Centre said five policemen and two soldiers had been killed in the fight for Glodjane.
     The ethnic Albanians' Kosovo Information Center (KIC) accused Yugoslav army troops and police of setting fires in at least 12 villages along the Djakovica-Decani road.
     A spokesman for the KIC said houses and farmsteads were set ablaze in Glodjane, Babaloc, Gramocelj, Saptej, Dubrava, Prekoluka, Rznic, Prilep, Crnobreg, Drenovac, Kodralija and Pozhar.
     The KIC said some 25,000 people had fled the villages and "withdrew into the interior."
     Relief agencies have warned that Kosovo would suffer a humanitarian disaster unless the tens of thousands of people displaced by six months of fighting are re-settled in their homes before the weather starts to turn cold, which in the hill districts can happen as soon as next month.
_______________________________

Albania complains of new Kosovo border violations

12:48 p.m. Aug 13, 1998 Eastern
By Benet Koleka

TIRANA, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Albania complained on Thursday that Serb troops fighting ethnic Albanian guerrillas in western Kosovo had fired artillery and small arms onto its territory.
     An interior ministry statement also said 600 refugees from the fighting had crossed the border in Albania on Thursday, one of the biggest numbers in a single day since the Serb offensive began six months ago.
     It said 12 wounded members of the group were flown to the Albanian capital Tirana for medical treatment.
     A refugee agency official said only about 250 of the group were civilians and the rest were Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas who had escorted them across the border.
     The Albanian complaint, the second in three days on border violations, said artillery shells had fallen 700 to 800 metres (yards) inside Albanian territory on Wednesday.
     It added that an Albanian military observation tower and houses 100 to 150 metres inside Albania at Padesh came under small arms fire on Thursday.
     It made no mention of any casualties.
     "These actions forced the village inhabitants to protect themselves and evacuate their women, children and elderly," the ministry statement said.
     "The Albanian side has protested at the Local Border Commission over these grave events and has demanded the Yugoslav side put an end to these actions which have dangerous consequences."
     It said border police, backed by armed Albanian villagers, had taken full measures for self-defence.
     "Border police is also continuing to keep under observation the state border, to accompany the refugees from Kosovo deeper into Albania and the preservation of all the evidence that prove the aggresivity of the Serbian military forces towards the Albanian territory," the statement said.
     The Serb Media Centre in Pristina said mopping-up continued in western areas of Serbia's southernmost province, where a three-week-long offensive by security forces has largely swept away KLA rebels.
     Alessandra Morelli, head of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the northern Albanian town of Bajram Curri, told Reuters the group that crossed the border had come from the village of Juniko close to Junik, a rebel stronghold that has been under Serb siege for almost two weeks.
     "We tend to think a corridor was organised by the KLA to protect their own people," she said.
     Morelli said the rebels remained in Tropoje, an Albanian border town used as a base by the KLA, while the UNHCR took the refugees, many of them elderly women and children, to Bajram Curri where they were given food and shelter.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.

The risk of the misleading knowledge on the "Albanian dimension of the Crisis" in the Kosova

By Mero Baze

        The International Crisis Group enjoys the proper authority to recommend how to proceed towards the solution of the crisis in Kosova, but nowadays it is facing the most serious problem of this issue, the one related to the Albanian dimension of this crisis. The problem lies at the non-professional, emotional, and most politicized description of the situation the group has received from Tirana. It cannot help create a clear vision on the impact Albania has on the Kosova crisis. The essential limitation of a realistic reflection from Tirana apparently has to do with the mechanism through which the International Crisis Group assures information from Tirana, and further more, with the mediocrity and quite often with the thick-minded interpretations of the phenomenon that accompany the Kosova crisis in Albania.

The policy of the Albanian Government and the opposition to the Kosova crisis

        In the last report published by the International Crisis Group, unimportant, irrelevant elements are overestimated in the relations between Kosova and Albania, whilst realities, and mechanisms which have impact on this crisis are ignored. First of all, the report tries to explain the distance between Tirana Government and Kosova problem through geographical criteria: since the majority of the members of the government comes from the South, it brings into lack of confidence in Kosova. In case someone knows a little bit about the relations and the political cooperation between Kosova and Albania, he is well aware that Southern Albanians are not only a most reliable people for the Kosova Albanians; furthermore, during history they have been the idols of the Kosova Albanians. The Prizreni Albanian League, which has been an all-Albanians organization in the period before the creation of the Albanian state, has been a perfect combination of Southern leaders "Tosks" with those from Kosova. For this reason the argument that the Tirana Government is not popular in Kosova because it is made up of "tosks" is irrelevant and banal. The geographical composition of the Albanian Government is a problem of concern for the Albanian electorate in Albania, but not a concerning phenomenon for Kosova, where it is considered as the Tirana Government and its status is respected. The problem lies somewhere else. In effect, if one talks about Kosova lack of confidence in the Tirana Government, it derives from the fact that in its diplomatic stands, Tirana has reflected a harmful inferiority to the policy of Miloshevic, which has been classified as a policy moving somewhere between the stands of Athens and Belgrade, hence, in a way far from the stands of the Western diplomacy. The meeting of the Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano with the Yugoslav President Slobodan Miloshevic, has concerned neither the Albanians in Kosova, nor those in Albania as a physical contact, but it has created concern, when after that meeting the Albanian Prime Minister started to adopt stands very close to Belgrade as the "parallel institutions", or the "terrorists". Put more clearly, the policy followed by Tirana started to get clear colors of the nationalist neighbors, by becoming a linking bridge between the not very active Greek policy and the nationalist policy of Belgrade towards Kosova.
        The other very grave suspicion the majority of Albanians in Kosova bear against the Tirana Government is historical. Historically, since its creation of the Albanian state, the Government of Tirana has used the Kosova problem to gain power in Albania. In most of the cases, the main politicians of Albania have taken care of the survival of the thesis that there can be no Kosova without Albania, in this way preventing Kosova become a political priority in the Albanian politics, and in the motivation of the Albanian population. To this scope, it has been used the game with the Kosova extremists as well as with the pacifists. Concretely speaking, the suspicion of the Kosova Albanians against the Tirana Government stands at the fact that Prime Minister Fatos Nano and his Government, is evidently standing behind the radical extremist groups which have instrumentalised the leadership of the Kosova Liberation Army, and who are undermining the creation of an Albanian compact factor in Kosova, ready to negotiate and elaborate the political will of the Albanians there. Their suspicions are based on the concrete physical links the Albanian Prime Minister has with the leading cupola of the left Marxist groups of the Kosovars in the West, which belong to the ideological groups linked with the ex-communist Government of Tirana in 1990. The indoctrination of KLA by the Tirana Government, creating facilities for these groups for gun smuggling, and other illegal activities; infiltrating rivalry among armed groups in Kosova and among the political class there, it is considered by the Kosova Albanians as the greatest sabotage of the official Tirana, which is trying to overcome its crisis with the lowest possible cost. Thus, put clearly, the Tirana Government is adopting the policy of discrediting the Albanian factor in Kosova through the indoctrination of the Kosova Liberation Army and using the communist-nationalist idealists as lab objects in a dangerous physical confrontation within Albanians. To this end, the Albanian Government is using and supporting some traffickers from the communist-nationalist Diaspora, mainly in Switzerland, in order to strengthen them financially through guns shipment and priorities in Albania.

        Hence, it is erroneous to analyze the guns smuggling from the amount passing through Tropoja, and the persons crossing the borders, or from the price of mules carrying the guns. There is no guns factory or handicraft enterprise for producing blasting items in Tropoja. Likewise, there is no custom or airport in Tropoja to make somone believe that smuggling is conducted by "Tropojans". In Tropoja, there are only desperate people fleeing from war in Kosova, and others who deal with gun purchasing or food smuggling. Thus in Tropoja, there is a small war economy which is generated by the ports, airports and customs, which are under the total control of the Albanian Government. For that reason, the consideration that the Durresi port, where the weaponry intended for Kosova arrives, is checked by the Albanian opposition is ridiculous, for it is well-known that this port is controlled by the closest man of the Prime Minister, who has replaced even the ground cleaners remaining from Berisha's period. Thus, when the report speaks about arms shipment, it should have a clear table of the traffic ways and also the right sense to clarify things. This should be for the simple reason that if you try to understand the correspondence from Tirana, it seems that Albania is split in two parts, in a part controlled by the Government of Prime Minister Fatos Nano which is pro-Western, peaceful, and non-nationalist, and the other part under the "control" of the opposition, which comprises ports, customs check points, National Intelligence Service, and the Police. One needs an ordinary level of intelligence to understand the truth because a country which is considered to have a legal Government, the customs, airports, Intelligent Service, Police and the border are controlled by this Government, and all that happens over there is conducted by the Government. The concern does not come because of the fact that the correspondent of the Crisis Group in Tirana has personal passions against the anti-Communist opposition in Albania, due to her past linked to marxist-leninist groups in Britain, but it simply comes because the Crisis Group is mislead on this issue. So, instead of informing the Crisis Group that the danger comes from the Government, which is using its ports, customs, Intelligent Service, Police and borders for smuggling and the Kosova conflict, as well, there is purposely changed the object to put pressure on by passing it  on the opposition, and personally on Berisha. This is a ridiculous recommendation, which encourages the Albanian Government to deepen its erroneous ways, and practically it does not ease any element of the crisis. On the other hand, the opposition just laughs at such recommendations, for according to them, it is proclaimed as it controls the strongest ties of the economy and Albanian politics, in this way making of the opposition the most important political factor  of the Albanian society, which is not at all true. In case the opposition were as strong as described by the correspondent of the International Crisis Group, the situation in Albania would have changed rapidly, and probably, before the publication of the second part of the report Mr. Nano would no longer have been Prime Minister. The truth is that the opposition does not have any physical power on above mentioned institutions, and its electorate is not increased due to its stands regarding Kosova problem.

        The truth is that the Albanian opposition has not been so confidential in its political relations with Belgrade, while in its stands regarding Macedonia, it has always been a step forward from the socialists. So, when Berisha recognized the state of Macedonia, the present Albanian Foreign Minister Paskal Milo rejected it, and has been one of the major critics on press. Likewise, it may be added that the former Government, in spite of the difficulties, it succeeded to increase and enlarge the relations with Greece which concluded with a Friendship Treaty signed by both countries. For this reason, it is not convincible to say that the Kosova Albanians do not respect the actual Albanian Government, and that they consider it as pro-Greek. Besides the personal links that the Albanian Prime Minister has with Greece and the interests in his businesses, as a matter of fact, nothing progressive has been marked in the relations between Albania and Greece with the socialists in power, except of a Greek unit that did not find it relevant to leave Albania with the Alba mission last year.

Anti-Kosovarism and the public opinion sensitivity

        At 1990, when Albania was opened, the contacts between the Kosova Albanians and the Albanians in Albania had been a difficult process, with sharp phases of misunderstandings, and fall of fake myths that filled in a natural re-identification process. In this process, there have been many Kosova Albanians that have pulled down the ideal picture about the "Motherland" in their minds and many Albanians in Albania that had a fixed idea about the "honesty and bravery" of the Kosova Albanians. But, in any case, it is not true that the gap of re-identification has gone as far as to the formula "we" and "they". Such opinion belongs to Fatos Nano Government and is strongly supported, this Government has provoked a debate about the idea that Albania and Kosova are two nations, the "Kosovar" nation and the "Albanian" nation. In fact, such a debate did not bring any bad situation, on the contrary, it brought arguments supporting the thesis, that despite the freeze of contacts from both sides of the border and besides the different social developments, the notion of being a nation had not changed. For the first time, in the Albanian politics, the terms "Kosovars" has been officially used only by the Fatos Nano administration, which refers, with this term, to the Albanians in Kosova,  calling them as the "Kosovar politicians", or the "Kosovar leaders". Quite often this is a technical concept, which is simplified for the identification of the Albanian factors over there, and it cannot serve for an analysis alleging that the opinion split has reached as far as "we" and "they".

        This definition is dilettante, just like a book on Kosova, where the author, Miranda Vickers, while speaking about "muhaxhirs": the refugees from Kosova; explains to the readers that it means "muhaxhedin": i.e., the Islamic fundamentalists. Ignorance is a misfortune that accompanies most of the human kind, but when it is presented with pride and publicly, it becomes boring and furthermore jeopardizing, when it tries to impose itself on a prestigious authority, such as the International Crisis Group. Thus, the same author that considers muhaxhirs as muhaxhedins, finds it easy to say opposition instead of position. Sometimes, the books by such authors, bear footnotes which are not at all serious.

        For these reasons, the only recommendation that would improve the reports of the International Crisis Group from Albania would be a reporter, who at least has some knowledge on the Albanian language, and who has no emotional relations with political groups in Albania, and worse than that, he/she should bear no ideological complexes from the past and consider Albania as a place to realize the young-age dreams for a communist internationalist world. Naturally, the reporting from Albania has its own problems due to the complicated way of "reading" the real information from Albania and its sophistication on the press pages. But this is not a difficult task for an individual of an average level of intelligence. Naturally, it is a more difficult task for somebody who tends to invent positive information about one side and negative about the other one, furthermore, it is much more difficult for a person who doesn't know any other thing. The International Crisis Group needs a real and objective information from Albania, which can be realized by non-partisan reporter rather of an average level of intelligence, who can understand what is really happening in Albania and to not prejudice the reality depending on his passions.
        Otherwise, the Albanian dimension in the Kosova crisis, would be on a false basis that can transform into pyramids all analysis drawn on it.

         NEWS: KOSOVA UPDATE, AUGUST 13, 1998

Taken without permission, for fair use only.

-Serb Attacks Continue in Kosovo
          AP, August 13, 1998
-FOCUS - Fresh fighting in western Kosovo
          Reuters, August 13, 1998
-NATO to sound out members on air forces for Kosovo
          Reuters, August 12, 1998
___________________________________

Thursday August 13 6:36 AM EDT

Serb Attacks Continue in Kosovo

ISMET HAJDARI Associated Press Writer

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - Ignoring cease-fire calls, Serb forces were pressing an offensive against ethnic Albanian rebels in southwestern Kosovo province, while aid agencies warned of food shortages if refugees cannot return for the harvest.
     Serb police fought their way into the former rebel stronghold of Glodjane on Wednesday following two days of fierce fighting that killed five Serb policemen and two Yugoslav army soldiers, the government-run Tanjug news agency reported. Kosovo is a province in southern Serbia, the larger of two remaining republics in Yugoslavia.
     The Kosovo Information Center, under ethnic Albanian control, reported that seven fighters from the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army were killed in the fighting.
     Meanwhile, Serb and Albanian sources reported fresh fighting in the nearby village of Junik, one of the main bases for the KLA.
     Each side blamed the other for launching the attacks.
     The rebels are fighting for independence for Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians represent 90 percent of the province's 2 million people.
     Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic had promised European Union envoys that his forces would not attack Junik, where about 1,000 KLA fighters and as many civilians were believed to be trapped.
     Austrian Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schuessel, speaking for the EU, condemned the fighting around Junik and urged the Yugoslav government to avoid actions that would worsen the "already unbearable humanitarian situation."
     The latest fighting came amid calls by the U.N. Security Council for a cease-fire and warnings by NATO that military intervention to halt the conflict remained an option.
     Those calls appear to be losing their effectiveness since they have been made repeatedly - and ignored - by the combatants since Milosevic launched his crackdown against Albanian secessionists five months ago.
     In London, Isa Zymberi of the local Kosovo Information Office told CNN International that if the Americans and Europeans do not move quickly to halt the fighting, "very shortly we will see the whole region ablaze."
     Zymberi was referring to fears that the fighting will spread to other Balkan countries with large Albanian populations.
     The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that up to 240,000 people have been displaced by the fighting. Tens of thousands are hiding in forests and hills of Kosovo, fearful of reprisals if they return home.
     On Wednesday, a senior Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, warned that refugees must return to their homes in time to harvest crops.
     The harvest season begins in Kosovo in about three weeks and unless significant numbers can return home by then, the diplomat warned of a humanitarian disaster once winter begins.
___________________________________

FOCUS - Fresh fighting in western Kosovo

08:27 a.m. Aug 13, 1998 Eastern
By Julijana Mojsilovic

PRISTINA, Serbia, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Fighting continued on Thursday in western Kosovo where Serb forces are trying to stamp out the last pockets of ethnic Albanian rebels.
     The Serb Media Centre in the provincial capital Pristina denied radio reports that the key rebel stronghold of Junik, close to the Albanian border, had fallen after a siege of nearly two weeks.
     But the centre said mopping-up continued in western areas of Serbia's southernmost province, where a three-week-long offensive by security forces has largely swept away rebels of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) fighting for the province's independence.
     "There is no attack on Junik today," said a spokesman of the Serb-run media centre.
     "In fact, not a single bullet has been fired on Junik for the past 10 to 15 days," he said, adding that police had surrounded the town but civilians were free to leave.
     He said what fighting was going on was probably in the hills, where small bands of KLA fighters have taken refuge.
     Serb sources said sporadic fighting continued around Glodjane, a former KLA stronghold east of Decani which Serb security forces captured after a fierce firefight on Wednesday.
     On Wednesday the European Union Commission condemned the siege of Junik and said the town's more than 1,000 civilians were "confined in the worst conditions."
     But Serb security sources said that, far from being confined, civilians were being urged by police to leave Junik.
     "Police forces are in control of the wider surroundings of Junik but all civilians are allowed to leave the town using mainly the Junik-Rastavica road which is linked to the main Decani-Djakovica road," police Colonel Bozidar Filic told Reuters.
     "A large number of civilians has left Junik over the past few days," he added.
     Junik is considered one of the last remaining bastions of the KLA following the fall of Glodjane, taken after a fierce gunbattle which Serb media said lasted two days.
     The Serb Media Centre said five policemen and two soldiers had been killed in the fight for Glodjane.
     The ethnic Albanians' Kosovo Information Centre (KIC) accused Yugoslav army troops and police of setting fires in at least 12 villages along the Djakovica-Decani road.
     A spokesman for the KIC said houses and farmsteads were set ablaze in Glodjane, Babaloc, Gramocelj, Saptej, Dubrava, Prekoluka, Rznic, Prilep, Crnobreg, Drenovac, Kodralija and Pozhar.
     The KIC said some 25,000 people had fled the villages and "withdrew into the interior."
     Relief agencies have warned that Kosovo would suffer a humanitarian disaster unless the tens of thousands displaced by six months of fighting are re-settled in their homes before the weather starts to turn cold, which in the hill districts can happen as soon as next month.
     The KIC quoted Osman Cacaj, a Decani official of the ethnic Albanians' Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) party headed by Ibrahim Rugova, as calling for urgent international aid and measures to protect the civilian population.
     The international community has so far refrained from using military force in Kosovo, although planning for NATO air strikes is proceeding. U.S. ambassador Chris Hill remained in Pristina for a second day on Thursday for talks with ethnic Albanians, U.S. sources said.
     Hill has been trying to get the ethnic Albanians to agree on a negotiating team to talk to the Belgrade government over the future of the province, where the population of two million is 90 percent ethnic Albanian.
     Ethnic Albanian sources said Rugova was expected to announce a negotiating team later in the day.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
__________________________________________

Wednesday August 12 12:04 PM EDT

NATO to sound out members on air forces for Kosovo

By Janet McEvoy

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO Wednesday authorized its military authorities to determine what contributions member states might be ready to make to possible air operations in the restive Yugoslav province of Kosovo.
     The 16-nation alliance also said it would act "swiftly and credibly" if asked to help restore peace in the province.
     "NATO's military authorities have been authorized to informally approach nations on the forces which they would be ready to contribute to the possible air operations," a NATO spokesman said after NATO ambassadors met.
     "They (NATO ambassadors) will ensure that NATO will act swiftly and credibly should the occasion arise," the spokesman said.
     NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana said in a statement the alliance's ambassadors had reviewed military planning for a full range of options for the use of force to bring an end to violence in Kosovo and create conditions for negotiations.
     "Those options include the use of ground and air power and in particular the full range of options for the use of air power," he said.
     NATO ambassadors interrupted their summer break to hold the meeting following a Serb offensive in the southern Serbian province, where ethnic-Albanian guerillas are fighting for independence.
     Solana said later in an expanded statement he was "deeply concerned by the continuing violence in Kosovo and its effect on the civilian population of the region for which (Yugoslav President Slobodan) Milosevic bears a heavy responsibility."
     A NATO source said detailed planning on air options was finished and Wednesday's meeting signaled a move to concrete preparations in case implementation of the plans was demanded by the international community.
     It will be the task of NATO's supreme allied commander to sound out nations and the NATO source stressed that possible air operations would only involve forces from NATO's 16 countries and not partner countries.
     Sources stressed that despite the intensification of planning, NATO was several steps away from actually intervening as NATO believed any action would require "an appropriate legal basis."
     The prospects of quick NATO military action have seemed to recede after President Clinton and French President Jacques Chirac agreed during a weekend telephone call that Russian approval would be needed for any intervention.
     Russia has stressed it is against a NATO military intervention in Kosovo and holds a veto in the U.N. Security Council, which would have to draw up a mandate for NATO use of force in the region.
     More than 500 people have been killed since fighting began six months ago in the province, where ethnic-Albanians outnumber Serbs by nine to one.
     Western countries have condemned the recent actions by Serbian forces in Kosovo which has left, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 167,000 people displaced from their homes.
     But the West appears to be still pinning its hopes on getting the Serbians and Kosovars to negotiate a peace plan drawn up by the six-nation Contact Group of major powers.

Taken without permission, for fair use only.

*Fierce fighting in western Kosovo
          BBC, August 12, 1998
*Serbs keep up Kosovo push; NATO weighs air strikes
          Reuters, August 12, 1998
*Serb-Inspired Panic Clears Kosovo Villages
          LATimes, August 12, 1998
___________________________________

Wednesday, August 12, 1998 Published at 11:27 GMT 12:27 UK

Fierce fighting in western Kosovo

There are reports of continuing heavy fighting in a western area of the Serbian province of Kosovo near the towns of Dechani and Djakovica.
     Serb sources say guerrillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army had offered very fierce resistance to Serb units around several villages particularly at Glodjane and Junik.
     In Brussels, NATO ambassadors are debating plans for possible military intervention.
     Correspondents say the options being discussed include air strikes against targets in Serbia and the deployment of peacekeeping troops should the warring sides agree to either a ceasefire or a peace plan.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
___________________________________

Wednesday August 12 1:05 PM EDT

Serbs keep up Kosovo push; NATO weighs air strikes

By Michael Roddy

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serb forces pushed ethnic Albanian guerrillas out of a stronghold in Kosovo Wednesday while NATO moved ahead on plans for possible air strikes in the troubled Serbian province.
     The village of Glodjane, a base of ethnic Albanian guerrillas fighting for independence from Serbia, fell after a two-day battle a Serb source said was one of the heaviest so far.
     A fierce battle was also reported to be raging for the hill town of Junik, near the Albanian border, where Serb security forces have surrounded fighters of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) for 10 days.
     The Albanian Kosovo Information Center reported that Junik and the surrounding area was being shelled on Wednesday, while the Yugoslav news agency Tanjug said Serb forces were holding their fire but were being shelled by the Albanians.
     Glodjane and Junik are in the far western reaches of Kosovo where the KLA has put up fierce resistance to a Serb security force juggernaut sweeping through towns the KLA controlled as recently as three weeks ago.
     The European Union condemned what it called "massive attacks" by Serbs on Junik and said it was disturbed by reports that anti-personnel mines were being used there.
     "In this town, which has been besieged by the Serbian forces for some time, there are also over 1,000 civilians confined in the worst conditions," EU Council President and Austrian Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schuessel said.
     There was no official report on casualties in Glodjane, but the Serb-run media center reported a number of wounded.
     The independent news agency Fonet said one policeman was killed and six were wounded in the fighting around Glodjane.
     More than 500 people have been killed and at least 230,000 ethnic Albanians have fled into the hills since fighting began six months ago in Kosovo.
     The fall of Glodjane came as U.S. ambassador Chris Hill was due to return to Pristina for talks with Ibrahim Rugova, the political leader of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians who make up 90 percent of the province's two million people.
     The visit is part of Hill's continuing effort to jump-start talks between ethnic Albanians and the Belgrade authorities.
     In Brussels, NATO authorized its military authorities to determine what contributions member states might be ready to make to possible air operations in Kosovo.
     The 16-nation alliance also said it would act "swiftly and credibly" if asked to help restore peace in the province.
     "NATO's military authorities have been authorized to informally approach nations on the forces which they would be ready to contribute to the possible air operations," a NATO spokesman said after NATO ambassadors met.
     "They (NATO ambassadors) will ensure that NATO will act swiftly and credibly should the occasion arise," he said.
     NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana said in a statement the alliance's ambassadors had reviewed military planning for a full range of options for the use of force to bring an end to violence in Kosovo and create conditions for negotiations.
     "Those options include the use of ground and air power and in particular the full range of options for the use of air power," he said.
     Solana said later in an expanded statement he was "deeply concerned by the continuing violence in Kosovo and its effect on the civilian population of the region for which (Yugoslav President Slobodan) Milosevic bears a heavy responsibility."
     Russia is considering taking part in NATO military exercises in Albania but its defense minister said this did not mean Moscow was wavering in its opposition to military intervention in Kosovo.
     "In no way does it demonstrate a change in Moscow's position on a settlement to the Kosovo problem," Marshal Igor Sergeyev told a news conference in Moscow.
     In Bonn, German deputies called on the government to brief them on NATO's plans for Kosovo and on the possible extent of German involvement.
     Deputies from the pacifist Greens party said they wanted a special sitting of parliament's defense committee to be held by August 21, to be attended by a Foreign Ministry representative.
     Germany has already offered 14 Tornado fighter jets for use in possible NATO air strikes on Kosovo but any such involvement would require parliamentary backing.
___________________________________

LATimes
Wednesday, August 12, 1998

Serb-Inspired Panic Clears Kosovo Villages
Balkans: Brutal police attacks scatter ethnic Albanians, who camp out rather than return.

By RICHARD BOUDREAUX, Times Staff Writer

REZALA, Yugoslavia--Hana Zabeli, an 85-year-old invalid, died alone here last week. So did her village.
     Life ended for this ethnic Albanian settlement and its oldest inhabitant on the day Serbian paramilitary police struck with gratuitous brutality, burning dozens of homes and shooting Zabeli in her bed.
     Both were abandoned in the same panic that has emptied scores of Albanian communities during an anti-guerrilla sweep of Serbia's separatist-minded Kosovo province, uprooting more than one-tenth of its 2 million people.
     With the latest assault now in its fourth week, the number of ghost towns is growing so fast that relief agencies say they cannot keep up with--much less help--a scattering population in urgent need of food, clean water, medicine and shelter.
     More than 3,000 people fleeing Rezala and nearby settlements have spilled into a forest clearing seven miles from here and set up flimsy lean-tos of logs covered with leafy branches. Everyone encountered in the camp said they were afraid to go home, even though the Serbs have withdrawn from the area. Many do not know whether their houses are even standing.
     Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's troops are fighting not so much for a military objective or to "cleanse" the province of its Albanian majority, Western analysts say, but simply to punish the supporters of the Kosovo Liberation Army--and to demonstrate the rebel group's inability to defend them.
     In five months of fighting that has left 550 dead, Serbian police and Yugoslav army troops have driven guerrillas and civilians from village after village, leaving behind smoking ruins and a residue of fear.
     According to a survey by the Albanian-led Independent Trade Union of Kosovo, 283 settlements have been abandoned by most of their inhabitants.
     "Nowhere is safe in Kosovo," said Fazile Syla, 49, a widow who has been sleeping in the forest clearing for a week with two of her grandchildren. "But it's safer out here than waiting for Serbian rockets to crash through the roof."
     Kosovo consists of one city, 17 towns and hundreds of villages dotting a hilly landscape slightly bigger than Los Angeles County. Albanians outnumber Serbs 9 to 1 but hold none of the levers of power. Nearly all of them back the armed rebels' demand for independence from Serbia, the larger of the two republics left in Yugoslavia.
     The deaths of this community and the defenseless Hana Zabeli help explain the magnitude of the exodus--the largest in Europe since the Yugoslav federation's bloody breakup in the early 1990s--and the Albanians' reluctance to reclaim their homes.
     Hana's son, a still-shaken Zeqir Zabeli, said that he, his wife and four children awoke Thursday to the Serbian attack and a painful choice.
     The problem was what to do with Hana, unable to speak and mostly paralyzed since a stroke seven years ago. They could lift her from bed and carry her through a rain of artillery and mortar fire, risking death for all in a slow escape. Or they could leave her behind, run away and pray for her survival.
     A small guerrilla force that had been resisting the Serbs outside the village retreated the day before. So had most of the village's 6,000 civilians.
     Zeqir Zabeli chose to run.
     "The Serbs attacked so fast we had no time to think how to evacuate my mother safely," the 48-year-old farmer recalled, leading a visitor down a dirt road to his modest, two-story brick home. "They were grenading and shooting from all sides.
     "I got my wife and children out. . . . We ran. It is a choice I will have to live with."
     Returning late that night, after the Serbs had moved on, Zabeli was at first relieved to find his house undamaged by the shelling. Then he looked inside and found his mother's body on her mattress. She had been shot in the neck and slashed on the face, he said. Her bedroom had been ransacked.
     Sokol Oruqi, 57, also died in the attack. A neighbor said Oruqi had left the day before and come back to untether his horses when police apparently shot him on the street and hacked off his arms.
     News of both killings spread as residents trickled back here over the weekend to look at the damage and then left again, repelled by what they saw.
     Serbian officials have said their summer assault is aimed at clearing guerrilla roadblocks from Kosovo's highways. But the attack on Rezala and other villages in the Drenica Valley, far from any main road, appeared to serve no military purpose.
     Of 380 homes lining Rezala's twisting dirt roads, residents have counted 87 gutted by fire.
     The Ahmeti cousins, Murat and Hamet, returned to see their homes intact but their cornfields burned black. Idriz Zabeli, a 59-year-old relative of the dead woman, found his ancestral home destroyed, along with his two cars and all four of his cattle. The three men headed back to the woods.
     In the village, the stench of dead animals rose with the baking sun. Acrid smoke swirled from a few still-smoldering homes and grain storage buildings. The elementary school, where 780 children were taught until fighting erupted last winter and which later sheltered people uprooted from other villages, was ransacked and partly damaged by fire.
     "What's the point of going back if the police can come again and violate our homes?" asked Hazir, 48, a construction worker who fled Rezala in the white Mercedes-Benz incongruously parked next to his lean-to in the forest clearing. He would give only his first name. "We need security, but the Kosovo Liberation Army cannot give it. They have no strength."
     In fact, the guerrillas have so far survived the Serbian sweep and reclaimed their Drenica Valley headquarters in nearby Likovac. But as they dig in for a long conflict, they are not encouraging a quick civilian homecoming.
     Left alone in a string of ghost towns, the rebels can now do more of what guerrillas are supposed to do--wage hit-and-run attacks on the government. "We can operate more freely without the civilians here," said Rezala's 25-year-old rebel commander, whose nom de guerre is Mali. "We don't have to worry about protecting them."
     That's no comfort to the people in the clearing--victims of a spreading catastrophe that can only worsen with the coming autumn rains and snowy Balkan winter.
     For more than a week, the camp's population has ebbed and flowed as people have moved away in search of better shelter and arrived from newly emptied villages.
     A few drive cars over the rugged dirt roads, but most are crowded onto long carts pulled by horses or farm tractors. On the carts are all the possessions they could grab in haste--bags of clothing and towels, carpets, blankets, foam mattresses folded in two, sacks of flour and garden vegetables, rusty ovens for baking bread.
     The makeshift colony is running out of food, and people are getting sick from malnutrition, contaminated well water and exposure to damp night air, said Myzafere Kastatri, an Albanian nurse in the field. She was examining a listless 5-year-old boy for what she believed to be hepatitis.
     "The homes in villages around here are saturated with refugees, but they are [still] sending food to the field," said Rifat Gashi, a volunteer for Kosovo's Mother Teresa Society, the Albanian-run agency that distributes food. "But today's parcels are enough to feed maybe one-fifth of the people out here."
     One small Red Cross shipment of baby food is the only foreign help that has reached the camp, he said.
     Mans Nyberg, a spokesman for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, estimated that the conflict has uprooted 231,000 people, 167,000 of whom remain in Kosovo. Nobody knows exactly where they have all gone, he said, although at least five camps of 1,000 or more have been spotted in the wilderness.
     "One problem is a lack of access to areas where there is fighting," Nyberg said. "Also, the people in need are constantly moving from one place to another." He admitted that "all this happened so fast and the international community was unprepared to respond" with emergency aid and relief workers.
     Few people camped in the clearing complained about the lagging relief effort. But they voiced frustration that the West has not carried out its occasional threats of military force to halt Milosevic's offensive. The criticism is echoed by their leaders.
     "Albanians are losing faith in the international community to resolve the Kosovo crisis peacefully," said Blerim Shala, a member of the Albanian team in peace talks that broke down in May. "It's important to have a balance of fear between Albanians and Serbs if we want to reach a compromise. This balance of fear now does not exist. All the fear is on the Albanian side."

Copyright 1998 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved

August 12, 1998

   KOSOVO: GETTING WORSE YET OVERSHADOWED BY CURRENT EVENTS

Due to the U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa, there was understandably much less foreign media attention on events in Kosovo even though the situation on the ground was getting much worse. Commentators discussed: possible NATO involvement in Kosovo; Kosovar autonomy issues; and how current events are affecting Western attention. Most pundits agreed with Berlin's centrist Der Tagesspiel that because Slobodan Milosevic's open aggressive assault on the Albanians has not stopped, and in fact had become progressively worse, that "It is only logical that NATO is now thinking of military intervention." Reports from the right in Germany have been becoming progressively more critical of Western policy in Kosovo. "Time is running out for diplomats," said right-of-center Westfaelische Nachrichten of Muenster. Frankfurt on the Oder's right-of-center Maerkische Oderzeitung echoed, "There is no alternative other than giving up or conducting a military strike.... Those who want peace must obviously shoot first."

MIDDLE EAST PERSPECTIVE: Some Arab pundits equated Serbian aggression to terrorism elsewhere that regularly receives Western criticism. Semi-independent Arabic Al-Watan of Doha even went so far as to suggest that Russia militarily supports Serb "terrorism" in Kosovo, but at the same time acknowledged that, "in addition to the roles played by Russia, Washington, and NATO, Muslim countries have not helped Kosovars except by denouncing Serb aggression." Semi-independent Arabic Al-Rayah of Doha concurred, "We do not believe that the political support Yugoslavia is receiving from Russia--which we condemn--is a real obstacle facing a firm Western stance." Commenting that "U.S. shuttle diplomacy...is only a waste of time," the same editorial concluded, "Muslim countries are...invited to support their kin in Kosovo in a way that is more effective than issuing statements."

YUGOSLAV PERSPECTIVES: Infamous war crimes suspect Zeljko Raznjatovic, a.k.a. "Arkan," wrote an open letter to President Clinton in Belgrade's tabloid NT Plus supporting him in his fight against terrorism in the wake of the bombings in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam. He also remarked that events in Kosovo are "terrorism on the part of radical secessionist groups of the Albanian national minority against the native Serbian people and all the national minorities living here." Predictably, Raznjatovic failed to mention that Albanians compose 90 percent of the population in the Kosovo region.

AUTONOMY FOR KOSOVO?: "On paper, Kosovo is already more or less autonomous" said Halle's centrist Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. Similar statements from other writers underscored the widespread view that KLA forces will not be negotiating any time soon since they have little to gain from negotiating yet another written agreement on autonomy.

DISTRACTED U.S.: International commentators hypothesized about the toll that current events are having on world-wide U.S. leadership. Events in Africa, Iraq, and the legal proceedings surrounding the Lewinsky investigations topped the list of President Clinton's and America's distractions.
Moscow's reformist daily Izvestiya suggested that threats to use force in Kosovo by the U.S. at this point in time are "irrelevant." It hinted that the U.S., with so many distractions, must prioritize its international responses: "Even Serbia's worst enemies admit that Saddam Hussein is more dangerous than Slobodan Milosevic."

This survey is based on 41 reports from 15 countries, August 6-12.
EDITOR: T.J. Grubisha

                           FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

SERBIA-MONTENEGRO: "Albanian Terrorists Brutally Killing Serbs"

Belgrade tabloid NT Plus carried an article on the letter to President Clinton by the leader of the Serbian Unity Party, Zeljko Raznjatovic, alias "Arkan" (8/11): "Mr. President: We are aware that the United States makes great efforts in suppressing terrorism everywhere in the world, but we are also aware that the criminals against humanity stop at nothing, using every means and methods to achieve their fictitious goals. Unfortunately, experience tells us that what is happening now in Serbia and the former Yugoslavia--in one part of its sovereign territory, Kosovo-Metohia--is also terrorism on the part of the radical secessionist groups of the Albanian national minority against the native Serbian people and all the national minorities living here.... Over 150 farmers, women and children, both Serb and Albanian, loyal to the state of Serbia, have been kidnaped by the terrorist gangs which are calling themselves the Kosovo Liberation Army. No one knows anything about the fate of these people, while according to some sources, many of them might be dead.

"The Albanian terrorist gangs in Kosovo-Metohia, whose predetermined goal is the creation of an independent state of Kosovo and a Greater Albania on Balkan soil (both clearly opposed by the United States and the international community), have been brutally killing the Serbs and their own compatriots who are opposing these irrational ideas. Mr. President, do not let the Nairobi and the Dar Es Salaam bombings ever happen again. Do not let the terrorism continue in Serbia, which for many centuries has been a friend of the United States, and accept our sincere support for all the actions you will undertake in destroying the greatest evil of the mankind--terrorism."

                                  EUROPE

FRANCE: "Russia Seems To Be Ready To Join A Peace Keeping Force"

Influential, left-of-center Le Monde correspondent Denis Hautin-Guiraut wrote (8/7): "The Serb forces burn fields and villages in Kosovo. The humanitarian organizations in Kosovo fear a major human catastrophe with the influx of tens of thousands of refugess into the montains of the Serb province which has an Albanian majority. The extreme precariousness of their situation is made worse by the systematic destruction by the Serb forces. A number of eyewitnesses say that the Serbs are applying a `scorched earth' policy.... Russia seems to be ready to join a peace keeping force under UN mandate, but remains opposed to NATO intervention."

BRITAIN: "Kosovo Albanians Fear Reprisals As Serbs Take Control"

The conservative Daily Telegraph reported (8/10): "Fears are growing that Serbian security forces, which have all but routed the Kosovo Liberation Army on the battlefield, will now begin a campaign of reprisals aimed at punishing the province's Albanian majority."

"Contact Group Plans Limited Autonomy To End War In Kosovo"

The liberal Guardian said (8/10): "The six-country Contact Group on Kosovo--which includes the United States and Russia--has drawn up new proposals for the political future of the war-torn Serbian province.... The proposals emerged yesterday as it became increasingly clear that NATO is unlikely to use military force to end the worsening humanitarian crisis.... Plans for a constitutional settlement `would give the people of Kosovo control of their own internal affairs, control over their own security and real autonomy,' said Robin Cook, the British Foreign Secretary."

GERMANY: "Naive People"

Werner Menner said in an editorial in right-of-center Muenchener Merkur (8/12): "The war in Kosovo continues. The Serbs launched a new offensive yesterday and Austria's delegation leader Rohan said that Serbia's leadership with President Milosevic at its helm lied to him, since Milosevic recently promised an end to the attacks against the Albanians. No, the EU diplomat did not come to realize all of a sudden that he was duped, but he simply demonstrated the naivete with which EU and NATO diplomats are acting in Kosovo.... The West is about to repeat all the mistakes it made in Bosnia. The West ignores the ultimatums it sent to Milosevic. To ease its conscience, it sent delegations which confirmed only things that were well-known. Instead of acting, it negotiates with Milosevic. And Milosevic is pinning his hopes on the view that the West--after a certain period--will again compromise with him. If NATO and the EU do not soon agree to clear actions in Kosovo, the calculations of the liar and terrorist from Belgrade have good chances of becoming true."

"Disgraceful"

Johann Georg Reissmueller editorialized in right-of-center Frankfurter Allgemeine (8/12): "As long as responsible Western politicians do not really want to help the Kosovo-Albanians, they should stop their idle talk. But none of them wants to be silent. And so far, none of them has stepped down or left his party out of protest against the Kosovo policy of his government. Those who are unable to help Kosovo, should at least preserve their honor."

"Milosevic's Minions"

Charles Thibo said in an editorial in centrist Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of Halle (8/10): "The views of the West and the people in Kosovo on the future of the region are miles apart. The plan for autonomy, which the Contact Group has submitted to the conflicting parties, is not new nor is it promising. On paper, Kosovo is already more or less autonomous. But this did not prevent Yugoslav President Milosevic from forcing his will upon the province and from brutally attacking the opposition. We are getting the impression that the West wants to gain time, thus playing along with Milosevic's dirty game. The cynical calculation is that with every day the Serbs continue their offensive, an end to the armed conflict will be closer. And once the 'nuisance' in Kosovo is over, the West could return to other business. The lives of Albanian civilians only play a minor role."

"Potentate Milosevic"

Left-of-center Berliner Zeitung carried an editorial which commented (8/11): "For more than 10 years, every day Kosovo-Albanians have witnessed Serbian terror, humiliation, and apartheid. For them, there is no reasonable argument to live under Serbian rule no matter what the circumstances. After the events of the past six months, this is all the more true. In the last two weeks, the number of refugees has doubled and every tenth Kosovo-Albanian has now become a refugee. Numerous houses, sometimes even whole villages, have been destroyed--not in the course of military fighting, but only out of revenge by the Serbs.... Milosevic has regained control of Kosovo for Serbia, but he has lost the Kosovo-Albanians forever."

"Milosevic Will Yield Shortly Before A NATO Strike"

Right-of-center Die Welt of Berlin wrote (8/8): "For the first time since the beginning of the war in Kosovo, Slobodan Milosevic is really under pressure. A NATO mission could be launched within hours. The showdown between Belgrade and the West has now reached a new level. Thus far, the West has always criticized Belgrade, raised demands, made appeals, imposed ineffective sanctions, and uttered threats which were not implemented. It is likely that Milosevic will yield shortly before a NATO strike in Kosovo, since he would be unable to counter such a  strike. But as long as Milosevic governs in the Balkans, there will be no peace."

"The Alliance Is Trying To Make An Impression On Belgrade"

Centrist Der Tagesspiegel of Berlin argued (8/8): "Slobodan Milosevic has lied again. A week ago, Yugoslavia's president declared the activities of his special forces in Kosovo finished, but the advances continued. This is why it is only logical that NATO is now thinking of military intervention.
NATO has learned its lesson from the Bosnian disaster. But has it really learned its lesson? Only one thing is sure: The Alliance is trying to make an impression on Belgrade with its threats. Decisions were not made in Brussels. In addition, the leading U.S. superpower is stymied by Bill Clinton's scandals. And there is still the controversy about what NATO is allowed to do without explicit approval from the UN Security Council. As bitter and outrageous as it seems to sympathetic observers: The international community will continue to idly watch events. But is there anyone who has a plan based on international law and can be accepted when weighing the risk and consequences involved?"

"The KLA: An Admission Of Its Own Failure"

Right-of-center Saechsische Zeitung of Dresden opined (8/8): "Yesterday's call (of the KLA) for help and international protection for the population is an admission of its own failure. It is true that NATO makes itself heard on a regular basis by saying it has completed plans for a mission is Kosovo, but Slobodan Milosevic knows very well that it is only a paper tiger who is showing its teeth. The KLA could have hoped for broad international support in talks with Belgrade, but it has been waiting in vain for military support. The only effective assistance which the West can now still offer is humanitarian aid."

"Time Is Running Out For Diplomats"

Right-of-center Westfaelische Nachrichten of Muenster noted (8/8): "Must the international community again fire shots to restore peace? NATO has almost completed its plans for military intervention in Kosovo. The Bosnian lesson has taught the West that the nationalist in a pin-striped suit, Slobodan Milosevic, seems to understand only one language.... Time is running out for diplomats--a fact with disastrous consequences, since, if the West is unable to get Russia to approve a limited military strike, Milosevic and his military can feel safe, and NATO will continue to be a paper tiger."

"Questionable Priorities"

Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger of right-of-center Frankfurter Allgemeine said (8/7): "If Saddam has timed his refusal to cooperate by assuming that the United States is taking a 'time-out' from global politics, then he has made a good decision. He made this good decision on this basis just as Yugoslav warmonger Milosevic did in Kosovo. It may even be possible that the Iraqis used the Serbs as a model since Milosevic is making fools of the Americans and Europeans in a cat-and-mouse game that has cost the lives of hundreds of Kosovo-Albanians and made hundreds of thousands refugees in their own country. But the U.S. government does not seem to be very interested in this, at least not to the same degree as it is in the Monica Lewinsky hearing.... There can no longer be any talk of resolute reaction by the West and NATO under U.S. leadership. This is why Milosevic can continue allowing his forces to do their 'ethnic cleansing.' It is absolutely necessary that the one and only global power again find time to govern--not least because of the Saddams and Milosevics of the world."

"Waiting For The United States"

Right-of-center Maerkische Oderzeitung of Frankfurt on the Oder opined (8/7): "It seems that there is no alternative other than giving up or conducting a military strike. But in order to launch  a military strike, Washington must convince Boris Yeltsin to agree on joint activities in the framework of the partnership for peace, or it must dare to act against the explicit will of Moscow. This would be politically risky, but we have to bear in mind that the Bosnian Serbs and their Belgrade superiors only agreed to enter into negotiations after there were limited air strikes. They did not voluntarily go to Dayton but they were bombed to Dayton. As it looks now, no other means is available. Those who want peace in Kosovo must obviously shoot first."

"Truths"

Centrist Abendzeitung of Munich carried an editorial by Matthias Maus which stated (8/7): "The criticism from the United States of Germany's deportation policy has little to do with humanitarian concerns. Deportations and the closing of borders are not unknown in a country whose southern borders are somewhat like a prison fence. But such contradictions have never caused any problems for the United States in formulating its foreign policy. And this formulation in the Balkans is simple: the situation should remain quiet and not be disrupted by refugees who are forced to return."

ITALY: "Secretary-Gernal Report to UNSC"

Left-leaning, influential La Repubblica reported (8/12): "Despite verbal commitments, the international community has not adopted sufficient measures to enforce the weapons embargo in Kosovo. This is what UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced in a report to the UNSC.... Moreover, the Secretary-General also reported on `the dramatic increase of refugees in Kosovo and Montenegro.... The daily fighting between Serbian police and Albanian separatists continues unabated in the field.... Yesterday, two babies and a pregnant woman died for lack of food and medicine in the Malishevo area, south of Pristina."

"UCK Guerrillas Do Not Seem Willing To Negotiate"

PDS (leading government party) daily L'Unita reported from Pristina (8/11): "Albania has denounced the repeated violation of its air space. Three Serbian aircraft allegedly overflew the Has region last Saturday...and two violated Albania's air space yesterday morning. Tirana accused Belgrade of trying to provoke a `regional conflict....' U.S. envoy Christopher Hill met with moderate leader Ibrahim Rugova in Pristina yesterday, in an attempt at trying to resume negotiations with Belgrade.... Kosovo's Albanian leader and Hill also discussed the issue of refugees. No date was set for the resumption of the negotiations, since Rugova does not represent the entire Albanian community in Kosovo. Despite military setbacks in the last three weeks, UCK guerrillas do not seem willing to negotiate. The Contact Group....proposed a series of solutions in a document delivered in Pristina and Belgrade last week, envisaging options grounded on a framework of autonomy and not independence as desired by the guerrillas and the radical elements of the Albanian community."

"Europe's Sins In Kosovo"

Centrist Corriere della Sera carried a commentary by Piero Ostellino who said (8/9): "According to UN sources, there are already two hundred thousand people forced to abandon their homes in Kosovo under the fire of the Serbian artillery.... But Europe continues to be silent because it is responsible and has a guilty conscience. Following the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia, Europe convinced itself that Milosevic was capable of stabilizing the region while it cultivated the illusion that it could neutralize Serbian nationalism by nourishing Croatian nationalism.... Rather than protecting the most threatened nationalities, European nations took sides with their traditional allies: Germany with Croatia and Slovenia, France and Italy--not withstanding Vatican support for Croatia--with Serbia."

"Milosevic, An Inflamatory Who Should Play Fireman"

Edgardo Bartoli of leading business daily Il Sole-24 Ore commented (8/7): "The ongoing Serbian offensive against Albanian separatist forces leaves few doubts about Belgrade's intentions and even fewer about President Milosevic's certainty that he will be able to get away with it one more time.... U.S. super-mediator Holbrooke said that Milosevic should not underestimate the threat of a NATO military intervention. Why? He has all the reasons to do so, since the situation has reached a very dangerous point for some time and NATO, Europe and Western nations have clearly shown their inclination to look elsewhere or pretend not to see.... Very frankly, U.S. Secretary of Defense Cohen admitted that NATO 'does not want to see what's happening since it does not want to take initiatives which could be interpreted as moral or military support for Albanian separatist forces.'"

"One Cannot Invoke 'Non-Interference'"

Paolo Soldini commented in leading government party PDS daily L'Unita (8/7): "The situation in Kosovo is complicated indeed, and it makes little sense to interpret this complexity as an alibi which the United Nations, NATO, the EU and...Minister Dini are allegedly using to hide their own guilty passivity. Even the simplest hypothesis--the creation of an autonomous Kosovar republic in a federal context--appears, in fact, unfeasible at this point.... A very tough repression is under way in Kosovo, but it makes no sense to talk of 'ethnic cleansing' on the part of the Serbs in an area where the relative balance of forces is 90 percent in favor of the Albanians. Of course that does not mean that we should passively accept the massacres and all the rest.... However, it is not written anywhere that one can intervene in Kosovo only by recognizing its independence. The region is part of Serbia, but we need to make Belgrade understand that when fundamental human rights are violated, one cannot invoke 'non-interference.'"

RUSSIA: "Serbs, Albanians Not Ready For Peace"

Sergei Mitin wrote in reformist daily Izvestiya (8/12): "The Serbs will not leave Kosovo. The Albanians will not stop fighting. The KLA, having suffered a series of defeats lately, is unlikely to put an end to the conflict. Ethnic division has gone too far. Kosovar intellectuals, led by Rugova, have awakened forces nobody can control. Field commanders enjoy being able to act with impunity, in defiance of law. International criminal organizations are a contributing factor, using Kosovo as a transit point in their illegal arms and drug businesses. Where there are drugs there is money to wage a war. A new bleeding wound has appeared in Europe. The war in Kosovo will continue for decades and take thousands of human lives."

"West Wants Kosovo To Break Away"  Yuriy Pankov stated in centrist, army daily Krasnaya Zvezda (8/12): "Cut off from their financial sources, the separatists will not last long against government forces. In the meantime, voices in the West have increasingly been urging 'punishment' for the Serbs. Those calls could have been ignored had they not been made by government officials in the United States and European Countries. It has been a deliberate policy with the West to have the conflict escalate and Kosovo break away from Serbia."

"Albright's Threat Irrelevant"

Maksim Yusin said in reformist daily Izvestiya (8/8): "Secretary Albright, in her toughest statement to date, demanded an end to Serbian attacks against Albanians in Kosovo and threatened NATO action. She should have done so a week ago, at the height of a Serbian operation. The situation has changed by now, with the Serbs having accomplished their mission. Washington's reaction looks belated and irrelevant. There is a new crisis on the  agenda. Not even the only remaining superpower can afford to fight the Iraqi and Serbian presidents at once. So it needs to set priorities. Even Serbia's worst enemies admit that Saddam Hussein is more dangerous than Slobodan Milosevic."

"U.S., Russia Mostly Agree On Kosovo"

Vladimir Lapsky pointed out in official government daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta (8/8): "The United States and other NATO countries are opposed to Kosovo's independence, even more so to a greater Albania, realizing that the very idea of such a conglomerate is a chimera. Their position mostly coincides with Russia's. But their peacekeeping efforts with a pronounced anti-Serbian accent (they hate Milosevic) have in recent months created the impression of their being biased and one-sided."

"Let The West Calm Down"

Maksim Yusin said in reformist daily Izvestiya (8/7): "The main thing now is for the Serbs to create at least a semblance of a lull in the former autonomous republic. Keeping still in the next few weeks will calm public opinion in the West. Its calls for an immediate military intervention will gradually die down. The sooner the world accepts the idea of Kosovo as a protracted ethnic conflict in which there are neither right nor wrong parties the greater the chance that the Serbs will avoid a military action by NATO."

BELGIUM: "Why Moscow Prevents NATO From Acting In Kosovo"

Pol Mathil wrote in independent Le Soir (8/11): "Moscow wants at any cost to avoid being once again pushed to the sidelines in the Balkans...and above all to prevent the Americans from going it alone. One can consequently expect to see the repetition of a scenario already experienced elsewhere: the Westerners would exert intense pressure over Serbia--as it previously did over Iraq--combined with precise threats. Russian diplomacy, thanks to its good relations with Belgrade--and Iraq--would obtain last minute concessions from Mr. Milosevic -- which he still does not have any intention to honor. In fact, the Russians never succeeded in obtaining a significant change of direction from Mr. Milosevic, if such was their intention."

HUNGARY: "Mistakes Multiplied In Kosovo"

Junior foreign affairs writer Gabor Zord commented in conservative Hungarian daily Napi Magyarorszag (8/12): "The Serbs made, and obviously are making, basic mistakes by forcing a direct intervention in a region that they cannot hold, for ethnic reasons, in the long run. But they are, as initiators, in a quite advantageous situation. They have more or less achieved their military goals and, even if the situation is a bit unstable, they have the key role to play. The Albanians have chosen a face-to-face fight, instead of hitting the enemy right there where it hurts. Last but not least the international community has also made mistakes when, despite the bloody precedents in the region, they were unable to prevent the bloody developments in Kosovo. Putting two and two together, we have to calculate the political security risks of the Kosovo crisis."

"Bodies Of Orahovac"  Independent Hungarian daily Magyar Hirlap opined (8/7): "There are some who question whether it was in the interest of Slobodan Milosevic to order the massacre that was revealed by international journalists who claimed to have found mass graves in the neighborhood of Orahovac. This seems to be illogical, since Milosevic can only count on a relative respite on the part of the international community as long as no light is thrown on an outrageously dirty scandal.... Orahovac sticks out from the range of usual war bulletins because journalists referring to witnesses have blown up the issue in the world press, claiming that hundreds of  victims have been buldozed into the ground, in spite of the official reports that only a few dozens died in the course of the siege of Orahovac.... All evidence cannot be eliminated, since the war will once be over. There will always be survivors and witnesses. A number of historical examples prove that, from Auschwitz through the Cambodia of Pol Pot to Bosnia, and now Orahovac."

NORWAY: "Kosovo's Great Tragedy"

Conservative Aftenposten commented (8/6): "There have been plenty of warnings that the situation in Kosovo is turning into a humanitarian tragedy--and this is exactly what is about to happen.... Serb behavior cannot be excused. However, the KLA guerrillas, who know it does not have international support for a free Kosovo, should also take some responsibility for the development. Without their uncompromising attitude, Belgrade wouldn't have had reason to be so rough, and it would have been easier for the outside world to influence Milosevic and his men. Once again, civilians are being used as weapons and shields in a conflict. It's frightening."

"History Repeats Itself"

Independent tabloid Dagbladet reported (8/6): "An unknown number of Kosovo-Albanians were massacred by the Serbs during their last military offensive. Thousands are missing, tens of thousands have fled. The situation is beginning to look a lot like Bosnia three years ago. A few months ago, NATO was seriously discussing intervening militarily to prevent further atrocities in Kosovo. It was nothing but words and empty threats. History seems to repeat itself, and today it may be too late to intervene.... The international community is partly responsible for what is going on. Slobodan Milosevic's promises are just as worthless now as they were before--which he has fully demonstrated lately. He must be put under much heavier pressure. But the guerrillas, too, must be forced to negotiate."

"The Serbs Must Be Stopped"

Leading tabloid VG stated (8/6): "Recent reports have confirmed beyond any doubt that the Serbs are conducting the same ethnic cleansing in Kosovo as they did in Croatia and Bosnia. Beginning on May 28, NATO's military experts have been planning a military operation to keep the warring parties in Kosovo apart. The UN Security Council was considering a resolution to approve the use of military force to intervene in Kosovo. However, it was put aside because of Russian resistance.... Not even the Russians, who traditionally have been the special protector of the Serbs, can use the Security Council to veto a UN operation bringing an end to the atrocities. President Yeltsin should know that if he chooses to do so anyway, it will have consequences for the West's support for a Russia in a financial crisis. And also the Chinese, who are strong at the moment, should be careful not to provoke the democratic world."

POLAND: "First Dress Rehearsal"

Maria Wagrowska judged in the centrist daily Rzeczpospolita (8/10): "Soon it may come to a military intervention by the North Atlantic Alliance in Kosovo.... Any action in Kosovo will be extremely complex: No regular war is being waged there and the front line is not defined in a clear-cut manner.... A great dilemma of NATO will be how to conduct [such] an intervention and not cause civilian casualties. The protection of civilians is by nature a priority of the whole political undertaking.... According to Western experts, an air force action would be more effective than an invasion of ground forces which would require 7,000 to 20,000 troops."

"Yugoslavia Of Fatherlands"

Kazimierz Dziewanowski of centrist daily Rzeczpospolita also commented (8/8): "There are  plenty of fatherlands on the territory of the former Yugoslavia. There is Serbia which considers itself a more important fatherland than the remaining ones and in the past few years has unleashed three wars: against Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia. Serbia has lost all of them and now it has a fourth one [in Kosovo].... Europe could put an end to it if it were better integrated and took the right decisions. For the time being, it is looking to America and America is preoccupied with [the Lewinski case].... Milosevic can go on with his work. He will finally lose. It is interesting [to wonder] what he will do next."

TURKEY: "Kosovo Is Dying, And The World, Including Turkey, Is Watching"

Ismet Berkan wrote in the intellectual Radikal (8/7): "Macedonia sets a good example in the Balkans for coping with complex ethnic maps. The formula is based on democracy and equality. However, people like Milosevic have no tolerance for either democracy or ethnic identity. Milosevic promotes Serbian nationalism as the way for keeping him in power. Milosevic could not succeed in concluding ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, and nobody doubted that he would not do the same thing in Kosovo. And what was expected has occurred. Ethnic cleansing is continuing in Kosovo. International organizations like NATO have showed their weakness in preventing the ongoing injustice and massacre. The lack of action regarding Kosovo is basically proof of the insincerity (of the international community.) Recent news from Kosovo shows that Serbs are taking control of strategically important areas. That means Kosovo is about to die. And the whole world, including Turkey, is doing nothing but watching developments and issuing condemnatory statements."

"What Is Milosevic's Purpose In Kosovo?"

Hasan Unal commented in the pro-Islamic Zaman (8/7): "It seems to me that the Serbian army will continue to kill Albanians all over Kosovo. But their final target is to conduct a cleansing along a northwest to southwest line. If they can wipe the Albanians out in these areas, then they might propose a negotiation on Kosovo. In such a circumstance, Kosovo will be independent, but a very weak partner of the (political) system. A Kosovo without a border linkage with Albania is doomed to be weak. If that happens, Serbia and Greece will not worry about Kosovo in terms of their interests. On the contrary, Greece may take advantage of such a situation."

                                MIDDLE EAST

QATAR: "Muslims Suffering In Kosovo Do Not Need U.S. Shuttle Diplomacy"

Semi-independent Arabic, Al-Rayah editorialized (8/11): "Western countries, lead by the U.S., have proven again their lack of credibility in dealing with international issues. The 'Free World' has abandoned the worst crime against the freedom and rights of the Muslim minority in Kosovo under Yugoslav rule. We do not think that a reminder of Serb crimes against Bosnians is needed. The Serb fascist record is full...and we do not believe that the political support Yugoslavia is receiving from Russia--which we condemn--is a real obstacle facing a firm Western stance. Muslims suffering in Kosovo do not need U.S. shuttle diplomacy. This is only a waste of time. Muslim countries are also invited to support their kin in Kosovo in a way that is more effective than issuing statements."

"Terrorism Is Supported Politically, And Perhaps Militarily, By Russia"

Semi-independent Arabic Al-Watan commented (8/10): "As loud voices speak about 'terrorism' after the two bombs in Nairobi and Dar Es Salam, the continuing terrorist activities carried out by Serb soldiers against the Muslim Albanians of Kosovo receive little attention. In fact, this terrorism is supported politically, and perhaps militarily, by Russia. NATO's reaction is confused, indicating a degree of complicity with Yugoslavia. As Washington sends its envoys  to Yugoslavia, the latter continues to drive the unarmed innocent people out of their homes. In addition to the roles played by Russia, Washington, and NATO, Muslim countries have not helped Kosovars except by denouncing Serb aggression. No one here or there is willing to make a courageous call for a referendum on self determination for the Albanian Muslims of Kosovo under UN supervision. This is perhaps the most effective means for putting an end to Serb aggression and Kosovar suffering."

EGYPT: "Cities Of Ghosts"

Ahmed Bahgat, columnist for the pro-government daily Al-Ahram stated (8/10): "During the Bosnian war, NATO kept procrastinating and delaying its help until Serbs finished their crimes. This tragedy is being repeated in Kosovo. Albanian cities have become the cities of ghosts while Washington continues to direct verbal warnings to the Yugoslavian president."

                                 EAST ASIA

CHINA: "Western Countries Adjust Kosovo Strategies"

Jun Shi, of the official Central Legal and Political Commission Legal Daily (Fazhi Ribao) opined (8/12): "Some changes in the Western countries' Kosovo strategy is evident. First, while reducing military intimidation of Yugoslavia, the West escalated pressure on anti-government armed forces and stressed political solutions as the best choice. Secondly, instead of asking both sides to resume negotiations, the West has hammered out a concrete plan for peace."

"With Difficulties Ahead, When Can One See The Glimmer Of Hope?"

Lu Yansong, of Official Communist Party People's Daily (Renmin Ribao) remarked (8/11): "Some politicians say the crisis in Kosovo is now in the dark mist of obstacles and only NATO's military intervention can prevent further deterioration of the situation. Obviously, a sense of propriety now highlights Western pressure on the Yugoslav government as evidenced by the fact that no concrete sanction measures have been mapped out. There are still many obstacles to overcome and the possibility of escalating military action cannot be ruled out."

HONG KONG: "Kosovo's Nightmare"

The independent English-language South China Morning Post editorialized (8/7): "The NATO ambassadors' council meets in Brussels today to study what action it can take to resolve the situation. Earlier in the week, the U.S. State Department said the alliance had approved a plan for using force in Kosovo, which would be implemented after President Bill Clinton had consulted Congress and other member states.... President Milosevic needs to be persuaded that the international will is there to strike hard and soon unless he brings the violence to an immediate halt. The European monitors who have been sent in, but whose movements are restricted, should be given free access so that the true state of affairs on the ground becomes clear. And international powers have to accept a responsibility for bringing the repression in Kosovo to an end."

For more information, please contact:

U.S. Information Agency
Office of Public Liaison
Telephone: (202) 619-4355

8/12/98
# # #

August 6, 1998

  KOSOVO: BUILDING A CHECHNYA IN EUROPE?:
                    'PEACE IN THE BALKANS IS STILL A WAR AWAY'

International commentators recently focused their discussions of Kosovo on the threat of NATO strikes, the poor reputation of Slobodan Milosevic, and the future status of that region within Yugoslavia. Several compared the ongoing crisis to the conflict that developed in Chechnya within the Russian Federation in 1994. The "all or nothing" strategy of the Kosovar Albanians towards independence, the pundits concurred, means that any of several future scenarios in this region could end up resembling present-day Chechnya. The reformist weekly Moskovskiye Novosti of Moscow opined that Kosovo may become a Chechnya-type "military-clan 'democracy' in which the right to decision-making belongs to those with the largest groups of armed men under their control." There were also concerns about the export of such extreme elements to Macedonia. London's conservative British Daily Telegraph stated, "By seeking to deny what 90 percent of the Kosovan population want, the outside powers will radicalize the Albanian diaspora, thus threatening the overriding aim of their policy, the maintenance of Macedonian unity." According to the center-left Kontinent of Sofia, "Of all its neighbors... [Bulgaria is] most interested in preventing Macedonia's involvement in the Kosovo conflict." Other salient themes on the topic included the following:

NATO PLANS COMPLETE: There was much talk about NATO's finalizing several different scenarios for possible intervention in Kosovo. Responses ranged from the expected reservations of the Russians to an editorial in left-of-center Le Monde of Paris which advocated "military pressure" against Milosevic despite Russian objections. Most others judged that the use of NATO force and subsequent threats of further action should bring the two warring sides to the negotiating table in order to hammer out an agreement on the status of Kosovo within Yugoslavia. These commentators contended that Serbs would fear that NATO strikes could erode their military position. They noted, however, that the Kosovars feared that if Milosevic viewed the strikes as half-hearted, he may continue his aggressive actions, giving the Kosovars no reason to begin negotiations. Left-leaning La Repubblica of Rome was quick to point out, that despite U.S. claims that strikes were authorized, the NATO Council in Brussels had yet to give its approval.

MILOSEVIC IS A LIAR: Publications throughout Europe once again pegged Milosevic as someone not to be trusted. It was considered "a pure lie" when Milosevic said he had concluded the offensive in Kosovo earlier this week. The liberal Magyar Hirlap of Budapest also cited his fraudulence on the policy not to send Vojvodinian Hungarians of Serbia to serve in Kosovo as another example of his tendency to deceive international diplomats.

KOSOVO AUTONOMY DISCUSSED: Most analysts agreed with the editorial of London's Guardian that "if self-rule is a more prudent goal than independence, it has to be so comprehensive as to make little difference." Moscow's centrist, army daily Krasnaya Zvezda echoed the observation that any agreement on autonomy would effectively resemble independence from Yugoslavia. The paper stressed, however, that this "would violate Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity" and "would be a prelude to a big war in the Balkans."

This survey is based on 75 reports from 20 countries, July 30-August 6.
EDITOR: T.J. Grubisha

                           FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

SERBIA-MONTENEGRO: "The Death Of Milan Kovacevic"

Independent, centrist Belgrade daily Nasa Borba (8/4) carried a commentary by columnist Bojana Lekic on the death of ICTY prisoner Milan Kovacevic and the influence of politics on The Hague Tribunal: "I am not indifferent to the death of Milan Kovacevic. Not because I belong to the group of people who believe that the whole world is plotting against the Serbs (I do not), but rather because this is the third man (and the third Serb) who was brought before the tribunal and died before he was proven guilty. So, at least formally and legally, this means that he died--innocent. To make things worse, this death, precisely as the deaths of Djordje Djukic and Slavko Dokmanovic, leads to the rejoicing of those who are opposed in principle to the trials and investigations of crimes performed in the former Yugoslavia. Finally, an unfortunate and very complex question arises regarding the meaning not only of The Hague Tribunal but also of justice itself, i.e. justice guided by the hand of politics. This is justice which is being practiced only on unimportant players ignoring the leaders; this is justice which is talking about war criminals only when they are part of the prosecution's case; finally, this is justice which eases its conscience by taking positions and passing 'non-binding' resolutions in its highest bodies, but then sits down to negotiate and trade with (Slobodan Milosevic)."

"If U.S. Ambassador Robert Gelbard Decided To Sue..."

Independent centrist, Nasa Borba (7/30) carried a commentary by Vera Didanovic on the recent verbal attack of SPS spokesman Ivica Dacic on special representative Robert Gelbard: "If U.S. Ambassador Robert Gelbard decided to sue the spokesman of the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), Ivica Dacic, due to his recent insults, the young left-oriented spokesman would be faced with a minimum of three months, or a maximum of three years in prison. According to the (Yugoslav) federal criminal law this would be the sentence for infringement of the reputation of a foreign country, i.e. of its coat of arms, anthem or its diplomat. However, this potential 'corrective punishment' of Dacic would not resolve the basic problem, because his preposterous insults from the recent press conference are only the latest in a series of extremely risky gestures of the regime, which as a rule, prove to be very costly for the people (of Yugoslavia). Even if the response of the biggest world power ends with the letter of Chief of Mission Richard Miles, expressing surprise, the question remains what is the future of the Serbian people if those who make vital decisions offer such obvious evidence of their total irresponsibility, political (and diplomatic) ignorance, impertinence and disregard of legality?"

FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA: "Defeats Put UCK Closer To Negotiations"

Opposition-oriented Dnevnik (7/30) featured this editorial: "Unlike the conflict beginning in March, Serbian forces now have control and try to avoid civilian causalities, thus avoiding a NATO military response. The international community did not react to the counter-offensive of the Serbian forces. Although NATO military planners intensively prepare options for a military intervention, political leaders block the Alliance's fist. In unison they indicated that they would tolerate clashes as long as civilians don't get hurt. The superpowers probably assessed that the UCK is moving further away from the negotiating table by conquering territories in Kosovo. Western diplomats categorically refuted that the International community gave Milosevic secret approval to rout the UCK bases, but some Western European countries made the first step by breaking the chain of Kosovo guest workers in Western European countries who finance the guerilla resistance. It seems that the United States went the furthest in this sense through its emissary Christopher Hill, who has 'learned the craft' by accompanying Holbrooke in diplomatic activities prior to the Dayton Peace accords. Hill recently reported that he achieved certain progress in trying to establish a stable and all-party Kosovo Albanian leadership that would sit  at the negotiating table with Belgrade representatives. UCK was left room on the political 'battlefield,' with hope that guerilla leaders would better assess its strength and agree on the only logical option for Kosovo--broad autonomy without right to secession or change of Yugoslav borders."

                                  EUROPE

ALBANIA: "Kosovo Is Now A Second Bosnia"

Top-circulation, mildly sensationalist Koha Jone opined in a front-page editorial (8/6): "Developments of recent days point out very clearly the inability of the international community to prevent the recurrence of Bosnia in Kosovo. Reports on the discovery of mass graves, which contain the graves of 600 Albanian civilians, most of whom are children, of 1000 people killed in Orahovac, of other entire villages burned and shattered, as well as of thousands of other civilians who have left their homes, already show that Kosovo is now a second Bosnia. The 'concerns' expressed by Western politicians 'about the escalation of the crisis in Kosovo,' the decisions to send monitoring missions or some type of threat against Milosevic about the use of force, are simply delayed actions at a time when the worst has happened. In fact, the actions of the international community have so far not gone beyond the limits of rhetoric. On the other hand, the international community was concerned only about the possibility of the fire spilling over to other countries of the region, rather than about what might happen in Kosovo."

FRANCE: "No One Is Going To Die For Little Kosovo"

Among regional papers, Sud Ouest commented (8/5): "Milosevic knows the situation on the ground and the international context too well to believe that the Americans and Europeans wouldn't have a harder time intervening in Kosovo than in Bosnia. Even if he doesn't manage to get rid of the Kosovar separatists, he can hope to 'clean up' a good deal of the province.... No one is going to die for little Kosovo." L'Eclair des Pyrenees said (8/5): "NATO has put together a series of urgent plans to intervene in Kosovo.... The political will to put them into practice is, unfortunately, missing."

"Emergency In Kosovo"

In its editorial, left-of-center Le Monde commented (8/4): "The repressive obstinacy of Milosevic and his refusal to have any political dialogue has collided with the determination of the people of the province and their army of liberation.... The repression carried out by the Serb forces does not inspire enthusiasm in Belgrade.... Desertions are increasing in the Serb police forces; those who are drafted try everything to avoid being sent to Kosovo.... It's true that the political divisions in Kosovo make it harder to set up a team of mediators, but the two sides have to start a dialogue. That can only be effective if two conditions are met: First, Milosevic should not be given much credibility... Second, despite the reservations of the West and the Russians, the only pressure which will have any effect on the Yugoslav president is military pressure."

BRITAIN: "Unrestricted International Monitoring Is More Than Ever Vital"

The conservative Times editorialized (8/6): "On July 21 the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was driven from the town of Orahovac. Thousands of Kosovo Albanians fled with them, joining the 180,000 estimated to have left or been forced from their homes since Serbia's crackdown began in February. Those who stayed behind have accused Serb forces of murdering hundreds of civilians and hiding the remains. No evidence so far confirms their claim that a site half a mile from Orahovac was a mass grave for more than 500 bodies, at least 400 of them children. Yesterday EU monitors inspected the site and announced that it probably contained no more than the 30-odd people who lie under simple markers; there are 'no mass graves.'"

"A Devious Destroyer"

The liberal Guardian had this lead editorial (8/5): "Both sides, it is argued, need to be brought to the negotiating table. Both have to stop their military action. Obviously a cease fire is required as soon as possible, but to put the issue in parallel terms is to forget the underlying truth that the KLA represents a majority community and that its tactics are primarily defensive while the Serbs are trying to enforce an undemocratic minority regime by military means. There is no equivalence.... Unless the West changes the political thrust of its strategy and makes clear that it will no longer pre-judge the future status of Kosovo, it will only produce what the cunning and deeply experienced Slobodan Milosevic is working towards. He wants us first to condone, and then with luck, support his position. In this sun-and-death-kissed August it is time to say no."

"Set Kosovo Free"

The conservative Daily Telegraph had this lead editorial (8/4): "Years of Serbian misrule have long convinced ethnic Albanians that they want nothing to do with Belgrade: independence has been their declared goal since 1991. For members of the Contact Group to insist on a reversion to the situation under the 1974 Titoist constitution is to lock the stable door after the horse has bolted. And, by seeking to deny what 90 percent of the Kosovan population want, the outside powers will radicalize the Albanian diaspora, thus threatening the overriding aim of their policy, the maintenance of Macedonian unity.... Western policy should be to weaken Mr. Milosevic wherever possible, not to enter into a dirty compromise over Kosovo. After much procrastination, NATO intervened to halt Serbian depredations in Bosnia. It is sickening to see the Alliance stand by while the pattern of oppression is repeated in Kosovo."

"Kosovo's Map"

The liberal Guardian editorialized (7/31): "If self-rule is a more prudent goal than independence, it has to be so comprehensive as to make little difference. Any peaceful solution, as German foreign minister Klaus Kinkel said yesterday, has to be underwritten by an international military presence. In this sense, Kosovo has already become another Bosnia, although we are still a long way off another Dayton agreement."

"Crisis In Kosovo"

The conservative Times had this lead editorial (7/30): "Current attempts to find a resolution to the conflict in Kosovo are unlikely to succeed. Rather than disappear, the KLA will regroup in the hills. Mr. Milosevic, encouraged by his successes, will continue his repression. An authoritative Kosovar negotiator is only likely to emerge from further conflict. And only when such a figure emerges is the outside world likely to intervene. Irreconcilable objectives, and the strength of the Kosovars's desire for independence--far stronger than others' desire to deny it to them--make compromise impossible. Only when that desire is tempered by horror of what is necessary to obtain it, and dogmatism weakened by exhaustion, will compromise be possible. It is too early to impose a Dayton-style agreement; the parties have not yet fought through their differences. Current attempts to find a resolution to the conflict in Kosovo are thus unlikely to succeed.... The reality is that the war in Kosovo is still too inchoate to resolve. The tragedy is that only further bloodshed will provide the perspective that resolution requires. Peace in the Balkans is still a war away."

GERMANY: "West's Plans Only Make-Believe"

Washington correspondent Hans-Juergen Maurus commented on regional radio station Radio Kultur of Berlin (8/5): "Obviously, the West's plans are only make-believe and no one seriously  wants to implement them. The West could not be any more stupid in trying to find a solution to  the Kosovo conflict..... It is hair-raising to see how Western politicians again helplessly try to bring about a solution and have nothing to offer but noble words.... Again and again, they reiterated that there will be no second Bosnia. But the opposite is happening.... The Alliance is showing itself to be a paper tiger and its deeds do not match its words.... Milosevic is a man who understands only the language of violence.... Those who believe him are naive.... The Alliance is again about to sacrifice its reputation.... Milosevic is dictating events. Time is working for him because a lack of ideas and indecisive activities prevail in the West."

"Simulating Air Maneuvers On Computer Screens"

Right-of-center Allgemeine Zeitung of Mainz had this to say (8/6): "If Milosevic can be sure of one thing, it is the indecisiveness of the West. NATO and the EU cannot be exceeded when it comes to simulating air maneuvers on computer screens or keeping Serbian forces at bay on a chessboard. The West has thus far not carried out one single threat, and has not implemented a single one of its ultimatums. This is why it is directly responsible for the consequences of its failure which being manifests in new waves of refugees in Kosovo. The Bosnian pattern of suppression is repeating itself in the theater in Kosovo, and must be stopped to prevent a new wave of refugees. The EU must act now."

"Should Germany Again Foot The Humanitarian Bill?"

Right-of-center Mindener Tagblatt opined (8/5): "Should Germany again foot the humanitarian bill for Milosevic's brutal striving for power in Kosovo? It is a poor excuse to call for a regional solution to the refugee problem if one is unable, maybe even unwilling, to prevent the development of such a problem. Those who do not want to have refugees in Germany and elsewhere must bid farewell to the previous diplomatic dogma which refuses to grant Kosovo any change of its status as a state."

"U.S. Criticism Annoys Bonn"

Thomas meyer noted in an editorial in centrist Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of Halle (8/6): "From Washington, we hear rather strange and egregious criticism of the German policy of sending Bosnian refugees back home.... Of course, mass deportations are always a delicate matter...but in the case of Bosnia, the accusations are not valid. According to German authorities, approximately 2,000 of the 200,000 bosnian refugees, who returned according to the rules of the Dayton treaty, were deported, and most of these were exclusively criminals.... In addition, Germany is offering direct reconstruction aid and German companies are investing in the region in order to rebuild homes.... Of course, there are risks but the Dayton treaty itself calls for the return of refugees. The Bonn government is annoyed at the charges from its partner, but the matter should not be allowed to escalate, and we should wait and see the result of Washington's threatened intervention 'at the highest level.'"

"New Attempt"

Andreas Herholz opined in an editorial in centrist Magdeburger Volksstimme, centrist Offenbach Post and right-of-center Esslinger Zeitung (8/6): "The fact that Washington of all capitals is now accusing the Bonn government of jeopardizing the peace process in the Balkans with its deportations of a small number of Bosnian refugees is irritating. Not only because this criticism is totally uncalled for, but also because it comes from the United States whose immigration rules are not known for their liberality. The Bonn government would be well-advised to reject this kind of advice. Against the background of the Kosovo conflict, the Bonn government should initiate a new attempt at finding a fairer burden in accepting refugees."

"Lie Shamelessly"

Right-of-center Aachener Zeitung (8/5) said: "Kosovo will not gain its independence from Serbia, but it will remain a constant trouble spot. Moderate forces who only wanted to achieve greater autonomy and greater cultural self-determination have now been pushed to the fringe. Chances for peaceful development have now been forfeited. At some point in the future, war criminals will be tried in court. But the worst of those criminals will then continue to receive Western diplomats and lie shamelessly."

"Miserable Failure Of The EU"

Right-of-center Westdeutsche Zeitung of Duesseldorf (8/3) opined: "The Europeans who are pushing Europe's unity by introducing the euro, are now being reminded that they will never be able to resolve the Kosovo crisis without close political cooperation.... But a view to Kosovo shows that many vigorous words and frantic diplomacy cannot cover up the miserable failure of the EU."

"Rebels Are Pursuing Unrealistic Goals"

Right-of-center Ostsee-Zeitung of Rostock (8/1) opined: "The rebels of the Kosovo-Albanian 'Liberation Army' KLA are losing influence in Western Europe because of their all-or-nothing strategy. Yesterday, they had to accept another defeat not on the battle field but on the diplomatic stage. Foreign Minister Kinkel made clear to KLA supporters in Germany that the Bonn government will not tolerate any transfer of funds to finance arms purchases. The rebels are pursuing unrealistic goals with their Kosovo independence plan. Kinkel is right. Europe cannot be interested in installing a second Albanian state. The effects which such a move would have on small ethnic minorities would be fatal."

"The Pacification Of Kosovo"

Centrist General-Anzeiger of Bonn (7/31) opined: "The pacification of Kosovo, a precondition for any kind of negotiated solution, is left to Belgrade. The community of nations can only try to limit the damage. This is currently happening with attempts to prompt the Kosovo-Albanians to form their own representation and to call upon the KLA to show restraint.... This also means that Yugoslav President Milosevic can continue to negotiate from a position of strength. Diplomacy can only exert political and economic pressure and make promises to help Milosevic if he behaves. Maybe this approach will result in a high degree of Albanian autonomy in the framework of the Yugoslav federation. But it must be safeguarded by international guarantees and blue helmet units. Nothing more."

ITALY: "The Massacre In Kosovo And The Silence Of The West"

In left-leaning, influential La Repubblica, Antonio Polito was very critical of the West's reticence in dealing with the Kosovo crisis (8/6): "Until a few months ago, the West appeared as a good and generous giant who would have done anything to save the Albanian population in Kosovo.... But over the last few weeks...even the confused and hypocritical resemblance of an initiative has vanished. The West has simply turned into an accomplice. Milosevic has realized that or, perhaps, he was even told that. Albanian separatist fighters claim that he was given a true 'green light.' The fact remains that he decided to resolve the problem in his own way.... The situation in Kosovo is complicated but very simple at the same time: 90 percent of the people live in a condition of 'apartheid' and want independence. The fault of the West, even the best among Western nations, has been not to take this request seriously -- a request which has the same dignity as those of the Slovenians or the Croats, and which perfectly fits into the peoples' right to self-determination.... Somebody has said that a united Europe will help defend liberal order. As far as we know, liberal order involves the respect of human  rights, and an almost emotional and automatic reaction whenever those rights are violated. Is there something special about Kosovar Albanians that they don't deserve that reaction?"

"NATO 'Slow Down'"

Left-leaning, influential La Repubblica noted (8/5): "From Brussels, NATO pointed out that a military intervention in Kosovo is still an option for the Alliance. NATO is working at this possibility but, in order to make it operational, it will be necessary to have a 'formal decision' by the Council which has not yet been made. This 'slow down' partially refutes what U.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin said yesterday, suggesting that approval of the plans for an intervention had already been given."

"Plans Involving The Use Of Force"

Ingrid Badurina reported from Zagreb in centrist, influential La Stampa (8/5): "State Department spokesman James Rubin said yesterday that President Clinton has given his approval on the use of force against Serbian positions in Kosovo. According to Rubin, NATO has also approved plans for a military intervention. But NATO spokesmen in Brussels let it be known that plans involving the use of force in Kosovo have not been officially approved yet."

"Nobody Dares Touch Milosevic"

A front-page commentary by Enzo Bettiza in centrist, influential La Stampa commented (8/5): "Nobody dares to touch Milosevic. NATO threats were indeed only a bluff. The justifications offered by Milosevic...have touched the minds and the hearts of Western government and military leaders. To intervene in Kosovo? To declare war on Serbia? To protect a rebel secessionist army? To exasperate Russia? To destabilize Macedonia, involve Albania, Greece, Bulgaria and possibly even Turkey? Milosevic, who so far has lost military wars but has won diplomatic wars, knows very well the mental reservations and the cowardliness of Western leaders."

"Either With NATO Or With Milosevic"

An editorial in provocative, classical liberal Il Foglio held (8/5): "The road to Kosovo independence is not viable, since it would imply a similar request by Bosnian Serbs and would encourage the same kind of instances by Albanian communities elsewhere in the Balkans. But we cannot either accept the fact that Milosevic may resolve the problem with a 'final solution,' half way between genocide and forced exodus.... A NATO intervention would involve Europe's participation, and Italy's in particular. It seems in fact that the intervention cannot be carried out from Hungarian bases, since, even though Hungary is going to join NATO this year, its membership has not been ratified yet. And Budapest said it is not willing to grant the use of the bases, since it fears possible reprisals by Milosevic against the Hungarian minority in Serbia. The only base which could be used is the Italian base at Aviano. The Prodi government should offer it for a dissuasive intervention by NATO."

"Kosovo At A Turning Point"

A short unsigned editorial in left-leaning, influential La Repubblica said (8/4): "Even though out there people continue to fight and die, a very tiny gleam of hope for the solution of the Kosovo crisis can be seen. Ibrahim Rugova...is doing his best to give some institutional legitimacy to the guerrilla party. And from Belgrade, Milosevic talks about the end of the war and the need to resume negotiations at the soonest.... For sure, if we hope that negotiations between the Serbs and Albanians resume,...we should hope that Rugova succeeds in giving some voice to the UCK by bringing its claims to the negotiating table,...otherwise any mediation effort ...is doomed to fail. Though there are other problems,...the Serbs need to finish the game immediately. The  war in Kosovo is costing at least $2 million a day, and this is too much for the funds of a state which cannot pay salaries and pensions anymore.... It is a tiny gleam of hope, indeed. But it is the only one to hang on to so that the tragedy of nearly 200,000 refugees does not become a real catastrophe."

"Alarmed Refugees: 200,000 Escape From Kosovo"

Leading rightist opposition Il Giornale reported from Junik (8/4): "It is tragic: according to the latest figures released by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 200,000 Kosovar Albanians are on the run. Many of them will desperately try to reach Albania or Montenegro. But that might be just their first stop in their escape from the war, since all Kosovars dream of crossing the Adriatic Sea and reaching friends and relatives in Europe, including Italy. In Tirana, a real mafia is waiting for them, since payment gives them entry visas to European countries and counterfeited documents. According to a local source, many embassies are involved in this traffic: If they want documents to reach the United States they have to pay between $2,000 and $8,000....The American envoy Christopher Hill, admitting the failure of the peace efforts by western forces, announced that the region is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe. And together with that danger, there is also ethnic cleansing."

"Mass Exodus From Kosovo"

Left-leaning, influential La Repubblica of Pristina stated (8/4): "The U.S. ambassador in Macedonia...warned that the Serbian offensive and the current fighting 'are provoking a real humanitarian catastrophe.' State Department spokesman James Rubin underlined that there are 'already- approved Nato plans for intervention, which provide for military intervention against the Serbian troops in Kosovo, mainly through the use of air power.'"

"Reality"

Ingrid Badurina held in her report from Zagreb in centrist, influential La Stampa (7/31): "Milosevic told the EU troika on a diplomatic mission to Belgrade yesterday that 'military operations in Kosovo are over. We did what we had to do and the problem has been resolved'.... In reality, a few hours later, Serbian troops reportedly began to prepare a final offensive against the town of Junik.... EU representatives announced the resumption of the negotiations, which may begin in a few weeks, but the situation on the ground is getting worse by the day.... As they wait for a resumption of the dialogue, the Serbs will try to 'clear up' Kosovo from the remaining rebel forces. The Albanians, who accuse the international community of giving a green light to the massacre by Belgrade troops, announce new battles."

RUSSIA: "Do We Need To Defend The Serbs?"

Reformist daily Izvestiya published an article by Maksim Yusin who opined (8/6): "The Serbs remember that they have an ally, Russia, when they get in trouble. This is good. But it is not so good when they start to make demands on Russia. We owe nothing to the Serbs, as proven by the history of Russo-Serbian relations. Russia has done for them much more than they have done for it.... Russia upholds the territorial integrity of the new states that emerged after the disintegration of the USSR and Yugoslavia. This is exactly why it should have stopped the Serbs when they used force to change borders. Kosovo is a different problem. In Kosovo, the Serbs, for the first time, are fighting for territorial integrity. Russia, objectively, does not want Kosovo to break away. Therefore, we must help the Serbs. Of course, we do not have to fight on Belgrade's side. But we can help them politically."

"No-Fly Zone Useless"

Maksim Yusin commented in reformist daily Izvestiya (8/5): "A no-fly zone will not have any serious effect on the course of events.... Besides, the UN Security Council will hardly approve a resolution prohibiting the Yugoslavs to use their own air space. Making such a decision in Brussels would be a violation of the basic norms of international law."

"How To Turn Kosovo Into Chechnya"

Reformist weekly Moskovskiye Novosti published this article by Pavel Kandel of the Europe Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (8/4): "That which is going on in Kosovo looks like an inept do-it-yourselfer following instructions from a book on how to build a Chechnya in Europe. Most Western countries, primarily the United States have contributed to Kosovo having turned into an armed and uncontrollable conflict by acting in contravention of their stated goal of 'preventing violence.' If they really sought to destabilize the Milosevic regime, they have done it--the Balkans face another war. This is a nice excuse for NATO to launch a new 'peacekeeping' mission outside its area of responsibility. For the United States, it is another opportunity to demonstrate its irreplaceability and leadership in Europe and solidarity with the Muslim world. It does not take much to see what 'independent' Kosovo would look like--an exact duplicate of today's Chechnya, a 'free criminal zone' specializing in slave-trade and Islamic bigotry, a military-clan-type 'democracy' in which a right to decision-making belongs to those with the largest groups of armed men under their control."

"There's No Winning War Against Guerrillas"

Maksim Yusin said in reformist Izvestiya (8/1): "What is going on in Kosovo is painfully reminiscent of Chechnya. KLA fighters, forced back but not destroyed, are hiding in the mountains, waiting for a chance to strike back. There is no winning a war against guerrillas. The Serbs, for all their big successes over the past week, must realize that they have bogged down in Kosovo for a long time. Objectively, Belgrade must now want a political settlement more than the separatists."

"Western Policy: Error Or Evil Design?"

Yury Pankov wrote in the centrist, army publication, Krasnaya Zvezda (8/1): "The way the West sees 'territorial autonomy,' Kosovo must be free to pursue its own foreign and defense policies, meaning that it can withdraw from Serbia to gain an independent status within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. To be sure, that would violate Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Even worse, with the separatists setting their sights on a 'Greater Albania,' it would be a prelude to a big war in the Balkans. It is hard to tell now whether the Western position is a historical error or an evil design. One thing is clear, though--just getting the sides to talk is not enough. The answer to this problem is as banal as it is adequate--it must be based on the UN Charter and international law. This means that Kosovo is an internal matter of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which expect the world community to condemn terrorism and stop aiding the separatists."

"West: Forget Independence"

Yelena Visens said in reformist Russkiy Telegraf (7/31): "The West did the right thing when it let the antagonists decide the matter between themselves. Weakened physically and psychologically, the separatists are likely to be more pliant. At least 150 people died in the fighting. Knowing the way the world reacted to fewer losses among the Kosovars only a couple of months ago, one cannot but wonder at the change in its position. Turning a blind eye to what has happened over the past week, the West has again made it clear to the Albanians that independence is out of the question. Getting the negotiations process off the ground soon  would help avoid a Bosnia-type scenario in Kosovo."

CANADA: "Kosovo's Criminals"

Francophone centrist daily La Presse commented (8/6): "NATO's indecisiveness is understandable because it is not easy to find a middle ground between two unacceptable solutions.... The solution that would appeal to NATO would be an autonomous Kosovo whose rights would scrupulously be respected by Belgrade -- a sort of greater Serbia with a human face. This would require the departure of President Milosevic and his corrupted regime.... The international tribunal has jurisdiction over Kosovo...and things could go much faster if the tribunal clearly manifests its intentions. But to do this, the tribunal needs the support of NATO, notably to arrest the criminals.... Their arrest (Karadzic & Mladic) and the arrest of those other people responsible for the actual crimes that are being committed in Kosovo would sew dissension within Serbian leaders and could encourage those Serbs who still believe that a just and peaceful solution is still possible."

"Feckless On Kosovo"

The liberal Toronto Star held that (8/5): "If NATO can muster the guts to force Milosevic to rein in his troops and open peace talks before this war worsens, Serbs may have reason to thank the alliance for saving them from yet another victory."

"Double-Dealing In Kosova"

Foreign affairs columnist Eric Margolis observed in the conservative Ottawa Sun (8/2): "As in Bosnia, the West could have snuffed out this ugly war six months ago by decisive political and military action. Instead, the Clinton administration's constant changes of policy, Europe's double-dealing, and Milosevic's relentless aggression have turned Kosovo into another quagmire. As in Chechnya, the U.S. is again trying to deny freedom to a small, savagely oppressed people for the sake of the cozy status quo. The U.S. and Europe are badly mistaken to believe they can bully Albanians into accepting continued Serb misrule. Albanians are poor, but they are also a stubborn warrior people, accustomed to battling against impossible odds, and afraid of no one. They will fight on."

BELGIUM: "To Prevent A New Wound To Mankind"

Diplomatic correspondent Pierre Lefevre wrote in independent Le Soir (8/6): "The hypothesis of a land operation in Kosovo itself, in the absence of a previous peace agreement to enforce, is loathed by NATO's military as well as by their political leaders. It would imply a confrontation on its own ground with an organized, powerful and cynical army.... The time has come, however, if one wants to prevent a new wound to mankind, to separate humanitarian considerations from geopolitical ones. By letting the situation rot further, there is a risk of an even worse situation: With Kosovo's population decimated and the UCK, prompted by hate and thirsty for vengeance wanting nothing else but independence, will engage in a long guerrilla war. It is perhaps already too late. Unless prompt, strong and imaginative action forces Milosevic as well as the UCK to return to reason."

"A Tactical Retreat, Not A Lost Battle"

Philippe Deprez wrote in independent Le Soir (7/31): " In Pristina, the American diplomats attempt a takeover by force by trying to form an Albanian negotiation group with ministerial portfolios. Set Ibrahim Rugova aside? The representatives of the Kosovo Liberation Army would be offered (if they accept) posts at (the Ministry of) Interior and Defense in this new parallel government. This maneuvre also aims at setting aside Ibrahim Rugova (he is not appreciated by the guerrillas) and his party, the Kosovo Democratic League, executive posts  and to confine the president' in an honorific role. The American 'baby' seems good, analysts state, even if the Democratic League will not easily accept to lose its political domination, and even if, in Belgrade, the officials state that 'they will never negotiate with terrorists.' American pressure should overcome resistance from both sides, even more now that the Serb side will relish confronting, around a table, an enemy they just weakened on the battlefield."

"New Decisive Turning Point In The Kosovo Crisis"

Pierre Lefevre held in independent Le Soir (7/31): "Prospect of a renewal of the dialogue. A pre-agreement might have been reached between the Albanian pacifist Ibrahim Rugova and the leaders of the KLA to form a joint delegation representative of the various Albanian factions in the negotiations with Belgrade. This agreement, encouraged by the European delegation, seems to be mostly the work of the American Ambassador Hill, who on Wednesday, met again discreetly for three hours with the representatives of the KLA.... The international community seems eager to break its long silence. Powerless, it waited to see how the situation on the field was going to evolve.... NATO plans for all kinds of military interventions are ready, but Russia and China do not want to hear anything about them, and support from the Security Council seems excluded. Nobody seriously thinks about it. Washington as well as Brussels and Bonn still recommend exclusively a political solution."

"Rebels' Setback In Kosovo Is Not Inconvenient To U.S."

Foreign affairs writer Bart Beirlant in independent Catholic De Standaard commented (7/30) : "The Kosovo Liberation Army's losses in the field during the last few weeks are not inconvenient to the United States. There is hope that a drifting KLA will be willing to negotiate about a cease-fire more easily. Behind the scenes, Washington is working on a military and political solution.... Fighting parties will sit at the table only when they both realize that it is in their own interest and that they can no longer make military progress. The Serbs began their military offensive against the KLA on July 17--exactly one day after anonymous Pentagon officials let it be known that there was only a small chance that NATO would intervene militarily against the Serbian security troops. A coincidence?"

BULGARIA: "We Have A Winning Move For Kosovo"

Center-left Kontinent observed (8/4): "The dangers and risks for Bulgaria's national security are getting more real with the escalation of the Kosovo crisis. Our winning move is to normalize our intergovernmental relations with the Republic of Macedonia as soon as possible so that all steps that we are undertaking on the Kosovo problem are coordinated with it and launched invariably in protection of its sovereignty. We, of all its neighbors, are most interested in preventing Macedonia's involvement in the Kosovo conflict."

"The West Urges Milosevic For Kosovo"

Leftist daily Sega (8/4): "The mess in Kosovo becomes even more desperate. It becomes more and more clear that the fire cannot be brought under control. That's why William Cohen made an explicit hint about `NATO's open possibility.' However, instead of shedding tears for some `humanitarian catastrophe,' the West had better push the KLA towards cease fire with at least as much vigor as it does with Milosevic."

DENMARK: "Recipe For War"

Center-right Jyllands-Posten carried the following editorial (8/6): "The West is wasting time and giving Milosevic the chance to play the statesman. When it becomes apparent that time has run out for the reintroduction of autonomy because the Albanians will not accept less than independence, Milosevic will once more have the United States and the EU in the palm of his  bloody hand.... Western leaders are displaying a mix of fear, naivety and amorality that, coupled with Serbian aggression, looks like a recipe for war."

"The Villain Of The Peace"

Center-left Politiken carried the following editorial (08/06): "Drawing parallels between the UCK and Milosevic's henchmen is tasteless, not least because of the West's inactivity in Kosovo. The West has long since identified Milosevic as the villain of the peace, but nothing is being done! Why such passivity? Klaus Kinkel said yesterday that the West could not act without a Russian mandate, but should this be more important than humanitarian concerns? Meanwhile, thousands of people are dying in Kosovo."

"Don't Allow Milosevic To Ridicule International Community"

Center-left Aktuelt carried the following (8/5) editorial: "Last week Milosevic said that he had concluded his offensive--a pure lie! In the meantime, the EU and NATO have tried to draw parallels between the UCK and the Serbian troops. This is unreasonable and morally wrong. NATO has good reason to strike at the Serbian troops. First and foremost, NATO is morally obliged to protect the civilian population. If this occurred, it would not start a war, but end one. If NATO puts American plans into action and initiates an air strike on Serbian positions, Milosevic will not have the resources to continue fighting."

"The Mistakes Of Bosnia"

Center-left Politiken carried the following editorial (8/3): "U.S. and Western leaders have proclaimed that they have learned from the mistakes of Bosnia, alas (this does not seem to be the case).... If the West does not intervene, the Kosovo crisis can only get worse. The international retreat regarding Kosovo has lead to a loss of credibility. Viewed in the long-term, Kosovo's political fate looks likely to resemble that of Chechnya. It is terrible to consider what the long-term could mean in terms of human suffering."

"Wolf Milosevic"

Center-right Jyllands-Posten said (7/31): "A great sigh of relief could be heard recently down the corridors of Western power. This was because the United States and the EU forced the Kosovo Albanians to form a delegation to negotiate with the Serbian government under the kindly supervision of Yugoslavia's President Milosevic. Not since Aesop sent the wolves to guard the sheep, has the world seen anything comparable."

HUNGARY: "Kosovo: Questions Without Answers"

Conservative Hungarian daily Napi Magyarorszag reported (8/6): "This otherwise 'silly season' is not very encouraging for the reaching of a grand peace accord, and even President Clinton seems to be rather occupied with other (skirt) issues. It is, therefore, not by chance that the Serbs have launched an offensive against the Kosovo Albanians, right now, because Milosevic knows exactly that as long as international cooperation is not on its way, and he doesn't have to fear one for a while, he can do whatever he wants. It is another question whether the Serbs can hold Kosovo by force. In that case they can expect a long-lasting guerilla war."

"Going Back On His Word"

Foreign Affairs editor Csaba Szerdahelyi wrote in influential Magyap Hirlap (8/5): "Milosevic has fooled the world again, which is not unusual for him at all. Nevertheless, those who know the Yugoslavian president well, did not believe him when he said that the maneuvers had been stopped against the Kosovo Albanian guerillas.... Milosevic also lied to the Vojvodinian  Hungarians when he said that no more of them would be sent to Kosovo."

"Belgrade Dictates"

Foreign affairs writer Katalin Halmai wrote in the second largest daily, Nepszava (8/4): "The Serbian maneuver has ended in Kosovo, said Milosevic the other day, but many doubted the truth in the words of the Yugoslavian president, who is not that famous of his trustworthiness. Wanting a dialogue, the West made it clear to Milosevic earlier that the redrawing of the borders and the separation of the Kosovo region from Serbia would be unacceptable for them. The Yugoslavian president promised autonomy to Kosovo and the international community supports this aim. It isn't enough today for the armed Kosovo Albanians, but it could be enough for them tomorrow. Then the negotiations with Milosevic can continue to flush out what he means under the promised autonomy."

POLAND: "Have A Good Vacation"

Dawid Warszawski commented in liberal Gazeta Wyborcza (8/6): "If the revelations about the mass graves near Orahovac are true, it means that the Serbs committed the crime of genocide. In that case, a military intervention by NATO -- which no one wants except for the Albanians -- may turn out to be necessary. If the revelations prove to be false, it will be more difficult in the future to mobilize the international community in defense of the victims of Serb persecutions.... We do not know yet whether the carnage in Orahovac really occurred, but the point is it could have occurred -- made possible by hatred, helplessness and indifference. Made possible by all of us. Have a good vacation."

"The Kurdish Lesson"

Liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza (8/3) contained an article by Dawid Warszawski which premised: "We observe in Kosovo the repetition of Iraqi Kurdistan--where the West will permit a loathed dictator to slaughter minority tribesmen rather than allow for their [territorial] separation as a sovereign state. An independent Kosovo is as unacceptable to the West as an independent Kurdistan. This is because if one should accept [the concept] that a persecuted minority has the right to fight for independence through the use of force, the stability of maybe as many as half of the world's countries would then be endangered."

SPAIN: "NATO: On Vacation"

Independent El Mundo commented (8/6): "International military intervention in [an internal] conflict is the least desirable course of action, but one that often becomes inevitable due to the shameful passivity that the allied powers have previously demonstrated at a time when the confrontation can still be prevented from escalating. This is just what is happening in Kosovo...whose desire for independence has not been supported by the international community. But had there been a serious attempt to resolve the conflict through dialogue, perhaps both sides would have been satisfied with [the restoration of] autonomy. Now that the battle has been joined, the Kosovars, forgotten by international bodies, have everything to lose. The Serbian president, on the other hand, is hardly a neophyte in such matters; in order to quell his opponents, Milosevic is following, almost to the letter, the script he wrote in Bosnia.... NATO intervention is the only thing that can thwart his policy of faits accomplis, but the Alliance appears not to be assigning Kosovo much priority at the moment. With obvious reluctance, it has convoked an informal gathering of mid-level officials tomorrow to discuss the matter. Once again, the allies have demonstrated their lack of interest and indecision in the Balkans."

"Kosovo: Time To Intervene"

Liberal El Pais commented (8/5): "The offensive being carried out by the Serbian army and  special police is more violent than ever.... The allies limited themselves to a telegenic NATO aerial display over Macedonia in June. Milosevic has learned that he can count on a lack of Western determination.... The Serbian autocrat has been given free rein to undertake a formidable campaign designed to annihilate the UCK, which has been transformed into a Bosnia-like operation whose principal victims are masses of civilians put to flight and whole towns that are wiped off the map.... Kosovo is where the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia began,... and it would appear that Kosovo is where the cycle of devastation inspired by blind Serbian nationalism will end."

"Rebellion Of The Lambs"

Fernando Mugica analyzed in independent El Mundo (8/5): "Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic is no fool. He sends in his elite combat forces to do battle with Albanian separatists in Kosovo because he knows that NATO's war drums are only made of paper. It seems increasingly obvious that the allies have given him carte blanche, within a determined period, to bring his military operations against the separatists to a close. The international community, with this hypocrisy, has thus written one of its most glorious passages."

SWEDEN: "Catastrophes In Kosovo"

Independent morning daily Dagens Nyheter opined (8/6): "The warning signals of the crisis spreading in Kosovo have, at least temporarily, been exchanged for alarms regarding an imminent humanitarian catastrophe. UN organizations estimate that at least 35,000 Kosovo-Albanians have been forced to flee from the Serbian troops. The number could well be twice as high. The refugees are living under deplorable circumstances. They don't have food, water or medicines. Many are suffering a great deal from the summer heat in the Balkans. Several people have lost everything; few will survive the winter without foreign aid. In the short term it is crucial that help reaches those who need it. And in this Yugoslavia's president Slobodan Milosevic has an important, if not determinative responsibility. He has earlier explained that he 'personally guarantees' that the help transports will be allowed through. But Mans Nyberg at the UNHCR reported a day or so ago that shipments only get through 'now and again.' Only a peaceful agreement can provide a durable solution, which ought to be in Serbia's interests. The economy is in terrible shape after years of international sanctions, and the war in Kosovo is taking a heavy toll on its resources. It is hard to see how NATO could justify military intervention without the approval of the Security Council, even if the U.S. seems to believe that a further UN mandate is unnecessary. The problem is that Russia has threatened to veto any hard-line policy directed against Belgrade. But, according to analysts, its resistance may be about to lessen. Dark horror scenarios are not difficult to picture. Kosovo may yet ignite a Balkan blaze, and even Moscow views the spreading of this conflict with horror. Increased unity in the Security Council is necessary. If the council can act with strength there is - albeit small - a hope that the conflict may be resolved before the humanitarian and political catastrophe is a fact."

TURKEY: "Kosovo, Shame Of Free World"

Kenan Akin wrote a front-page editorial in the religious/conservative Turkiye (8/6): "One of the worst crimes of history is taking place in Kosovo. It is the shame of the free world. The genocide which was previously conducted in Bosnia, now is unashamedly being carried out in Kosovo. One wonders if it is because these people are Muslims. The world must do something to get rid of this shame on the verge of the new millenium. Otherwise the world is not going to be a free world. International organizations like the UN and NATO are capable of imposing embargoes against Islamic countries, and they are successful in implementing them. However, the very same organizations are helpless when it comes to Serbian cruelty in Kosovo. It seems that policies and stances are formulated based on religious faiths."

"From Bosnia To Kosovo: Same Tactics, Same Wildness"

Hasan Unal wrote in the pro-Islamic Zaman (8/6): "What Serbian troops are doing in Kosovo is not any different than what they did in Bosnia. Civilian residential areas are under bombardament; people are being killed, including women and children. And in the midst of this ethnic cleansing, Serbs are saying to the international community that their operations have ended. We have seen this movie before in Bosnia. The Serbian regime once again is using its usual tactics: It gives the international community the impression that it is ready for mediation in order to gain time for more military operations."

                                MIDDLE EAST

ISRAEL: "Despair In Kosovo"

The independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (8/2): "The main hope of ending the conflict appears to be a growing realization by the Serbs that they too would be better off with some negotiated settlement to prevent a long guerrilla war. Milosevic, already one of the least liked or trusted statesmen in Europe, has little room for maneuver internationally. He can have little stomach for a protracted war in Kosovo, and international sanctions will still keep pressure on Serbia. This is therefore a window of opportunity for negotiations neither side can afford to miss."

                                SOUTH ASIA

PAKISTAN: "Kosovo Continues to Bleed"

An editorial in the center-right national daily Nation (8/6) stated: "The ethnic tension between the Serbs and the people of Kosovo, which is rooted in history, was exacerbated when Milosevic restricted the autonomy that the ethnic Albanians of Kosovo had enjoyed for long. A strong reaction against being kept underdeveloped for generations, and of being discriminated against in jobs and other opportunities, was bound to be transformed into a secessionist movement when Kosovo's autonomy was abridged. The Western nations are apparently allergic to the KLA, which is fighting for an independent Kosovo, for they fear that in case of Kosovo's secession similar forces might be unleashed in the rest of Europe, particularly in the neighbouring provinces of Montenegro and Macedonia. Unless a bold and timely initiative is taken by the Security Council and NATO to firmly stop the genocide going on in Kosovo, no effort would succeed to keep the present rump Yugoslavia together for long, even if the ethnic Albanians have to pay a formidable price for it."

                                 EAST ASIA

INDONESIA: "Seeking Peace In Kosovo"

Independent afternoon daily Suara Pembaruan editorialized (8/5): "The West considers it necessary to again employ force to pressure Milosevic to the bargaining table as well as to protect the ethnic Albanians. The U.S. and NATO seek to repeat the pressure that brought about Serb participation in the Dayton Accords. We contend that hesitation in coping with the Kosovo crisis and hindering diplomacy will only increase the death toll and damage more urban and rural areas. The key players remain Serbia, the KLA and their Albanian supporters, and the Contact Group."

For more information, please contact:

U.S. Information Agency
Office of Public Liaison
Telephone: (202) 619-4355
8/6/98
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Centre for Peace and Security Studies
Free University Brussels
Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels (Belgium)
Tel.: +32.2.6292228 Fax: +32.2.6292278  email: wdehaar@vub.ac.be
URL: http://www.vub.ac.be/POLE
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