Tagesnachrichten 18. August 1998
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Tagesnachrichten 18. August 1998
NEWS: KOSOVA UPDATE, AUGUST 18, 1998
Taken without permission, for fair use only.
U.S. will not go it alone in Kosovo, Cohen says
Reuters, 08.18.1998
Nato 'warning' over Kosovo
BBC, 08.18.1998
Serbs invite Kosovo Albanians to talk peace
Reuters, 08.18.1998
Nato exercise sends warning to Belgrade
The Times, 08.18.1998
___________________________________
Tuesday August 18 6:53 AM EDT
U.S. will not go it alone in Kosovo, Cohen says
VALDOSTA, Ga. (Reuters) - The United States will
not act alone to end fighting between ethnic Albanian rebels and Serb troops
in the Serbian province of Kosovo, Defense Secretary William Cohen said
Monday, but he urged joint action by NATO.
"So far we have not
been successful in getting other NATO countries to sign up and say, 'Wait
a minute, we're not going to allow these atrocities to happen,"' Cohen
said. "But we have to give NATO time and wait for NATO to act. We are not
going to act unilaterally."
The forces of Serbian
President Milan Milutinovic and the ethnic Albanian rebels will have to
come to a compromise, he said.
"There is unanimous
opinion that Milutinovic cannot use his army to engage in ethnic cleansing,
the systematic shelling of villages," Cohen said. "So far (the rebels)
need to have someone who represents them that is amenable to striking an
agreement."
Relief agencies have
estimated that at least 200,000 people -- 10 percent of Kosovo's population
-- have been uprooted by the fighting.
The European Union's
Humanitarian Affairs Commissioner Emma Bonino earlier this month denounced
"ethnic terror" in Kosovo by the Yugoslav army, though investigators have
often been unable to confirm reports of atrocities.
"We have to wait and
see whether NATO will in fact act as an organization, and institution,
without having to go to the (U.N.) Security Council where either Russia
or China or someone else can veto," Cohen said.
Earlier Monday, NATO's
commander-in-chief for Southern Europe said his forces were ready to intervene
in the Kosovo crisis if called on to do so by their governments.
Speaking at the start
of NATO military exercises in Albania, which borders the troubled Serbian
province, Adm. T. Joseph Lopez, commander in chief of Allied Forces Southern
Europe, said the "exercise is not directed at any particular party or element
in Kosovo or Belgrade."
Albanian officials made
clear, though, that they saw the exercises as a direct warning to the Serbian
government to soften its approach on Kosovo.
Cohen spoke after touring
Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta, Georgia, about 300 miles south of Atlanta.
He also told reporters that a repeat of last week's bombings at U.S. embassies
in Kenya and Tanzania could be prevented but only at a price Americans
might be unwilling to pay.
"Intelligence-gathering
means that, especially at home, you will have to give something up if you
want the government (to protect you)," Cohen said. "We cannot put our ideals,
our men in uniform, our ambassadors and our citizens in concrete bunkers
and believe that we can have an effective role in world events."
More than 250 people
were killed in the bombings, including 12 Americans.
___________________________________
Monday, August 17, 1998 Published at 22:07 GMT 23:07 UK
Nato 'warning' over Kosovo
Troops from 14 Nato countries have been taking
part in military exercises in Albania aimed at sending a message to the
warring sides in neighbouring Kosovo.
Albanian warplanes have
joined 50 Nato aircraft and more than 1,700 troops for the week-long exercise,
which includes practising rescue operations and air strikes.
The manoeuvres were
arranged to bolster stability in the Balkans and to send a warning to Serbia
about Nato's concern at the conflict in the Serbian province of Kosovo.
Admiral Joseph Lopez,
Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Southern Europe, said: "Belgrade and any
belligerents throughout the region would get the same message - Nato is
ready.
"We are using the lessons
learnt from Bosnia. Should we have to react in any way, in peace support
operations or any other way, we will be ready."
But BBC Defence Correspondent
in Albania, Mark Laity, says Nato's failure to intervene when Serb forces
attacked civilian targets in Kosovo has blunted the impact of the exercises.
Serb successes
Operations, including air combat and evacuations,
will be concentrated around the Albanian capital, Tirana.
The exercise is being
staged as the fighting in Kosovo, a Serbian province with a mainly Albanian
population, reaches a crucial stage.
Serbian forces have
taken control of the last major Kosovo Liberation Army stronghold in the
province.
Western journalists
who visited the village of Junik, near the border with Albania, said all
the civilian population had fled, and many buildings were damaged.
A BBC correspondent
in Kosovo, Jeremy Cooke, says the fall of Junik is a major blow to the
KLA, which has been pushed back from territory it controlled in recent
weeks.
Some reports say the
KLA are re-grouping in Glodjani, a village which fell to the Serbs but
where KLA troops are once again moving freely.
___________________________________
Serbs invite Kosovo Albanians to talk peace
06:18 a.m. Aug 18, 1998 Eastern
By Julijana Mojsilovic
PRISTINA, Serbia, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Peace efforts
in Kosovo appeared to gather momentum as Serb authorities asked ethnic
Albanians to start talks on Tuesday to end six months of bloodshed.
Chief Serb negotiator
and Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Ratko Markovic invited ethnic Albanians
to begin talks in the afternoon in the provincial capital Pristina, Serbian
media reported.
In a letter to Fehmet
Agani, coordinator for a five-member ethnic Albanian peace team, Markovic
expressed "satisfaction that you wish our talks to be continued as soon
as possible."
"So be it," said the
letter, reported by the Yugoslav state-run news agency Tanjug, adding that
Markovic had asked for a meeting to begin at 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) in Pristina.
There was no immediate
word on whether the ethnic Albanians had accepted.
U.S. envoy Chris Hill,
who is ambassador to Macedonia, arrived in Pristina for more talks with
ethnic Albanians to try to get the peace talks going, U.S. diplomatic sources
said.
Hill, Washington's main
Kosovo coordinator, was expected to meet a negotiating team appointed last
week by Ibrahim Rugova, political leader of the majority ethnic Albanian
community.
The U.S. and other Western
countries have been exerting pressure on the Kosovo Albanians to resume
talks which Rugova suspended last June as a Serb military build-up began.
But the West has also
held out the threat of NATO action unless the Serbs eased off in its military
crackdown.
NATO forces on Monday
began a six-day military exercise in neighbouring Albania and NATO officers
said it was designed in part to show belligerents in the region that "NATO
is ready."
Serbian authorities
have not directly commented on the NATO operation but reporters in Kosovo
said they noticed a marked increase in overflights by Yugoslav air force
jets, counting some half dozen such flights in the morning alone.
The Albanian side has
said it wants the Serb offensive to stop before peace talks begin.
More than 500 people
have been killed and an estimated 200,000 people -- about 10 percent of
the province's population -- have been displaced from their homes in six
months of violence in the southernmost Serbian province.
Relief agencies have
warned of a looming humanitarian crisis in the province unless people return
to their homes and farms before the onset of cold weather in about two
months.
A four-week-long Serbian
offensive seemed to have attained most of its objectives at the weekend
when the western hill town of Junik, a key logistical and arms-running
base for ethnic Albanian rebels of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), fell
to Serb forces.
Most of the towns taken
by the KLA in six months of fighting have since been recaptured by Serb
forces.
There were still reports
of isolated clashes between the KLA, which is fighting for the province's
independence from Serbia, and heavily armed Serb security forces.
The Albanian-language
daily Bujku reported clashes between KLA fighters and Serb forces at Lausa,
near Srbica, on Sunday and on Sunday continuing into Monday at Ovcarevo,
near Klina.
There was no word on
casualties and no way to independently verify the reports.
Serb media reported
that policeman Dragan Stojanovic was killed in an attack on police in Blace,
near Suva Reka, and another policeman, Zoran Anicic, was killed in a clash
with KLA rebels near Ljubenic, in the Pec region.
The reports did not
provide further details.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
___________________________________
The Times
08.18.98
Nato exercise sends warning to Belgrade
BY MICHAEL BINYON, DIPLOMATIC EDITOR
IN A clear warning to Belgrade, about 1,700 Nato
troops, including 60 British troops from the 2 Parachute Regiment, yesterday
began a five-day exercise in Albania to demonstrate the alliance's readiness
to contain the crisis in neighbouring Kosovo.
With the involvement
of a large number of American troops, security was stepped up because of
fears over possible attacks by Islamic extremists. Albanian troops cordoned
off the airbase near the airport where the opening ceremonies were held,
and dependents were evacuated from the American Embassy in Tirana.
The exercise, involving
troops from 14 countries, will practise parachute supply drops, vehicle
and foot patrols, marksmanship and other non-offensive drills in the Albanian
mountains. Ten other countries have sent observers. The Nato operation,
codenamed "Co-operative Assembly 1998", is intended to bolster the morale
of the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and underline the West's determination
to discourage any move by the Serb forces to drive the ethnic Albanians
from the province.
At the same time, senior
American officials met Serb government leaders in Belgrade to urge them
to resume peace talks with Albanian ethnic leaders. Chris Hill, the chief
American negotiator in Kosovo, and Jim O'Brien, an adviser to Madeleine
Albright, the Secretary of State, were due to meet Nikola Sainovic, the
deputy Yugoslav Prime Minister, and Milan Milutinovic, the Serb President.
Ibrahim Rugova, the
Kosovo Albanian leader, agreed last week to resume talks that were suspended
in June. Western diplomats are also trying to secure representation of
the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
The 60 British troops
from 5 Airborne Brigade of the parachute regiment flew to Albania from
Aldershot and made their first parachute drops in the mountains yesterday.
They arrived in two Hercules aircraft, and will return to Britain at the
end of the exercise.
In Kosovo, Serb forces
captured three more villages in western Kosovo, pushing Albanian fighters
away from Pec, the second largest city in the province. Government forces
used tanks and helicopters to attack Lodja and eight other villages in
the region 55 miles south-west of Pristina, the capital.
Junik, the last main
KLA stronghold captured by government forces, was yesterday almost deserted,
with only about 15 elderly people left.
18 August 1998
The Times
Nato exercise sends warning to Belgrade
BY MICHAEL BINYON, DIPLOMATIC EDITOR
IN A clear warning to Belgrade, about 1,700 Nato
troops, including 60 British troops from the 2 Parachute Regiment, yesterday
began a five-day exercise in Albania to demonstrate the alliance's readiness
to contain the crisis in neighbouring Kosovo.
With the involvement of a large number of American
troops, security was stepped up because of fears over possible attacks
by Islamic extremists. Albanian troops cordoned off the airbase near the
airport where the opening ceremonies were held, and dependents were evacuated
from the American Embassy in Tirana.
The exercise, involving troops from 14 countries,
will practise parachute supply drops, vehicle and foot patrols, marksmanship
and other non-offensive drills in the Albanian mountains. Ten other countries
have sent observers. The Nato operation, codenamed "Co-operative Assembly
1998", is intended to bolster the morale of the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo
and underline the West's determination to discourage any move by the Serb
forces to drive the ethnic Albanians from the province.
At the same time, senior American officials met
Serb government leaders in Belgrade to urge them to resume peace talks
with Albanian ethnic leaders. Chris Hill, the chief American negotiator
in Kosovo, and Jim O'Brien, an adviser to Madeleine Albright, the Secretary
of State, were due to meet Nikola Sainovic, the deputy Yugoslav Prime Minister,
and Milan Milutinovic, the Serb President.
Ibrahim Rugova, the Kosovo Albanian leader, agreed
last week to resume talks that were suspended in June. Western diplomats
are also trying to secure representation of the Kosovo Liberation Army
(KLA).
The 60 British troops from 5 Airborne Brigade
of the parachute regiment flew to Albania from Aldershot and made their
first parachute drops in the mountains yesterday. They arrived in two Hercules
aircraft, and will return to Britain at the end of the exercise.
In Kosovo, Serb forces captured three more villages
in western Kosovo, pushing Albanian fighters away from Pec, the second
largest city in the province. Government forces used tanks and helicopters
to attack Lodja and eight other villages in the region 55 miles south-west
of Pristina, the capital.
Junik, the last main KLA stronghold captured
by government forces, was yesterday almost deserted, with only about 15
elderly people left.
Financial Times
KOSOVO: Rebels and Serbs in partial truce
By Guy Dinmore in Pristina
Serbian government forces and ethnic Albanian
rebels agreed yesterday to a ceasefire in one area of Kosovo so that international
aid agencies could reach civilians displaced and wounded in recent fighting.
Western diplomats said it was the first time the two sides had agreed to
halt hostilities since violence flared in the province six months ago.
But they stressed the ceasefire applied to only one area of western Kosovo,
near the town of Pec, where fighting erupted last week.
"The Serbs said one bullet means the end of the
ceasefire," a diplomat said. One aid worker said he had heard the ceasefire
would last for two days.
The International Committee of the Red Cross
and Médecins Sans Frontières sent a convoy of trucks with
doctors and medical supplies to several villages near Pec.
An unknown number of civilians have been killed
and wounded by shells and rockets fired by government forces. The United
Nations refugee agency said it had found about 20,000 people, mostly ethnic
Albanians, sheltering in fields and woods in western Kosovo. One pregnant
woman had suffered serious head wounds and was taken to hospital.
The conflict in Kosovo has displaced more than
230,000 people, over 10 per cent of the population. Aid agencies fear a
humanitarian disaster this winter if people cannot go back to their villages
in safety.
Elsewhere in Kosovo there were reports of clashes
close to the strategic road running from the provincial capital, Pristina,
to the southern town of Prizren.
Senior diplomats from the US and Austria, which
holds the European Union presidency, urged the government at the weekend
to halt its offensive so that aid agencies could reach stricken areas.
Richard Miles, the US chargé d'affaires in Belgrade, raised the
issue with Yugoslavia's President Slobodan Milosevic.
Diplomats said the lull in hostilities suited
both sides, for the moment. Government forces, in a month-long offensive,
have dislodged Kosovo Liberation Army rebels from large areas of central
and southern Kosovo. "One side is licking its wounds and the other is consolidating
its victory," a western envoy said.
However, KLA fighters are trickling back to villages
that had been captured and torched by Serbian police and then later abandoned.
Diplomats said although the government enjoyed
superior firepower it did not have the ability to secure territory it regained.
US envoy Chris Hill is due to return to Kosovo
today to try to resume peace talks.
_________________
Nato's commander-in-chief for southern Europe
said yesterday his forces were ready to intervene in the Kosovo crisis
if called on to do so by their governments, Reuters reports.
At the start of Nato exercises in Albania, Admiral
T. Joseph Lopez said: "This exercise is not directed at any particular
party or element in Kosovo or Belgrade. . . It is directed at regional
stability."
--
Kosova Information Centre - London
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