Tagesnachrichten 8. September 1998
     von ALBANEWS und anderen
     News of the day - September 8, 1998
     Kosova Information Center : Daily Report No 1546

         Die Bibel sagt  -  The Bible says
 

If available you find on this page  -  Soweit verfügbar finden Sie auf dieser Seite   1. Remarks - Hints - Special informations  2. Reports about deportation and persons repatriated to Kosova  in deutsch und englisch   3. Daily Report from KIC  (Kosova Information Center)  4. news from ARTA  (Koha ditore)  5. news from RFE/RL NEWSLINE  6. news from Fr. Sava  (Decani Monastery)  7. Reports from Human Rights Organisations      especially CDHRF  (Council for the Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms, Prishtina)  8. news from ATA /ENTER  and so on  9. eventual additional press news  Link to Background-information  Link to earlier news - so far as room is given by my provider on the server  The Bible says  -  Die Bibel sagt

 

1. Remarks - Hints - Special informations

There were no news at the time this page was updated !
 

2. Reports about deportation and persons repatriated to Kosova

erhaltene Berichte - received reports       Namensliste ==> Einzelheiten   /   list of names ==> details

Kennen Sie Fälle von Abschiebungen nach Kosova ? - Bitte senden Sie mir Ihren Bericht !
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Kosova Information Center
KOSOVA DAILY REPORT # 1546
Prishtina, 8 September 1998

Serb Forces Renew Shelling of Deçan Villages Tuesday
An unspecified number of Albanian civilians killed and wounded

PRISHTINA, Sept 8 (KIC) - At seven o'clock in the morning today (Tuesday) a huge convoy of Serb military and police consisting of 88 tanks, armored vehicles and other motorized cars, left Peja for Deçan, a local journalist, Zekë Sinanaj, told the KIC today.
Half an hour later, Serb forces launched a heavy attack on the villages of Carrabreg i Poshtëm, Beleg, Kodrali, Irzniq, Pozhar, Gllogjan and other outlying villages stretching as far as Gramaçel. The Albanian population started moving, but in a very limited area, in the wake of today's attack. It is concentrated in the villages of Isniq, Prapaçan and Strellc.
First reports, still unconfirmed, said a number of Albanians, among whom women and children, have been killed and wounded today, Mr, Sinanaj said.
He quoted eye-witness accounts as saying Serb infantry has advanced into the village of Irzniq by midday today, adding that the villages of Irzniq and Beleg are all in flames.

LATEST REPORT (15:30 hrs) on Serb Offensive in Deçan Area:
At Least 2 Albanians Killed, 15 Wounded

PRISHTINA, Sept 8 (KIC) - On the Serb offensive launched early in the morning against more than a dozen village in Deçan area (see news item above), the KIC contacted Zekë Sinanaj, a local journalist, at half past three Tuesday afternoon.
The Serb shelling of the Albanian villages was being done from Serb military bases and other positions, he said.
Reports said the villages of Carrabreg, Prejlep, Irzniq and Beleg have been all in flames and will probably be razed to the ground as heavy artillery is being used to attack them.
Two parents, Fetah Lush Mazrekaj (55) and Hedije Mazrekaj, have been killed and their children, Lush Mazrekaj and Zykë Mazrekaj (f) wounded by Serb forces today.
The Mazrekaj family, residents of Prejlep, was killed and wounded at Beleg village, while fleeing area under Serb attack, Mr. Sinanaj said, quoting sources from the ground.
At Gramaçel village, Brahë Beqiraj, Gjokë Ibishi and his son, have been wounded. A number of other Albanians have been wounded, and presumably killed, by Serb forces, local sources said, but failed to offer names.
In the afternoon hours today (Tuesday), Serb forces started to shell the village of Praçaçan. Brothers Haxhi and Haki Krasniqi have been reported wounded there, as well as Muhamet Shala, Feim Shala and Emine Shala (f). Five guests staying with the Shala family, including a child, have been wounded, too.
The endangered population has been on the move in fields and hills, while Serb attacks have been resumed in the villages of Dushkajë region and Lugu i Baranit. The population is encircled by Serb forces. They cannot run away to safety. Their situation has been made worse by a stormy rain today.
Local Albanian structures in the municipality of Deçan, speaking on behalf of some 200,000 Albanians in the region, called for the international community to do everything in their power to save the endangered population.

President Rugova Receives Australian Officials

PRISHTINA, Sept 8 (KIC) - The President of the Republic of Kosova Dr. Ibrahim Rugova received today Mr. Peter C. Gacs, a political advisor to the Office of the Australian Prime Minister, and Dr. Philip Hepburn, political and trade officer in the Embassy of Australia to Belgrade.
The developments in Kosova in the midst of Serbian aggression and efforts towards a political way out were discussed in the meeting. The Serbian military and police offensive has killed hundreds of Albanians, turned hundreds of thousands into refugees and IDPs, destroyed entire villages and towns, Rugova said, calling this "an ethnic cleansing campaign". An independent Kosova would bring stability to the entire south- eastern Europe, the President said. He called for the international community to act so that Belgrade halts its offensive and a political solution to the Kosova issue is pursued.

Around 50 Albanians Killed in Kosova Since Last Weekend

PRISHTINA, Sept 8 (KIC) - The Serb offensive unfolding in central and south-west parts of Kosova since last weekend has left between 45 and 50 Albanians killed.
According to estimates by local newspapers, LDK chapters and human rights groups, scores of others were wounded or maimed, many were terrorized in all possible fashions, or even died while attempting to escape from Serb terror, such as the case of a 70-year-old, Abdyl Morina, who was drowned in the waters of Mirusha.
The Prishtina-based daily Bujku said in its today's issue that  at least 26 Albanians - men, women and children - were killed during a huge Serb offensive against the Vërrini area villages in the Prizren municipality.
Meanwhile, the major Kosova human rights group, the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms (CDHRF), circulated Monday a list of other 16 Albanians killed in the communities around Rahovec ('Orahovac') during the past couple of days.
Both Bujku and the CDHRF have offered eye-witness accounts on people being killed and massacred, about communities shelled, about huge amounts of property pillaged and destroyed, about gutted communities, people terrorized under Serb gunpoint, and others rounded up by Serb troops and taken to detention houses or to still unknown places.
Sources from many parts of Kosova, including Rahovec, Prizren, Deçan and Lugu i Baranit (Barani valley) south-west of Peja, reported of other killed Albanians during the course of yesterday afternoon, last night and today, as Serb offensive stepped up since morning hours.
Two Albanians were killed in Prizren on Monday evening - Arsim Poniku (18), shot dead in the Tusus suburb of Prizren, and his uncle, Hasret Poniku (36), executed by police near the town's cemetery.
Bodies of three young Albanians - Muhamet Shemsedini (23), Zymri Shemsedini (21) and Sabri Maliqi (18) - were found Monday evening in the forests of the village of Struzhe. The three bodies were mutilated.
Three Albanians, two of whom twin brothers, killed by Serb forces during the last weekend and whose names were not included in the lists of victims circulated so far, were buried in the town cemetery in Prizren on Monday. Their bodies were also mutilated, sources in Prizren said.
At least 2 Albanians were killed and 15 others wounded in Deçan area today (Tuesday) morning, while a large-scale Serb troops attack was still unfolding against Albanian communities there this afternoon.

Serbs Renew Offensive in Dushkajë Region and Deçan Area, Sources from Gjakova Confirm

PRISHTINA, Sept (KIC) - After a two-day pause, the Serb military and paramilitary police offensive against the villages of Deçan municipality if the Dushkajë region of Gjakova resumed early in the morning today (Tuesday), local LDK sources in Gjakova reported. As early as o'clock in the morning, Serb troops positioned din Suka e Cërmjanit and elsewhere started shelling the villages of Prapaçan, Gllogjan and other outlying villages in the direction of Peja, LDK sources said.
Also today morning, a convoy of Serb military and police left Gjakova in the direction of the region of Dushkajë.
Sources from the ground said today's Serb attack has not spared villages attacked earlier, such as Gërgoc, Krelan, Jabllanicë, etc. Sources from Gjakova said the shelling lasted till 12;00 hrs. It has been impossible to learn more about the extent of damage and casualties as the area is sealed off by Serb forces.
Large numbers of Albanians displaced from their homes in Dushkajë region reached the town of Gjakova in the past couple of days, swelling the population of the town even more.
LDK sources from Gjakova said that Sali Maliqi, a middle school teacher, was arrested 5 September at his place in the village of Dallashaj of Reka e Keqe region. He was taken away, in the direction of Gjakova. His whereabouts are unknown, but he suspected being held captive in a Serb military garrison in the region.
Meanwhile, reports said two wounded Albanians, Sejdi Sopjani (1972), from Dobridol and Bedri Sefer Gashi (1960) from Bratotin, municipality of Rahovec, are in the town hospital in Gjakova.

Serbs Shell Village of Lugu i Baranit, Western Kosova

PRISHTINA, Sept 8 (KIC) - Early in the morning today, Serb military, paramilitary and police forces, backed up tanks and armored vehicles, renewed their shelling of the villages of Gllogjan and Nepole of the Lugu i Baranit (Barani valley), a region between Peja and Klina in western Kosova, Mr. Rrok Berisha, a local journalist and member of the Kosova Parliament, told the KIC today.
Reinforcements, including tanks, arrived today in Kodra e Këpuzit (Këpuzi hill), where Serb troops had been stationed on 4 September.
Some of the Serb tanks have been positioned in the hills above Gllogjan, others entered the village itself, Mr. Berisha said. For six days now, around 500 Albanian civilians, mostly women, children and elderly, have found refuge in the local catholic church at Gllogjan. They are speedily running short of food supplies. The other part of the population is living rough in the open.
Horrendous is the humanitarian situation of a huge number of Albanians driven from villages attacked by Serb forces who have sought refuge in the Barani valley. These people, without shelter, are running short of food and medical supplies.
The KIC source from Barani valley told the KIC at 11:00 hrs that the villages of Gllogjan and Nepole were being shelled with an unyielding intensity, just like the villages of Dushkajë region of Gjakova.

Serb Police Executes Two Albanians in Prizren Monday Evening

PRISHTINA, Sept (KIC) - On Monday evening, around 20:00, Serb police forces shot dead Arsim Poniku (18) in the Tusus suburb of Prizren, the LDK chapter in Prizren reported.
In the immediate aftermath, Serb police arrested Arsim's uncle, Hasret Poniku (36). He was forced into a car with Peja ('Pec') license plates and taken to the vicinity of the cemetery in Prizren, where he was executed by police, LDK sources said. A highly volatile situation is reported in the historic town of Prizren.

Mutilated Bodies of Three Young Albanians Found in Struzhe Villages of Prizren

PRISHTINA, Sept 8 (KIC) - The bodies of three young Albanians were found Monday evening in the forests of the village of Struzhe, LDK sources said, naming them as Muhamet Shemsedini (23), Zymri Shemsedini (21), residents of Zaplluxhë village, and Sabri Maliqi (18), resident of Kuklibeg. Their bodies have been mutilated, sources said.
Reportedly, the three Albanians had gone for firewood in the forests on September 1, never to return.
The three will be buried in their places of permanent residence.

Three Albanians, Killed and Mutilated by Serb Forces, Buried in Prizren

PRISHTINA, Sept 8 (KIC) - On Monday, three Albanians, two of whom brothers, killed by Serb forces, were buried in the town cemetery in Prizren.
Binak Daçaj and Reshat Daçaj, twins, and Fatmir Bojaxhiu, had their bodies mutilated, the LDK Information Commission in Prizren reported.

Serbs Pound Villages in Skenderaj Municipality

PRISHTINA, Sept 8 (KIC) - The villages of Plluzhina and Tica in the municipality of Skenderaj ('Srbica') came under Serb artillery fire today (Tuesday morning, at around 10 a.m., local sources reported.
The local chapter of the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms (CDHRF) in Skenderaj said the two villages were being attacked today morning from a Serb base at the neighboring village of Açareva. The CHDRF could not learn if there were any casualties.
The villages of Plluzhina and Tica were attacked during the last weekend, too.

Heavy Serb Troops Move along Peja-Prishtina Roadway Tuesday

PRISHTINA, Sept 8 (KIC) - Long columns of Serb troops in armored vehicles, huge trucks trailing artillery guns and other combat equipment, were seen moving westward today morning along the main Kosovar highway linking Prishtina with Peja.
Witnesses told the KIC that these were the hugest forces which have been seen moving along this road since the break-out of the conflict in Kosova in early spring.
Still unconfirmed reports said that these Serb troops were heading towards the Lugu i Baranit communities, north-west of Peja, and the areas around Deçan which came later under fierce Serb attacks.

Thousands of New IDP's Swell Pagarusha

PRISHTINA, Sept 8 (KIC) -  The area around Pagarusha village in Malisheva municipality, which has been a site of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDP) for weeks now, has been swelled with newcomers today, sources said.
Activists in the area told the KIC that while Serb infantry advanced towards the Ostrozub village, the local population and others who were temporarily sheltered there fled homes in a panic.
Residents of other villages in the vicinity, such as Dragobil, Maxharaj and Marali, also fled their homes heading for Pagarusha hills.
Over 10,000 people have been camping out in Pagarusha, activists said, who warned of looming humanitarian disaster.

Many Albanians, Taken Captive Last Weekend, Still in Serb Hands

PRISHTINA, Sept 8 (KIC) - Many Albanians who were taken captive by Serb forces last weekend in Panorc village of Malisheva are still being held in the hands of Serb troops, local LDK activists and human rights groups said today (Tuesday) morning.
Over 400 Albanian men, separated from clusters of refugees, were rounded up by Serb troops and were forced at gunpoint to sit on the ground with their hands behind their heads. Most of them were released by Sunday, but many were taken to still unknown places.
The LDK Information Commission in Malisheva confirmed the names of 14 other Albanians still in Serb forces' hands: Bislim Gashi (a teacher), Nexhat Morina (farmer), Ramadan Gashi, Zaim Gashi (physician), Ismet Gashi, Brehim Feriz Gashi - all from Sverka village; Hajir Agushi from Drenoci, Bajram Berisha from Volljaka, Imer Gashi from Siçeva, Ramadan Bacaj; and Sali Zenunaj, Ahmet Zenunaj, Kadri Rudaj and Beqir Rudaj from Gremnik village of Klina. The Commission revealed today the names of two other Albanians who died during the Serb offensives of the past few days: Sinan Gashi (28), from Siçeva was killed on 4 September. Serb troops buried his remains.
A 70-year-old man, Abdyl Morina, resident of Gllareva, was killed in the Mirusha river while trying to run away from Serbs advancing into his direction.

Serb Court Brings Criminal Charges against 72 Albanians in Prizren
At least 80 others, arrested or taken captive during past few days, are being held in Serb custody according to Serb press

PRISHTINA, Sept 8 (KIC) - The Serb-run Office of the Public Prosecutor in Prizren said it has brought criminal charges against 72 Albanians from Prizren, Suhareka and Rahovec.
The Serb media cited the Serb court authorities in Prizren as saying the defendants will face terrorism-related charges, as well as charges for involvement in "hostile activities" and "smuggling weapons" into Kosova.
Meanwhile, the Serb press said today that 522 Albanians have been rounded up in the municipalities of Prizren and Rahovec during the past few days. Around 80 are being held in custody and in investigations have been instituted against them, the Prishtina- based Serb daily Jedinstvo said. The newspaper refereed to them simply as "terrorists", without describing the nature of their involvement or charges against them, let alone the evidence it has in support of the indictments.

Albanian Daily Slams 'Minimization' of Serb Crimes, 'Criminal Silence' over Tragedy in Kosova

PRISHTINA, Sept 8 (KIC) - What we have seen in the past few weeks and months have been efforts to play down, scaling down Serbian crimes during aggression in Kosova, Enver Maloku maintains in the Albanian-language Informatori daily on 8 September, after having cited Senator Bob Dole's remarks Sunday in Prishtina, in which he acknowledged that crimes similar to the ones in Bosnia are already occurring in Kosova.
Dole's description of the situation in Kosova is all the more important at the time when "Serb atrocities and the extermination dimension of the Serbian aggression in Kosova have been minimized" in world political and diplomatic circles.
"The past several weeks saw a criminal silence over the fate of the people of Kosova", Enver Maloku writes in his editorial. "With their presence and silence, foreign diplomats and observers who are in Kosova have been serving as a cover-up for Serb crimes in Kosova, including the gravest atrocities such as the killing of an entire family by a shell and the shelling of the make-shift shelter of refugees in Senik, that is the killing of at least 28 refugees, most of whom women and children."
The international community - the UN Security Council, EU, USA, OSCE, etc - have practically made no reaction to these criminal acts, Enver Maloku writes.
The U.S. envoy for Kosova, Chris Hill, "who has been able to travel wherever he wished to in Kosova, was quoted Saturday as saying Albanian refugees are living in 'inappropriate' conditions", the writer notes. It is not known "who is selling whom mild formulations, but one thing is clear: they are serving the Belgrade regime as a cover-up for the continuation of its crimes against the Albanian people of Kosova", Maloku underscores.
Last but not least, it is but natural "for those who wish to legalize Serbian occupation in Kosova...to minimize Serbian terror and crimes, because only through terror and crimes can Kosova be held under occupation", Mr. Maloku concludes his editorial.

Kosova Information Center
Last page!

KOSOVA (KD analysis)
Kosova metamorphosis - from a political into a humanitarian crisis

Ylber Hysa \ Prishtina
Prishtina, 7 September (ARTA) 1500CET --
The Albanian social infrastructure with the features of a patriarchal culture has absorbed over 300,000 people. Such a humanitarian crisis would have resulted with a catastrophe everywhere in the world.
This is providing enough "commodity" for the international humanitarian organizations, which are not reacting urgently in Kosova so far.
More than 35% of the territory of Kosova has been target to Serb military forces, who conducted operations of destruction in more than 400 dwellings, causing an internal displacement of more than 300,000 people.
Such development will influence the general situation in Kosova, and will affect the sordid Kosovar society in long-terms. Besides preventing resolving the status of Kosova, long-term consequences, which determine a significant stagnation of the Albanian society in Kosova (as well as the normal evolution of this society), will be apparent, in the economic, social and cultural aspect. The entire social and political power in Kosova will be focused in improving the repercussions of the Serb offensive in Kosova for many years to come, even if a possibility for solving the political status (or a temporary status) of Kosova would be available.
Nevertheless, it is ironic enough that the Belgrade regime, which in fact induced and caused this situation (regardless its excuse of "protecting its state integrity"), will not improve its consequences.
That is what the international community will demand. Accordingly, Milosevic has internationalized the Kosova issue conscientiously. He did not do it for the sake of solving its status or deflecting an eventual crisis that engulfed the region, but he did so the international community restores the damages, which the Belgrade regime caused in Kosova.
In such a situation, Milosevic (being directly responsible) is interested to somehow cooperate with the West, allowing even intervention in Kosova.
However, this time, the intercession will probably be conducted with white jeeps of humanitarian convoys and not NATO ones. This way, Milosevic is gaining his control and integrity over Kosova, attaching the international community with his country, and endeavoring to institute the possibilities of international investments and benefactions.
The most ironic thing is that, the expenses for the international community to restore these damages, seems to be far bigger than NATO military intervention in Kosova.

Refugees in their own land

Such a performance by Milosevic has a kind of Western "approval" in its background. This doesn't necessarily have to mean that, the " western green light" (which is becoming a standard term) for Milosevic was a plan scrutinized to that extent, as to compute such immense damages which were committed through this offensive. Thus, in one way or another, the West is currently hostage to Milosevic's adventurous nature. Its present dilemma is to haul Milosevic indubitably from the "throne" (which does not seem very easy to realize), or to accept his games.
Merely because of its own geo-strategic benefits in the region, which imply deterring the Albanian factor in Balkans to enhance, and to prevent "the change of borders", a humanitarian catastrophe in Kosova was allowed by the West.
Notwithstanding it (the West) has to stay in this part of the world willing or not.
Although the Albanian political and military factors cannot avoid the responsibility toward the present situation, the problem is that all this is happening in Kosova and Kosova Albanians are paying a high price for it, even though they were the least responsible. Nevertheless, the Albanian social "cream" ought to face these tragic reverberations and must take them into account as the new determining factor for the further trends in Kosova.
In this aspect, besides the consolidation of political and representative structures, Albanians have to think seriously in long terms about the aspect of negotiations, as well as how to deal with the economic, financial, social etc, consequences inflicted by this Serb offensive. This impedes an easy finding of the solution, because of the dilemmas that emerge. Thus, a considerable part of the civilian population will have to abandon their homes temporarily because of the dramatic situation they face.
This depicts a realistic menace, which brings on ethnic cleansing.
If nothing is undertaken, and the international humanitarian assistance is overdue or does not fulfill the urgent needs (taking into account the upcoming winter), not only a crisis, but also a humanitarian tribulation followed with epidemics and various diseases will take place. On the other hand, 300,000 people who had to flee their homes are identified as "internal refugees" according to the formal international aspect. Therefore, even a western high-ranking representative, like the UN Commissioner for Human Rights in ex-Yu, Jiri Dinstbir, declared that Milosevic did not strive to ethnically cleanse Kosova with such an action.
The UNHCR spokesman, Janowski declared that he does not believe in such an idea, because it does not make sense taking into account that Albanians comprise 90% of Kosova population, and Milosevic cannot force 2 million people out of their homes. Namely, according to such logic, if 300,000 people are displaced from their homes, and their homes are burnt, it is not ethnic cleansing.
The irony is that, even if the dislocated people seek shelter in Montenegro, they cannot get the status of refugee.
This is just an example, which reflects one of the problems and difficulties that must be confronted by those who ought to deal with these issues.
Albanian structures have to contemplate the long-term aspects of the problem, as well as deal with these ardent and excruciating issues. The displacing of 300,000 people and their hypothetical temporary lodging in other dwellings of Kosova, will be an extraordinary demographic, social and psychological burden for the Albanian society.
Since many of the dislocated people are traumatized, and their security is endangered, sheltering and habituation in new environment will be a problem. Taking into account the present circumstances these problems may seem as second hand but Albanians must not ignore them. In fact Albanians (and maybe the west to some extent) will merely face the consequences of the humanitarian crisis, as they are presently experiencing one of the hardest economic situations so far.
After the pyramid schemes collapse, Albania is experiencing an "economic coma" with very infinitesimal chances to get out of it, taking into account the present political situation. After such a catastrophic crisis, the possibilities of Kosova to engross the crisis will be significantly reduced. Meanwhile the Diaspora, which could have helped Kosova in such a crisis, will not be able to bear such a situation by itself anymore.
As a matter of fact, no Diaspora, or even an exchequer, would be able to survive such a crisis (like the one prevailing in Kosova). Albanian funds aimed at arming Albanian forces of resistance will be pivotally reduced, and Western measures to freeze these funds will be nothing compared to this. This will without doubt be one more element, which will bond Albanians to Western economic help, and consequently with the rhythm they impose for the solution and the way of solving the problem of Kosova.

Milosevic's qualitative catapulting

In seems that such a pre-calculation was taken into account by Milosevic when starting the military offensive, and he thus caused the humanitarian crisis which could mount to a humanitarian catastrophe. However, after such an action it seems that the next phase (which is determined by time and weather) is switched on. Milosevic knows that the West must find some solution by the end of September. Therefore, he as well as Western diplomats estimated that now is the right time for the political phase, which has to begin with a temporary concordance for Kosova. After what he did, Milosevic needed a new qualitative slingshot and that is taking the shape of a new political process, which secures him the new role of the collaborationist for Kosova.
In this aspect Milosevic will do his utmost, because he noticed that the American side (i.e. Holbrooke) is rushing to achieve any kind of agreement between Albanians and Serbs, which he (Holbrooke) can promulgate to the public ahead of US Congress debates concerning his promotion as Ambassador to the UN.
It seems that in the last meeting with Hill, Milosevic brought up the issue of repealing the "outer wall of sanctions" from his country, while he publicly avouched his readiness to give Kosova self-administration.
In this sense, one must not forget that Milosevic insisted for the transitory phase of the temporary agreement for Kosova, to be as long as possible (not 3 years as Americans proposed, but 5 years). A lack of the deadline within the deadline of the transitory period would be a present for Milosevic. A deadline within the deadline would have meant a one year period e.g. during which the two sides would apply an annex of the agreement like for instance, the normalization and bringing adequate institutions including the local police back to functioning.
If this would not be fulfilled within the deadline, the possibility of using "the club before the carrot" (including the re-imposing of sanctions or a military intervention) should be at hand.
The unclear definition could cause problems even after the temporary agreement expires. Unclear determination of guarantees and the possibility of referendum can cause serious problems as well.
The unclear realization of the agreement can cause big problems especially taking into account the divergences of the political and military subjects of Kosova. For instance: Who will be the police of Kosova? KLA soldiers, former police officers that Serbia fired, or a new concurs of the Serb Ministry of Interior where new candidates will apply for admission? This example speaks for itself of what problems those who put to practice and realize the temporary agreement can confront. On the other hand, Milosevic has clearly showed that he had a detailed plan for causing the humanitarian crisis in Kosova. He stalled the possibility of a military intervention in the first place, and bonded the West in long-terms with his interests in the region. Besides Dayton (which recently started to get out of his grip), Milosevic now has an "ace". That is Kosova, which lets him play with the West longer and in favorable conditions.
One of these conditions will be the possibility of various investments, destined for restoring the humanitarian crisis. According to the calculations of experts from the Belgrade Economic Institute, the war did not cost Milosevic much because it was carried out with obsolete technology. Nevertheless, Milosevic did not have financial possibilities to maintain the problem of Kosova unresolved. With the phases of cooperation, he now has new possibilities for investments. Where will the material for reconstructing destroyed dwellings be bought other than Serbia?
It seems that the assistant secretary of USAID, Hugh Parmer "understood" this as well. That is why he claimed that the Americans will help the people of Kosova with wheat, but since it takes time for the aids to arrive from the USA, then they (the aids) could be bought in the "FRY"!!!

KOSOVA (casualties – Prizren)
Many victims in Prizren

Prizren, 7 September (ARTA) 2000CET --
The CDHRF branch in Prizren confirmed many cases of killings in the region of Vërrin, after the Serb offensive against these villages. After the brutal killings in the village of Jeshkovë, seven Albanian corpses were buried. Moreover, 20 seriously wounded residents are still in this village, waiting for the ICRC to somehow help them. The houses of this village were initially looted and then burnt.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that five corpses of the recently killed Albanians were buried in the village of Lubiçevë. According to sources from the ground, these corpses were massacred and thrown in the local stream. Two Albanians were killed in the village Hoça e Qytetit, while 10 wounded people are still in this village.
It has been claimed that an unidentified corpse was found in the village of Leskovec, while the killing of a local resident from a Serb sniper in Lubiçevë village has been confirmed.
The humanitarian situation of the dislocated people who are sheltered in Prizren is alarming, because there no humanitarian aids are left. All political and non-political subjects of Prizren met today, on which occasion they addressed an appeal to the relevant international factors for urgent assistance, especially for the wounded people who are in a very bad health state.

KOSOVA (situation deteriorates - Suharekë)
New waves of IDPs

Suharekë, 7 September (ARTA) 2030CET --
Sources from the ground claim that Serb infantry units entered the village of Ostrazub in the municipality of Malishevë today afternoon. It has been claimed that the locals, in panic, fled their homes. There are reports that the local population, along with the IDPs who had been sheltered there, headed for the village of Pagarushë and other villages in the municipality of Suharekë.
The large concentration of people in the region resulted with new movements in the already restricted area. The number of people in the region is already well exceeding 60 thousand.
Although there were international monitors in this part of Kosova, if concrete measures are not undertaken, the very existence of these Albanians will be threatened. There are evident signs that these people will face a humanitarian catastrophe.

KOSOVA (situation deteriorates - Klinë)
People killed, as wealth was looted, and houses burnt

Klinë, 7 September (ARTA) 1930CET --
Albanian sources in the municipality of Klinë claim that over 150 Albanians are currently being kept under arrest. On the other hand, the CDHRF branch in Klinë notifies that 25 year-old Ajet Foniqi, from the village of Zajm, was arrested as he returned home with his family from the village of Volljakë. The Council adds that his family was forced off the tractor they were on and returned home on foot, while Ajet was taken to the police station in Klinë. The same source of information claims that the tractor was then returned home and that Ajet is still being kept in detention.
On the other hand, it has been claimed that 15 out of 19 Albanian houses in the village of Dollc have been burnt to the ground, after being looted by Serb neighbors. It has been reported that the number of victims in the municipality of Klinë has reached 74.

KOSOVA (escalation of violence - Deçan)
Overall tensions in Deçan

Deçan, 7 September (ARTA) 2030CET --
Fear and anxiety for a possible attack of Serb forces exists even in those few villages in Deçan that have not been included in fighting. The situation is made even more difficult with the large number of IDPs that are sheltered in this region.
Long columns of tractors and other vehicles, loaded with escapees are still flooding in from the villages of Gjakovë and Klinë. Many of them settled along the banks of the river of Bistricë and the woods nearby because of the large concentration of escapees.
An escapee from the village of Cërmjan (Gjakovë munic.), Avni Hoxha claims that only 2 out of 200 houses belonging to Albanians in the village are still intact. Avni also said that most of the houses had been looted before being set on fire. He stated that there were no victims among the local Albanians, who were evacuated with the beginning of the attack against the village. He added though that 75 year-old Bajram Hamëz Hoxha was wounded today, in an attempt to flee.
Moreover, the IDPs have neither clothing, nor food reserves. There is an urgent need for international humanitarian organizations to help these people who are in a very bad state.
According to latest reports, smoke could be seen coming from the direction of a place called Polana, which is between the village of Pobërgj and Lloqan, in the municipality of Deçan. Unconfirmed sources state that many houses have been set on fire in this region as well.

KOSOVA (wave of arrests – Kamenicë)
Albanians from Topanicë arrested

Kamenicë, 7 September (ARTA) 2100CET --
Large police forces raided the house of Jahi Zabaku in the village of Topanicë today. Zabaku is a local LDK leadership member in Kamenicë. The police also raided the houses of his two nephews in village of Topanicë. Four members of this family were arrested and sent to the police station in Kamenicë, informs the CDHRF branch in Kamenicë. According to these sources, the police arrested Ramadan (Esat) Zubaku and Sylejman (Ilaz) Morina from the same village at 1100CET today. The pretext of these arrests has not been confirmed until now. Meanwhile, according to the Council, Ramadan, Ismet, and Jakup Zubaku as well as Alush Shehu were both released. There is no information on the eventual release of the other arrested Albanians so far.

KOSOVA (Rugova statement)
"This day marks the fundamental act of Kosova"

Prishtina, 7 September (ARTA) 2100CET--
Kosova Albanian leader, Ibrahim Rugova, released a statement today, to mark 7 September - the day the Constitution of the Republic of Kosova was adopted, saying the following:
"After announcing the Declaration for the Independence of Kosova, on 2 July 1990, the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosova on 7 September 1990, marks the fundamental act of the state of Kosova. This important event in the history of Kosova gave the juridical and political foundations of Kosova's statehood.
Now, eight years after this legal document was adopted, the people of Kosova are building a democratic and civic society despite brutal Serb onslaughts and the state of occupation. What is more, the people are still determined to achieve the independence of Kosova through political means.
The people of Kosova will persist these difficult times with the help and support of the world, especially the US and the EU. God bless the people of Kosova", says Rugova's statement.

KOSOVA (EU sanctioning)
Erdmann: "Hill's accusations to the EU are his personal viewpoints"

Bonn, 7 September (ARTA) 1730CET --
German Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Martin Erdmann, told journalists that the decision for banning "JAT" flights in the EU had been reached and that Greece has declared itself for and signed the agreement too.
Asked about the number of flights that "JAT" Air Company had per week, the German spokesperson that "JAT" had 17 landings only in Germany territory. He also stated that the German Air Company "Lufthansa" would continue its regular flights to the "Yugoslav" territory. Asked whether this means that Kosova Albanian refugees would not be expelled any more, since they traveled in "JAT" planes, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said, "it has not been decided on legal basis". He added that "the way things are, Albanian refugees cannot be repatriated since "JAT" is not allowed to land on German territory and vice-versa". Asked about the meaning of the open disputes between EU ministers and Ambassador Hill, at a time when tens of people are being killed in Kosova, Erdmann stated: "We denied Hill's accusations that the EU is not engaged in the conflict in Kosova". "In this context, through our embassy in Washington, we tried to find out whether the American Government shares Hill's views. The answer we received was that Hill has his personal viewpoints and did not state those of the State Department. Anyway, this does not mean that we must accept such accusations by a senior diplomat like Hill", said Kinkel's spokesperson, Martin Erdmann.

Six people killed still unburied in Sllapuzhan of Suhareke

      PRISHTINE, Sept 8 (ATA)- The situation in the commune of Suhareke continues to be tense, although at first appearance it seems quieter. The police forces control every road
linking with Suhareke, while in the city police movements and controls have intensified, the Kosova Information Centre (KIC) of LDK in Suhareke reports.
      Two occasional pedestrians buried a killed Albanian, the 60th victim since the beginning of the Serb military actions in this commune, while in Sllapuzhan six people killed have remained unburied. /das/lm/

BC-ALBANIA-KOSOVE-REFUTE
Greek Foreign Minister has not met KLA in my office - Ramajli

      TIRANE, Sept.8 (ata) - By Ilir Paco:
The Kosove representative in Tirane, Iliaz Ramajli said Tuesday that during his meeting with the Greek Foreign Minister, Theodoros Pangallos on July 22, 1998, in his office in the Albanian capital, there has been no representative of the Kosove Liberation Army and that no talk was made about its plans.
      Ramajli told ATA that "with the chief of Greek diplomacy I discussed the solution of the crisis in Kosove and Mr Pangallos voiced his desire to meet with the Premier of Kosove, Bujar Bukoshi and that's all."
      Ramajli made these comments following a statement on Monday of Mr Pangallos, who had said that over his last visit to Tirane in mid July he had also met with KLA representatives, who had presented him their plans, saying that presently they were fighting for the independence of Kosove, but later they would extend their war also in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) where Albanians live, and in a part of Greece.
      But Mr Pangallos did not made clear where did he meet and who were the representatives of the KLA he spoke with, adding with humour that he did not pose for a photo with them as Mr Holbrooke did, because he was more prudent.
      "If Pangallos refers to the meeting he had with me, saying that he met with KLA representatives, I refute such a statement," Ramajli said to ATA.
      Pangallos made the statement while he was expressing the Greek opposition to a decision of the European Union to ban flights of the Yugoslav air company JAT in the EU member countries and blamed ethnic Albanians for not beginning the dialogue.
      The chief of the Greek diplomacy said that the punishment was not correct because Milosevic had expressed his readiness to start the dialogue, something refuted by Albanian ethnic separatists. /mima/xh/

BC-ALBANIA-STRASBOURG CONF/
Opinion of Albanian Helsinki Committee on the Strasbourg Conference

      TIRANE, Sept.8 (ata) -  By I Luto:
"The conference lacked the necessary attention by the influential circles of Europe on the dramatic developments in Kosove," told ATA on Tuesday the chairman of the Albanian Helsinki Committee, Prof. Arben Puto, referring to the Strasbourg Conference.
      Held by the Council of Europe, the Strasbourg Conference convened at the beginning of September to honour the 50th anniversary of the Universal Human Rights Declaration, a very good chance, said Puto, to discuss the question of Kosove.
      Referring to the importance and dimension of the conference, Puto said that "it was not a regular meeting, therefore much more was expected, adding to this also the great commitment in the plenary sessions of the representatives of the Balkan countries, with only the representatives from Kosove being not present."
      Puto said that "an unacceptable silence prevailed the conference."
      "Besides its being indifferent, the conference seemed also to be cynical," said Puto, referring to the address of the professor from Belgrade, which, with the topic 'On mass human rights violations and preventive measures' and where he had not found not a single place for the tragedy of Kosove, received a powerful applause from those present."
      "The Albanian factor," said Mr Puto, "must be more active and more unified in such kinds of situations," said Puto, referring to Albania's participation in the Strasbourg Conference with one representative only. /mima/xh/

Defence minister says Albania backs peaceful solution for Kosova

      TIRANA, Sept 7 (ATA) - By E. Koraqi:  The tense situation in Kosova and how to resolve it were the topics of discussion between a parliamentarian group from Switzerland headed by Ernst Muhenman, member of the parliamentary foreign commission and president of the Swiss delegation in the Council of Europe, and the Albanian Defence minister Luan Hajdaraga, a spokesman of the ministry said to ATA on Monday.
      "The parliamentary group arrived in Albania with concrete projects to help the Albanian political forces cooperate and provide help for refugees of Kosova," the spokesman said.
      "War in Kosova and problem of refugees are two key issues now."
      Some 150 thousand refugees from Kosova, mostly women and children who fled Serb genocide are settled in northern Albania particularly in Tropoja district.
      The Albanian parliament approved on Monday a government program on a series of measures for the people from Kosova, including their removal to other areas of Albania.
      Hajdaraga said that the Albanian government is for a peaceful solution to the Kosova crisis because this is also the logic of different international bodies.
      The Albanian minister highly praised Albania's cooperation with NATO, whose fruits were displayed in the latest joined military exercises in Albania. mima/ak/

Patriotic association commemorates Kosova Republic anniversary

      TIRANA, Sept 7 (ATA) - By Urim Bajrami: The rally to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the Republic of Kosova organised on Monday by the "Kosova" political, patriotic association conveyed the message that issue of Kosova was the core of the Albanian national issue.
      It said that future of Albania and that of the nation was decided in Kosova, therefore we called on all the Albanian political and patriotic forces to support the efforts and heroic war of the Kosova people.
      Different scholars for the Kosova and the Balkan issue in general said that "the issue of Kosova has been internationalized and it is not an internal affair of Serbia anymore."
      Referring chronologically to July 2, 1990 when the constitutional declaration was declared in Kazanik and later on September 1990 when the Constitution of the Republic of Kosova was also declared, they said that the institutions of the Kosova state could not be considered parallel institutions but they resulted by the free vote of over three million Albanians of Kosova and had been officially recognised by many states.
      Orators briefed the crowd on the difficult situation the Kosova people were facing due to the Serb repression of Milosevic.
      "There are over 10 thousand elderly people, women, children tortured, over 1.000 killed, hundreds of thousands missed or displaced and an economic damage of billions of dollars by the Serb military aggressor in Kosova," they said.
      Therefore, the rally called on the international community to end the extermination policy and ethnic cleansing which was being carried out in Kosova by Belgrade's criminals. They called for independence of Kosova which would avoid a Balkan crisis, establish stability in the region and broader and avoid the humanitarian crisis, which had engulfed Kosova. ypa/ak/

New influx of Kosova people in Has

      TIRANA, Sept 8 (ATA) - People from Kosova trying to escape Serb violence and terror against the civil population continue to arrive in Has district, northeastern Albania.
      A spokesman of the Public Order Ministry said to ATA on Monday that some 31 Kosova people, including five women, 16 children and 10 men, crossed the border to Albania near the police border post of Pashtriku, Has district.
      They were immediately accommodated in the dormitory of the secondary school in Krume.
      Over 350 Kosova people, mostly women, children and elderly people, fleeing Serb terror have been settled in Has district since June when refugees from Kosova arrived in northeastern area of Albania. s.s/ak/

Some 26 Albanians killed and massacred by Serb forces in Verrin Region

      PRISHTINE, Sept 7/ATA correspondent Behlul Jashari reports:
       Some 20 Albanians have been killed and massacred in the fierce offensive of the Serb forces which began since September the 1st in the region of Verrin, between the city of Prizren and the border with Albania, along the road leading to Kukes.
      Six Albanians were earlier reported to have been killed in this region. The Council for the Defence of Human Rights in Kosova, referring to sources in this region, today has made public the names of 15 Albanians killed.
      The sources say that the Serb forces, two days ago in Prizren, buried four unidentified Albanians, while in the village of Leskovec an Albanian, unidentified, has been killed.
      Another 20 Albanians have been reported injured in the village of Jeshkove, 10 in Hoce te Qytetit and many others in other villages of Verrin. /das/lm/

Nepole village intensively pounded

      PRISHTINE, Sept 8 (ATA)-The Nepole village yesterday was intensively pounded for more than five hours by the Serb forces, which shelled from the village of Ceskove, in which three tank units and a cannon were stationed.
      A number of houses have been damaged and cattle killed but there are no reports on casualties, according to the Kosova Information Centre (KIC).
      The same source reports that after the withdrawal of the Serb military and police forces from the villages of Llapceve, Rud and Panorc, where they looted, burnt and destroyed hundreds of houses and tortured some 500 Albanians, the Serb forces yesterday entered the village of Ostruzub of Malisheve, while local Albanians were again forced to leave their houses. /das/lm/

Greece backs Milosevic, slams Kosovo rebels
01:40 p.m Sep 07, 1998 Eastern
By Costas Paris

ATHENS, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Greece gave support to longtime ally Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on Monday, criticising a European Union ban on flights to member countries by Yugoslav carrier JAT.
     It also blamed Kosovo's rebel ethnic Albanians for the crisis in the Yugoslav province.
     "We explained that when this (flight ban) decision was taken two months ago the conditions were entirely different," Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos told reporters after an EU foreign ministers' meeting which sealed the ban on Sunday.
     EU ministers in Salzburg cleared away final Greek objections and the EU Council of Ministers said in a statement in Brussels that "operating authorisations granted to Yugoslav carriers are therefore revoked and no new ones will be granted."
     Germany said the ban was set to appear in the EU's official gazette on Tuesday after which member states could start to enforce it.
     Pangalos, speaking after meeting visiting Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik, said the punishment was unfair because Milosevic had shown willingness to begin talks on Kosovo which were rejected by the separatist ethnic Albanians.
     He said Milosevic had accepted the international community's condition for wider autonomy in Kosovo "although the ethnic Albanian community continued to seek independence," which was unacceptable.
     Pangalos said he met Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) representatives during a recent trip to Tirana and that they told him they had plans to spread their autonomy ideals to neighbouring countries.
     "With great civility and calm they said that at the moment they were involved in Kosovo but that they intended to become later involved with the Albanians in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Greece.
     "My conclusion was that we are not talking about particularly logical politicians," he said.
     More than 500 people have been killed in the Serb offensive against separatist KLA guerrillas since March and thousands of ethnic Albanians have fled their homes to escape the conflict,
     Ethnic Albanians make up almost a third of the population in Macedonia and some of their party leaders openly back the Kosovo separatists across the border. Greece is host to some 400,000 Albanian refugees.
     Pangalos said Milosevic had also agreed to stop the offensive while the KLA had announced that it was prepared to expand the conflict.
     Greece is a traditional Yugoslav ally and backed Belgrade throughout the war in Bosnia. But it had said lately that Milosevic should ease the offensive and give more rights to the ethnic Albanians.

Taken without permission, for fair use only.

Milosevic May Order Kosovo Vote
     AP, 09/08
Fighting Intensifies in Kosovo
     AP, 09/08
US: Yugo Leader May Probe Kosovo
     AP, 09/08
INTERVIEW-Guerrilla rep says peace talks unlikely soon
     Reuters, 09/07
Albania moves Kosovo refugees south for winter
     Reuters, 09/07
ANALYSIS-West repeats Bosnia squabbles in Kosovo
     Reuters, 09/07
Serbia blasts EU ban on JAT flights
     Reuters, 09/07
Serbian forces rampage through central Kosovo
     Reuters, 09/07
Yugo says no to Slovenia demand for more flights
     Reuters, 09/07
EU flight ban on Yugoslav airlines takes off
     Reuters, 09/07
Serbs ignore 'hearts and minds' in Kosovo fight
     Reuters, 09/08
UN relief bodies seek $54 million for Kosovo
     Reuters, 09/08
Kosovo teams work on draft for interim accord
     Reuters, 09/08
Serb Leader Pledges to Allow Red Cross to See Seized Rebels
     Reuters, 09/08
--------------------------

Tuesday September 8 8:55 AM EDT
Milosevic May Order Kosovo Vote
JOVANA GEC Associated Press Writer

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) - Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic insists he has no intention of calling off his troops battling ethnic Albanian rebels in Kosovo, but is reportedly planning elections for a Kosovo parliament.
     In a sign Milosevic is willing to make a political compromise over the troubled province, the independent daily Glas Javnosti said today that he has ordered the Serbian government to draft election plans for Kosovo.
     Milosevic abolished Kosovo's ethnic Albanian-dominated parliament when he stripped the province of autonomy in 1989. Since then, ethnic Albanians, who outnumber Serbs roughly 9-to-1 in Kosovo, have held two underground elections for their parliament, which the Serb authorities branded illegal.
     Kosovo is a province in Serbia, the dominant of the two republics remaining in Yugoslavia.
     Glas Javnosti quoted Kosovo Albanian sources as saying the parliamentary elections should be held within three months.
     The rebels who are fighting Serb troops have indicated they do not support an agreement in principle reached last week between Milosevic and ethnic Albanian political leader Ibrahim Rugova, under which Kosovo would eventually be granted self-rule. Western diplomats say that deal could take months to finalize.
     After talks Monday with U.S. officials in Belgrade, Milosevic issued a statement declaring he had stressed that "terrorism in Kosovo will be suppressed and eliminated."
     He called anew for international condemnation of the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army, which Yugoslav and Serb forces have tried to crush during a six-month assault in the secessionist province.
     The visiting officials, Assistant U.S. Secretary of State John Shattuck and former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, urged an end to the Serb offensive in Kosovo, where hundreds of people have died and an estimated 265,000 have been driven from their homes. The two demanded a pullback of government forces so refugees could return to their homes.
     In an apparent effort to avoid some of the international criticism, Milosevic's security forces have released most of the approximately 500 men taken captive in the latest offensive against the KLA.
     Some of those released told reporters they had been beaten with sticks and complained they were kept in forests without food and water for 24 hours. Other local residents said 50 people were still missing and 17 were killed in the offensive.
     Hundreds of refugees who fled police detention or were released returned to villages surrounding Ponorac to find many of their houses and belongings burned.
     Western officials estimate that 50,000 people are now living in hills and forests and at risk of starvation or freezing in winter.
     United Nations agencies appealed Tuesday for $54 million to help the refugees.
____________________________

September 8, 1998
Fighting Intensifies in Kosovo
By The Associated Press

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) -- After a short reprieve, battles in Kosovo intensified today, and a leading Kosovo Albanian militant accused U.S. envoys of favoring the Serbs in his mediation efforts for the secessionist province.
     The Kosovo Information Center said several ethnic Albanians were killed and others were injured, including women and children, in heavy Serb offensives near the Albanian border and in central Kosovo. The information center is run by the Kosovo Albanian leadership.
     The report could not be independently confirmed.
     The fighting followed a brief lull over the past week. Hundreds of people have died and about 265,000 have been driven from their homes in six months of battle between Serb-led forces and Kosovo Albanian rebels who want independence from Serbia, the dominant of two republics remaining in Yugoslavia.
     Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic insisted Monday he has no intention of calling off his offensive, despite renewed appeals from American and European officials.
     But in an apparent sign he is willing to compromise, the independent daily Glas Javnosti reported today that Milosevic has ordered the Serbian government to draft election plans for a Kosovo parliament that would be dominated by ethnic Albanians. It said the vote should be held within three months.
     Milosevic abolished Kosovo's ethnic Albanian-dominated parliament when he stripped the province of autonomy in 1989. Since then, ethnic Albanians, who outnumber Serbs roughly 9-to-1 in Kosovo, have held two underground elections for their parliament, which the Serb authorities branded illegal.
     The rebel Kosovo Liberation Army has indicated its opposition to an agreement in principle reached last week under U.S. mediation between Milosevic and ethnic Albanian political leader Ibrahim Rugova.
     Under the proposed formula, Kosovo would eventually be granted self-rule but not full independence. Details remain unresolved, and Western diplomats say it could take months to finalize them.
     Adem Demaci, the KLA's political representative, complained today that the draft of the agreement does not include any guarantees that Milosevic, who has been known for breaking promises, would live up to the accord.
     "Only force can make him carry out what he promises," Demaci told reporters. "That's the only language he understands."
     Demaci also accused U.S. envoys Christopher Hill and Richard Holbrooke of favoring the Serbs.
     Hill, the U.S. Ambassador to neighboring Macedonia, has been shuttling between Milosevic and Rugova. Holbrooke, who negotiated the Dayton peace deal for Bosnia with Milosevic in 1995, has visited Kosovo several times in recent months.
     "I don't have complaints about the orientation of the American foreign policy ... but we are unhappy with American envoys in Kosovo," Demaci said. "Kosovo should have someone who has no Macedonian or Dayton prejudices and should not favor (Serbian) force."
______________

September 7, 1998
US: Yugo Leader May Probe Kosovo
Filed at 4:18 p.m. EDT
By The Associated Press

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- President Slobodan Milosevic turned down U.S. appeals Monday for access to the ravaged province of Kosovo, but said he would consider an international probe into atrocities there.
     John Shattuck, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for human rights, and former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole met with Milosevic following a weekend fact-finding tour of Kosovo, which is populated mostly by independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
     Both Americans said they were shocked by the destruction and human rights abuses in the province, which is part of Serbia, the larger of the two republics in Yugoslavia.
     "What we have seen is massive destruction and horrendous human rights abuses on civilians," Shattuck said.
     After the talks with Milosevic, Shattuck said the Yugoslav leader "showed interest" in letting independent investigators look into evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the besieged Serbian province.
     In an apparent effort to avoid more international criticism, Milosevic's security forces on Sunday released most of the 500 men taken captive in the latest offensive against the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army.
     Milosevic also gave his assurances that the Red Cross would be allowed access to the captives. Shattuck said he would insist that prisoners are treated according to international standards.
     Some of the released captives told reporters they had been beaten with wooden sticks and were kept in the forest without food and water for 24 hours.
     Local residents said 50 people were still missing and 17 killed in the offensive.
     "They came and took us in the mountains," said Xhavit Rudi, a 30-year-old farmer detained near the village of Ponorac. "They said they would cut us if we ate or drank or went to the bathroom."
     Shattuck and Dole reiterated Western calls for an end to the Serb offensive in Kosovo, where hundreds of people have died and an estimated 265,000 have been driven from their homes since February. The two demanded a pullback of government forces so refugees could return to their homes.
     But in a statement released after the talks, Milosevic said "terrorism in Kosovo will be suppressed and eliminated" and called for international condemnation of the KLA rebels.
     As many as 50,000 people left homeless by the fighting are living in the open in Kosovo.
     Dole, who heads the International Commission for Missing Persons, warned of an impending humanitarian catastrophe as colder weather draws near.
     "Americans and European leaders have pledged not to allow the crimes against humanity which we witnessed in Bosnia to occur in Kosovo. But such crimes are occurring," he said.
     He warned that "if images are transmitted around the world of people freezing because they had been driven from their homes, their homes burned and they don't come back from fear of police and army, the repercussions will be dramatic."
     Milosevic and ethnic Albanian political leader Ibrahim Rugova agreed last week on a U.S.-mediated framework agreement under which they would negotiate self-rule for Kosovo.
     But the secessionist rebels have not endorsed it, and are unlikely to if Serb forces continue to burn houses and shell villages.
     In the latest report of clashes, the ethnic Albanians' Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms said Monday that 25 people were killed in a three-day offensive by Serb security forces in the Prizren region.
     Prizren is a town in southern Kosovo.
-------------

INTERVIEW-Guerrilla rep says peace talks unlikely soon
01:34 p.m Sep 07, 1998 Eastern
By Paul Iredale

PRISTINA, Serbia, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Ethnic Albanian guerrillas fighting for independence in the Serb province of Kosovo are unlikely to enter peace negotiations soon, their political representative said on Monday.
     Adem Demaqi, representative of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), told Reuters that without the participation of the guerrillas, peace talks being urged by the international community between the Serbian government and ethnic Albanians were bound to fail.
     "The negotiations being made by (U.S. Kosovo envoy Christopher) Hill are not serious. I don't know why Mr Hill doesn't understand enough," he said in an interview. "He has made many mistakes in his operation."
     Hill, the U.S ambassador to Macedonia, has been shuttling between Belgrade and Pristina to try to kick-start negotiations to end seven months of fighting in Kosovo.
     At least 500 people have died and many more are missing in a Serb offensive in the province, where ethnic Albanians make up 90 per cent of the two million population.
     More than 265,000 people have fled their homes, mostly in the lesser populated countryside of central and western Kosovo and tens of thousands are living rough in the hills and forests.
     Aid workers fear a humanitarian catastrophe as the winter snows approach.
     Hill has been focusing his peace efforts on Ibrahim Rugova, the pacifist leader of the biggest ethnic Albanian party, the Democratic League of Kosovo.
     Demaqi, who spent 28 years as a political prisoner of the Serbs, said Rugova had failed to understand the new circumstances in the province.
     "The KLA are ready to die for our liberty, our freedom. Mr Rugova does not want to see this fact," he said.
     Demaqi said the KLA wanted a withdrawal of Serb forces from Kosovo, trials of those accused of atrocities, compensation for ethnic Albanians who had lost their homes and an acceptance of the 1991 referendum in which Kosovo voted for independence.
     "Before that I think any negotiation will be only in the interest of the Serbian regime and will continue the agony of the Albanians and the Serbian people," he said.
     "This regime wants to stay in power and therefore they try to continue the crisis because this regime is a regime of crisis. (Yugoslav President Slobodan) Milosevic came into power thanks to the Kosovo crisis and he will continue in power as long as the crisis continues," he added.
     Damaqi said KLA had failed to hold the close to 50 per cent of Kosovo they claimed to control earlier this summer because they wanted to minimise their casualties.
     "They withdrew their forces to save them for a long resistance. If they insisted on defending territory it would be a fatal mistake and many would die."
     He maintained however that the Serbs had under-reported their casualties "because they don't want to panic the army."
     Demaqi said the KLA had up to 30,000 guerrillas, a figure seen as widely exaggerated by most observers.
     He said the Serbs' realisation that they could not eliminate the KLA was the reason why they had destroyed 400 villages in the province.
     "Our people now are history makers, our people now give their blood for their liberty, our people will never forget all these miseries," he said.
     Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
-----------------

Albania moves Kosovo refugees south for winter
12:41 p.m. Sep 07, 1998 Eastern
By Llazar Semini

TIRANA, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Albania said on Monday it was planning to move thousands of Kosovo refugees from poor areas in the north of the country in preparation for the onset of winter and the threat of a new influx of displaced persons.
     Deputy Prime Minister Bashkim Fino said the government would move some of the refugees from northeastern Albania to areas where they could be provided with better shelter and care.
     Aid organisations say some 265,000 people have fled their homes in the fighting in the neighbouring Serbian province, most of them ethnic Albanians who make up 90 percent of the 1.8 million population.
     More than 15,000 refugees have crossed into Albania since June, fleeing the fighting between separatist guerrillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army and Serbian security forces flared up seven months ago.
     The refugees, half of them children and a third women, arrived in the northern district of Tropoje, Albania's poorest region.
     Some 7,000 are still accomodated in Tropoje, in Kukes prefecture, and small groups of 20-30 refugees continue to cross the Albanian border daily.
     "The government has decided to move 3,000-5,000 refugees from Kukes prefecture to Diber and Shkoder," Fino said.
     "We are very worried about meeting the refugees' needs this coming winter."
     Some foreign aid organisations such as OXFAM, Medicine Sans Frontiers and the EU, as well as the United Nations, have suspended their activities in the north of the country, partly as a result of the region's lawlessness.
     Millions of leks from the government's stretched budget would be spent to improve health care, power and water supplies, the telephone network and roads in the northeast.
     Fino said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which is coordinating international aid in Albania, would spend $700,000 renovating some buildings for accomodation and $430,000 more on other projects in the region.
     The International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Food Programme and some other non-governmental orgnisations (NGOs) are also still active in the north of the country, distributing supplies to the refugees.
     The World Bank has given a grant of $1 million to help Albania cope with the influx of refugees, while NGOs were assisting in the rebuilding of a hospital in Bajram Curri, the main town in Tropoje.
     "A detailed list of our needs to meet the refugees' requirements and improve the region's infrastructure has been sent to NATO," Fino said.
     Albanian authorities, helped by the UNHCR and the George Soros foundation, were making plans to provide education for the 5,500-6,000 refugee children.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
-----------------

ANALYSIS-West repeats Bosnia squabbles in Kosovo \
12:48 p.m. Sep 07, 1998 Eastern
By Paul Taylor, Diplomatic Editor

LONDON, Sept 7 (Reuters) - NATO allies, unwilling or unable to intervene to stop the war in Kosovo, are reverting to the kind of recrimination that dogged transatlantic relations for years over Bosnia.
     For the second time this decade, the United States and its European allies have failed to prevent ethnic conflict in former Yugoslavia degenerating into bloodshed and a massive refugee problem despite their overwhelming military power. They are now starting to squabble over the blame.
     U.S. special envoy to Kosovo Christopher Hill, a close aide to Bosnia peacemaker Richard Holbrooke, accused the Europeans on Friday of indifference to the Balkans in their obsession with European Union integration.
     "A lot of problems in the Balkans happened because of the same great powers who are toasting themselves and claiming that they have achieved a united Europe," Hill said in Washington. He called the phrase United Europe "a sort of intellectual property heist, a copyright heist."
     German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel hit back after EU foreign ministers discussed the remarks at a weekend meeting in Salzburg, Austria, berating Hill for a "cynical and condescending" lecture unworthy of an ambassador.
     Kinkel suggested that the EU ought to appoint its own envoy to help broker a political settlement to the seven-month-old conflict -- an implicit expression of no confidence in the American mediator.
     Behind the unusually raw rhetoric between allies lies a shared frustration at the Western alliance's inability to apply force, or the credible threat of force, to halt the fighting and bring Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and leaders of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority to negotiations.
     NATO staged a show of air power around Kosovo's borders in early June and Western countries, among which Britain was most vociferous, threatened Milosevic with decisive military action if he did not halt attacks on civilians and begin talks on granting Kosovo autonomy.
     British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said at the time that Milosevic was "on his last warning" and should have no doubt about Western resolve.
     But the fighting talk turned out to be just talk, and NATO governments looked on almost silently as Serbian forces swept Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas out of most of their strongholds in July and August, raising the number of displaced ethnic Albanians to more than 200,000.
     A visiting senior U.S. official has accused the Serbs of horrendous human rights violations and massive punitive destruction in the battle zones.
     These refugees, most still huddling inside Kosovo as winter approaches next month, face a humanitarian crisis that could pose a threat to the stability of neighbouring Albania and Macedonia.
     But NATO diplomats acknowledge that the most the alliance can agree to do is assist humanitarian relief and offer military support to implement and monitor a peace agreement -- if one were negotiated between Milosevic and the Kosovars.
     "This is the paradox of Western military supremacy. The United States and its allies face no global adversary and have unprecedented military power relative to others, but we are more reluctant to use force than ever in the past," said Robert Hunter, who was U.S. ambassador to NATO until last year.
     "In Bosnia it took us two years and and the horror of the slaughter in Srebrenica before the allies agreed to even a limited use of force. In Kosovo once again, the allies are unwilling to use force," he said.
     Some European NATO allies insist that military intervention would require a United Nations Security Council mandate, giving Serbia's ally Russia a veto over Western military action.
     But officials say the United States, where President Bill Clinton is under a growing cloud over the Monica Lewinsky affair and faces other challenges from Iraq and what he calls the "war on terrorism," is equally unenthusiastic about military action in Kosovo.
     "It's not as if the Americans were keen to take action in Kosovo and the Europeans were dragging their feet. There is equal reluctance on both sides of the Atlantic and nobody is sure how you could use force to bring about a negotiated autonomy for Kosovo," one allied diplomat said.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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Serbia blasts EU ban on JAT flights
01:00 p.m Sep 07, 1998 Eastern

BELGRADE, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Serbia criticised on Monday a European Union ban on flights of Yugoslavia's flag carrier Jugoslovenski aerotransport (JAT), saying it would not reciprocate but would propose the suspension of the return of false asylum seekers from Western countries.
     An EU ban on JAT flights to the EU to punish Belgrade for its policy towardsd Kosovo came into effect on Monday, after being delayed since June.
     "The decision of the European Union Ministerial Council on the ban of JAT flights is yet another example of discrimination, self-will and arrogance and indirect support to terrorists who are active in Kosovo," Tanjug quoted a Serbian information ministry statement as saying.
     Yugoslavia's airlines JAT said earlier on Monday it was flying as usual until it received notification of the ban entering into effect.
     "We have still received nothing officially. As soon as we do, and are informed of the details of the ban, we shall announce our subsequent plans," said Milutin Prsic, head of JAT's public relations department.
     Prsic said JAT was examining what it would do if the ban came into effect, but declined to comment until the details of the ban were unveiled.
     JAT has said it would negotiate with individual airlines to take their passengers and routes.
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Serbian forces rampage through central Kosovo
11:45 a.m. Sep 07, 1998 Eastern
By Kurt Schork

OSTROZUB, Serbia, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Scores of terrified civilians fled Ostrozub in central Kosovo on Monday as a six- week-old Serbian offensive against armed ethnic Albanian separatists surged into the town, witnesses said.
     A white stallion galloped to safety pulling a wagon full of refugees, followed by a speeding line of tractors, cars and people on foot.
     Weeping women shouted "Milicija! Milicija! (Police! Police!)" to reporters, warning them against entering the town.
     A Serbian policeman at the south end of Ostrozub turned the reporters around.
     Asked if there were a problem, the policeman replied: "There's no problem at the moment, but there's going to be a big problem shortly. Terrorists are operating in this area."
     Serbian security forces were visible in the forested hillsides on either side of Ostrozub, advancing north into the town, which has already been heavily damaged by Serbian shell fire in recent weeks.
     Those ethnic Albanians fleeing on Monday had reason to worry given what happened to neighbouring Zatric, a settlement of about 60 houses virtually burned to the ground by Serbian forces on Thursday and Friday last week.
     Five chimneys were all that remained standing of the school in Zatric. The stench of dead cattle and smouldering fires hung heavy over the village as a few stunned residents wandered back on Monday to see what remained of their properties.
     Qamil Kastrati, 28, his wife Elfia and their three-year-old daughter Vlora sat on the ground before the scorched rubble of their completely destroyed home, weeping openly.
     "Everything we owned, everything we worked for our entire life was destroyed by the Serbs in a few hours," said Qamil.
     "We were quiet people living in the mountains, bothering no one, having nothing to do with politics and now the Serbs have made us their enemy forever."
     Police advanced on the village on Friday along the only paved road in or out. Residents fled in tractor-drawn wagons, cars, trucks and on foot along a dirt track leading north until they came to the edge of a cliff impassable except on foot.
     Serbian infantry firing automatic weapons slowly advanced on the group of about 1,000 villagers, forcing them to abandon their vehicles and personal belongings and flee down the steep cliff to the fields and forests outside Ponorac.
     The Serbian forces then systematically burned the scores of cars, tractors and wagons at the top of the cliff, along with all the personal belongings that people had been trying to carry with them, including sacks of flour, mattresses and clothes.
     Reporters wandering through the wreckage on Monday estimated that the charred debris was scattered over half a square kilometre, partially hidden by scrub trees and rocks.
     While some Serbian security forces were burning Zatric, others were rounding up refugees from about a dozen emptied villages in the area, who ended up trapped outside Ponorac.
     Police backed by armoured vehicles detained fighting-age men suspected of being separatist guerrillas from the women, children and elderly.
     Several hundred of them were then taken to the school in Ponorac and interrogated. Most were released on Sunday but about 60 are believed to be still in custody in Pec or Prizren.
     "They took us out one by one to question us in a separate room," recounted 46-year-old Lufti Luta, a refugee from Radoste who was among the men rounded up outside Ponorac on Friday and taken to the local school.
     "It was the same routine with each man. They said: 'You are a terrorist. Where is your gun? Do you want to die by having your throat slit or by being shot or hanged?' They took my son and brother to question them and I haven't seen them since."
     The southern Serbian province of Kosovo is 90 per cent ethnic Albanian.
     A decade of repressive Serbian rule has left most ethnic Albanians wanting independence and given rise to the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which made some impressive gains against Serbian police earlier this year.
     But KLA units are now reeling from the massive Serbian offensive that has also destroyed thousands of homes in scores of villages.
     The UN estimates that 265,000 people have been driven from their homes in Kosovo since February, the vast majority of them ethnic Albanians.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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NATO asks Dutch for aid in possible Kosovo action
02:57 p.m Sep 07, 1998 Eastern

THE HAGUE, Sept 7 (Reuters) - NATO has asked the Dutch government whether it would be willing to send warplanes to Kosovo if the alliance intervenes in the wartorn Serb province, Dutch government ministers told parliament.
     In a letter to MPs released on Monday, Dutch Defence Minister Frank de Grave and Foreign Affairs Minister Jozias van Aartsen said the government had been approached informally by NATO about a possible contribution.
     The Netherlands would be required to send eight F-16 fighter jets and a tanker aircraft, they said.
     De Grave told parliament in the letter that the Netherlands was in a position to accede to such a request, but that no firm decision need yet be taken.
     "At this stage it is purely a question of stock-taking (by NATO)," a defence ministry spokesman said. "Should NATO decide on intervention, then the whole parliamentary decision-making process comes into play."
     The Dutch sent four F-16 fighters and a DC-10 tanker aircraft to take part in a NATO exercise over Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in June.
     The "Determined Falcon" exercise was intened as a show of strength to step up pressure on Yugoslavia to halt the Kosovo conflict.
     Since then Serbian forces have swept Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas out of most of their strongholds, triggering a mass refugee exodus from the battle zones and accusations of severe human rights violations.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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Yugo says no to Slovenia demand for more flights
02:40 p.m Sep 07, 1998 Eastern

BELGRADE, Sept 7 (Reuters) - The Yugoslav government said on Monday it had rejected a demand by Slovenian air company Adria Airways for additional charter flights to Montenegro.
     Quoting the Federal Transport Ministry statement, the national Tanjug newsagency said:
     "Within the context of overall relations with Slovenia, conditions had not been met for extending the contract."
     Montenegro, together with Serbia, makes up Yugoslavia.
     Belgrade has not re-established economic or political ties with the former Yugoslav republic of Slovenia after the violent break-up of the old Balkan federation in 1991.
     Pro-reformist Montenegro and Slovenia late February clinched a deal to open a charter line between Tivat on the Adriatic coast and the Slovenian capital Ljubljana primarily aimed for tourists, businessmen and transit passangers.
     The federal ministry said it had approved to Adria Airways charter flights between Ljubljana and Tivat during the tourist season, under a provisional contract, which expired on August 29.
     The contract envisaged additional flights on September 2 and 5, the statement said.
     Montenegro Airlines and Adria recently agreed to continue operating the charter line Tivat-Ljubljana-Tivat to the end of October and to establish regular flights between the two capitals of Podgorica and Ljubljana during the winter.
     The federal government in Belgrade alone is authorised to approve the use of Yugoslavia's air space.
     Radonja Radovic, the Montenegro Airlines commercial director, told Reuters in Podgorica that the company had not envisaged any administrative obstacles during talks with Adria Airways.
     "Our agreement with the Slovenian company is still valid.
     But we do not take state decisions. The realisation of our deal entirely depends on the administrative decision," he said.
     Montenegrin Transport Minister Jusuf Kalamperovic critisized the federal government decision and said the republic cannot tolerate such a situation any longer.
     "We will do everything possible to enable flights beteween Montenegro and Slovenia with the aim of realising of our policy of upgrading cooperation with neighbouring states," he said.
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Full story EU flight ban on Yugoslav airlines takes off
11:04 a.m. Sep 07, 1998 Eastern

BRUSSELS, Sept 7 (Reuters) - A European Union ban on flights by Yugoslav airlines to the 15-nation bloc's airports to punish Belgrade's policy on Kosovo finally took off on Monday, after a delay of three months.
     The EU said in a statement the paperwork necessary to bring the ban into force had been completed on Monday, after EU foreign ministers cleared away final Greek objections at a meeting in the Austrian town of Salzburg on Sunday.
     "Under the regulation, aircraft operated directly or indirectly by a Yugoslav carrier...will be prohibited from flying between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the EC," the EU's Council of Ministers said in a statement.
     "Operating authorisations granted to Yugoslav carriers are therefore revoked and no new ones will be granted," it said.
     A Greek diplomat said that Athens, which had held out until Sunday against the ban because of legal obligations towards Yugoslav carriers, had abstained from the bureaucratic written procedure which sealed the ban.
     Under the EU regulation, emergency landings by Yugoslav carriers will be allowed.
     In a bid to encourage Montenegro, Serbia's smaller partner in the Yugoslav federation which is viewed favaourably in the West, the EU has exempted charter flights between Leipzig and Tivat by Montenegro Airlines.
     Yugoslavia's flag carrier Jugoslovenski aerotransport (JAT) said on Monday it was flying its regular routes after it had not received word from the European Union banning its flights.
     "We have still received nothing officially. As soon as we do, and are informed of the details of the ban, we shall announce our subsequent plans," said Milutin Prsic, head of JAT's public relations department.
     JAT has said it would negotiate with individual airlines to take on their passengers and routes.
     In Germany, one of JAT's most frequent ports of call, JAT, for example, operates 17 flights either to or from German airports weekly, German transport ministry sources said.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
-----------

Serbs ignore 'hearts and minds' in Kosovo fight
03:59 a.m. Sep 08, 1998 Eastern
By Kurt Schork

ZATRIC, Serbia, Sept 8 (Reuters) - If the Serbian offensive in Kosovo is intended to drive a wedge between armed separatists and the majority ethnic Albanian population it is failing, victims of the campaign said on Tuesday.
     "I wasn't a member of the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) but I'm going to join now," insisted 35-year-old Bashtar Kastrati, an ethnic Albanian who has just returned to his destroyed village of Zatric in central Kosovo.
     "All those Albanians who've lost everything in Kosovo have been turned into KLA. We've lost so much we have nothing more to lose by fighting."
     Zatric was shelled and then torched by Serbian security forces on Thursday and Friday.
     The Serbian tornado of destruction that ripped through Zatric was so comprehensive that the village seems a victim of natural rather than human forces.
     The skeletons of its 60 or so houses still smoulder as the acrid smell of charred timbers mingles with the stench of dead and rotting cattle.
     Wrecked on the inside, the structure of the village mosque survived, but the minaret now stands like an ironic exclamation mark above the ruins.
     Frightened villagers who fled north at the approach of the Serbian forces on Friday were forced by automatic weapons fire to abandon scores of cars, tractors and wagons loaded with food and personal belongings at the edge of a cliff.
     The security forces then burned every vehicle. Having destroyed a centuries-old village and virtually all its accumulated wealth in a matter of hours, the army and police withdrew from the rubble.
     The scene has been repeated in dozens of other ethnic Albanian enclaves across the southern Serbian province of Kosovo over the past six weeks. Ordinary villages have been flattened along with acknowledged KLA strongholds.
     International relief experts reckon at least 265,000 people have been displaced from their homes in Kosovo since February, 50,000 of whom may be living rough in hillsides and in forests.
     Western diplomats explain that Belgrade's offensive aim has been to crush KLA units wherever they are encountered, and also to punish civilians who harboured or sympathised with the guerrilla force.
     "They want to show the ethnic Albanians that there's a price to be paid for associating with the KLA, that this is what happens when you allow the KLA into your life, into your village," was the refrain repeated by diplomats in recent weeks.
     But this is a province where 90 per cent of the population is ethnic Albanian and where a decade of brutal rule by Belgrade has turned virtually every non-Serb into a quiet sympathiser, if not an active supporter of the KLA and its goal of independence.
     Every ethnic Albanian man of fighting age is a potential terrorist in Belgrade's view, and every village apparently a legitimate target.
     The current Serbian offensive is not a 'hearts and minds' campaign to win, if not allegiance at least obeisance from the ethnic Albanian majority.
     The mallet of Serbian military might is not being used to drive a wedge between the people and the KLA, but to smash the people directly, to destroy their homes and their wealth and to scatter them as refugees across Kosovo and Europe, observers say.
     "The problem in Kosovo is not by definition a humnitarian one," former U.S. presidential candidate Robert Dole said after a fact-finding tour to Kosovo at the weekend.
     "This is a political and military crisis...This is a war against civilians for political purposes."
     Rather than containing the conflict and creating facts on the ground supportive of a negotiated settlement for something less than independence, as western diplomats had hoped, the current offensive seems likely to lead to a longer, wider war.
     Even ethnic Albanian men whose villages have escaped damage so far and who resisted taking up the gun are so outraged by what has happened that they are rethinking their stance.
     "In Zatric and (neighbouring, undamaged) Ponorac there were no KLA before the Serb attack at the weekend," said 33-year-old Halil Sahiti of Ponorac.
     "There aren't any KLA here today. But all of us men agree it is better to go the way of war than to live like this."

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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UN relief bodies seek $54 million for Kosovo
11:53 a.m. Sep 08, 1998 Eastern

GENEVA, Sept 8 (Reuters) - United Nations relief agencies on Tuesday issued an appeal for $54.3 million to help some 270,000 displaced people in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo and avert a "humanitarian tragedy" in the coming winter.
     The appeal also covered assistance for a further 130,000 people who have fled Kosovo, where there have been months of fighting between Serbian forces and Albanian guerrillas, and have taken refuge elsewhere in Yugoslavia, in Albania, and in other countries of the region.
     "We have to act very quickly since time is running out," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, said in a statement.
     "Adequate funding is critical to avert further tragedy in the freezing hills where tens of thousands of displaced people are huddling.
     "Humanitarian assistance alone will not be an answer to the Kosovo conflict but it will alleviate human suffering until a political solution has been found."
     A UNHCR statement said nearly 270,000 people had been displaced inside Kosovo by the conflict, which had left hundreds of people dead and around 100 villages destroyed.
     Other U.N. agencies involved in the appeal are the Children's Fund UNICEF, the UNDP Development Programme, the Rome-based World Food Programme, the World Health Organisation (WHO), and the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
     The independent International Organisation for Migration (IOM), based in Geneva, is also taking part.
     A UNHCR spokesman said Ogata would visit Kosovo as well as Serbia and Montenegro, the two remaining republics of the Yugoslav federation, later this month.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
----------------

Kosovo teams work on draft for interim accord
11:12 a.m. Sep 08, 1998 Eastern
By Paul Iredale

PRISTINA, Serbia, Sept 8 (Reuters) - U.S. negotiators have presented both sides in the Kosovo conflict with a draft for an interim agreement incorporating principles of self-government, sources close to the negotiations said on Tuesday.
     The sources said the draft included proposals for free elections in the Serb province and for the return of administrative control to Pristina from Belgrade, which has run Kosovo since 1989.
     The Belgrade government and representatives of political parties in Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians make up 90 per cent of the 1.8 million population, are now producing more detailed proposals.
     "We are now putting meat on the bones," one source said.
     Western diplomats announced last week that both sides had agreed to put aside for at least three years a decision on the final status of the disputed province and to work towards an interim accord.
     "They will try maybe to create some kind of mixed document with their first proposal and the proposals and remarks from both sides. If it is possible maybe they will insist in their own proposal and this document will be approved as a document of the Contact group," a source said.
     The discussions are taking place as a Serb conflict with separatist guerrillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) moves into its seventh month.
     More than 700 people have died in the fighting and more than a quarter of a million have fled their homes. Scores of villages have been reduced to ashes and aid workers fear a major humanitarian catastrophe as winter approaches.
     The sources said the question of a ceasefire remained a major stumbling block. Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has said he is committed to fighting terrorism.
     The diplomatic offensive has been spearheaded by U.S. envoy Christopher Hill, who has been shuttling between Belgrade and Pristina.
     The key figure in Kosovo is pacifist Ibrahim Rugova, leader of the largest ethnic Albanian party, the Democratic League of Kosova. Rugova was reelected president of Kosovo in March in an election that was not recognised by Belgrade.
     One source said direct negotiations between the two sides were unlikely, as this could lead to disputes between the teams that would bog down the talks.
     "I think that Rugova will be in favour of this agreement if the Americans will lead this process," he said. "The only way to keep him (Milosevic) in this process or on board is to have the Americans as chief captain of this boat."
     The source said Milosevic was expected to extract as high a price as possible for signing the accord and would try to link it to the lifting of international sanctions that have crippled the Yugoslav economy.
     One source said the interim accord would cover the setting up of a Kosovo parliament, the formation of a local police force to replace that provided from Belgrade over the past decade, a local judiciary and administrative control by citizens of the province.
     Serbia revoked the autonomous status of Kosovo within the Yugoslav Federation in 1989, imposing direct control over all aspects of the life of the province from Belgrade. Some sources estimate that up to 120,000 ethnic Albanians lost their jobs in government and state institutions following the move.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
----------

September 8, 1998
Serb Leader Pledges to Allow Red Cross to See Seized Rebels
By REUTERS

BELGRADE, Serbia -- President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia has promised to allow International Red Cross representatives to visit detained ethnic Albanian guerrillas in Kosovo, senior American envoys said Monday.
     The Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy and Human Rights, John Shattuck, and former Senator Bob Dole delivered a stern warning to Milosevic Monday about the prisoners and refugees in the Serbian province of Kosovo.
     The Government cracked down on separatists in the largely ethnic Albanian province, causing thousands of civilians to flee their houses. Many are hiding in the hills, leading to concern as cold weather approaches.
     Over the weekend Shattuck and Dole visited Kosovo, where many people are sympathetic to the separatist guerrilla insurgency of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
     Dole accused the police officers and troops of "waging war against civilians for political purposes."
     He described a "humanitarian catastrophe in the making" and added, "Slobodan Milosevic says it will not happen, but if it does, the repercussions will be dramatic."
     International mediators are pressing the Serbs and the ethnic Albanian leaders to agree to a cease-fire to let refugees return to their houses before the winter.
     Shattuck said Milosevic had agreed to give the International Red Cross access to suspected guerrillas, 450 of whom were seized last week. Reports Monday from Kosovo said that almost 400 were released over the weekend after questioning and that the rest remained in custody. Shattuck said that it was important to test the validity of charges against arrested men and that those who were cleared should be returned to their families.
     Milosevic was also considering whether to allow independent forensic experts into Kosovo to investigate allegations of atrocities and mass graves. Milosevic has given similar promises of cooperation in the past and reneged.
     Dole said that "nothing encouraging" had come out of the meeting.
     Milosevic says 16,000 refugees are living in the open compared with international estimates of 80,000 to 120,000.

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