Tagesnachrichten 28. September 1998
     von dpa, from ALBANEWS and others
     News of the day - September 28, 1998
     Kosova Information Center : Daily Report No 1566

         Die Bibel sagt  -  The Bible says
 

If available you find on this page  -  Soweit verfügbar finden Sie auf dieser Seite     1. Meldungen von dpa    2. Remarks - Hints - Special informations    3. Reports about deportation and persons repatriated to Kosova  in deutsch und englisch     4. Daily Report from KIC  (Kosova Information Center)    5. news from ARTA  (Koha ditore)    6. news from RFE/RL NEWSLINE    7. news from Fr. Sava  (Decani Monastery)    8. Reports from Human Rights Organisations        especially CDHRF  (Council for the Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms, Prishtina)    9. news from ATA /ENTER  and so on  10. 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. Meldungen von dpa

Meldung vom 28.09.1998 15:46  http://seite1.web.de/show/360F9359.NL1/

Schröder verspricht außenpolitische Kontinuität
Bonn (dpa) - Der designierte deutsche Bundeskanzler Gerhardt Schröder hat sich für die Kontinuität der deutschen Außenpolitik unter seiner künftigen Regierung verbürgt.
     «Wir werden außenpolitische Kontinuität sicherstellen», sagte Schröder am Tag nach seinem Wahlsieg in Bonn. «Die internationale Gemeinschaft kann sich darauf verlassen, daß Deutschland ein guter Partner bleiben wird», versprach Schröder.
     Diese Position werde seine sozialdemokratische Partei auch in den am Freitag beginnenden Koalitionsverhandlungen mit den Grünen vertreten.
     Schröder, der sich in der Vergangenheit wiederholt kritisch über die europäische Gemeinschaftswährung geäußert hatte, sagte, die Entscheidungen seien jetzt gefallen. Daher werde auch seine Regierung alles dafür tun, daß der Euro ein Erfolg wird. Sonst wären katastophale ökonomische und politische Verwerfungen die Folge, sagte Schröder.
     Schröder betonte auch, seine Regierung werde die deutsche Politik in der Nato fortsetzen. «Ohne Wenn und Aber» werde sich seine Regierung auch für die Erweiterung des Bündnisses um mittel- und osteuropäische Länder einsetzen.
     Zurückhaltend äußerte sich Schröder über die Möglichkeit einer internationalen militärischen Intervention in der Kosovo-Krise. Die SPD sei der Auffassung, daß dafür ein Mandat des UNO-Sicherheitsrats erforderlich ist.
    Sollte jedoch andere Staaten der Aufassung sein, eine Intervention sei auch ohne ein solches Mandat möglich, «dann werden wir sehen», sagte Schröder. Er betonte, daß die alte Regierung noch im Amt sei. Er gehe davon aus, daß er informiert werde, falls die Möglichkeit einer Intervention konkreter wird.
© dpa

Cohen droht Milosevic - Belgrad: Ende der Repressionen im Kosovo
Rom/Belgrad (dpa) - US-Verteidigungsminister William Cohen hat dem jugoslawischen Präsidenten Slobodan Milosevic erneut mit Luftangriffen der NATO gedroht, falls er die serbischen Truppen nicht aus dem Kosovo zurückzieht.
     «Die Erfahrung zeigt, daß Milosevic vorsichtige Warnungen nicht versteht. Deshalb müssen wir mit aller Härte vorgehen, damit Milosevic seine Truppen aus dem Kosovo zurückzieht und humanitäre Hilfsmaßnahmen zuläßt», sagte er am Montag nach Gesprächen in Rom.
     Zugleich kündigte Belgrad den Abschluß «aller antiterroristischen Aktionen» der Sicherheitskräfte in der Unruheprovinz an.
     Cohen begründete ein notwendiges schnelles Eingreifen auch mit dem Hinweis auf das Flüchtlingselend. «50 000 Menschen in der Krisenregion könnten im Winter an Hunger und Kälte sterben.» Nähere Einzelheiten über die Gespräche mit seinem italienischen Kollegen Beniamino Andreatta wurden nicht bekannt.
     Cohen kommentierte auch den anstehenden Wechsel in der deutschen Regierung. Dies dürfe die Verläßlichkeit Deutschlands als NATO-Partner nicht beeinträchtigen. «Deutschland ist ein wichtiger Bündnisstaat der NATO und wird es sicher auch weiterhin bleiben.»
     Die Regierung in Belgrad begründete das Ende ihres harten Vorgehens im Kosovo mit der Beruhigung der Lage. «Die Terroristen sind besiegt, daher können sich die Sicherheitskräfte allmählich in ihre Kasernen zurückziehen», sagte Mirko Marjanovic, Regierungschef der Teilrepublik Serbien, im Parlament in Belgrad. «Ab heute sind alle antiterroristischen Aktivitäten im Kosovo beendet.»
     «Eine neue Offensive wird es nur geben, falls die Banditen und Terroristen erneut zuschlagen», sagte er in einer Sondersitzung des Parlaments zur Kosovo-Krise. Nach Angaben von Marjanovic sind seit Beginn der Kämpfe im Kosovo im Februar dieses Jahres 94 serbische Polizisten und 32 Soldaten der jugoslawischen Armee getötet worden.
     Aus der Krisenregion selbst lagen zunächst keine Angaben darüber vor, ob die Offensive der serbischen und jugoslawischen Verbände tatsächlich eingestellt wurde.
     Noch am Vorabend hatte das Informationszentrum der Albaner in der Provinzhauptstadt Pristina von schweren Kämpfen im Südwesten des Kosovo berichtet.
© dpa

Rühe: Kabinett könnte am Mittwoch über Tornados entscheiden
Bonn (dpa) - Der deutsche Verteidigungsminister Volker Rühe rechnet für diesen Mittwoch mit einer Kabinetts-Entscheidung über die Bereitstellung von 14 Tornado-Kampfflugzeugen für einen möglichen NATO-Einsatz im Kosovo. Er sagte am Montag in Bonn, er wisse noch nicht, wann die für den Einsatz notwendige Entscheidung vom Parlament getroffen werden kann.
     Die deutsche Luftwaffe will für mögliche Luftschläge der Nato gegen serbische Positionen im Kosovo acht ECR- und sechs RECCE-Tornados zur Verfügung stellen. Die NATO-Verteidigungsminister hatten in der vergangenen Woche auf einer Sondersitzung in Portugal die Einsatzbereitschaft von rund 200 Kampfmaschinen für mögliche Luftangriffe beschlossen.
     Die ECR-Tornados können mit ihrer elektronischen Spezialausrüstung und der Rakete «Harm» Flugabwehrstellungen der Serben lokalisieren, identifizieren und gegebenenfalls zerstören. Die RECCE-Tornados sind mit Spezialkameras für die Aufklärung ausgerüstet. Beide Tornado-Versionen sind mit Raketen zur Selbstverteidigung ausgestattet.
© dpa

Albaner bestätigen Ende der Kampfhandlungen im Kosovo
Belgrad/Pristina (dpa) - Die vom offiziellen Belgrad verkündete Einstellung der Offensive in der südjugoslawischen Provinz Kosovo ist am Montag nachmittag aus albanischen Quellen bestätigt worden.
     «Wir haben bis zur Stunde keinen Bericht von neuen Kampfhandlungen in der Provinz erhalten», erklärte Enver Maloku, Leiter des Informationszentrums der Kosovo-Albaner in der Provinzhauptstadt Pristina.
     Der Regierungschef der jugoslawischen Teilrepublik Serbien, Mirko Marjanovic, hatte am Vormittag überraschend das sofortige Ende «aller antiterroristischen Aktionen» der serbischen und jugoslawischen Sicherheitskräfte gegen albanische Untergrundkämpfer im Kosovo verkündet.
     Nach seiner Darstellung waren die «terrroristischen Banden» - Einheiten der Untergrundarmee UCK der Kosovo-Albaner - endgültig zerschlagen.
     Das offizielle Belgrad hat in den vergangenen Monaten mehrmals die Einstellung aller Kampfhandlungen im Kosovo angekündigt. Dennoch hatten die Einheiten der serbischen Sonderpolizei und der jugoslawischen Armee ihre Angriffe in der Provinz fortgesetzt.
© dpa

34 Kosovo-Albaner flüchteten sich in kanadische Botschaft in Ungarn
Budapest (dpa) - 34 Kosovo-Albaner, darunter 16 Kinder, haben sich am Montag auf das Gelände der kanadischen Botschaft in Budapest geflüchtet. Dies meldete der ungarische Rundfunk. Die Flüchtlinge verlangten dem Bericht zufolge politisches Asyl in Kanada. Derzeit würden Vertreter der Botschaft mit den Kosovo-Albanern verhandeln. Ein Sprecher der ungarischen Polizei kündigte an, daß die Betroffenen in ein Durchgangslager gebracht und den fremdenpolizeilichen Verfahren unterzogen würden, falls die Verhandlungen kein Ergebnis bringen.
© dpa

Belgrad: Ende der «antiterroristischen Aktionen» im Kosovo
Belgrad (dpa) - Das offizielle Belgrad hat am Montag den Abschluß der «antiterroristischen Aktionen» seiner Sicherheitskräfte in der überwiegend von Albanern bewohnten Provinz Kosovo im Süden Jugoslawiens verkündet.
     «Ab heute sind alle antiterroristischen Aktivitäten im Kosovo beendet» sagte Mirko Marjanovic, Regierungschef der Teilrepublik Serbien, am Montag im Parlament in Belgrad. «Die Terroristen sind besiegt, daher können sich die Sicherheitskräfte allmählich in ihre Kasernen zurückziehen.»
     «Eine neue Offensive wird es nur geben, falls die Banditen und Terroristen erneut zuschlagen», sagte er vor dem Parlament, das zu einer Sondersitzung zur Kosovo-Krise zusammengetreten war.
     Nach offiziellen Angaben von Marjanovic waren seit Beginn der Kämpfe im Kosovo im Februar dieses Jahres 94 serbische Polizisten und 32 Soldaten der jugoslawischen Armee getötet worden.
     Aus der Krisenregion selbst lagen zunächst keine Angaben darüber vor, ob die Offensive der serbischen und jugoslawischen Verbände tatsächlich eingestellt wurde. Noch am Vorabend hatte das Informationszentrum der Albaner in der Provinzhauptstadt Pristina von schweren Kämpfen im Südwesten des Kosovo berichtet.
© dpa

Cohen: Deutschland bleibt wichtiger Verbündeter der Nato
Rom (dpa) - Deutschland bleibt nach den Worten von US-Verteidigungsminister William Cohen ein «wichtiger Verbündeter der NATO». Das sagte der Minister am Montag vor Journalisten in Rom in Bezug auf den Kosovo-Konflikt. Es sei noch zu früh, um die Haltung der künftigen Regierung einschätzen zu können, fügte Cohen hinzu. «Aber Deutschland ist ein wichtiger Bündnisstaat der NATO und wird dies sicherlich auch weiterhin bleiben.» Der sozialdemokratische Wahlsieger Gerhard Schröder selbst habe mehrfach betont, daß er in der Außenpolitik auf Kontinuität setze.
© dpa

US-Verteidigungsminister Cohen berät in Rom über Kosovo-Konflikt
Rom (dpa) - US-Verteidigungsminister William Cohen berät heute (Montag) mit der italienischen Regierung die neuste Entwicklung in der Kosovo-Krise. Dabei geht es vor allem darum, welche Staaten sich an einem Luftschlag der NATO gegen die serbischen Stellungen beteiligen würden.
     Italien wäre von einem militärischen Vorgehen besonders betroffen, denn die NATO-Flugzeuge würden vor allem von Flugplätzen in Italien starten.
     Die NATO hatte in der vergangenen Woche nach Verabschiedung einer Kosovo-Resolution durch den UNO-Sicherheitsrat mit dem Aufbau einer Luftstreitmacht für ein militärisches Eingreifen begonnen. Cohen sagte, die Nato müsse schnell handeln, falls der jugoslawischen Präsident Slobodan Milosevic die UNO-Resolution nicht erfülle. Serbische Soldaten gehen seit Monaten brutal gegen die albanische Bevölkerung in der Provinz Kosovo vor.
© dpa

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3. Reports about deportation and persons repatriated to Kosova

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

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Do you know cases of deportations to Kosova ? - Please send me your report !

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Kosova Information Center
KOSOVA DAILY REPORT # 1566
Prishtina, 28 September 1998

Serbs Slain 15 Albanians, Two Families, in Obria Village of Gllogovc
Amongst the massacred victims there were children and pregnant women, witnesses say

PRISHTINA, Sept 28 (KIC) - After the Serbs troops left Obria village, local residents and activists of the Gllogovc chapter of the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms (CDHRF) found today 15 dead bodies of Albanians scattered in the fields and houses of the village.
The Obria village and over 20 the villages in the Çiçavica mountain foot were targeted by a heavy Serb offensive since last Wednesday which left over 100 Albanian killed, many others wounded and entre villages destroyed.
The Human Rights Council in Gllogovc said the bodies of the following Albanians were found in Obria today:
Eight massacred persons were found in the garden of Deliu extended family: Adem Deliu (33), Hava Deliu (65), Jeton Deliu (10), Hamide Deliu (60), Valmir Deliu (18 months), Luljeta Deliu (25), pregnant woman, Ms Lumnije Deliu (30) Ms Mihane Deliu (25);
In the house of Hajriz Deliu were found slain Donjeta Deliu (4), Gentiana Deliu (7), Zahide Deliu (27);
The charred body of Fazli Deliu (90) was found in his house;
Ali Deliu (63), was found with his throat slit;
Pajazit Deliu (65) and Zeqir Deliu (44), were mutilated.
A 6-month baby girl, Diturie Deliu, was found alive covered by the dead body of her slain mother.
Most of the bodies of the victims were mutilated, witnesses said.
The head of the Human Rights Council in Gllogovc said many local residents were wounded in Obria village. It is feared that the casualty figures are still higher in the village as many persons have been missing for days, he said.
Sources in Gllogovc reported that during the course of Sunday they identified 26 other killed Albanians scattered in the surrounding villages.

Around 200 Albanians Being Held Captive by Serbs in a School Near Gllogovc

PRISHTINA, Sept 28 (KIC) - Around 200 Albanians are being held captive in the local school at Krajkova village near Gllogovc since Saturday, witnesses told the Kosova Information Center today (Monday) morning.
Albanian civilians who are being held in the school are resident of different villages of the Drenica region, central and north-west Kosova.
Jakup Morina, a resident of Orllat village told the KIC that his two sons, Gani Morina and Ruzhdi Morina are amongst the detainees being held in the school building at Krajkova. He named three other Albanians from the village of Negroc, Bekim Krasniqi and bothers Azem Krasniqi and Ajet Krasniqi, also being held in there.
Other sources in Gllogovc confirmed today that scores of Albanians were being held in Krajkova but they failed to specify their number.

Serb Troops Resume Attacks Against Villages of Ferizaj, Southern Kosova

PRISHTINA, Sept 28 (KIC) - Serb forces have continued shelling the villages of Jezerc, Nerodime e Epërme and Nerodime e Ulët in Ferizaj municipality overnight and today (Monday) morning, local sources reported.
Over a dozen villages straddling a triangle between Shtime, Ferizaj and Suhareka - Topillë, Devetak and Llanishtë, Jezerc, Nerodime e Epërme, Vraniq, Budakovë, Krushicë, Papaz, Savrovë, Buzhalë, Bukosh, Dubravë, Maqitevë, Stravoqinë and Reçan - came under Serb fire on Sunday morning. Scores of farmhouses were reported destroyed during the attacks, while the local population was on the move ever since.
The LDK chapter in Ferizaj said today morning that the villages Jezerc, Nerodime e Epërme and Nerodime e Ulët were all in flames.
There has been a stepped up movement of Serb troops around the these villages and other parts of the municipality during the whole course of today morning, it said.
Reports from the area said fresh Serb troops backed up with heavy artillery have been garrisoned in key positions today. The so- called 'catchusha' multiple rocked launchers have been positioned in a couple of locations.
The situation was reported dangerous in Greme village today afternoon where Serb infantry advanced the hills around the village.
No report about possible casualties in Freizaj villages has been available today.

Serb Infantry Enter Into Villages of Shtime, Torch Houses of Albanians

PRISHTINA, Sept 28 (KIC) - Serb attacks launched since Sunday morning against several villages of Shtime, south of Prishtina, has continued today (Monday), sources told KIC.
During the morning hours today the Serb infantry first entered into the villages of Reçak, Petrovë and Mollopolc to only proceed later towards the Gryka e Devetakut (the Devetak gorge), the LDK chapter in Shtime said.
The local population fled the villages in advance to the Serb encroachment. In the town of Shtime itself the Serb troops set ablaze two houses of Albanians, the LDK chapter said.

Dangerous Situation Reported in Suhareka as Serbs Persist with Fresh Attacks

PRISHTINA, Sept 28 (KIC) - The LDK chapter in Suhareka said over 15.000 residents of villages that were targeted by a Serb offensive since yesterday morning have been on the move. Most of them have been camping out in two sites near Vraniq and Buzhala villages
Half a dozen villages in the Suhareka municipality - Budakovë, Krushicë, Papaz, Savrovë, Buzhalë, Bukosh, and Dubravë - came under heavy Serb artillery fire n Sunday morning.
The fleeing Albanians have claimed the Serb troops have terrorized many Albanians and torched scores of houses. Witnesses who fled the Reqan village said over 70 per cent of the houses there were destroyed by the Serbs.
At the Savrovë village, the plundering of large amounts of property preceded the burning of several houses. The Serbs troops cracked down brutally against the local papulation. Many local Albanians were rounded up and taken to unknown place by the Serb region, including Zenel Zeneli, Hazir Zeneli, Beqir Zeneli, his son Florim, brothers Ramadan, Sedat and Nexhat Kokollari, Halit Qysa, Sahit Krasniqi and his son Hajrullah, Jetullah Krasniqi.
The Sopia village has been placed inside a deadly siege by the Serb since early in the morning today. Access to the village has been impossible, local activist told KIC, who said that smoke was billowing from houses in the village.
The Serb troops have advanced today towards the hamlets of Maqiteva, Papazi, Kokollari, Hoxha, Buzhala and Savrova.
Several large-calibre shells landed today morning in the Mushitisht village. Nor report about possible casualties has been available still.
In the early afternoon hours, sources in Suhareke said fresh Serb troops were being deployed in the area. Around 20 tanks were see heading in the direction of the villages Budakovë, Buzhalë and Vraniq at around 13:00 hrs.

Serb Troops Loot Property od Albanians in 15 Villages of Suhareka

PRISHTINA, Sept 28 (KIC) - In an account today, the LDK Information Commission in Suhareke named 15 villages in the municipality where the Serbs forces looted the property of Albanian and set ablaze scores of houses over the past days.
Tens of farmhouses have been torched in the villages of Reçan, Krushicë, Budakovë, Bukosh, Mohlan, Papaz, Dragoçinë, Maçitevë, Buzhalë, Llanishtë, Jezerc. Plumes of smoke could be seen billowing from these villages today morning, wetness told KIC.
The situation has been described as mostly volatile in Budakova village. The local population which could not flee their homes ahead of the Serb encroachment around the village have been holed up since Sunday. Local activist said they were fearful of possible Serb crackdown against the unprotected population.

Refugee Baby Boy Dies of Cold in Çiçavica Mountains

PRISHTINA, Sept 28 (KIC) -  A seven-week-old boy, Shqipdon Shabani from Dashec village of Skënderaj ('Srbica'), died last night in the a forest of the Çiçavica mountains where his family has been hiding for several days in the wake of the Serb offensive against Albanian communities.
The LDK chapter in Skenderaj said a large number of Albanians, including children, women and sick persons, have been sleeping rough in the Çiçavica mountains. Their condition is appalling it said.
The LDK said that in the mountains of Çiçavica there are till many scattered bodies of Albanians killed during the latest Serb offensive.

Serbs Loot 267 Tractors, 113 Cars, in Villages Around Obiliq

PRISHTINA, Sept 28 (KIC) -  In the wake of several day long bombardment of Albanian communities in the municipality of Obiliq, north-west of Prishtina, the Serb troops have embarked on large- scale campaigns of looting and destruction of the property.
According to accounts by local human rights groups in Obiliq, the Serbs have looted property worth hundreds of thousands of German marks.
The chapter of the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms (CDHRF) in Obiliq said that in five village alone - Lajthishtë, Shipitullë, Graboc i Epërm, Hamidi, Sibovc - the Serbs have looted 267 tractors and 112 cars. At Lajthishtë the Serbs took away 60 tractors and 20 cars, in Shipitullë 40 tractors and 15 cars, in Sibovc 60 tractors and 40 cars, in Graboc i Epërm 65 tractors and 22 cars, and in Hamidi 22 tractors and 15 cars, the CDHRF said.
The human rights Council added that the Serbs have looted large amounts of domestic appliances and other commodities, and cattle in the Albanian villages and farmhouses of Obiliq.

Kosova Information Center
Last page

KOSOVA (executions)
Serb forces execute a 100-year-old man

Likoshan, Drenica, 27 September (ARTA) 1715CET--
"Four Albanians, among whom a 100 years old man, Hajdar Smaili, were executed by the Serb forces during the Serb offensive of 24 September in the village of Likoshan, near Çiçavicë", sources from the village inform.
"Hajdari was killed along with Selim Miftari (75), Brahim Abdyli (63) and a fourth person, whose identity is still unknown. They were killed as they were trying to defend the women and children from the Serb police, who were demanding to take the young Albanians with them", claimed Xheladin Smaili, old man's nephew.
"After killing the 100 years old man and three other aged Albanians, the police picked up seven other Albanians", the same sources inform.
The population of the village is sheltered in the Çiçavicë forest. Out of 130 houses none remain.
There are reports that a large number of Serb police\military formations are still in this zone, though no KLA forces are present.
The four executed were buried in the Çiçavicë forest.

KOSOVA (communique – KLA)
More concrete and urgent actions from the international community and NATO

Prishtina, 27 September (ARTA) 2130CET --
The political communique nr.10 of KLA states that, "The Liberation Struggle of the KLA and the Albanian nation is continuing with persistence and determination, while the political parties of Kosova are still behaving as indifferent and sidetracked and with their actions are impeding this Holly War.
It is a misfortune and even a tragedy for such "personalities" to lead one nation, since they are transgressing the influence and the authority of KLA with their declarations in front of the International Community.
Those same people have asked for a new nation-wide referendum in order to justify their cowardice and incapacity, not to say their betrayal.
The Albanian nation in the 1991 referendum, as well as nowadays in the course of the liberation war, is determined for the independence of Kosova. In addition, it is ready to win it with the most sublime sacrifice. Since this fact is familiar to everybody, the demand for the referendum about a cultural autonomy is unacceptable and nonsense.
First of all, the political parties of Kosova are to be blamed for the prevailing circumstances in Kosova because they provided space and reason for the occupier to undertake the destructive offensive, which endangered the individual and collective lives of the Kosova Albanians.
Second to be blamed is the Serb population and intelligentsia, which did not seriously react against the terror and vandalism, which was and is being applied by Serb military and police.
The international factor has not undertaken any adequate punitive measures against the ethnical policy of Belgrade occupator. It has allowed criminals headed by Milosevic to commit the most barbaric crimes ever done, applied against the civilian population and its property, in their presence.
The KLA General Headquarters, appreciated some of the sections of the Resolution adopted by the UN Security Council, nevertheless it demands the actions of NATO and the international community to be concrete and urgent. The KLA has declared that it respects all the covenants, in war and peace, which are adopted by this community and it has offered a cooperation. Therefore, we demand the problem of Kosova to be treated as a political and military crisis, which has induced a humanitarian one with catastrophic dimensions.
The KLA General Headquarters demand from the Albanian nation to avoid being a victim of the humanity of the most criminal regime Europe has ever had.
We urge political parties in Kosova and Albania to give up quarrels, fragmentation and the struggle for power, at a time when Albanian territories are being soaked in blood by Serb pyromaniacs; at a time when Albanian wealth is being destroyed, and Albanian dignity is being brought to dust.
Otherwise, these irresponsible acts shall be judged by history.
We also urge political activists, intellectuals, and professionals to join the KLA, which fights for the freedom and Independence of Kosova.
The KLA Headquarters has always valued and appreciated the courage of those who are ready to sacrifice themselves for the freedom and independence of Kosova.
The large scale police\military offensive, in the last three months, especially in the month of September, has only brought forward the legitimacy of the KLA, which is growing stronger and more professionally each day.

KOSOVA (clashes - Suharekë)
Villages of Suharekë on fire -

Suharekë, 26 September (ARTA) 1530CET --
Clashes have again spilled over several villages of Suharekë that extend in the eastern part. "KOHA Ditore" sources notify that numerous police\military forces equipped with tank units and APCs launched a fierce attack, in the early morning hours, against the Albanian villages situated in the right side of the Suharekë-Prishtina road axis.
The villages of Savrov, Bukosh, Vraniq, Maqitevë, Buzhalë, Krushicë, Budakovë, Muhlan, Reqan Greiqevc etc, are presently exposed to the Serb artillery fire, while bulks of fire are going up from the houses of these villages.
There are reports that the KLA units are responding to this fire, however, the Serb actions also cover villages that have no KLA units in. Witnesses claim that the Serb forces are using all kinds of heavy weaponry, including the surface to surface missiles.
LDK and CDHRF sources from Suharekë inform that infantry units entered some of the villages and set fire to the Albanian owned houses.
Presently, the villages of Bukosh, Savrov, Stravoqin etc. are burning, while Serb detonations and shelling can be heard from all sides.
There are still no confirmed informations about the number of the victims, but based on the intensity of the clashes it is feared to be very high.
The population has largely moved out, but the odds of finding shelter are presently limited.

KOSOVA (Serb offensive – Ferizaj)
Southeast engulfed with police\military forces

Ferizaj, 27 September (ARTA) 1700CET --
During the last couple of days, fierce shelling was heard in the direction of the village of Jezerc. The are reports of shooting even from the direction of Nerodime e Epërme, which is now taken over by fire and smoke.
LDK and CDHRF sources from Ferizaj inform that the shelling of the village of Jezerc began with the early morning hours. In addition, large Serb police\military force movements, in several villages, were noticed. These villages are mainly linked with the village of Jezerc through the forest paths.
Serb forces have positioned their heavy weaponry in villages of Kashtanjevë, Ura e Balajve, and Pleshinë. It is reported that the Serb forces in Dremjak consist of tanks, APCs, and trucks equipped "kaçushas" (surface-to-surface missile launchers). Many Serb forces composed of tanks and trucks went in the direction of the village of Pleshinë and in the village of Gaqkë.
The Ferizaj-Shtime road is under harsh police control. Police checkpoints and patrols are present in the town of Ferizaj itself.

KOSOVA (Serb offensive – Kijevë)
After chasing out villagers, Serb forces burn villages

Malishevë, 27 September (ARTA) 1930CET --
The villages along the locality of Kijevë, such as: Mleçan, Llozicë, Balincë, Bubavec, Plloçicë and others were a target of the Serb force shelling for several days, LDK information sources in Malishevë inform.
Albanian sources claim that after the shelling, the Serb police forces first looted many Albanian houses and then destroyed them. All these villages are completely abandoned. According to the same sources, a tense situation has also prevailed Malishevë proper, the villages Dragobil, Ostrazub, Maxhare, Carallukë, Banjë, Senik, Lladrofc, and many other villages of this municipality.
"KOHA Ditore" sources claim that 70 tanks and other Serb armored vehicles, among which several multi barrel mine launchers, cruised from Kijevë in the direction of Orllat, on Saturday, at around 1500CET.
Immediately after this convoy passed, from the opposite direction, down the same main road, 50 other military\police vehicles came shooting, particularly in the direction of Pishat e Llozicit.
Frequent flying of the Serb military planes followed these movements. There are also reports about intensified movements and added military forces along the Malishevë-Ostrazub road, from where shooting from different caliber weapons could constantly be heard.
Houses of the village of Ostrazub are completely destroyed, say villagers that managed to get out.
The village of Cerrovik, municipality of Klinë, was set on fire, Sunday.

KOSOVA (prisoners – Klinë)
Some 300 Albanians in Serb prisons around Kosova – returnees intimidated by Serb civilians

Klinë, 27 September (ARTA) 2000CET --
Large Serb military\police forces, equipped with heavy fighting technique, have currently been moving down the villages of Lugu i Drinit.
Over 20 thousand people the majority of which women and children are surrounded in the forests and fields, from Magurë to Baincë. Meanwhile, in the burned village of Dush, people have started putting up plastic tents.
It is estimated that over 300 Albanians, mainly young people from the municipality of Klinë, are being kept at the police station in Klinë and Gllogoc, as well as in the prisons of Pejë, Mitrovicë and Prishtina.
In Potërç, groups of armed Serb civilians are mistreating those few Albanians that returned home. This made them flee the village again.
Nothing is still known about the 4 Gashi families from the village of Çabiq, trapped in the forest of this village for more than a month. Among them, there are many children and elderly, ranging from 3-month-old babies to 90-year-old ill persons.

KOSOVA (Serb offensive – Podujevë)
Two Albanians killed during the offensive - buried in Kaqanoll

Podujevë, 27 September (ARTA) 2015CET --
The massacred and killed bodies of Ramadan Behrami (58) and Musa Belegu (29), from the village of Kaqanoll, were found on Saturday. They were shot not far from their houses, in the village of Kaqanoll.
Nothing was known about them ever since 15 September, when the Serb police\military force offensive, against several villages of the region of Llap and of Shala e Bajgorës, commenced. The victims were buried in their own village.
So far, it is reported that since the Serb offensive in this region began, 22 persons have been killed, 54 houses are destroyed and looted. The population of these villages has fled the war afflicted localities.

KOSOVA (victims – Kaçanik)
Police brings the corpse of Kujtim Kralani to Kaçanik Health Station

Kaçanik, 27 September (ARTA) 2100CET --
Last night at around 2010CET, the Serb police brought the corpse of Kujtim Kralani (44) from Gjakovë at the Health Station in Kaçanik. The corpse was brought from the police checkpoint in the village of Doganaj.
The circumstances under which he was killed remain mysterious. According to the reports from the Health Station in Kaçanik, the victim had traces of blood in his mouth, nose, and neck.
His family at around 1100CET picked up the corpse from the Health Station.

KOSOVA (humanitarian catastrophe)
20 thousand civilians besieged in the village of Baincë

Gllogoc, 27 September (ARTA) 2100CET --
20,000 Albanian civilians from the villages of Domanek, Baincë, Tërstenik, Tërdevc, Shtrubullovë, Krajkovë and other villages of the municipality of Gllogoc, are held under Serb police siege for the fifth consequent day today, at the place called "Gryka e Ramadanëve" in Baincë, municipality of Gllogoc, Albanian sources claim.
The same sources say that it is feared a massacre could take place.
The people are being faced with lack of food, medicine, clothing, and other basic living items.

KOSOVA (communique – Prishtina)
"The President of the Republic to represent mandatory Prime-Minister for naming the Cabinet"

Prishtina, 26 September (ARTA) 1630CET --
The Steering Board of the Assembly of Republic of Kosova and some of the Parliamentary Parties, in a joint session, expressed the necessity of a cooperation between all the Albanian political subjects for the benefit of Republic of Kosova.
"The Steering Board of the Assembly and the Parliamentary parties demand from the President of the Republic of Kosova that, in conformity with the Constitution of the Republic, to appoint a mandatory Prime-minister who will establish the Government of the Republic of Kosova as a Government of national unity", states the communique.
The communique also reminds that it is necessary to "make more vigorous and entire-encompassing attempts to ensure a stronger international support for resolving the status of Kosova; appeal to the UN, Security Council, and NATO, to undertake an immediate intervention (in Conformity with lately adopted Resolution of the Security Council about Kosova), in order to halt the Serb terrorism and the ongoing war; to create ground for a political solution respecting the will of Kosova People for self-determination".
The Assembly also underpins that it is important "To undertake all the possible measures in order to evict maximally the consequences of the Kosova war, as well as the humanitarian catastrophe, in this way ensuring a fruitful cooperation between the international humanitarian associations as well as the associations of Republic of Kosova".

MACEDONIA (arrests)
Macedonian police continues arresting Albanian "terrorists"

Shkup, 27 September (ARTA) 1630CET --
Special Macedonian police units continued raiding and arresting Albanians, mostly students from the University of Tetovë, using the pretext of arms' search. After raiding and demolishing the houses of two arrested Albanians from Kërçovë, the police took with them Adem Karaga's mother and nothing is known about her ever since.
In both cases, it came out that the police did not find any weapons.
This police intervention was conducted without the authorization of the judicial organs. All the arrests in the Shkup surrounding, in Kumanovë and Kërçovë, were done, as the Macedonian police states, to "discover the terrorist groups or the KLA bases and their network acting in Macedonia".
In the meantime, the investigating judges that interrogated the arrested declared that so far there are no relevant judicial proofs that the arrested be accused for terrorist actions. We can only talk about illegal arms possession, they claim. Regardless of this, the police continue to arrest, using the pretext of arresting the "terrorists".
A public letter was addressed to the senior state leaders and to the international organizations in Macedonia, by the "Index" club of the Albanian students of Kërçovë, studying in Tirana, Prishtina, Shkup, and Tetovë.
At the same time, the Macedonian media praised the successes of these actions for alleged extraordinary professional capability of the Macedonian police. The Albanian media on the other hand, based on the facts gathered from the terrain, evaluates these arrests as state terrorism that the Macedonian Government is applying on the Albanian population.
Albanian sources state that the arrested were not found in possession of any kind of explosive that would be used as a fact to label them as terrorists. Following the agreement between the Albanian political parties for cooperation, understood by the Macedonian authorities as "mobilizing Albanians, with the purpose of threatening Macedonian's interests and their state", the authorities have commenced a campaign of destroying these agreements and thus leave the Albanians aside.

BOSNIA (Silajdzic – press conference)
Silajdzic: "We shall toast after present fascism is beaten"

Sarajevo, 27 September (ARTA) 2115CET
"We have gathered here today, at a time when Kosova is engulfed with the smell of gunpowder. Houses are being burned, villages are being shelled, women are being raped, old people and children are being massacred, just as, not a long time ago, in Bosnia", said the co-Chairman of the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Haris Silajdzic, at a press conference, held after result of general elections were published.
"Albanians are being killed and exterminated on their door-step. They are being killed, for they are a native people, among the oldest in Europe, and among the most civilized. They are being killed by the same executioners, who kill for a failed policy, denounced by the international community, which as on our case, is reacting languidly, framing the measures of punishment towards the aggressor", Silajdzic said and added: "400 thousand Albanians in Kosova are out in the cold, with no roof over their head".
"Over 100.000 ancestors of the ancient Illyrians, have taken to foreign countries. Over 12.000 have found shelter in this country, in circumstances that we live under. But, no matter the difficulties we have here in Bosnia, we should act with acceptance and solidarity, which is a virtue of Albanians".
"We shall not toast to victory now. We shall leave it to better days when we have beaten the present fascism".

KOSOVA (political parties – Prishtina)
Albanian political subject: "Serb document extraordinarily faint, an evidence of poverty… of Serb hegemony"

Prishtina, 27 September (ARTA) 1830CET --
The Serb Government's conclusions about Kosova, sent for approval to the Assembly of Serbia, were evaluated by the Kosova Albanian political subjects as "apparent evidence of the creative and intellectual destitution of the Serb hegemony", as a "propagandistic pamphlet" and as a declaration which "gives no indication for a serious dialogue, but on the contrary, it forecasts new Albanian graves".
According to the Chief of the Albanian negotiating group, Fehmi Agani, "The document of the Serb government is an extraordinarily faint document and it is an apparent evidence of the intellectual and creative destitution of the Serb hegemony". He adds further that "The document starts with extolling the violence and the occupation of Kosova, it refers to Kosova as a territory which was occupied once upon a time, and which was re-occupied these days again.
"According to it the solution of the problem relies on these basis", Agani says.
"The document does not see the issue of Kosova as a problem at all, and accordingly it does not provide any solution for it".
In Agani’s view the solution which is offered "comes with some verbal concessions which could be made to Albanians, although Serbia is very thrifty even in verbal concessions", says Agani.
"The value of this document is that, it clearly indicates where is the genuine source and the real reason why the dialogue is not being established, and why the peaceful solution of the Kosova problem does not have perspective".
Concerning evaluations that the offer of the Serb Government is similar to the proposal of Ambassador Christopher Hill, Agani claimed that, "These are only mechanical comparisons".
"The largest part of the document has to deal with the military operations and with the occupation of Kosova. It does not have anything in common with the proposal of Mr. O’Brian, which is wrongly being interpreted as an American proposal. In fact it (O'Brian’s document) is an initial idea or working document of one of the participants, in the search for a solution for Kosova", he explained.
Agani claimed that, the document proposed by the Americans is unacceptable both for the members of the commission and for the higher institutions, as well as for the entire Albanian public opinion.
"Mr. O'Brian has comprehended from our first reactions that this document cannot be passed like that, that it is just a working version which needs to be essentially improved. Namely, a new document is requested. This is our attitude and I believe that it will be adopted", claimed Agani.
Mehmet Hajrizi, the General Secretary of the Albanian democratic Movement (LDSH) thinks that, the 15 points of the Serb Government conclusions, about the situation of social and economic insurance in Kosova are "nothing more than a summary of the everyday propaganda of Belgrade regime about Kosova and its issue".
Hajrizi claims that "The policy of the Serb regime which is already well-known about its tragic approach towards Kosova, is carefully kept untouchable in these conclusions" about the solution of Kosova problem.
"The solution of the Kosova problem in those conclusions is settled in conformity with the current Constitution of Serbia, aiming to keep steady or eternally the colonial occupation of Kosova by Belgrade".
"According to these standards, the Kosova Albanian people will be given the right to speak in their language, to keep their tradition, to write in their alphabet, and to cultivate their culture", claimed Hajrizi.
"It seems that, the Serb regime has calculated that it could subjugate and humiliate the Albanian nation after applying the ongoing brutal aggression against it", he evaluates.
"The Kosova Albanians are determined not to accept the Serb occupation and they will continue their attempts to fulfill their legitimate rights and aspirations", claimed at the end the LDSH Secretary General.
"None of the projects which were published or undertaken so far by the Serb side, were serious enough and none of them forecast welfare in the Balkans", claims Afrim Morina the vice president of UNIKOMB (Party of the National Unification).
"This last declaration, which is expected to be approved in the Parliament (and which will be approved for sure in the Serb Parliament), does not give any indication for a serious dialogue, but on the contrary it forecasts more Albanian graves. It provides further slavery for the Albanians and it does not give a damn about the threats of the International Community which seem to be more serious this time compared to the previous ones".
However, according to Morina "The Serbs have found space for such a project, based on the project of the Albanian G-5 group, which asks for a third republic within Serbia This would settled by a referendum. But, its level, nor other points of the referendum are known precisely".
So "they are aware about this, and accordingly, they made a project similar with the one of Mr. Hill. This indicates that Mr. Hill’s project was "born" in the Belgrade cabinets, although it is a more moderated project than the Serb one".
According to Morina, when we compare the Albanian and the Serb project, than a "modus vivendi which means an autonomy could be found.
The Albanians will not accept that, because they have decided to fight until the ultimate liberation of the fatherland. They will never accept such projects which imply a coexistence with Belgrade neither if those projects are made by Albanians or Serbs, nor by Hill".
The president of the Union of Kosova Trade Unions, Hajrullah Gorani, estimates that the Serb proposal for an alleged solution of the Kosova problem is just a "propagandistic pamphlet, which does not have any platform and does not lead to any solution".
"This is the worst standpoint which was ever expressed", he claimed adding further that,"this indicates a characteristic, a nationalist obsession, which has overwhelmed all the Serb political parties either ruling or in opposition".

*NEWS REPORT*
******************************************************************************************************
The views expressed in the news reports and messages posted to the List by the List members are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the policy or position of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Quoting is allowed only if the source of the information  is specified.
******************************************************************************************************
 Betreff: SM News:6346: Serb Prelate for Peace - Embassy Row - The Washington Times
 Datum: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 08:38:06 -0400 (EDT)
    Von:  sparta13@ix.netcom.com

Stella L. Jatras posted Message 6346 in the SM News:

Dated  : September 24, 1998 at 08:37:42
Subject: Serb Prelate for Peace - Embassy Row - The Washington Times
letter@twtmail.com

The Washington Times
Thursday, 24 September 1998

EMBASSY ROW
Serb Prelate for Peace

The Orthodox bishop in black robes and long, gray beard may look like an unlikely hero.  But he is placing himself between a ruthless Yugoslav president and defiant Albanian rebels as he tires to encourage peace talks in Kosovo.
Although he clearly places his life at risk. Bishop Artemija apprears resigned to the danger.
"I am not especially brave.  I believe in God," he told editors and reporters at The Washington Tiems yesterday.  "I am doing this for my people and for my church."
The bishop of Kosovo was in Washington and New York this week urging U.S. leaders to stop trying to open negotiatiions between Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and the ethnic-Albanian rebels of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).  Bishop Artemija wants the West to concentrate on ethnic Serbs who oppose Mr. Milosevic and ethnic Albanians who advocate a peaceful peaceful solution to the conflict.
"Milosevic should be isolated.  That would be the way to abolish him," he said.
Bishop Artemija also warned that any NATO intervention will bolster both sides.  It would give Mr. Milosevic a foreign enemy to blame and allow the KLA to claim the West supports their goal of an independent Kosovo.
"It would make it even more complicated," he said.  "It would strengthen the undemocratic regime of Milosevic.  He will blame the intervention for his problems.  It would also encourage the Albanian separatists to continue their atrocities."
Bishop Artemija said, "The Serbian Orthodox Church is taking a balanced view.  We are condemning violence on both sides.
"We want to find a solution that will bring us to a democratic solution for the region," he said.  "We don't want Kosovo only for Serbs, but we don't want Kosovo without Serbs.  Kosovo is the cradle of our civilization."
The KLA grew out of Mr. Milosevic's drive to crush separatism in the Serbian province.
The rebels have been accused of attacking Serbian villages and kidnapping Serbian civilians.  The U.S. Security Council is demanding a cease-fire and threatening more action if the fighting continues.

*NEWS REPORT*
******************************************************************************************************
The views expressed in the news reports and messages posted to the List by the List members are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the policy or position of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Quoting is allowed only if the source of the information  is specified.
******************************************************************************************************
Betreff:  SM News:6445: Press Release: THE PARLIAMENT OF SERBIA OFFERS DIALOGUE, 9/26/98
Datum:  Sun, 27 Sep 1998 13:02:55 -0400 (EDT)
    Von:   ddc@srpska-mreza.com

ddc posted Message 6445 in the SM News:
 
Dated  : September 27, 1998 at 13:02:03
Subject: Press Release:
THE PARLIAMENT OF SERBIA OFFERS DIALOGUE, 9/26/98
[Note: sorry for any scanning errors. --ddc]

PRESS RELEASE, 26 September 1998

THE PARLIAMENT OF SERBIA OFFERS DIALOGUE

On its session on Friday, Chaired by Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic, the Serbian Government reviewed the security, social and economic situation in Kosovo and Metohiia, adopting draft conclusions which it submitted to the Republican Parliament for adoption, Following is an unofficial translation of the text of the draft:

1. The Serbian Parliament assesses that Albanian separatism, the aim of which is the secession of Kosovo and Metohija from Serbia, is the main cause of problems in the Province. The separatism has given rise to terrorism aimed at achieving that goal through violence and crimes.

Suppression and eradication of terrorism and the solution of the problems in Kosovo and Metohija constitute the national and state priority Serbia defends its territorial integrity in Kosovo and Metohija and the system based on the Serbian Constitution. The state is taking all necessary measures to secure that and will continue to do so.  This is its legitimate right and constitutional obligation.  Kosovo and Metohija is an integral part of Serbia and it will continue to be so.

The Serbian Parliament confirms the strong determination of Serbia, its citizens and all bodies of authority to secure the respect of the law in Kosovo and Metohija and the rest of Serbia, as well as full equality and a life in peace and security of all citizens regardless of their ethnic or religious origin.

It is Serbia's lasting undertaking, established and guaranteed by the Constitution, not to divide its citizens along ethnic, religious or any other lines. It is Serbia's resolve to have human and civil rights exercised and to have them exercised by all citizens, that they preserve and cherish their national characteristics - the language, script, tradition, culture and customs - because it is in this way alone that it will be in their interest to live in peace and not threaten or deny the rights and interests of others who live with them.

2. In Kosovo and Metohija we are faced with terrorism without scruples Terrorists have committed numerous crimes against humanity, abducting, torturing, raping and massacring innocent civilians - women, children and the elderly, Serbs and Albanians - police officers and soldiers and all those who oppose them in attaining their inhuman and criminal goals. The execution sites uncovered in the villages of Klecka, Glodjane and Ratis and in other localities are the most convincing confirmation of their genocidal and atrocious methods of torturing, killing, massacring and burning people in crematoriums.  The state has resolutely put an end to it.

The Parliament assesses that terrorism in Kosovo and Metohija must be eradicated and that its proponents and the perpetrators of crimes must be brought to justice in keeping with the law.

3. The Parliament points out in particular that the Serbian police and the members of the Yugoslav Army guarding the border have fulfilled all their duties honourably, responsibly and professionally, with great dedication, personal courage and sacrifice, confirming their patriotic commitment to their people and state, to the freedom and equality of all its citizens.  The Parliament of the Republic of Serbia gives the recognition due them for the deeds.

4. The Parliament fully supports the activities of the Serbian Government and all measures taken so far aimed at protecting and preserving the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia and Yugoslavia, eliminating terrorists and protecting the lives and property of all citizens threatened by terrorist and separatist activities.

The Serbian Parliament assesses that, due to these measures, the situation in Kosovo and Metohija has improved significantly both with regard to security and the social, humanitarian and economic issues.

Terrorist strongholds have been shattered, terrorists arrested and disarmed, while a mass and voluntary hand-over of arms has been secured.  A large number of citizens who had to leave their homes and villages because of terrorist activities have returned to their homes, jobs and life in peace

5. The Parliament points out in particular that the Republic of Serbia makes a clear distinction between terrorists and terrorism, on the one hand, and a vast majority of the members of the Albanian national community, on the other, who wish to live, work and exercise all their legitimate rights in peace and tolerance, together with other citizens of Serbia and Yugoslavia.

Terrorism and terrorists have nothing in common with the interests of the Albanians ' on the contrary, they cause the Albanians great harm, suffering and human losses, deceiving them with false promises and pushing them into uncertainty, backwardness, isolation, poverty and tragedy.

The Parliament calls on all citizens forcibly armed by Albanian terrorists to continue to hand over the arms and military equipment to the security organs and to return to regular life and work in peace.  The Republic of Serbia guarantees them security.

The Serbian Parliament calls on the remaining Albanians forced to leave their homes by terrorists to return freely to their homes and villages immediately. The Serbian Government will continue its extensive action of rendering assistance through a network of humanitarian centres and in other ways in order to remove the numerous consequences of terrorist activities as soon as possible and to create conditions for a peaceful and safe life of all citizens and for work in peace and freedom.

6. The Serbian Parliament condemns most strongly all those countries which assist terrorists financially, through media, by sending arms and equipment or in other ways, while at the same time they demand or call for military intervention against our country, cynically invoking alleged humanitarian reasons. Overtly, the Republic of Albania has been a base of the terrorist organization of the so-called "KLA", recruiting its members, establishing boot camps, arming and dispatching terrorists to the territory of Kosovo and Metohija. Such behaviour and activity has been and remains in direct contrast with all basic resolutions of the United Nations and other international organizations.

The Serbian Parliament expects that the international community will ensure that all necessary measures be taken, so that this organization be condemned and put on the list of international terrorist organizations and that financial, military, logistical and every other assistance to terrorists be withheld.

7. The Serbian Parliament expresses its indignation that some important factors in the international community deliberately disregard facts, expose Serbia and Yugoslavia to all sorts of constant pressure, threats and blackmail, abusing U. N. mechanisms, especially the Security Council, in order to realize their goals, proposing measures which directly threaten the sovereignty and integrity of Yugoslavia and its further economic, social and cultural development.  By stepping up pressure on our country, at a time when Serbia's state organs are uncovering new terrorist crimes in Kosovo and Metohija every day, some members of the international community in effect justify and pardon the restoration of crematoriums, mass executions and other monstrous terrorist atrocities, which can only delay a peaceful and democratic resolution of the crisis in Kosovo and Metohija.

8. The Parliament confirms Serbia's commitment to participating actively, within Yugoslavia, in contemporary European and world integrative economic, political, cultural and other processes. We ask the international community to put an end to all forms of economic and political blockade and double standards in the fight against terrorism and in international relations, and to encourage, assist and stimulate all-round economic, political, good-neighborly cooperation, strengthening confidence and mutual ties in the region, to enable Yugoslavia to fully participate in international organizations and institutions as this is true support to solving the problems in Kosovo and Metohija and to preserving peace and stability in the Balkans and Europe.

9. The Parliament approves the measures and plan of the Serbian Government for a speedy solution of all humanitarian problems in Kosovo and Motohija, which include the rebuilding of damaged houses, concrete measure of health protection, as well as an overall normalization of the economy and public services. Necessary funds have been ensured for the realization of the plan and the Government should continue the activities so as to ensure its successful implementation.

The Serbian Government will continue to cooperate with the International Committee of the Red Cross, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, with the aim of reducing, through common and joint efforts, the humanitarian problems to a minimum and of fully eliminating them within the shortest period of time.  The competent organs will secure all conditions for unhindered work of humanitarian organizations also in the future.

10. The Parliament assesses that, by measures of economic policy and by practical moves, the Government of the Republic of Serbia should continue to work on accelerating economic activities and activating all economic and material resources with the aim of solving successfully the economic and social problems of the citizens in Kosovo and Metohija.

Equally important for an overall revival of economic activities and the creation of conditions for life and work is also an engagement in the continued construction of infrastructure - roads, waterworks, homes of culture, schools, sports facilities, indispensable for everyday life of citizens in Kosovo and Metohija, for their communication, a speedy economic and cultural development.  The Directorate for the Development of Underdeveloped Regions of the Republic of Serbia, based in Pristina, plays a special role in the implementation of these tasks.

11. The Parliament points out in particular that the further stabilization of situation in education is in the interest of all people living in Kosovo and Metohija The education of young generations is one of the most important existential issues.

The Parliament points out once again that Albanian pupils and students have the right, like all other pupils and students in Kosovo and Metohija, in Serbia and Yugoslavia, to study under equal conditions and in their mother tongue, learning their culture and tradition.

The Parliament assesses that conditions have been created for eduction of all children in Kosovo and Metohija. All necessary conditions have been ensured for the normalization of university education of young Albanians at Pristina University as early as the beginning of the new academic year on 1 October in accordance with the Agreement on the normalization of education.

12. The Serbian people has never based its rights, and it shall not do so, on denying rights to others, nor will it ever acquiesce to having the rights of the Serbian people, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia threatened by anybody, Therefore, the Parliament of the Republic of Serbia - firmly committed to the solution of the problems in Kosovo and Metohija through peaceful, political means - confirms once again the principles on which the problems in Kosovo and Metohija can be solved successfully, lastingly and in the in the interest of all:

- political means and dialogue as the only way of a peaceful and democratic solution of the problems in Kosovo and Metohija;

- respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia and Yugoslavia;

- solutions in keeping vath the Constitutions of Serbia and Yugoslavia and international standards in the field of human and civil rights and the rights of national minorities;

- equality Of all citizens, all national communities and ethnic groups in Kosovo and Metohija, without a possibility for majoritarianism of any particular group.

The Republic of Serbia guarantees a solution to the problems in Kosovo and Metohija in keeping with the principles and achievements of the UN Charter.  Helsinki Final Act, Paris Charter of the OSCE, and the Council of Europe Framework Convention on the protection of national minorities.

In keeping with these documents and positive international practice, future solutions should include the methods of exercising self-governance, i.e. autonomy.

13. The Parliament assesses that substantive and unconditional dialogue should be resumed immediately.  An immediate resumption of dialogue is in the interest of all peoples and all national comrnunities in Kosovo and Metohija. A dialogue leading to a democratic solution is equally in the interest of Serbs, Montenegrins, Albanians, Turks, Muslims, Gypsies and others, as there is no other way for a democratic solution in Kosovo and Metohija.  Therefore, the Parliament again calls on the representatives of the political parties of the Albanian national community once again to resume dialogue with the state delegation immediately, because it is in the interest of all, in the interest of peace and common future.

14. The Parliament underscores that the future of all peoples in Kosovo and Metohija is not in ethnic, religious or cultural self-isolation, divisions and conflicts, but in peace, equality, ties and life together, and calls on all organizations and people of good will to direct their activities toward that goal. It is high time the representatives of the political parties of the Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija committed themselves unequivocally to dialogue without any conditions and became actively involved in the joint process of seeking a political solution that would ensure full equality of all peoples and all national communities living in Kosovo and Metohija.

15. The Parliament expresses the conviction and commitment of all people and political forces of democratic, humanistic and patriotic orientation, to perseverance in the policy of equality, preservation of the sovereignty and integrity of Yugoslavia and its equitable cooperation with other countries and peoples.

Nearly 5 000 Albanians sealed off in Dobroshec of Gllogoc

      PRISHTINE, Sept.27 (ata) - Bombing of Serb forces covered almost all the village Dobroshec of Gllogoc, while about 5 000 Albanians are sealed off there, the Kosove Information Centre (KIC) reports referring to testimony by an eyewitness.
       Albanian civilians are being held in the place called Lugu i Madh, on quarter Kastrat of village Dobrisec and there is a possibility for a massacre by Serb forces, the same sources said. /dast/xh/

Albania welcomes multinational peace force in southeastern Europe

  TIRANA, Sept 26 (ATA) - Albanian Defence Minister Luan Hajdaraga assessed on Saturday in Skopje the importance of a multinational peace force for the Southeastern Europe.
      In a meeting of the NATO and Partnership for Peace defence ministers of the Southeastern Europe, Hajdaraga focused on the Kosova issue as the key problem for peace and stability in the region and broader.
      Minister Hajdaraga strongly denounced the policy of violence exerted by Serb police and military aggressors against the Albanian people in Kosova, a policy aimed at implementing an ethnic cleansing.
      He praised the engagement of the international community to halt the hand of the Serb aggressors and mentioned the latest resolutions and decisions of the Security Council and NATO which kindled hope for an immediate and determined intervention to end the operations of the Serb military machine.
      He hailed the steps undertaken by NATO to restructure and assist Albania's armed forces.
      A special paragraph of the common statement issued by these ministers expresses the deep concern on the latest development in Kosova which are characterised by the intensification of violence and humanitarian tragedy. The statement backed the resolution 1199 of the U.N. Security Council on Kosova as well as the decision of the NATO council to put into operation the process of generating forces.
      The statement also included a special paragraph on the latest events in Albania calling on the political forces to establish a real political dialogue within the institutional framework. It also hailed the efforts of the Albanian government and international community to that.
      Albania's Defence Minister Hajdaraga held talks with U.S. Defence Secretary Willian Cohen, U.S. ambassador in Skopje Christopher Hill, Italian Minister of Defence Beniamino Andreata, Greek Minister of Defence Akis Tsohatsopoulos and others. /pas/ak/

Serb forces pound villages of Drenica

      PRISHTINE, Sept 27 (ATA) - Serb forces are pounding villages of Lubovec and Prekaz of the Skenderaj commune, northwest of Prishtina and shelling is audible in Mitrovica, Center for the Information in Kosova quoted sources of the Democratic League of Kosova (LDK) in Mitrovica as saying.
      The same sources quoting witnesses on the ground said that five Albanians were killed in Prekaz, two in Kline e Eperme and Dashefc village.
      Sources from Mitrovice said that there are many people killed in villages along the Sitnice river.
      In the latest offensive against villages around the Qyqavice mountain the Serb forces have also attacked some villages of Mitrovica.
      Some 40.000 Albanians are being settled in Mitrovice so far. /pas/ak/

Taken without permission, for fair use only.

KOSOVA   September 28, 1998

NYT:Another Kosovo Village Burned Down by Serbs
Serbia's Premier Says He's Ending Crackdown in Kosovo
Serb Premier Says Special Police Units Will Be Pulled out of Kosova
Albanians Fear New Attacks despite Serb Pledge
Kosovo Albanians Seek Canadian Asylum in Budapest
Serb Forces Rule Over Rural Kosovo Wasteland
Belgrade: Surrender Weapons.
Fighting Persists in Kosovo despite NATO Warnings
Interview-Yugo Court Wants More U.N. Support

KOSOVA   September 27, 1998

Despite NATO threats fighting continues in Kosovo
Montenegro says no more Kosovo refugees
U.S. Tells Yugoslav Leader Time Is Running out
Despite NATO Threats of Intervention, Violence Rages on in Kosovo
US Warns Yugoslavia of Possible NATO Actions in Kosovo

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September 28, 1998
Another Kosovo Village Burned Down by Serbs
NYTIMES
By JANE PERLEZ

PLOCIC, Yugoslavia -- First the warning artillery rattled across the valley at about 8:40 a.m. Friday morning, sending a message that the Gashi clan instantly understood. They gathered their children, and from the account of Haziz Gashi, who was collecting milk at the time, everyone ran for the forest.
     Two hours later, he said, they could see from their vantage point Serb security forces in blue uniforms enter Plocic village, a place where the Gashis, ethnic Albanians of Kosovo, have lived since last century.
     Smoke and flames soon rose through crackling roofs, Gashi said. In a methodical system of destruction repeated many times over by Serb forces in Kosovo during the last three months, fences and haystacks were laced with benzene and lit; possessions of value -- a car, television sets, a satellite dish, an electric oven -- were vandalized, and storehouses burned.
     On Saturday, many of Plocic's 20 homes were still smoking and a storehouse was engulfed by fire from a floating spark. The smell of charred wood drifted through the gardens still flowering with pink cosmos and yellow dahlias. Surviving cattle rested on ground covered with ashes.
     A few men, like Gashi, 42, and his eldest son Burim, 16, and some dazed women and children ventured back to take stock of the toll: "My two cows and two calves are buried under that fallen roof," said Gashi, staring at a mound of smoking tiles on the floor of his ruined storehouse. "I have little food left. I have no idea where the children and my wife are."
     The Serbian government, dominated by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, announced in Belgrade Saturday that the military offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army, aimed at crushing the rebels fighting for independence for the Serbian province, had ended. The declaration came three days after the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution demanding a cease-fire and NATO said that Milosevic could face military force if he persisted.
     On the ground in the Drenica region of central Kosovo -- a stronghold of the ethnic Albanian guerrillas, and one of their last holdouts after a crushing three-month offensive by Milosevic's much better-armed forces -- Belgrade's claims rang hollow.
     In Plocic Saturday, tank shelling could be heard about three miles away and a Yugoslav military helicopter marked with a red cross flew overhead and then back, apparently on a rescue operation for wounded soldiers. Pillars of smoke from burning villages clouded the horizon.
     Sunday, the Serb offensive turned toward the area west of the town of Urosevac. Roads were sealed by Serb security police and tanks were reported to be getting into position for what Western monitors said they believed was a renewed effort against resistant guerrillas. Shelling could be heard in the hills west of Urosevac toward Nerodimlje.
     Western diplomats say that the Serbs, with the Yugoslav army at the forefront, broke the effectiveness of the Kosovo Liberation army last month. And in hurting the insurgents, Milosevic has brought devastation to civilians, cowing them back into the sullen obedience he has imposed with massive police and military presence and frequent brutality since stripping Kosovo's Albanians of administrative autonomy in 1989.
     In the Drenica area, where villages are considered most sympathetic to the separatist cause and formed safe havens from which the rebels could stage attacks, more than two dozen villages have been virtually destroyed in the past week, according to Western monitors. This adds to the tally of more than 200 villages described by European Union monitors as moderately or severely damaged since the Serb offensive began in late July.
     Between 10,000 and 15,000 people have been pushed out of their homes in the last week, adding to the estimated 250,000 refugees that already existed, according to the U.N. commissioner for refugees.
     The action in Plocic appeared to be carefully crafted, designed to demoralize and dishearten rather than destroy absolutely everything.
     A minimal amount of shelter was left -- a roof intact here, walls intact there -- so that with some plastic sheeting from humanitarian agencies, some returning villagers might be able to exist for the coming weeks. But snow usually falls in Kosovo in the last weeks of October and it was hard to see how families could live in their shattered houses during the winter.
     Qamil Kryeziu, 50, who was a refugee in Plocic, said he had been forced back to the village at gunpoint by Serb police who found him in the forest after he fled Friday. He was held for an hour, with his five children and 70-year-old father, and then ordered to return, he said. Kryeziu said he would sleep in the one room that had survived the fire in the house where he had been squatting after his own house down the road was torched a month ago.
     The Gashis insisted that they were too poor to harbor guerrilla fighters or provide them with food. Their village had been part of the Drenica area controlled two months ago by the guerrilla fighters, they said. It appeared they were punished Friday because of that geographical position.
     There was no sign of fighting, no spent bullets on the ground, no pockmarked walls. Rather there was evidence that once the residents ran away and the houses were torched, the Serb forces used the village as a staging ground for firing mortar shells toward the forest. The empty cylindrical packing for about two dozen 82mm mortars lay scattered on the grass.
     Because their luck had held so far, the Gashis had hoped they would escape the disaster that had befallen so many other villages. Out of fear and a pragmatic decision to prepare for the worst, they had moved many of their belongings -- wood-burning stoves, beds and some clothes -- into a gully a mile away, they said.
     Many of the 20 families who live in Plocic had built flimsy shelters of plastic and twigs in the gully and commuted between there and the village when they needed more supplies.
     Now, they said, their plastic shelters in the woods were getting too cold and their homes were ruined.
     One member of the Gashi clan expressed a fatalistic attitude increasingly commonplace among the Albanians of Kosovo. All ethnic Albanians, who make up about 90 percent of the roughly 2 million population of Kosovo, were considered by the Serbs to be members of the liberation army, said Rizah Gashi, a 35-year-old builder who returned Sunday to find his two sheep burned to death.
     "If you're Albanian you are a target of the Serbs," he said. "They don't ask if you are a member of the liberation forces. It's like the sheep. The Serbs don't ask if the sheep are members of the liberation force, they just kill them."
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Serbia's Premier Says He's Ending Crackdown in Kosovo
AP  28-SEP-98

(Belgrade, Yugoslavia)-- Declaring victory, Serbia's premier says he has called off the military crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo (KOH'-soh-voh).
     The Serb leader (Mirko Marjanovic) tells his parliament that the crackdown will resume if separatist violence starts up again. The word comes just days after NATO threatened air strikes unless the campaign ended. And yesterday, U-S defense chief William Cohen repeated the threat.
     Hundreds of people in Kosovo have been killed and some 275-thousand forced to flee their homes since Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic (sloh-BOH'-dahn mee-LOH'-shuh-vich) ordered the crackdown seven months ago.
     Kosovo is part of Serbia, the dominant republic in Yugoslavia. Most of Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanians want independence.

Copyright 1998& The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Serb Premier Says Special Police Units Will Be Pulled out of Kosova
AP  28-SEP-98

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Serbia's premier told parliament today that Kosovo's armed separatists have been defeated and special police units will be withdrawn from the province -- a condition demanded by American and European governments to avert a NATO attack.
     But Premier Mirko Marjanovic said the Serb crackdown will resume if the rebels stage new attacks.
     The Kosovo Liberation Army, which is fighting for Kosovo's independence, issued a statement today pledging to continue what it called "the holy war" against Serbia and demanding NATO action. The statement also criticized pacifist Kosovo Albanian leaders "whose actions are hindering this holy war."
     Hundreds of people have been killed and about 275,000 have fled their homes since Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's forces began cracking down on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in February.
     Kosovo is part of Serbia, the dominant republic in Yugoslavia. Most of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians -- who make up 90 percent of the 2 million inhabitants -- favor independence.
     Marjanovic said the government will grant amnesty to Kosovo Albanians who surrender weapons within the next 10 days, as long as they have not committed "war crimes."
     "With this day, anti-terrorist activities have finished and can be renewed only if some new terrorist bandit-terrorist activity appears again," he told the Serian parliament. "I wish to declare that with this day ... the armed terrorist groups have been defeated."
     There was no visible withdrawal of the police units today, although it appeared that fighting was dying down. Marjanovic said Serb and Yugoslav forces would remain in their barracks for an unspecified period to guard against any resumption of attacks by the KLA, which has been largely routed.
     "Armed terrorist groups have been defeated," the Sebian premier said. "Conditions have been made ... to decrease engagement of anti-terrorist forces. ...The forces that will be decreased by this move will stay ready in their barracks for a while, just in case that creation of a terrorist organization in any part of Kosovo is renewed."
     He said the move was in accordance with an agreement Milosevic signed in June with Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
     Marjanovic also said the government would appoint a Temporary Executive Council to "strengthen civilian structures" in the province.
     The premier made his remarks as he introduced a resolution declaring that stamping out ethnic Albanian resistance in Kosovo was Serbia's top priority.
     The U.N. Security Council has insisted since March that Serbs withdraw special police units and other forces from Kosovo and begin talks with ethnic Albanians on the province's future.
     On Wednesday, the council threatened additional action if Milosevic did not stop the offensive against Kosovos's separatists and allow for the safe return of refugees.
     NATO defense chiefs then stepped up plans for airstrikes in the event that Milosevic failed to comply.
     During the parliamentary session, Gorica Gajevic, general secretary of Milosevic's Socialist Party, called on Kosovo Albanians to open talks with the government. She denied the government used excessive force in Kosovo.
     "It used as much force as was needed to stifle the evil of terrorism in the way other world democratic countries do when faced with terrorism," she said.
     Another member of Milosevic's party, Dusan Matkovic, said that if the world wants to help Kosovo, it should invest "several hundred million dollars" in Kosovo's mines and economy.

Copyright 1998& The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Albanians Fear New Attacks despite Serb Pledge
Reuters  28-SEP-98

BELGRADE, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Serbia claimed victory over ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo on Monday and said its forces would return to barracks, but sceptical Albanian sources warned Belgrade's offensive in the province was not over.
     Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic told a special session of parliament: "Peace reigns in Kosovo today ... As of today all anti-terrorist activities have ended. They will be renewed only if any new bandit and terrorist activity reappears."
     His announcement followed heavy Serb attacks on ethnic Albanian villages south of Pristina, the Kosovo capital, on Sunday when Western reporters saw homes burning and civilians fleeing under artillery bombardments.
     Enver Maloku, head of the ethnic Albanian information centre (KIC) in Pristina, said:
     "It would be a great mistake to believe the Serbian prime minister because every time there is such a declaration, the offensive goes on, dozens more Albanians are killed and thousands forced from their homes."
     Edita Tahira, a member of the ethnic Albanian team for eventual peace negotiations, added: "We want the international community to view the situation in real terms. Unless the aggressive activities of Serbia are stopped, there will be no successful negotiating process."
     The United States and its allies have threatened Belgrade with NATO air strikes if it does not call a ceasefire in the seven-month conflict and open peace talks with Kosovo Albanian political leaders.
     The government called the parliament session to condemn international "pressures, threats and blackmail" and lay out its own proposals for a settlement.
     Marjanovic proposed setting up an executive council led by Serbian government ministers to take responsibility for the administration of Kosovo while a political agreement on its autonomy was worked out.
     Deputy Prime Minister Vojislav Seselj said the council, in which the ethnic Albanians would be invited to take part, would act as a provisional government in Kosovo until elections could be called with the agreement of all sides.
     Marjanovic said the police and military presence would be reduced and personnel withdrawn to their bases "but will remain in a state of alert for a certain time in case the creation of the terrorist organisation is renewed."
     He denied Serbia had used excessive force against separatist guerrillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) which won loose control of around half the province before security forces launched a counter-offensive in July.
     Official figures show at least 800 people, but probably many more, have been killed since the conflict began in February. More than 300,000, mostly ethnic Albanians, have been driven from their homes.
     Aid organisations believe up to 50,000 people are hiding in the open in fear of Serb attacks and have warned of an impending humanitarian catastrophe as winter approaches.
     Marjanovic's claim that the fighting was over came after a week of intense activity by heavy forces of Serb police and Yugoslav army units north and south of Pristina.
     Albanian sources said at least 100 ethnic Albanian villagershad been killed in the north last week.
     Marjanovic told parliament: "I don't want to say that all the problems in Kosovo have been resolved but everything that has happened confirms that political means are the only way to resolve problems in Kosovo.
     He offered an amnesty to all ethnic Albanians who turned in their weapons within 10 days and could prove they were innocent of rebel activity.
     "Life has been normalised; Serbia has thwarted the secessionists' attempt to realise their aims by terror," Marjanovic said. "The terrorist bands are destroyed and a great number of terrorists have been arrested and disarmed."
     He promised full protection for ethnic Albanians who returned to their villages, scores of which have been destroyed in western Kosovo and in the areas north and south of Pristina.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.All rights reserved.
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Serb Forces Rule Over Rural Kosovo Wasteland
Reuters  28-SEP-98

PRISTINA, Serbia, Sept 28 (Reuters) - The prize of victory for Serbian forces in their onslaught to recapture rebel areas of Kosovo is a near-empty wasteland.
     Across great swathes of the countryside of the southern Serbian province, villages stand deserted.
     Roofless houses are gutted by fire or shattered by explosions, and cattle wander among fields of rotting crops. Fruit falls unpicked in orchards and vast flocks of birds feast on grain stores.
     Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic declared on Monday that the counter-offensive against Kosovo's separatist rebellion was over, although journalists and diplomats witnessed heavy shelling of villages in southern Kosovo on Sunday afternoon.
     "Life has been normalised," Marjanovic added.
     International observers agree that the ramshackle, lightly armed ethnic Albanian guerrillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) have been thoroughly defeated by Yugoslav forces equipped with tanks, artillery and rocket-launchers.
     But life is very far from normal. Armed Serbs in uniform, and columns of armoured vehicles, are everywhere in western Kosovo.
     Tens of thousands of frightened ethnic Albanians are living under plastic sheets in forests or fields, after fleeing there from indiscriminate Serb bombardment of their homes.
     A few creep quietly back to their houses by day to pick over the ruins, collect any valuables missed by looters or milk cows.
     "We can never rebuild this," said a 70-year-old woman among the roofless ruins of her home in Prilep, a village in the shadow of the mountains that mark the border with Albania. She said she had fled the house as it was fired on by Serb forces.
     "The young people do not dare come back. What will the Serbs do to them?"
     A Western military official visiting western Kosovo at the weekend said the Serbian bombardment of villages was vastly out of proportion to the now vanishing guerrilla threat.
     "It's collective punishment, terror tactics," he added.
     In nearby Junik, once a stronghold of separatist guerrillas now recaptured by Serbian forces after a long siege, heavily armed police stood guard on Sunday over streets wandered by old or mentally defective Albanians.
     Someone had planted a Serbian flag in a shell-hole in the minaret tower of the town's mosque.
     Only a mile (km) or two away are two bright, neat new housing estates showing barely a trace of damage from gunfire. They are the homes of ethnic Serb refugees from Albania or other parts of Yugoslavia, encouraged by Belgrade in recent years to settle in Kosovo in the hope of diluting its overwhelming 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority.
     "The guerrillas shot at our houses, but the police came and protected us. We were all right," said one Serb man.
     Few Serbs were willing to settle in Kosovo even before this year's conflict, and Serbs say many civilians have moved out in recent months.
     In bizarre contrast to the devastation in rural areas, major towns-- where most Kosovo Serbs live-- have been hardly touched by the conflict. In Pristina, pro-independence ethnic Albanian political parties and newspapers operate openly, and the two ethnic groups rub shoulders as if in uneasy truce.
     Almost all of the 800 reported dead, and the hundreds of thousands forced from their homes, have been rural people.
     "Both sides know it would be too awful if they started fighting here in the city," said one Albanian in Pristina.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.All rights reserved.
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Belgrade: Surrender Weapons.
AP  28-SEP-98

On Wednesday, the U.N. Security Council threatened additional action if Milosevic does not stop the seven-month crackdown against ethnic Albanians and allow for the safe return of refugees.
     NATO defense chiefs then stepped up plans for airstrikes if Milosevic failed to comply.
     U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen added his voice to the chorus Sunday, repeating warnings that Milosevic has only "a short period of time" to comply with international demands to end the conflict.
     "A failure to do so presents the possibility that a military operation against Mr. Milosevic would be necessary," Cohen said. "A failure to do so on his part will be met with very strong NATO action."
     The Security Council has been insisting since March that Serbs withdraw special police units and other forces from the province and begin talks with ethnic Albanians on the future of the majority Albanian province.
     There was no immediate comment from Kosovo Albanian leaders on the premier's statement.

Copyright 1998& The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Fighting Persists in Kosovo despite NATO Warnings
AP   28-SEP-98

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Serb forces have launched a new offensive against ethnic Albanian rebels in southern Kosovo despite warnings of possible NATO intervention by U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen.
     Serb and Albanian sources said the latest operation, which began late Saturday, is aimed at secessionist Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas in an area 30 miles southwest of the province's capital of Pristina.
     It follows a strong Serb offensive against KLA rebels in central Drenica region, which came as the U.N. Security Council demanded an end to the Serb crackdown and NATO finalized plans for airstrikes unless the fighting stops.
     In Bosnia, Cohen repeated warnings Sunday that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has only "a short period of time" to comply with international demands to end the conflict.
     "A failure to do so presents the possibility that a military operation against Mr. Milosevic would be necessary," Cohen said. "A failure to do so on his part will be met with very strong NATO action."
     The Albanian-run Kosovo Information Center said Serb forces were attacking from three directions near the towns of Suva Reka, Urosevac and Stimlje. The attack focused on 11 villages, and three were on fire.
     An estimated 15,000 civilians have begun fleeing the area.
     Several hundred people have died and an estimated 250,000 people have been displaced since the government launched a crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo in February.
     The separatists suffered defeats in southern Kosovo earlier this year, but apparently have regrouped. Police sources said the rebels recently kidnapped two Serbs, which prompted the new action.
     The Serb troops are by far stronger militarily than the rebels but are stretched thin in Kosovo's rugged countryside.
     The continued violence in Kosovo has led Western powers to threaten Milosevic with NATO intervention unless violence ends in the restive Serb province, where ethnic Albanians outnumber Serbs 9-1.
     The alliance has finalized plans to hit strategic targets throughout Serbia, the dominant republic of Yugoslavia.

Copyright 1998& The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Kosovo Albanians Seek Canadian Asylum in Budapest
Reuters   28-SEP-98

BUDAPEST, Sept 28 (Reuters) - More than 30 Kosovo Albanians crowded onto the steps outside the Canadian embassy in the Hungarian capital on Monday demanding asylum, police said.
     Police said the group of 18 adults and 16 children had entered the embassy grounds at about 11 a.m. (0900 GMT).
     They were barred from entering the embassy building and police officials said preparations were being made to evict them.
     "Police are now preparing to evacuate them because the embassy must have decided they won't grant them asylum," Budapest police spokesman Mihaily Dezsi told Reuters.
     "They asked the Hungarian police to remove them," he added as police blocked off the roads on either side of the embassy.
     About two hours after the ethnic Albanians entered the grounds, an embassy official was seen talking to them, but reporters could not get close enough to hear what they were saying.
     Embassy officials did not return repeated telephone calls.
     A three-month-long Serbian offensive in Yugoslavia's southern province of Kosovo has driven more than 300,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians, from their homes.
     Thousands have fled to neighbouring countries, including hundreds who are known to have entered Hungary.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.All rights reserved.
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Sunday, September 27, 1998 Published at 17:22 GMT 18:22 UK
Despite NATO threats fighting continues in Kosovo

Reports from the Serbian province of Kosovo say fighting has continued between the Serbian security forces and ethnic Albanian rebels, despite the NATO threats of military intervention.
     Serbian security officials say they have begun mopping-up operations against the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army.
     The ethnic Albanian media say Serbian forces have been attacking several villages southwest of the capital, Pristina.
     The fighting follows a strong Serbian offensive against the KLA in the northwest region of Drenica. Meanwhile, in Bosnia-Hercegovina, the US Defence Secretary, William Cohen, has warned that a failure by Nato to take action in Kosovo could undermine what he called the great progress that has been made in Bosnia.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
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Sunday, September 27, 1998 Published at 23:33 GMT 00:33 UK
Montenegro says no more Kosovo refugees

Replaces 1000 KOSOVO story The President of the Yugoslav republic of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, says his country cannot absorb any more refugees from neighbouring Kosovo.
     President Djukanovic was speaking after a meeting in the Montenegrin capital, Podgorica, with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadaka Ogata.
     Mrs Ogata urged Montenegro to reopen its border, which it closed earlier this month.
     But Mr Djukanovic said refugees now made up one tenth of the population and were causing serious economic and social problems.
     He said Montenegro was becoming a victim of the international community's failure to find a political solution to the crisis in Kosovo.
     From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
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U.S. Tells Yugoslav Leader Time Is Running out
Reuters  27-SEP-98

SARAJEVO, Sept 27 (Reuters) - U.S. Defence Secretary William Cohen warned Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on Sunday that failure to comply with United Nations demands on the situation in Kosovo would draw "very strong" NATO action.
     The Western military alliance has threatened air strikes if Milosevic pursues an offensive against separatist guerrillas which has driven 250,000 ethnic Albanians from their homes in the Serbian province.
     Cohen, on a brief visit to the Bosnian capital, said he was hopeful that Milosevic would respond positively to the demands of the world body, which include withdrawal of Serb forces.
     "A failure to do so on his part will be met with very strong NATO action, in my judgment," Cohen said. He stressed that time was running short as winter was approaching.
     Referring to a meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ministers in Portugal last week, Cohen said a consensus had emerged that "that time was very short and there should be reaction by Mr Milosevic soon."
     "Time is running very short. The cold months are coming. It is imperative that these people (ethnic Albanian refugees) be allowed to come down from the hills," Cohen said at a news conference.
     However, no specific deadline had been set for Milosevic.
     He said the U.N. Security Council had not yet issued an ultimatum but had set out demands giving Milosevic an oportunity to respond to them "within a very short period of time."
     At the meeting in Portugal on Thursday, NATO ministers approved an "activation warning" on Kosovo-- NATO jargon for a formal request that members say what forces they can contribute if NATO goes ahead with a contingency plan for air strikes.
     One day earlier, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution hinting at the use of force if Milosevic did not withdraw some of his forces, ensured that displaced people can go home safely and resumed talks with the Kosovars.
     Cohen said there was at this point no "Dayton-like" proposal for Kosovo, referring to the 1995 U.S.-brokered peace agreement which ended the 43-month Bosnian war.
     The most immediate problem was to end the hostilities, to get Milosevic to pull back his forces and to allow humanitarian organisations to provide relief for the refugees, he said.
     He also said it was "premature" to plan any military ground operation to enforce any ceasefire in Kosovo.
     Cohen warned that failure by NATO to take action in Kosovo could spread and undermine progress made in neighbouring Bosnia.
     "A failure for NATO to take action to restrain the kind of excesses that we have seen on the part of Mr Milosevic might very well result in strengthening of the so-called nationalist sentiments undermining the efforts made to build a multi-ethnic democratic society here in Bosnia," he said.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.All rights reserved.
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Despite NATO Threats of Intervention, Violence Rages on in Kosovo
AP  27-SEP-98

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Serbian forces have launched a new offensive in southern Kosovo against ethnic Albanian rebels, Serb and Albanian sources said Sunday.
     Police units and specially trained elite troops have begun mop-up operations to purge the secessionist Kosovo Liberation Army from the area, 30 miles southwest of the province's capital of Pristina, a Serb police source said on condition of anonymity.
     The latest action followed a strong Serb offensive against KLA rebels in central Drenica region. That offensive came as the U.N. Security Council demanded an end to the Serb crackdown and NATO finalized plans for airstrikes unless the fighting stops.
     In Bosnia-Herzegovina, Defense Secretary William Cohen repeated warnings that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has only "a short period of time" to comply with international demands to end the conflict.
     "A failure to do so presents the possibility that a military operation against Mr. Milosevic would be necessary," Cohen said. "A failure to do so on his part will be met with very strong NATO action in my judgment."
     The separatists suffered defeats in southern Kosovo earlier this year, but apparently have regrouped. Police sources said the rebels recently kidnapped two Serbs, which prompted the new action.
     The Albanian-run Kosovo Information Center said Serb forces were attacking from three directions near the towns of Suva Reka, Urosevac and Stimlje, southwest of Pristina. The attack focused on 11 villages, and three were on fire.
     Some estimates have placed the number of civilians displaced by the fighting at 15,000. But an international aid official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that figure is probably exaggerated.
     Several hundred people have died and about a quarter of a million people have been displaced since the government launched a crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo in February.
     The Serbian troops are by far stronger militarily than the rebels but are stretched thin in Kosovo's rugged countryside. The Serbs have had trouble maintaining control over the areas while driving out rebels, mostly local farmers recruited by the KLA.
     The continued violence in Kosovo has led Western powers to threaten Milosevic with NATO intervention unless violence ends in the restive Serbian province, where ethnic Albanians outnumber Serbs 9-1.
     The alliance has finalized plans to hit strategic targets throughout Serbia, the dominant republic of Yugoslavia.

Copyright 1998& The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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US Warns Yugoslavia of Possible NATO Actions in Kosovo
Xinhua  27-SEP-98

ZAGREB (Sept. 27) XINHUA - Visiting U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen said Sunday that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will be forced to take action in Kosovo if Yugoslavia does not take the U.N. warning.
     Cohen, who traveled to Bosnia-Herzegovina from Macedonia, told reporters in Sarajevo that NATO is drawing up plans for actions by air.
     He warned that the progress achieved in stabilizing the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina could be at stake if the current situation in Kosovo continued.
     According to Cohen, the international community wished to see an early end to the Kosovo conflicts, which would enable the return of a large number of refugees, and called for negotiations between the Yugoslav authorities and the Kosovo Liberation Army which fights for the independence of Kosovo.
     Yugoslavia has been urged by many other countries including the United States to stop military actions in Kosovo.
     During his Bosnian trip, Cohen held talks with the International High Representative, Carlos Westendorp, and the chief of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Robert Barry.
     Commenting on the general elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cohen said that the United States will cooperate with all Bosnian political leaders who have received the people's vote of confidence but only under the condition that they support the Dayton Agreement, not by words, but with deeds.
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Interview-Yugo Court Wants More U.N. Support
Reuters  28-SEP-98

THE HAGUE, Sept 28 (Reuters) - The Yugoslavia war crimes tribunal could deter Serb aggression in Kosovo, if the international community gives the court its full and active support, the U.N.'s chief prosecutor said.
     In an interview with Reuters late Friday, Loiuse Arbour said prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia were gathering evidence of human rights violations in the Yugoslav province, which is 90 percent ethnic Albanian.
     But she warned there was little point in issuing new indictments if the U.N. Security Council allowed President Slobodan Milosevic to treat them with the same disdain he had shown for warrants linked to the 1992-1995 Bosnia conflict.
     "We are a creature of the Security Council and we hope to receive the kind of vigorous response from the Council that eventually does pay off," Arbour said.
     "Issuing an indictment if it is going to go sit on the shelves with the others that have been sitting there for three years is not exactly a scary prospect."
     An estimated 300,000 people have been driven from their homes and around 700 killed in fighting between Serb forces and separatist guerillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
     Arbour said the tribunal could not operate in isolation and there must be a long term commitment to its work. Repeat offenders tended to "get smarter" before they reformed.
     "What you need is a sustained, unstoppable effort to repress crimes. When that's in place, then you start seeing a real deterrent effect," Arbour said.
     The tribunal has no police force of its own and is reliant on the cooperation of sovereign states or the intervention of NATO troops to deliver suspects into its custody.
     To date, prosecutors have issued 20 public indictments against 58 individuals relating to the Bosnia conflict. There have been two convictions and 26 accused are being held near The Hague. The most recent arrival was Stevan Todorovic, a Serb former police chief snatched by NATO troops at the weekend.
     The remaining indictees, including former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic, are still at large. Some of them are living openly in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
     "One of the important deterrent signals that could be sent with respect to Kosovo would be for the international community to force Belgrade to execute the outstanding indictments that we have issued," Arbour said.
     Early this month, tribunal president Gabrielle Kirk McDonald wrote to the U.N. Security Council asking it to take measures to persuade Yugoslavia to hand over three Serb war crimes suspects accused of involvement in the killing of 260 unarmed men in the Croatian town of Vukovar in 1991.
     "There is a clear link between the initiative we have taken with the Security Council to get the Vukovar arrest warrants executed and the deterrent message we want to send in Kosovo. It is essentially: if and when we issue indictments, you should expect they will be acted on," Arbour said.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.All rights reserved.

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