Tagesnachrichten 5. November 1998
     von dpa, from ALBANEWS and others
     News of the day - November 5, 1998
     Kosova Information Center : Daily Report No 1604

         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

 

Fischer bekraeftigt Willen der Bundesregierung zu Europas Einheit
   http://seite1.web.de/show/36420BD5.NL1/

Belgrad verweigert Chefanklaegerin des Tribunals Kosovo-Visum
   http://seite1.web.de/show/3641D9D7.NL1/

Belgrad verhaengt Einreisesperre fuer Schweizer Journalisten
   http://seite1.web.de/show/3641DA6C.NL1/

Nato-Luftangriffe durch Spion angeblich nicht gefaehrdet
   http://seite1.web.de/show/3641DFCE.NL1/

Belgrad verweigert Chefanklaegerin des Tribunals Kosovo-Visum
   http://seite1.web.de/show/3641C6DD.NL1/

Serbische Journalisten befuerchten "Medien-Finsternis"
   http://seite1.web.de/show/364186A1.NL1/

Fischer raeumt Zweifel an deutschem Erweiterungwillen aus
   http://seite1.web.de/show/36418F5D.NL1/

Frankreich uebernimmt Hauptverantwortung bei Kosovo-Eingreiftruppe
   http://seite1.web.de/show/364190F9.NL1/

Chefanklaegerin des UN-Tribunals bekommt kein Visum fuer Kosovo
   http://seite1.web.de/show/36419338.NL1/

Zahl der Asylbewerber in Deutschland steigt - Zustrom aus Kosovo
   http://seite1.web.de/show/36417623.NL1/

Erneut illegal eingereiste Kosovo-Albaner aufgegriffen
   http://seite1.web.de/show/364151FF.NL1/

Joschka Fischer zu Antrittsbesuchen in Belgien eingetroffen
   http://seite1.web.de/show/364159D1.NL1/

ONE has to begin    to STOP  oecumenic Decade for Peace  from November 8 until 18, 1998  30 minutes prayer for PEACE  30 Minuten Gebet für den Frieden  am  9./ 10./ 11./ 12./ 13./ 14./ 16./ 17. November  jeweils um 19.45 Uhr  in der Bethlehemkirche Wertingen  Jeder, der kommen moechte  - unabhaengig von Konfession oder Religion,  ist herzlich eingeladen !

LINK zu:  Vorschlag für den Ablauf den Friedensgebetes
                  - auch als WinWord97-Datei erhaeltlich !

Kennen Sie Fälle von Abschiebungen nach Kosova ? - Bitte senden Sie mir Ihren Bericht !
Do you know cases of deportations to Kosova ? - Please send me your report !

* Nichtamtliche Übersetzung
   UNHCR-Positionspapier über die Behandlung von Asylsuchenden aus
   dem Kosovo in Asylländern: Maßgebliche Überlegungen
   25.8.1998 mit Anhang Stand: 13.8.1998
                    http://www.unhcr.de/news/statemen/misc/kosbob.htm

* UNHCR-Eckpunkte zu Problemen des Flüchtlingsschutzes in Deutschland
   Oktober 1998
                    http://www.unhcr.de/news/statemen/misc/eckpkte.htm

Kosova Information Center
KOSOVA DAILY REPORT # 1604
Prishtina, 5 November 1998

President Rugova Receives U.S. and Canadian Diplomats

PRISHTINA, Nov 5 (KIC) - The President of the Republic of Kosova Dr Ibrahim Rugova received Wednesday evening Ambassador Richard Miles, U.S. Chief of Mission, and Raphael Girard, Canadian Ambassador in Belgrade, to discuss the situation in Kosova and prospects for a negotiating resolution.
President Rugova said the situation continues to be grave because of a heavy Serbian military and police presence in Kosova.
A speedy and complete placement of OSCE and NATO verification missions is needed so that displaced Albanian people can feel safe to return to their homes and their humanitarian needs be addressed, Rugova said.
The President and U.S. and Canadian diplomats underlined the need for the creation of an environment conducive to a genuine political process in pursuit of a solution to the Kosova issue.

Parliament's Presidency Meets with LBD Leadership
Formation of broadly-based Kosova government discussed

PRISHTINA, Nov 5 (KIC) - The Presidency of the Parliament of the Republic of Kosova, chaired by Parliament Speaker Idriz Ajeti, and the leadership of the opposition coalition of parties, the Lëvizja e Bashkuar Demokratike (LBD, the United Democratic Movement), chaired by Rexhep Qosja, met today in Prishtina to discuss issues pertaining to cooperation of political parties in the building of institutions, focussing on the formation of a government which would be the result of a consensus of "political and national subjects in Kosova", the Parliament said in a press release.
Talks on these issues will continues until a final agreement is reached, the statement said.

Serb Police Forces Move along Roads, in the Countryside, Prevent Return of People

PRISHTINA, Nov 5 (KIC) - The continued Serbian police forces' movement in the villages of Rahovec is a deterrent to any considerable return of displaced Albanians to their destroyed villages, LDK sources said.
In the villages of Opterushë and Drenoc, some of those who had actually returned were made to flee again because of such a threatening Serb police presences, sources said.
Serb police forces continued to be posted in and patrolling the villages of Duhël, Grejçec, Reshtan and Mohlan in the Suhareka area, LDK sources said.
Serb forces have been digging in at Smonicë hamlet, near Tërpezë village of Malisheva, local LDK sources said.
A stepped up police presence has been reported in the town of Mitrovica today. A number of police vehicles with personnel on board left for Skenderaj around 10,00 hrs today.
Two Serb army helicopters flew low over the town of Mitrovica at 11 a.m. today. A Serb APC and 30 policemen stayed for a couple of hours near the elementary school "Fazli Grejçevci" in Zhabar village of Mitrovica today morning.
Serb police forces's posts have been reinforced in the swathe of territory along the Mitrovica-Skenderaj roadway, LDK sources in Mitrovica.
Serb police checkpoints continue being posted at a location called "Faqja e dheut", in Tërrnafc, in Kodra e Baranëve, as well as in the villages of Llaushë, Çubrel, Vitak and in Kodër e Runikut.
Serb police has been preventing Albanian residents of Klinë e Ulët village from returning to their homes, local sources said.

Serb Military Convoys Travel Kosovar Roads

PRISHTINA, Nov 5 (KIC) - At around 11:00 hrs today, a Serb military convoy consisting of 35 vehicles - tanks, armoured cars and trucks - passed through Suhareka in the direction of Prizren, LDK sources in Suhareka said.
The convoy came from the direction of Shtime, they added.
Meanwhile, a convoy of Serb army vehicles with soldiers on board left Vushtrri for Mitrovica at 7:30 in the morning today, LDK sources said.

LDK Presses for Immediate Release of Local LDK Activists Held by UÇK

PRISHTINA, Nov 5 (KIC) - The Presidency of the Democratic League of Kosova (LDK) reiterated its demand for the two local LDK leaders in Malisheva, Jakup Kastrati and Cen Desku, arrested last week by the UÇK (Kosova Liberation Army), to be released without delay.
"The LDK considers the continued holding in UÇK custody of Jakup Kastrati, chairman, and Cen Desku, member of the LDK chapter presidency in Malisheva, has damaging implications," a statement of the party said.
The UÇK said earlier this week it was holding the two LDK officials for their alleged propaganda activities which went contrary to the liberation struggle of the Albanian people.
The LDK presidency condemned in the strongest terms the "unacceptable method" of charging the two LDK activists with "utterly unfounded allegations".
Kastrati and Desku have shown themselves for years to be "committed members of our national movement", the LDK said, demanding that they be released immediately.

Albanian Returnees Summoned to Police Interrogation in Peja

PRISHTINA, Nov 5 (KIC) - Early in the morning today, Serbian policemen manning a checkpoint at Vitomiricë village halted and detained a number of Kosova Albanian refugees returning from Ulqin, the Montenegrin coastal town where they had sought refuge in the wake of Serb offensives this summer.
Mr. Zymber Krasniqi, resident of Vranovc village of Peja, told the KIC some refugees originating from that area were taken to the Serb police station in Peja for interrogation.
Meanwhile, LDK sources said Serb police raided the home of Pajazit Zymberi in the town of Peja today afternoon and arrested Mahir Berisha from Llabjan and Ismet Krasniqi from Barani village.
The police smashed up furniture in Zymberi's house, and beat the two arrested Albanians unconscious, the LDK said.
Four Albanian middle school students - Muhamet Nikçi, Edip Sharapolli, Feim Uka and Besnik Berisha - were beaten up by young Serbs in Peja today, LDK sources said.

Serb Police Takes Wounded Albanian Out of Prishtina Hospital

PRISHTINA, Nov 5 (KIC) - On Tuesday, the Serbian police took Gjokë Ndrecaj out of the Prishtina hospital. The medical personnel was not asked about it all, the KIC was told by sources inside the hospital.
Ndrecaj, resident of a Gjakova village, was hospitalized for some six weeks. He had to be operated again for serious wounds.
Some 40 Albanians wounded by Serb forces during attacks in Kosova have been treated in the Prishtina Surgery Clinic in the past few months. Most of them have been illtreated by police in hospital, some of them even taken out without medical staff's permission.
The main Prishtina hospital as well as the Lungs Clinic have been home to a threatening Serb police/security presence since the spring. Albanian patients and staff have been repeatedly illtreated by Serb police.

Kosova Information Center
Last page!

KOSOVA (new draft on Kosova)
More jobs should make Albanians happy

Prishtina, 4 November, (ARTA) 2100CET--
Diplomatic sources close to European and American mediators inform that, the new draft-document (the fifth one) which is presented these day to Belgrade and Prishtina, does not meet the main requests and remarks which were posed by the Albanian side, especially to those related to the referendum. On the other hand they claim that, the aspect of institutions is elaborated on it more thoroughly.
According to these sources, serious difficulties are to be expected concerning the acceptance of the draft-document by the Serb side.
The new draft-document offers the possibility of building up the democratic institutions in Kosova, mainly in two aspects:

1. Organizing and supervising free elections by OSCE (which according to the sources, would result with representatives starting from the municipal level up to the Presidency of Kosova including the Council of Ministers and the Prime Minister).
2. Establishing the local police, which would reflect the ethnic proportions of the area. According to the diplomatic source, the framework of negotiations and solution is advanced, because "now, for the first time after 86 years, the Albanians will have the international team of verifiers and the aerial support of NATO".

According to the diplomats, the Albanians have not taken this into account so far.
"Kosova Albanians now do not trust anyone, not even the international community, the OSCE or the proposal which has been compiled", claims this diplomat.
The diplomats who are engaged in mediation, do not support the potential of the agreement only in the political aspect, but also in the sense of new jobs to be created, namely 2.000 drivers and interpreters, who could be employed by the OSCE mission.
The diplomatic source claims that the Albanian side "ought to become aware" also of the jobs that would be created when Police would be established -- namely most of them who have worked in State Security and are now staying home. On the other hand, Albanians would be also employed in the departments of education, culture, judiciary etc.
"This is an interim agreement which means that it is open to corrections, and that is why the interim three-years period is foreseen".
Asked about the status of Kosova, the diplomatic source responded that "the issue of the status is excluded" from the draft-document however, the unanimous stand of the international community against the independence of Kosova is stressed.

KOSOVA (KD analysis)
The Government of the Republic - by the end of the week?
by Arbana Islami

Prishtina, 4 November (ARTA) 1900CET --
Within the framework of coordinating their political work, the representatives of the political parties in Prishtina are holding meetings about the formation or at least the completion of all the ministries of the Republican Government.
Sources close to LDK state that the Government could be formed by the end of the week, and it should include all the police and military forces in Kosova.
In this regard, discussions are being made between the KLA General political representative, Adem Demaçi and the steering board of the Republican Parliament, dominated by the party in power, the LDK. The latter, on the other hand, is having meetings with the "determined" opposition of the "Rugova policy", Rexhep Qosja and Hydajet Hyseni, although no advancement has been made yet.
Otherwise, the members of the opposition were also called earlier for consultations about the creation of the new Government, but Rugova's calls, were evaluated by the "invited" as "lacking seriousness". Times before, the same said that with the failure of the previous project for the formation of the coalition Government, the others remain only Rugova's "puppets".
Even the KLA political representative himself, had announced that he would  not enter any kind of project that involves Rugova in it, claiming that "collaborating with him is impossible".
However, the president of the Parliament of the Republic was dragging the establishment of the government for so many months now. It should have came out several months ago, with the list of those that will be leading the ministries of the completed Government, in which KLA, of all the 19 ministries, was proposed to head the Defense Ministry and that of the Public Order. On the other hand, among the proposals posted for the naming of the president of the Government, the most substantial was the one that was renaming Bujar Bukoshi as President of the Government.
In the meantime, sources close to the KLA and the present Government of the Republic, inform that cooperation between Bukoshi and Demaçi has lately increased. In this regard, unofficial sources state, Demaçi was offered the post of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Having in mind the ultimate stands between the parliamentarian parties and the extra-parliamentarian, concerning the creation of the Government, political analysts state that it is very difficult to achieve a political consensus, in such a short time. Precisely because of the essential differences in their stands, foreign diplomats launched the initiative for the formation of the joint political mechanism, which would be called "Coalition Government", whose prime minister was supposed to be Mehmet Hajrizi. After this version failed, there were no other attempts to form one executive body, so far, or those that were - failed as well.
Notwithstanding, it seems that the consultations between the parties are taking place in a time when the international community is exerting huge pressure on the Albanian side to accept to start talking with the "Yugoslav" side. Concerning this issue, it is worth mentioning that all political factors in Kosova have declared avowedly that no eventual agreement could be accepted without a full representation of the Albanians in the conversations.
A more representing negotiating team should emerge from the Government itself.
The political analysts claim that, once the political consensus is achieved, the divergences between the Albanians will not serve as a justification of the international community for non-integrating the Albanian side into the procedures of solving the Kosova problem. Nevertheless, it seems that the hardest day of the consultations would be 5 November, when the representatives of the Parliament of Kosova and those of the Unified Democratic Movement will sit together aiming at reaching a consensus, which would finally provide the "visa" for the creation of a complete Government.

KOSOVA (IDPs no return – Klinë)
Serb police turns back returnees from their destroyed houses

Klinë, 4 November (ARTA) 1700CET--
Although over 300 houses were burnt and looted, and dozens of Albanians were killed and massacred in the region of Sverkë, it seems that still another 8000 residents (mainly children, women and elderly) have to die from hunger, cold or diseases, until the verifiers visit this area.
Numerous Serb forces with a heavy military arsenal, are continuously coming in the region of Sverkë and other surrounding villages.
These forces persistently shoot from all kinds of weapons and get into new positions.
More than 27 Albanian families who recently returned to Gremnik, were compelled to flee again because more than 100 Serb policemen got installed in the village and occasionally shot against houses owned by Albanians.
There are just a small number of Albanians who have returned to their homes. There are a lot of cases when the Serb civilians, in cooperation with the Serb police, have prohibited their Albanian neighbors to return into their homes.
The Steering Board of the LDK branch in Klinë appeals to the Albanian population of Klinë to give shelter to IDPs who do not have where to return.
This Steering Board has established a group for cooperation with the  international observers, as well as a commission that will assess the killings, abuses and the value of the caused material damages.

KOSOVA (life in Gllogoc)
No electric power, drinking water or food in Gllogoc

Gllogoc, 4 November (ARTA) 1600CET --
In the region of Drenica, life has gradually started to turn back to normal. There is larger presence of people’s movements, some of which are returning back home. The stores, on the other hand, with the exception of two or three of them are still closed, as they have no items for sale.
One of the other problems that this town and the outskirts are being faced with is the lack of electric power, drinking water and food. "Mother Theresa" provided them two trucks of wood and basic food articles.
On the other hand, in the center of Komoran, where the notorious police checkpoint was posted for over eight months, the residents have started returning back to their demolished and burned homes. On the buildings along the main street of this location, Serbs left behind subscriptions, such as " Serbia", "House on sale", "Salih Urgently" etc.
In the house of Mehmet Abria, his wife tells how her husband barely survived alive from the wounds he was inflicted. "The house, as you can see, is completely destroyed. We have to start from zero, in our own house", she said.

KOSOVA (tense situation – Prizren)
Evident police presence

Prizren, 4 November (ARTA) 1600CET --
The Serb police forces are still present in several points in the territory of the municipality of Prizren and usually maltreating the Albanians, confirms the CDHRF in Prizren. The source claims that the number of mistreated is much higher, however, the majority of the maltreated do not wish to identify themselves.
On Tuesday, at around 1300CET, at the place called Ura e Parkut, near the hospital center in Prizren, the Serb police stopped and arrested the brothers, Lulzim and Refki Morina, from the village of Burim, municipality of Rahovec. At the time of the arrest, they were on their way to take their sick mother to the hospital. They were sent to the police station in Prizren, where they underwent severe maltreatment and pressure to accept that they were KLA soldiers. Lulzim suffered serious injuries in his shoulder and leg, while Refki was ordered to return again to the police station, on 6 November and "bring the weapons with him".

The corpse of Abaz Ndrecaj found

Prizren, 4 November (ARTA) 1700CET --
The corpse of Abaz Ndrecaj, from the village of Maçitevë (Suharekë mun.), was found on Tuesday, in the forest near the village of Duhël. According to a statement of his father, given to CDHRF in Prizren, the deceased was registered as missing ever since 26 June, while he was on his way to a wedding at his relatives in Bllacë.
Due to the large presence of the Serb police in Duhël, Abaz’s family could not pick up the corpse. Thus, they make an appeal to the OSCE observers to help them bury him.

KOSOVA (humanitarian assistance – Rahovec)
Another contingent of humanitarian aid distributed

Rahovec, 4 November (ARTA) 1800CET --
Another contingent of humanitarian aid was sent to Rahovec by the international humanitarian organizations, during the past days. This is the fourth contingent that arrived to this municipality following the clashes in June and September. Two contingents were distributed to the town's residents and two others to the residents of the village of Drenoc and Krushë e Madhe.
According to the "Mother Theresa" sources, the last contingent brought, 121 tons of flour, 2,400 blankets for children and 780 for adults, 850 hygienic parcels, 250 sponges, 1,920 liters of kitchen oil, 1,240 kg sugar, 1,200 butter, 1,117 marmalade, 1,200 liters of milk, 1,112 kg of detergent, 155 stoves, 1,000 kg salt, 160 packages of used clothes, 270 kg of macaroni, 2,050 packages of food, 10,800 packages of soap, 896 kg biscuits for children, then caned food, mattresses and plastic foil.
However, this aid does not cover even 10 percent of the needs of the town's residents, not to mention the threatened population of 27 war afflicted villages.

KOSOVA (KLA communiqué)
"Some are not aware of the prevailing emergency"

Prishtina, 4 November (ARTA) 1700CET--
The Albanian Charge D’Affaires, Florian Nova, and the first secretary of this Embassy, Artan Begolli, visited today the office of the KLA political representative, Adem Demaçi.
The Albanian diplomats informed Demaçi about the activity of the Albanian Embassy in Belgrade, with the difficulties they are encountering and especially about their efforts to inform as much as possible the diplomatic circles and the wider public opinion about the situation and events in Kosova.
Demaçi thanked the Albanian diplomats in particular for their frequent visits in Kosova and for their contribution in finding a just solution of Kosova problem.
Furthermore, Demaçi informed them on the grave situation prevailing in Kosova, for the activity and implications of the international community concerning the Kosova crisis, as well as the liberation struggle of the Albanian nation of Kosova.
Demaçi emphasized also his efforts for establishing an Assembly (Parliament) of Kosova, which should rely on entire-encompassing foundations of political and national subjects in Kosova. From that Assembly, the Government of Kosova should derive. The negotiating team (for talks with the Serb side) should be later extracted from it.
In this context, Demaçi spoke of the obstacles caused by certain individuals and groups who are against the unity of Kosova Albanians, and who are still not aware of the prevailing emergency.

Serbian Unity Congress - Letter on Kosovo Serb Participation in the Negotiations

Reuters: Croatian Serbs Lose Out in Kosovo Refugee Shuffle

CSM: Serb Pullback on Track. Now Who Rules Kosovo?

AFP: Three Serb Civilians Injured In Rebel Attack

RADIO YU: Decani Monastery Nominated For World Heritage List

OPEN LETTER TO MILOSEVIC - Tijanic and Curuvija

Ambassador James Pardew,
November 4, 1998
U.S. Special Representative for
Kosovo Implementation,
United States Department of State
2201 C Street, N.W.,
Washington, D.C.  20520

Dear Ambassador Pardew:

    I was glad to note that in his October 28 press conference Ambassador Hill stated in answer to a question about the involvement of the Kosovo Serbs in the negotiation process that “ultimately our agreement needs to be one that is supported by the people of Kosovo, and the people of Kosovo will obviously include the other national communities in Kosovo. Our agreement involves considerable amount of protection for those national communities. We want to make sure that they consider Kosovo their home, not to become guests in their own home.”
     In answer to a further question about whether the Kosovo Serbs risk incurring the same fate as the Krajina and Bosnia Serbs under agreements negotiated by President Milosevic, Ambassador Hill stated: “the agreement that we are working on is one that will protect the interests of all the national communities in Kosovo, and if it doesn't do that, it is not a good agreement.
     These assurances, while welcome as a recognition of local Kosovo parties, fall short of an unequivocal assurance that the Kosovo Serbs will be direct parties to the negotiating process. We believe that it is essential that they should be. It is not enough that they should be represented by the authorities in Belgrade whom they do not trust. Otherwise, the process will be fundamentally undemocratic and will violate the protections afforded to minorities under the Helsinki Accords. Without their direct participation, it is extremely unlikely that any final agreement will be stable or durable.
     I would therefore be grateful for your clarification of the true position. The Kosovo Serbs have many reliable and courageous leaders such as Bishop Artemije and Momcilo Trajkovic. In past conversations with US officials, including Ambassador Gelbard in The Hague, they believe they did receives assurance that they would be direct parties to the negotiations. It is important that these assurances should be reiterated without delay.
     Both Bishop Artemije and Mr. Trajkovic are well known to the Serbian Unity Congress. They attended our Convention in Washington in September. If we can assist by facilitating a meeting between them and U.S. officials we would be happy to do so. As an organization with wide membership in the Diaspora, we have a comprehensive range of contacts within Serbia and hope we can use these usefully in furthering a dialogue with the Administration on this and other issues about which we care deeply.

        Sincerely,

        Milosh D. Milenkovich
        President

5851 Pearl Road, Suite 307,
Cleveland, OH 44130
tel: (440) 842-2770 fax: (440) 842-2740

cc: Members of NATO,
UN Security Council OSCE, Pristina
UN Ambassador designate Richard Holbrooke

FEATURE -CROATIAN SERBS LOSE OUT IN KOSOVO REFUGEE SHUFFLE
09:04 p.m Nov 04, 1998 Eastern
By Kurt Schork

PRISTINA, Serbia, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Forgive Zeljko Mandic for not worrying much about the fate of the quarter of a million ethnic Albanians driven from their homes by Serbian security forces in Kosovo this year.
     The 39-year-old former waiter has been a refugee himself since 1995, consigned to what -- for a Serb from Knin in Croatia -- is the oblivion of a collective centre at a former boarding school in Kosovo.
     Missing many teeth, staring out at an indifferent world from behind thick spectacles, Mandic's pallor and posture signal a defeat far more personal and devastating than the rout of the rebel Croatian Serb army in which he fought as a conscript.
     "Before the war I was a waiter. I dreamed the normal dreams of marrying, having a house and a family," Mandic said.
     "Now I fantasise about getting a passport and papers to leave Kosovo and Yugoslavia. I applied to go to America and to Israel but I was turned down by both places. There's no system in the world to take care of people like me."
     The U.N. refugee agency estimates that 527,000 Serb refugees from Bosnia and Croatia are still sheltering in Yugoslavia, including a few thousand in Kosovo, three years after the end of fighting in the two former Yugoslav republics.
     By comparison, fewer than 50,000 of the ethnic Albanians driven from their homes in Kosovo this year fled across the international border into Albania or Macedonia.
     Many of them, along with ethnic Albanians who were internally displaced, have either returned to their home villages or found shelter in Kosovo's larger towns and cities. The saga of their suffering has been relatively short-lived.

RESENTING THE ALBANIANS

     Bosnian and Croatian Serbs stranded in Yugoslavia resent the intensive international media coverage given ethnic Albanians in recent months, coverage they believe could have been devoted to their even more difficult plight.
     "I think the (ethnic) Albanians are using the media for political purposes, to get NATO to intervene in Kosovo," Mandic said, sitting in one of centre's sparsely furnished rooms.
     "I'm more worried about my situation. Why won't some country take me? If I were a war criminal I'd walk to The Hague and surrender. There's a lot of talk in the world about human rights. Am I human? Where are my rights?
     "I'd probably have more rights, more opportunities, better living conditions if I went to The Hague as a war criminal."
     After the wars in Croatia and Bosnia were over, Mandic wandered the streets of Belgrade as a refugee until he was lured to Kosovo by Serbian Red Cross offers of well-paid employment and decent housing.
     Mandic soon found himself 800 metres (2,625 feet) underground performing exhausting, dangerous work in an antiquated zinc mine, getting a quarter of the salary promised and consigned to a barracks worse than his quarters as an army conscript.
     Humanitarian aid parcels donated by the international community for refugees like Mandic were instead sold to them by corrupt local officials. Disgusted and demoralised, Mandic quit in July 1996 and moved to the collective centre in Pristina.
     Since then he has supported himself with odd jobs as a manual labourer while trying to work the international refugee system to escape Yugoslavia and get on with his life. His only identity document to date is a local Red Cross card.

CROATIAN SERBS ARE RETURNING, U.N. OFFICIALS SAY

U.N. officials say Belgrade and Zagreb are enjoying better relations and that after years of bureaucratic obstruction, 1,200 minority Croatian Serbs were allowed to return to Croatia in the third quarter of 1998.
     "Of course that's just a drop in the bucket, but it is a start and we are hopeful that come next spring there will be a big flow of Serbs back home," Vesna Petkovic, a U.N. refugee official in Belgrade, told Reuters.
     For Mandic, a once-happy waiter, then a reluctant soldier and now a refugee, Croatia holds no allure, nor does Kosovo.
     Both his parents died near Knin during the war and he has no desire to return as a minority to Croatia, among Europe's most ethnically homogeneous countries.
     Kosovo, with its 90 per cent ethnic Albanian majority, isn't a long-term solution either.
     "I wish with all my heart that I could turn the clock back, that things could be different, the way they used to be," said Mandic.
     "Things could have been different...I wasn't fighting for a Greater Serbia. We were trying to keep our families together, trying to stay with the people we liked. We could have done it, but we were betrayed. We were ruined by politics."
     -end-
--
Decani Monastery               tel +381 390 61543
38322 Decani, Serbia           fax +381 390 61567
http://www.decani.yunet.com    e-mail: decani@EUnet.yu

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1998
INTERNATIONAL

Serb Pullback on Track. Now Who Rules Kosovo?

*Still unsettled is whether the police force will include ethnic Albanian rebels who are seeking independence.

Justin Brown
Special to The Christian Science Monitor
                                                   JABLANICE, YUGOSLAVIA

A pleasant surprise, say diplomats, is that the cease-fire in Kosovo is holding, so far.
     But still unanswered, despite an agreement last month between Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and US envoy Richard Holbrooke, is: Just who will be in charge in Kosovo?
     Now that NATO isn't intervening, and Yugoslav Army troops and Serbian special police forces are withdrawing, part of a political solution to Kosovo is the implementation of a police force that is representative of the 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo.
     International negotiators, led by US Ambassador to Macedonia Christopher Hill, are struggling with the question: Should the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which has been at the forefront of the armed struggle of independence for Kosovo, be included in that police force?
     The outcome could affect the ultimate status in Kosovo, most of whose ethnic Albanians favor independence from Serbia, while the international community favors an autonomy similar to its arrangement before the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1989.
     The fragile cease-fire in Kosovo follows Mr. Milosevic's crackdown earlier this year on Albanian separatists. After NATO threatened airstrikes, Milosevic agreed to withdraw police and military forces to pre-crackdown levels. Some 2,000 unarmed observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will verify compliance with the agreement.
     Western diplomats are picking up their pace in recent attempts to forge a political agreement in Kosovo. The US has focused its negotiating efforts on Ibrahim Rugova, president of the underground ethnic Albanian government since 1991. Other politicians and the KLA have been consulted, but they complain that they are being left out of the decisionmaking process.
     Although Mr. Rugova has said he wants independence, it is thought that he will settle for less - probably limited autonomy. There is likely to be a three-year interim autonomy period while new institutions are established. After that, the plan can be changed.
     Meanwhile, if the KLA were included in the region's police force, it would have to fall under the control of civil ethnic Albanian leaders, who would likely be headed by Rugova. The pacifist leader is detested by men like Ramush Haradinaj, the KLA commander of the Dukagjini region.
     "The people who become a part of the police force will not be liked by the nation," says Mr. Haradinaj. "They will be traitors," he says in the KLA's western headquarters.
     Yet, if the KLA were not included, there would be the possibility of inter-ethnic Albanian conflict between the police and the rebel guerrillas.
     "Everyone is concerned about what will happen with the KLA," says a Western diplomat. "The KLA is the real wild card here because there is no one person who has control over them."
     "It is true that the politics of Kosovo have changed," says Haradinaj in a rare interview. "But," he says resolutely, "the place of the [KLA] does not change; we will not change until the country is liberated."
     On the other hand, the KLA seems to be increasingly splintered. Although Haradinaj, for example, claims to follow a central KLA command, he appears isolated in the western region and says he does not recognize a well-known KLA base in northern Albania.
     Also, another group of ethnic Albanian guerrillas, known as the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kosovo (FARK), remains in Kosovo despite attempts by the KLA to stamp it out. FARK has close ties to the mainstream ethnic Albanian political process and is despised by the KLA.
     The ethnic Albanian civil population appears to be caught in the middle of all this. The return of some 300,000 internal refugees, who fled during the crackdown, has been slow.

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Wed, 4 Nov 1998 7:36:51 PST
Three Serb civilians injured in rebel attack: Serb information center

 PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Nov 4 (AFP) - Three Serb workers of a coal mine near Pristina were injured in an attack by ethnic Albanian rebels of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), a policeman at the scene told AFP Wednesday.
The KLA rebels opened fire late Tuesday on two vehicles transporting the Serbs heading towards the Belacevac coal mine near the village of Donji Grabovac, some 15 kilometres (9 miles) southwest of Pristina, the Serb-run information center said earlier.
The two vehicles riddled with bullet holes and with traces of blood inside were still at the scene Wednesday.
Desimir Prodanovic, an engineer and his driver Dragisa Stepanovic were seriously injured, while Slavoljub Tanaskovic was slightly wounded, the center said.
Police said the drivers of both vehicles drove while wounded to an area where they knew they would find a police presence. Clashes lasting an hour and a half then erupted between security forces and the alleged rebels, police said.
Residents of the nearby village of Spitula, which is under KLA control, confirmed that the attack had taken place.
In June, KLA rebels captured the area around the Belacevac mine but were ousted a week later by Serb security forces.
The Belacevac mine produces most of the coal for Kosovo's power plants.

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38322 Decani, Serbia           fax +381 390 61567
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VISOKI DECANI MONASTERY NOMINATED FOR WORLD HERITAGE LIST

The cultural heritage of Kosovo-Metohija, which is of the greatest European cultural values in general, was the reason why Franz Weber, a world-renowned Swiss ecologist and great fighter for the preservation of the world heritage, recently raised his voice against possible air strikes in Kosovo-Metohija. It is his proposal that the monastery of Visoki Decani should be proclaimed a cultural monument of world significance, since, as Mr.Weber said, this monastery touched him most deeply. This is a complex that is in harmony with the universe. This is reason enough for us to recall, in another edition of Radio Yugoslavia's BEAUTIFUL AND INTERESTING LANDMARKS IN YUGOSLAVIA, the beauty and importance of this monastery which is the foundation of Serbian King Stefan Uros III of Decani from the 14th century. Jelena Gligoric has more.

It is well known that the cultural and historical heritage, primarily monasteries, epidomise the collective experience and national awareness of a nation. In Serbia, ever since the Middle Ages, they have been not only centers of spirituality, but also guardians of state values. In the 13th century, Kosovo was part of the Byzantine empire, so that cherished in this region was art of the Byzantine type, primarily in church architecture. It is precisely in this period that Kosovo-Metohija experienced its prosperity, as well as it spiritual and artistic renaissance, which was accompanied by the construction of a large number of monasteries.

Bishops, kings, monks and priests built and decorated temples, churches, monasteries and cave ascetic cells. Some of those jewels of medieval architecture have withstood the ravages of time and have been preserved to the present day. Among them is also the monastery of Visoki Decani.

The Decani monastery complex was built on the Bistrica River, between the towns of Pec, the one time residence of the head of the Serbian church, and Prizren, the long-standing capital of the Serbian Nemanjic dynasty. The builder of Decani, friar Vita of Kotor on the Montenegrin coast, constructed in 1335 a temple which, with its strength and height, as well as the beauty of its stone reliefs of a complex theological and symbolic meaning, has been arousing admiration for centuries. It is for this region that the people have named this sanctuary Visoki Decani, meaning High Decani.

Upon the completion of construction, emperor Dusan commissioned numerous painters from various parts of the empire, to decorate with murals thousands of square meters of walls in this church. Over a 15-year period, the anonymous artists created not only thousands of compositions and individual images in 20 large cycles, but also a painting ensemble described as anthological. The paintings in Decani confirmed the extensive theological knowledge of the founders and builders, but they also represent a valuable historical source attesting to man's attitude to religion and art. The valuable painting material, the sky blue color and the golden leaves, used for painting ceremonial places, emphasized the elevated nature and spirituality of the painted narrations.

The most beautiful frescoes are in the dome. In the first zone are the standing figures, all in their natural size, and in the second are frescoes which illustrate Christ's life before the crucifixion. One of the frescoes especially stands apart, and also draws the attention of scientists - it depicts Christ in a space craft. It is difficult to give explanation as to what such kind of icon is doing in Decani, but the existence of this fresco at one point also provoked the interest of the great researcher of traces of lost civilizations, Erich Von Deniken.

Decani is also a valuable treasury of objects made between the 14th and 19th centuries. In the library, for instance, kept are manuscripts of valuable contents, and the collection of incense hanging lights is the most beautiful one in Yugoslavia. Among the valuable and unique icons in Decani is also one which depicts an image of an old man, i.e. a young man, depending on the angle you look at it.

The Serbs will never accept to part from their religious monuments which present their culture, roots and identity, Swiss ecologist Franz Weber wrote down after touring the monastery of Visoki Decani in Kosovo, which he proposed to UNESCO to register in the list of world heritage.

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A LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT
(published in the magazine "EVROPLJANIN", October 19. The magazine was immediately banned)

What’s next, Milosevic

     The text you can read at  back218.htm

           KËSHILLI PËR MBROJTJEN E TË DREJTAVE DHE TË LIRIVE TË NJERIUT
              COUNCIL FOR THE DEFENCE OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
                 Rr. Vellusha 46, 38000 Prishtinë - Kosovë; tel: 381 (0) 38 530 409; fax: 381 (0)38 36 965
                        http:www.albanian.com/kmdlnj e-mail: kmdlnj@albanian.com

                                REPORT NO. 443

ON THE WIDESPREAD REPRESSION AND HARASSMENT PERPETRATED BY THE SERBIAN REGIME AND OTHER AUTHORITIES IN KOSOVA FROM OCTOBER 25 UNTIL OCTOBER 31, 1998

          The text you can read at  week443.htm

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For more info email: teresa@advocacynet.org

APPEAL FOR THE RELEASE OF THE PRIZREN 10

The US government has committed itself to peace in Kosovo and even threatened NATO bombing. Why, then, can it not find its voice on behalf of jailed students?

From 1997 until March, 1998, the U.S. State Department, the House Foreign Affairs staff, the New York Times and other international organizations showed strong support for the students of the Independent Students Union in Kosova (UPSUP) and their non-violent protests, which were aimed at regaining their school buildings. Indeed, Ambassador Robert Gelbard met with student leaders both in the U.S. and in Prishtina and helped to negotiate a new education accord that would allow the students use of their campus buildings. Although the accord was signed in March, 1998, the terms of the agreement were never honored.

Organizations throughout Europe and the U.S. had praised the discipline and bravery of the UPSUP leadership throughout the year. Then, on May 23, 1998, nine student leaders--all UPSUP members--in Prizren at the Doda Teacher Training School were arrested and charged with membership in the KLA and acts of terrorism against the state of Yugoslavia. The New York Times, Ambassador Gelbard, Amnesty International remained, by and large, silent.

The students, ranging in age from twenty to twenty three, were convicted in August of "enemy activities against the state of Yugoslavia" for organizing a first aid class for displaced people. At their trial, the only evidence against them were their confessions, made, said their lawyer, under psychological and physical duress. The two older students were beaten. Four of the students were charged with KLA contact and admitted to it.

In a trial that by several reports lasted only four and a half hours the students were sentenced to terms from seven and a half years to one year. The students are allowed one visitor every two weeks. One mother said, "My daughter is in jail and no one knows it. No one cares." Their lawyer stated to "Bota Re"--"There is no reason for their imprisonment. There is no evidence. But I cannot free them alone. I need help."  Their sentences are as follows:

Nijazi Kryeziu (aged twenty-one; sentenced to seven and a half years imprisonment)
Aqif Iljazi (aged twenty-one; sentenced to six and a half years imprisonment)
Bylbyl Duraku (aged twenty-two; sentenced to five and a half years imprisonment)
Sejdi Bellanica (aged twenty-three; sentenced to three and a half years imprisonment)
Defrim Rifaj (aged twenty-two; sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment)
Behare Tafallari (aged twenty-two; sentenced to two years imprisonment)
Jehona Krasniqi (aged twenty-two; sentenced to two years imprisonment)
Leonora Morina (aged twenty-one; sentenced to two years imprisonment)
Sherif Iljazi (aged twenty; sentenced to one year imprisonment)

A 10th student, Hysen Durmishi, the President of the Students Independent Union of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture disappeared two weeks ago. It has been discovered that he was arrested at that time and is now being held in an isolation cell in prison. No one has been allowed contact with him.

"It is a part of the regime campaign, that thousands of Albanian NGO, humanitarian and political activists have been subject to.  It is no surprise that this campaign is especially directed towards students' and young people, which are those who represent the hope for some better future.  These barbarian acts of the Serbian regime against the freedom of opinion and free expression are happening in Europe, in front of eyes of the international community and should gnaw their conscience, too." ( Bujar Dugolli, President of UPSUP from the UPSUP appeal)

Arbitrary detentions and arrests of ethnic Albanians have escalated rapidly throughout 1998. Until late September, the precise number of individuals in custody at any given time had been impossible to determine since the Yugoslav authorities refused to provide detailed information, despite specific inquiries from Human Rights Watch.   On September 23, Serbian Minister of Justice Drogulub Jankovic stated that criminal investigations had been opened against 927 individuals in five local courts of Kosovo and one court in Prokuple-all of them on charges of terrorism or enemy activities against the state. According to the minister, 538 of these people are currently in detention.  It was later reported that as many as 325 ethnic Albanians had been arrested between September 22 and 26, although it was unclear how many of these individuals remained in custody as of this writing.

In July and August, detained individuals increasingly included human rights activists, humanitarian aid workers, political party members, doctors, and lawyers, many of whom were physically abused in custody. Human Rights Watch has substantial credible evidence from lawyers and family members of detainees that detainees are routinely tortured and ill-treated. From March to August 1998, five people are known to have died while in police custody; hundreds of others have been beaten. Human rights and humanitarian agencies, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, report restricted access to detainees.

Police abuse, arbitrary arrests, and violations of due process constituted violations of, among other instruments, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the Yugoslav government has pledged to respect.

There is no reason for these students to remain in jail. UPSUP had much open support from the U.S. government and other international bodies until the time when intervention was truly needed. Then their case was totally abandoned.

Their case and others like them are an example of the human rights abuses perpetrated against Albanians by the Serbian regime.  Actions we take to bring about their release shows our commitment to protecting peoples rights regardless of the who they are or where they are.

I urge you to procure an appeal of their case. Contact and petition your congress people, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
jesse_helms@helms.senate.gov (NC), senator_lugar@lugar.senate.gov (IN), senator_coverdell@coverdell.senate.gov (GA), chuck_hagel@hagel.senate.gov (NE), opinion@smith.senate.gov (OR), craig@thomas.senate.gov (WY), mail_grams@grams.senate.gov (MN), john_ashcroft@ashcroft.senate.gov (MO), senator_frist@frist.senate.gov (TN), sam_brownback@brownback.senate.gov (KS), senator@biden.senate.gov (DE), senator@sarbanes.senate.gov (MD), sen_dodd@dodd.senate.gov (CT), senator@robb.senate.gov (VA), bob@kerrey.senate.gov (MA), russell_feingold@feingold.senate.gov (WI), senator@feinstein.senate.gov (CA), senator@wellstone.senate.gov (MN),
Secretary of State, Madeline Albright <secretary@state.gov>
Congressman Eliot Engel head of the Albanian Caucus in Congress <jason.steinbaum@mail.house.gov (his legislative aide)>,
The National Albanian American Council <NAACDC@aol.com>,
The International Committee of the Red Cross <press.gva@icrc.org>,
Amnesty International <amnestyis@amnesty,org>,
Human Rights Watch <hrwny@hrw.org or hrwdc@hrw.org>

Follow these up with phone calls to ensure that they were received and read.  Sending letters similar to the one below is important. Letters can also be sent to the Congresspeople who are members of the Albanian Caucus.  For a complete list please contact me.  For your Congressperson's address, phone number or email check out <http:\\www.vote-smart.org>

For More information on these or other missing people Please Contact
Teresa Crawford, Kosova Action Network, (315) 471-7790, teresa@advocacynet.org
 

Sample Letter:

Dear Representative Engel--

First I would like to thank you for the tireless work you've done to help Kosova. I realize full well humanitarian agencies like the Red Cross are obstructed from their normal duties such as identifying and visiting "missing" people and detainees. And the interim "agreement" provides no mechanisms to safeguard abuse of the law.

On May 23, 1998, nine USP student leaders from Prizen between the ages of twenty and twenty three  were arrested for organizing a first aid course. They were held for sixty days before sentencing in August. Their sentences range from seven and one half years to one year.

Two weeks ago, another UPSUP student, Hysen Dumishi was reported "missing." It has been discovered that he is in an isolation cell. No one has been allowed contact with him. The charges are unknown.

During 1997-1998, the student non-violent movement in Kosova received a great deal of Western political support for their right to demonstrate to regain their access to schools for Albanians. Indeed, Ambassador Robert Gelbard spent a great deal of time negotiating this new accord, working directly with the students, as did a peace group in Rome, S'ant Edigio. Yet when the student organization has turned to us for support as its members are arrested and charged without evidence of terrorism activities besides their "confessions," our State Department, Mr. Holbrooke, Mr. Hill, Mr. Gelbard, and our legislative bodies as well as our slew of fifty NGO's called the Kosova Action Council have chosen to remain silent.  Even the New York Times which wrote an editorial saying that supporting the student movement was one of the most important democracy-building actions the U.S. could take has had nothing to say.

I find this reprehensible. I realize there are other far more urgent cases, but the student's should be a starting point. They stood up to the military police's brute force in front of us all, unarmed, stating they were the last peaceful initiative in Kosova. Now we abandon them.

I urge you to try every means available to your office to push for an appeal.

Sincerely,

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