EXIT GELBARD?
The "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" wrote on
7 August that U.S. special envoy Robert Gelbard will no longer deal directly
with the Kosova issue, at least not in Belgrade. U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia
Christopher Hill, who has been active in Kosovar diplomacy in recent weeks,
will now handle the issue on Washington's behalf. The German daily reported
that Gelbard had made some unspecified remarks that offended Milosevic,
who declined to deal with him any further. PM
RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 154, Part II, 12 August 1998
SERBIA EXPELS GERMAN JOURNALIST.
The Serbian authorities have declared the veteran Balkan correspondent Erich Rathfelder persona non grata and ordered him to leave the country, the German satellite broadcaster NTV reported on 12 August. Rathfelder wrote in the Berlin daily "taz" and in Vienna's "Die Presse" on 5 August that members of the Serbian forces in Kosova buried hundreds of ethnic Albanian civilians in mass graves in Rahovec. EU monitors were subsequently unable to confirm that report. Rathfelder and his editors stand by their story and have called for international forensics experts to investigate (see "RFE/RL Bosnia Report," 12 August 1998). Rathfelder is the author of several books on the former Yugoslavia, including a recent one on the war in Bosnia. PM
RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 155, Part II, 13 August 1998
JOURNALIST STICKS TO STORY OF MASS GRAVES.
Erich Rathfelder, who is a veteran Balkan correspondent
for Berlin's "taz" and Vienna's "Die Presse," told an RFE/RL correspondent
in a telephone interview on 12 August that he stands by his recent report
of mass graves of Kosovar civilians in Rahovec (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"
12 August 1998). He stressed that international forensics experts should
visit the area as soon as possible. Rathfelder is in Croatia and has been
barred by the Serbian authorities from returning to Kosova. FS
Augsburger Allgemeine 17. August 1998
Augsburger Allgemeine 19. August
1998
