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# Serbs Don't Feel Safe in Kosova - AP August 28, 1999
# Orthodox Press: Kosovo and Metohija Chronicle, August 28

Serbs Don't Feel Safe in Kosova

By MELISSA EDDY
Associated Press Writer

GJILAN, Kosova (AP) — Slobodan Stevanovic pulls out a 40-page booklet and plunks it down on the table. It is a list, he says, of all Serbs in this American-patrolled town who have been attacked, chased from their homes or disappeared since NATO-led peacekeepers arrived in June.
     In Rahovec, another Serb — who identifies himself only as ``GK'' — says he is compiling a similar list, documenting attacks on Serbs there.
     Across the province, Kosova Serbs say they still do not feel safe and can't rely on peacekeepers to protect them.
     Their complaints are raising questions over whether NATO and the United Nations can establish a multiethnic Kosova, where ethnic Albanians accounted for 90 percent of the pre-war population of 2.1 million. Even ethnic Albanians concede that adequately protecting Serbs is a problem.
     As a result, the idea of ethnic segregation — once a taboo subject — is being openly discussed at the highest levels of the U.N. and NATO commands.
     Over the past week, local Serb leaders proposed creating separate areas where Serbs could live apart from ethnic Albanians, protected by international peacekeepers and governing themselves.
     The idea runs counter to the stated goal of the United Nations and NATO, and ethnic Albanian leaders oppose it, lest separation could lead ultimately to the partitioning of Kosova.
     Yet, Bernard Kouchner, the top U.N. official in Kosova who has publicly dismissed the idea of cantons, also has suggested that protecting the dwindling Serb community would be easier if Serbs were settled together at least temporarily.
     There are no reliable figures on how many Serbs have been assaulted or killed since NATO-led peacekeepers began moving into Kosova on June 12. The United Nations, however, estimates more than three-quarters of Kosova's pre-war population of about 200,000 Serbs has left.
     On Wednesday, Serb representatives on a multiethnic advisory council formally proposed resettling Serbs in five protected areas where they formed the pre-war majority. They recommended the cantons be governed jointly by Serbs and international representatives.
     Although the United Nations has not officially turned down the proposal, ethnic Albanians on the council strongly oppose it.
     ``Conceptually, security does not derive from the ability of the Serbs to congregate and then to have armed troops above them,'' said Veton Surroi, an ethnic Albanian on the council. ``Security for the Serbs needs to be addressed in issues of perspective, of property, of economic perspective, of local police, of inclusion into a society, not segregation.''
     But according to the U.N. refugee agency, many Serbs around Gjilan have already moved into majority Serb areas of their own accord.
     ``In some areas ... there is some evidence of Serbs already congregating in their own majority areas anyway,'' said Ron Redmond, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. ``They have been leaving some of the mixed villages down there ... and converging on majority villages.''
     While international officials continue to work to bring Serbs and ethnic Albanians together, some peacekeepers admit that after what they have been through, Albanians and Serbs feel more comfortable among their own.
     Capt. Larry Kaminski, a spokesman for U.S. troops in eastern Kosova, said many of the Serbs who have resettled were farmers who had decided to flee to Serbia, then changed their minds when they reached an all-Serb village within travelling distance of their fields.
     ``It has cut down on some of the problems,'' Kaminski said, referring to the effort to protect Serbs.
     Unlike in Bosnia, the former Yugoslav republic that was divided into two separate entities after its ethnic war, there are no boundaries in Kosova between Serb and Albanian areas.
     While ethnic Albanians view the creation of all-Serb areas as de facto partition of Kosova, many Serbs see it as the only way they can stay and find safety.
     ``The Albanians, the international community must answer this question,'' said Momcilo Trajkovic, a Serb community leader. ``We can no longer just observe the last exodus of Serbs and say that things are going along as normal.''

August 28, 1999

Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox Church
PRAVOSLAVLJE PRESS

Belgrade, August 28, 1999
Kosovo & Metohia Events

The killing and persecuting of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohia have now been moved to the territories where there is a larger number of the Serbs. On August 26, about 18:00, the Albanians fired 10 shells at Gracanica village, where the majority of the Serbs is located now. Their intention is clear - to expel the remaining Serbs from this area.

While the bloody atrocities are being executed on the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohia, the Albanians demonstrated yesterday in the streets of Pristina asking that their country-fellows, who have been legitimately taken into the prisons of the official state of Yugoslavia due to the crimes they had executed on the Serbs, should be set free. Even Mr Bernard Couchnaire, the head of the UN civil mission, spoke at this Albanians' protest.

Yesterday, one Serb was killed in Prizren, which is a regular occurrence in this town.

Fourteen armed attacks and assaults on the Serbs happened yesterday in Gnjilane. Gradimir Stolic was kidnapped in the centre of the town.

The Russian soldiers who ought to protect the Serbs in Orahovac have not still been allowed to enter this town. The Albanians have blocked the entrances, and the Russians avoid conflicts.

Liturgy

The Serbian Orthodox Church celebrates today the Holy Day of Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God. The Holy Liturgy has been served in all churches. His Holiness Pavle, the Serbian Patriarch has served the Liturgy in Rakovica monastery. Rt. Rev. Atanasije, the Bishop of Zahumlje and Herzegovina has served the Liturgy in Gracanica monastery, in Kosovo, accompanied by domestic priests, and by the Russian and Greek priests from KFOR. Rt. Rev. Artemije, the Bishop of Raska and Zahumlje, has served the Liturgy in Decani monastery.

Bishop of Hvosno
Atanasije

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