Human Rights Violations against Non-albanian Kosovars

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# Ethnic Tensions Grow in Kosovo - AP (09/09/99)
# Orthodox Press: Kosovo and Metohija Chronicle, September 9

Thursday September 9 8:19 AM ET

Ethnic Tensions Grow in Kosovo

By MELISSA EDDY Associated Press Writer

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - A Serb woman died today from a beating witnesses said was administered by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, officials with the NATO-led peace force reported.
     The beating occurred in the southwestern city of Prizren late Wednesday, the NATO public information officer in Prizren said. The 65-year-old victim was flown by helicopter to the hospital run by German military doctors but died after arrival.
     Separately, NATO reported the shooting death of a 65-year-old Gypsy, or Roma woman in Suva Reka, near Prizren, and said the perpetrators wore KLA uniforms. It was not immediately clear if the two sources were reporting on the same incident and differing on details.
     The reports were sure to feed already high ethnic tensions between the dwindling number of Kosovo Serbs still in the province and the ethnic Albanian majority accused of attacks to avenge the 18-month Serb crackdown ended by the arrival of the NATO led peacekeeping force.
     Roma have also been targeted by Kosovo Albanians, who accuse them of being Serb allies.
     Two Serb houses were also burned late Tuesday in Prizren, said the NATO official. He had no further details.
     The newest violence comes on the heels of shelling in Kosovo's American-controlled eastern sector that killed two Serbs and wounded four others - one critically. Such incidents add to fears of an upsurge of violence ahead of a deadline later this month for demilitarizing the ethnic Albanian rebel army, the KLA.
     The deaths occurred in the village of Donja Budriga, where residents said shells landed for 20 minutes, blowing the legs off an elderly woman fetching water in her yard. She died, along with a male villager.
     U.S. troops serving in the NATO-led Kosovo peacekeeping force said the attack - and one on the nearby Serb village of Ranilug - came after relatively frequent incidents of mortar fire diminished for two weeks in the ethnically mixed area of the province under their control.
     With less than two weeks until the Sept. 19 deadline for the demilitarization of the KLA, international officials in the province feared such attempts to destabilize the peace would continue to increase. Some senior KLA figures are thought vehemently opposed to demilitarization, despite a plan to allow the organization to maintain some of its structures as a reformed, lightly armed civil emergency corps.
     U.S. officers said investigators found evidence that a Chinese-manufactured mortar was used on the attack on Ranilug. Chinese-manufactured weapons were favored by the KLA during the fighting against Serb-led Yugoslav forces that ended in June.
     Most of the more than 200,000 Kosovo Serbs have fled since NATO troops replaced Serb forces at the end of 78 days of NATO bombing that forced Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to accept Western peace terms for Kosovo. Those who remain complain that the 40,000 NATO-led troops in the province are protecting only the Albanians.
     As tensions here increase, Russia has stepped up criticism of NATO's role in Kosovo - complaining that Serbs are not adequately protected and expressing unhappiness with the KLA's proposed new role as a lightly armed force that would respond to natural disasters and assist in security missions as not amounting to full demilitarization.
     Russia's complaints are expected to figure in talks in Moscow next week between Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev and U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen.

Copyright © 1996-1999 The Associated Press

 
Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox Church
PRAVOSLAVLJE PRESS

Belgrade, September 9, 1999

Kosovo & Metohia Events

The monks and the clergymen of the Patriarchate of Pec Monastery, headed by the monk David Perovic, have undertaken industrious efforts to find the missing Serbs of Metohia and to protect the Serbian shrines. They have approached the carabinieri in Pec urging that they should find Slobodan Pejcinovic, who disappeared in Rugova gorge on the first day of NATO bombardment, as well as Dusan Jocic, who disappeared in about the same time. Since their disappearance, the parents of these Serbs have been spending most of the time in the Patriarchate of Pec.

When visiting the carabinieri in Pec, father Budimir Kojic - the priest of Pec parish, and father David had to complain about the two Albanians who they had caught cutting trees in the graveyard, thus destroying - as father David said - "everything in front of them, not only flora, but also the traces of the Serbian graves and church insignia (the cross that the priest carves in the tree on a Holy Day)". The keepers of the public order have denounced these destroyers to the magistrate. This new moment in the relationship of the international forces towards the Albanian crimes can contribute significantly to the establishing of peace and good inter-ethnic relations in this region.

Father David has noticed that the material left of the ruined buildings in Pec, as well as the city rubbish, is transported into the nearby destroyed and devastated Serbian villages, which could additionally hinder the future comeback of the Serbs into these villages, and the reconstruction of their homes there.

Father David has informed Pravoslavlje Press that the search concerning the missing Serbs shows certain results. Dara Lalovic, who was supposed to be dead, was found yesterday thanks to the information given by a Muslim woman whose name father David would not like to disclose for the reason of her safety; he would not either want to say Dara's location, saying that the most important fact is that she is safe.

Father Budimir visited yesterday Krusevo village near Klina. The church in this village has not been damaged. Father David claims that the church has been saved since it is surrounded by the Roman Catholic Albanians, while the Orthodox churches surrounded by the Islamic faithful have been regularly blown up with mines. Naklo village was also visited. The church in this village was also set on fire, together with all Serbian houses; thus, if anything would be built in this village when the Serbs have returned, it would have to be built from the start.

A large group of Roman Catholic and Protestant clergymen from Germany, escorted by KFOR contingent, visited the Patriarchate of Pec Monastery yesterday. They wanted to know whether the Serbs from the villages: Gorazdevac, Banja, Crkolez, and Suvo Grlo need foodstuff and similar things to be ready to meet autumn and winter.

According to the report of the Church-National Board in Gnjilane, conveyed by amateur radio operators, the tensions between the Serbs and the Albanians in this area constantly increase, as does the dissatisfaction of the Serbs because of the improper attitude of KFOR towards them. The tension has also increased due to the yesterday's robberies of the houses belonging to Cedomir Djordjevic, Biljana Mitrovic and Vladimir Djokic, as well as of the artisan shops owned by Sasa Dimic and Momcilo Jeftic. Some Albanians have again threatened to Petar Arsic for his persisting in not leaving his house. The moving of the Albanian families into Verka Ristic's and Sreten Stefanovic's apartments has also been reported. The Albanians have also seized one kitchenette apartment from Stefanovic. In spite of everything that is happening in this region, KFOR command has shortened the curfew in Gnjilane for an hour and a half, which may offer bigger possibilities to the criminals for the execution their criminal actions. And that, surely, does not add to the inhabitants' feeling of personal safety.

Bishop of Hvosno
Atanasije

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