Kosova Daily Report #1368, 98-03-11

Kosovo Information Center: Kosova Daily Report Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: Kosova Information Center <http://www.kosova.com/>

Kosova Information Center
KOSOVA DAILY REPORT #1368
Prishtina, 11 March 1998

First Edition: 16:00 hrs
Second Edition: 21:00 hrs

CONTENTS

[01] Summary from President Rugova's Briefings with the Foreign Press

[02] Serb Police Carries Out Threat to Have Victims of Drenica Massacre Buried without Autopsy and Identification

[03] Hague Tribunal Is Collecting Information on Atrocities in Kosova

[04] Doctors Protest Outraged Serb Regime Treatment of Wounded and Killed Albanians in Drenica

[05] Russia Supports Quick Dialogue on Kosova, Primakov Says

[06] Situation in Vushtrri Difficult with Lack of Food and Other Supplies

[07] Heavy Serb Forces Keep Mitrovica Under Blockade

[08] More Serbian Forces Deployed to Skenderaj, Wednesday

[09] Serb Forces Snipe at Civilians

[10] What Belgrade Offers Is a Mockery of Dialogue, Senior LDK Official Says

[11] Albanians Dig Up Graves, Re-bury Their Dead in Prekaz

[12] Sporadic Shooting at Turi^evc, Two Little Girls Reportedly Frozen to Death

[13] Statement of The Hague Tribunal's Prosecutor on Kosova

[14] Unknown People Toss Bomb at House of Proprietor of 'Dukagjini' Printing House in Peja

[01] Summary from President Rugova's Briefings with the Foreign Press

'I am appreciative of your work', the President said at the outset, recalling that for years "we have had no broadcasting media", which were shut down by the Serb regime in 1990.

Denouncing in the strongest terms the Serb massacre in Drenica, Dr. Ibrahim Rugova said the Serb regime authorities prevented yesterday (Tuesday) Albanian forensics expert and pathologists from going to Skenderaj (in Serbian 'Srbica') to examine the corpses of Albanians slain by Serb police/military forces last week. "The victims were exposed to renewed violence" in this way, he noted.

President Ibrahim Rugova congratulated the citizens of Kosova for the holding of impressive peaceful demonstrations. In some towns, like in Peja ('Pec') and Istog police intervened and injured and wounded people, he said.

Kosova President hailed the action plan of the Contact Group meeting, adopted by the six-nation group in London on Monday. He thanked all the Group's member countries for having discussed Kosova at such a level, and urged support of other countries in implementation of the measures adopted there.

President Ibrahim Rugova pressed for stepped up efforts on behalf of the international community "to save the people of Kosova, who have been pursuing their will for freedom and independence" by peaceful means.

The people of Kosova have, at great costs, "set up and maintained an independent civic society and state", Dr. Ibrahim Rugova said.

He reiterated his call for the world to reward the peaceful struggle of the people of Kosova, "who should be given the chance to live as an independent country".

Asked by reporters to comment about an offer on dialogue put forward by the Serbian government, President Rugova said he had not received anything official about this. It is not clear what they mean by that 'open' or 'public dialogue', he noted. "We are willing, and indeed have been willing all along, to engage in meaningful dialogue with the assistance of the international community", the President said. "This dialogue should be unconditioned".

We haven never put forward preconditions, the President said, adding that "the talks process should be well-prepared, and a set of rules for its conducting to be respected". Kosova needs the help of the West in this, he emphasized.

Asked to comment on Ambassador Gelbard's suggestion that there be private, secret talks, President Ibrahim Rugova said all kinds of talks, including "private" are acceptable.

Autonomy for Kosova within the borders of the so-called 'FRY' is "no solution", President Ibrahim Rugova said.

An independent country would be a source of stability in this part of Europe. "It would calm down the region, the neighboring countries, Albania and Macedonia, but also Serbia, although it is not at present willing to accept this", the President emphasized.

We have not been pressing for change of borders ("Kosova has its own borders"). "Kosova was part of a federation which has ceased to exist" and the other federal units have been allowed to emerge as independent countries, Dr. Ibrahim Rugova pointed out.

The President said it was "positive" that the Contact Group picked up Felipe Gonzales as the OSCE envoy for this part of the world, including Kosova, and pressed Belgrade into accepting Gonzales as an intermediator.

We are determined to press ahead with our national elections, President Rugova said. Regarding the planned date, 22 March, he said the deteriorating situation in the wake of tragic events in Drenica will be taken into consideration. "We will notify you about it" in the next couple of days, President Ibrahim Rugova concluded.

[02] Serb Police Carries Out Threat to Have Victims of Drenica Massacre Buried without Autopsy and Identification

Serb forces collected yesterday at 5 p.m. the bodies of the slain Albanians and forced a small number of Albanians to have them buried.

Reportedly, citizens were coerced to take part in this hasty funeral procession. They were forced to carry the coffins with the bodies to the Prekaz i Ul&t village.

In fact some LDK and Council for the Human rights (CDHRF) activists and a few family members were involved in this coercive burial.

The burial 'ceremony' itself was carried under uniformed and plain- clothes policemen threat. An armored vehicle and a lorry was near the burial place.

The victims were buried in graves that had been opened earlier, but without following any kind of rules, ignoring even numbers of identification.

At least 17 corpses of slain Albanians were buried without having been identified.

Most of the graves were covered with an excavator. Ten graves were left uncovered.

The slain Albanians were literally buried, under Serb threat. The evidence was buried literally, too. This was the intention of the Serb police/military regime which killed them in the first place.

The 49 dead bodies were transported by the Serbian police from the Prishtina morgue Monday and Tuesday and dropped at a construction material warehouse in Skenderaj ('Srbica') to be picked up by relatives or families for burial.

Those who had identified their dead yesterday refused to bury them without an internationally authorized independent forensic expertise.

Serbian police had told Albanian residents in Skenderaj they could complete the burial today by covering the graves that were left opened. They said they would permit some 60 local Albanians to participate in the continuation of the burial proceedings, still under the Serb forces' strict control, sources in Skenderaj told KIC this morning.

There were 13 children (9 boys and 4 girls), 12 women (one of the them pregnant) and 7 old men among the killed and massacred, during the Serb forces' attack on several Albanian family compounds in Prekaz i Ul&t village of Drenica, from 5 through 7 March.

[03] Hague Tribunal Is Collecting Information on Atrocities in Kosova

Reuters said that Louse Arbour stated at the Hague on Tuesday the tribunal has the jurisdiction to prosecute suspect involved in the recent violence in Kosova.

The Contact Group foreign ministers in a meeting on Kosova on Monday urged the office of the ICTFY Prosecutor "to begin gathering information related to the violence in Kosovo that may fall within its jurisdiction".

In a statement to the press in Prishtina on Tuesday, Robert S.

Gelbard, President Clinton's envoy for Balkans said the mandate of ICTFY "clearly covers Kosovo now", noting that the Tribunal was requested to "begin gathering information whether crimes have indeed committed" in Kosova.

[04] Doctors Protest Outraged Serb Regime Treatment of Wounded and Killed Albanians in Drenica

The Kosova doctors said they were appalled by the fact they were denied access to Drenica and prevented from treating the wounded people and carrying autopsy on the bodies of the victims.

They noted that over the past days they have persistently asked for permission to enter the area but were all the time denied by the Serb forces.

In a statement addressed to international public opinion the Kosova doctors said "the aim of the Serb regime is but clear: prevent Albanian doctors from witnessing that Albanian victims were massacred in a cold blood".

The Kosovars Albanian doctors and other medical personnel gathered likewise last week in front of the USIS Office in Prishtian to call on the U.S. intervene with the Belgrade regime so as to allow them a humanitarian corridor to Drenica.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has likewise on a number of occasions tried access to Drenica but was all the time denied by the Serb authorities.

"For a week we have been demanding from different authorities the access to the region but we have failed to get any response yet", Christine Palladino of the ICRC in Prishtina has told the France- Press Agency (AFP).

[05] Russia Supports Quick Dialogue on Kosova, Primakov Says

"We may have different views and approaches to various problems but that in no way destroys relations between the members of the Contact Group," Primakov told reporters in a press briefing in Moscow, Reuters said.

Foreign ministers of the six-member Contact Group - U.S., Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Russian Federation - in a meeting in London on Monday adopted a 10-element statement on Kosova which includes a range of measures to be pursued in bringing to an end violence in Kosova and beginning of a process of dialogue.

Russia's representative in the meeting noted that the Russian Federation "cannot support immediately" some of the measures contained in the declaration, including more sanctions on the FRY.

[06] Situation in Vushtrri Difficult with Lack of Food and Other Supplies

Ibush Januzi, vice chairman of the local LDK branch in Vushtrri said "Mother Theresa" charitable association has already provided some support but the situation continues to be grave. There is lack of food and other supplies, he said.

Sk&nder Kastrati, member of the LDK presidency visited the region Tuesday and said the meager assistance which has been provide is not enough for the big number of people sheltered in the municipality. The Serbian police stationed throughout Kosova have been making it extremely difficult for the aid to pass through, he said.

[07] Heavy Serb Forces Keep Mitrovica Under Blockade

LDK sources in Mitrovica said the police have been beating and ill- treating scores of Albanian from Mitrovica.

[08] More Serbian Forces Deployed to Skenderaj, Wednesday

Along with buses them also went two armored vehicles, two lorries and four Serbian police vehicles, sources in Mitrovica reported.

[09] Serb Forces Snipe at Civilians

Scores of snipers have been reportedly seen in Skenderaj, as well as around Llausha and a couple of other villages as well as Braboniq of Mitrovica.

All the roads in Drenica region are have been kept under strict control of Serb forces. Drunk Serbs sing Chetnik songs have been roaming in the area, sources in Mitrovica reported.

[10] What Belgrade Offers Is a Mockery of Dialogue, Senior LDK Official Says

Ratko Markovic, Ratomir Vico, Andrea Milosavljevic and Ivan Sedlak were said to be the Serb delegation which would be visiting Prishtina Thursday (12 March).

This evening's announcement bears striking similarity to yesterday's 'offer' of dialogue by the Serb government, transmitted by Serb media, which contained a strong support for the Serb forces' expedition in Drenica this past week, which saw over 80 Albanians slain, including women, children and elderly people.

Yesterday's offer of open dialogue was addressed to "the appropriate representatives of the Albanian national minority to address all concrete problems", because, according to the Belgrade government, this "is the only path to make progress in the political process, so as to solve issues of vital importance to the citizens in our province".

Yesterday's offer of dialogue, and the way it was done, was considered by political factors in Kosova as "not serious".

The President of the Republic of Kosova Dr. Ibrahim Rugova said earlier today (Wednesday) during a press conference in Prishtina that from the public offer in Serbia it was not clear what it was about, because no kind of offer of dialogue has been forwarded to Prishtina through official channels.

In this press conference, President Rugova said "we are ready for a meaningful, serious, well-prepared, and unconditioned dialogue with the assistance of the international community."

Dr. Fehmi Agani, the vice-president of the Democratic League of Kosova (LDK), called "not serious" the offers aired by broadcasting media or carried by the press. He said yesterday's (Tuesday's) offer of dialogue was put forward in tandem with a strong support the Belgrade government gave to the outrageous massacre committed in Drenica. In addition, yesterday's offer spoke about dialogue on human and civic rights of the 'Albanian national minority', and not about the status of Kosova, which is what the Action Plan of the Contact Group calls for, Agani said.

Commenting on this evening's report about the designation by Belgrade of a delegation of 'Serb government ministers' with a mandate to speak "to all those Albanians who want to talk", Dr. Fehmi Agani said the government in Belgrade does not in fact wish to engage in meaningful dialogue. In this way, Serbia wants to play-act as if it was willing to do that.

This is a mockery of dialogue, he said.

The Kosova state and political institutions have not received anything official about this Serbian 'offer'.

[11] Albanians Dig Up Graves, Re-bury Their Dead in Prekaz

An LDK sources from Skenderaj ('Srbica') told the Kosova Information Center (KIC) said several hundred people could reach the burial place, dug them up, and re-buried 49 dead Albanians.

Serb police had forced local Albanians and some local LDK and CDHRF activists bury the dead late Tuesday afternoon.

The families were asking for independent forensics experts to carry on autopsies in order to see the cause of death of Albanians who were slain by Serb forces on 5 through 7 March in Drenica.

LDK sources said 15 corpses, badly damaged, could not be identified.

A considerable number of local residents in Skenderaj have fled the small town, sources said.

Reportedly, there is lack of medicines and shortages of food supplies in the town. Only a couple of shops reopened today.

Meanwhile, Prekaz, Llausha and several villages in Drenica continue to be sealed off by Serb forces.

An LDK source from Llausha told KIC by phone there were reports about a stepped up presence of Serb forces at Turi^evc, in the area between this village and Llausha.

Speaking about the consequence under police siege, food supplies and medicines lacking, the source said Adem Rrecaj, a 75-year man form the village, who was sick, died, having nobody to offer him any medical assistance.

[12] Sporadic Shooting at Turi^evc, Two Little Girls Reportedly Frozen to Death

These sources said that 100 women and children, who fled Borja village, are being held hostage by Serb police.

Two little girls, whose age was not made known, were frozen to death in the woods, fleeing. They are Fatmir Hoxha's and Ram& Sejdijaj's girls, LDK sources said. There were no other sources available to KIC to confirm this.

It was reported from Klina that today, around 9:30 hrs, the police brought four women to the Health Center in Klina: Sel& Hajdini, who received wounds in her leg and signs of other lighter wounds about the body, Ajete Hoti, who received wounds in the chest, and two girls, Zyrafete Kasstrati and Nexhmije Hajdari, who suffered terrible shocks from violence they had been exposed to.

They were said to have been offered the first aid in Klina and then transferred to Peja (in Serbian 'Pec').

[13] Statement of The Hague Tribunal's Prosecutor on Kosova

The Office has already started gathering information related to the recent Serb forces crackdown in Drenica which left at least 80 Albanians killed and massacred.

Following is the Prosecutor's Statement regarding the tribunal's jurisdiction over Kosova: "The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has in the past made it a practice not to on ongoing investigations. However, recent events in Kosovo are an exceptional circumstance and the Prosecutor wishes to point out that the Statute of the Tribunal, which was adopted by the United Nations Security Council in May 1993, empowers the Tribunal to prosecute persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991. This jurisdiction is ongoing and covers the recent violence in Kosovo.

In this regard, the Prosecutor is currently gathering information and evidence in relation to the Kosovo incidents and will continue to monitor any subsequent developments. Following her recent visit to Belgrade, the Prosecutor expects the full co-operation of the authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in respect of investigations into the Kosovo situation".

The Contact Group foreign ministers in a meeting in London on Kosova Monday urged the office of the ICTFY Prosecutor "to begin gathering information related to the violence in Kosovo that may fall within its jurisdiction".

In a statement to the press in Prishtina on Tuesday, Robert S.

Gelbard, President Clinton's envoy for Balkans said the mandate of ICTFY "clearly covers Kosovo now".

[14] Unknown People Toss Bomb at House of Proprietor of 'Dukagjini' Printing House in Peja

An eye-witness said a Zastava-made (Serbian) car with Peja license plates had stopped, one of the two men in it got out and tossed the hand grenade in front of Mr. Lluka's house, where the printing house of his "Dukagjini" firm is located.

Then, the unknown persons run away, heading towards the town park.

Damage was reported, but no casualties.

Kosovo Information Center: Kosova Daily Report Directory - Previous Article - Next Article