Kosova Daily Report #1473, 98-06-27

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

Kosova Information Center
KOSOVA DAILY REPORT #1473
Prishtina, 27 June 1998

CONTENTS

[01] Tension Increase Sharply Amidst Massive Serb Troops Buildup around Sllatina

[02] Serb Forces Shell Vushtrri Villages Friday Afternoon

[03] U^K Offers Serb Checkpoint at Kijeva to Be Dismantled without Bloodbath, Dema^i Says

[04] Serb Army Lay Mines on a Road Connecting Villages of Shtime

[05] LRDK Holds Founding Convention in Prishtina

[06] IHF Annual Report on Kosova

[07] Serb Troops Garrison in Houses of Albanians

[08] Serb Civilians Given Arms in Military Barracks in Gjakova

[01] Tension Increase Sharply Amidst Massive Serb Troops Buildup around Sllatina

The Information Commission of LDK chapter in Fush&-Kosova ('Kosovo Polje') said today morning Serbian forces have been building up in the area around Sllatina during the whole course of last night and today (Saturday) morning. The village has been surrounded on all sides by Serb troops with heavy armament.

A long Serb army convoy involving over 140 vehicles - 58 tanks, 30 trucks, and dozens of other vehicles and bulldozers - drove along Sllatina today morning, heading to the knolls around the village.

The Serb troops have been garrisoned in key-positions above the village both in and around a pine forrest where from a wide expanse - over a dozen villages, military and civilian airports, a good part of the Prishtina-Pea roadway, as well as Bella^evc village and the open-cast mines around it - can be controlled and held under gunpoint.

Heavy guns, including long-range cannons, have been positioned around Bella^evc, which fell under the control of Albanian resistance forces, U^K (the Kosova Liberation Army), early this week.

A Serb/Yugoslav army (VJ) aircraft flew overhead Sllatina and the surrounding villages at around 5:00 a.m. today, the Commission said.

Witnesses told the LDK Commission in Fush&-Kosova that on Friday afternoon, at around 18:00 hrs, 6 Montenegrin soldiers deserted from a convoy moving towards forests. Army officers opened fire in the direction of the running soldiers, but they did manage to escape, witnesses said.

The situation has been reported extremely tense in Fush&-Kosova ('Kosovo Polje'), a town five miles west of Prishtina.

Serb police carriers drove in the streets of the town picking Serb volunteers who have been listed and supplied with weapons and ammunition during the past couple of days.

Serb police vehicles with reservists and volunteers on board were seen later heading westward of the town, namely towards Sllatina and Drenica regions.

LDK sources said three special trains, mainly with Serb children and women aboard, left the railway station in Fush&-Kosova Friday night and headed for Serbia. It is feared that the evacuation of Serbs is being conducted in advance to a possible massive attack against the Albanian population.

Witnesses told the KIC that Serb police sprayed with automatic rifle bullets houses of Albanians in the town of Fush&-Kosova last night. Houses of Nevzat Ahmeti, Haki Ismajli, Fetah Berisha, as well as a couple of others whose names could not be learned, were hit with bullets.

[02] Serb Forces Shell Vushtrri Villages Friday Afternoon

The two villages were pounded from a two Serb positions in the area, including the Pantina-Frash&r ('Svinjare') intersection, a hill above Pantina village, and the tower of a tin factory in the outskirts of Vushtrri.

Albanian farmsteads were attacked with low-caliber cannons and machine guns, witnesses told the LDK Information Commission in Vushtrri. Many houses, including the local medical center, were hit and damaged. A shrapnel fell on the street of the town of Vushtrri itself. No one was hurt, the Commission said.

Sources in Vushtrri have failed to learn about possible casualties in yesterday's Serb attack against the two villages.

Virtually all women and children have fled Pantina and a couple of surrounding hamlets, while men stayed behind to defend their villages.

The villages of Okrashtica, Shtitarica e Pantina were attacked by Serb forces Friday morning as well, local sources reported. An eyewitness told the KIC yesterday that he had seen smoke billowing from several burning farmsteads in the area.

Two local Albanians were wounded at Pantina village on Wednesday night.

[03] U^K Offers Serb Checkpoint at Kijeva to Be Dismantled without Bloodbath, Dema^i Says

Kijeva is the most dangerous place in Europe today, Holbrooke said during a press conference in Prishtina on Friday.

There has been there, in Kijeva, a strong Serb checkpoint, where Serb forces terrorized the Albanians of the region, Dema^i said, adding that a local Serb community lives there, too, and "regrettably it has been instrumentalized by the Serb regime and armed for anti-Albanian reasons".

The PPK leader said Albanian forces have been able to surround the Serbian checkpoint, "which for ten days now has been under a total siege, being unable to get in food and other supplies for the Serb forces which have been engaged in terrorizing the Albanians".

Dema^i told the BBC there is danger of the surrounded policemen being killed all.

He added, though, that the U^K (the Kosova Liberation Army) offered the Serbs, through the Red Cross, a solution to save lives, avert a bloodbath. "The U^K is determined to eliminate the Serb checkpoint at all cost", Dema^i said, adding that in case the Red Cross accepts mediation, a corridor would be opened for armed Serbs to get out, if they surrender their weaponry.

The Albanian resistance forces do not want to see a bloodbath there, the PPK leader said, adding that the U^K has nothing against the local Serb community which lives in Kijeva. "They should lay down their arms and stay there, or, if they have covered their hands with blood, they can get out together with the Serb policemen", he said.

Adem Dema^i has for weeks now been offering his party to serve as the political wing of the U^K. "Our offer is being studied", he told the BBC.

[04] Serb Army Lay Mines on a Road Connecting Villages of Shtime

Heavy Serb army forces backed up by heavy armament and other combat equipment have been garrisoned for days in the fields around the Godanci i Ul&t village.

[05] LRDK Holds Founding Convention in Prishtina

The key-note speech was held by Dr. Rexhep Qosja, the party leader, and a stern critic of the policies pursued by President Ibrahim Rugova of Kosova.

The name of the party denotes the initial ambition of those who launched it to 'renew', namely take over the existing Democratic League of Kosova (LDK) of Dr. Rugova.

Qosja proposed in his speech the formation of a "body composed of representatives of the major political parties, to become a political coordinator with the U^K (Kosova Liberation Army), till a (Kosova) Parliament is elected in really free and democratic election".

[06] IHF Annual Report on Kosova

Human rights violations in Kosovo remained a serious concern throughout 1997, the IHF report says at the outset.

In early 1998, abuses escalated, resulting in violent attacks against Serbian officials by the Kosova Liberation Army which had claimed responsibility for killing several Serbian police officers since early 1996. The Serbian special police attacks on ethnic Albanians - ostensibly searching for members of the Liberation Army - resulted in gross abuses against ethnic Albanian civilians, including several summary executions, the IHF says.

The annual IHF report goes on to say: "The IHF expressed its fear that the murders and terror by Serb police units were premeditated elements of a program of "ethnic cleansing", aimed at forcing Albanians to accept a new political reality, and at creating a rump Kosovo free of Albanians."

Systematic and institutionalized forms of abuse against ethnic Albanians included violations of the right to life; politically motivated trials; torture and ill-treatment of detainees; unfair judicial proceedings; intrusion in family life; and violations of social and cultural rights such as the right to medical care, education and cultural expression, the IHF said.

The parallel existence of two societies continued in Kosovo, the Serbian society with state-run institutions, and the ethnic Albanian infrastructure covering many spheres of daily life, the organization said.

Statistics provided by the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (CDHRF) on violations against ethnic Albanians reflected the tragic reality: the organization registered 35 cases of violent death, five of which resulting from police torture; 5,031 cases of ill-treatment or torture; 596 arbitrary arrests; 803 persons summoned to police stations plus another 480 taken there for "informative talks"; 425 family homes raided. In addition, the organization registered over 10,000 other incidents of human rights violations by Serbian police or civilians against ethnic Albanians.

Political trials of ethnic Albanians alleged to be members of the Kosova Liberation Army were held in 1997. In three trials in May, July and December, 52 ethnic Albanians faced charges including "hostile activity," "endangering territorial integrity," and "terrorism." All but two of these were sentenced by the District Court in Prishtina to prison sentences ranging from two to 20 years, the IHF said, noting that the judicial proceedings violated numerous international due process standards: courts failed to present sufficient relevant evidence; rulings were based on "confessions" extracted under torture; and the work of legal counsel was seriously restricted.

"House-searches, officially looking for illegal weapons, represented one of the most common forms of harassment in Kosovo.

Under the same pretext, at least 854 Albanians were taken to police stations, arrested, beaten, threatened and ordered to report again.", the IHF said, quoting sources from the major Kosovar human rights group, the CDHRF, which recorded 1,740 cases of physical torture, 600 of them resulting in serious injuries. The most frequently used methods included hitting with truncheons, wooden sticks or sharp objects and kicking. "At least five ethnic Albanians died as a direct result of torture or its consequences.", the IHF said, illustrating it with cases.

The IHF annual report covers comprehensively human rights abuses carried by the Serb regime in Kosova, with specific references to the right to life; misconduct by law enforcement officials; torture and ill-treatment; independence of the judiciary; fair trial; right to privacy; right to association; cultural, economic and social rights.

On 6 March 1998, the IHF called upon the Contact Group and the UN Security Council to take immediate steps to prevent further summary executions, torture and ethnic cleansing by Serbian police units in Kosova.

The IHF also renewed its call for a "Dayton-like" process on Kosova, emphasizing that only a similar investment of political energy can prevent further massive human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law.

[07] Serb Troops Garrison in Houses of Albanians

Serb forces have been housed in a couple of villages of Reka e Keqe, the Kosova-Albania border area. At Shishman village, Serb snipers have been positioned in the manors [in Albanian: kulla] of Isuf Zenuni. The Serbs have been on a daily basis shooting from there on Albanian farmsteads and targets.

Serb police forces have been housed in family houses of Albanians in many other places in Kosova, commonly nearby check-points.

In Komoran village the Serb police have been accommodated in several houses of local Albanians around huge check-point at the Prishtina-Peja-Gllogovc roadway.

[08] Serb Civilians Given Arms in Military Barracks in Gjakova

The LDK Information Commission in Gjakova said Serb civilians were seen entering the army barracks today morning at around 9. The Commission could not specify the number of Serbs who were supplied with weapons, saying only that dozens were seen entering the army campus and leaving with weapons later.

Reports from many parts of Kosova say Serb civilians have been supplied with additional armament and ammunition in local police stations or military bases.

Almost all Serbs in Kosova have been provided with armament by the Serb regime in the past years.

Sources claim that Serbs are now asking for heavier armament, including automatic and sniper rifles.

Kosova Information Center

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