Kosova Daily Report #1424, 98-05-09

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

Kosova Information Center
KOSOVA DAILY REPORT #1424
Prishtina, 9 May 1998

First Edition: 12:30 hrs
Second Edition: 16:15 hrs

CONTENTS

[01] Half a Dozen Albanians Killed in Last 24 Hours

[02] Contact Group Imposes Investment Ban on Serbia

[03] Hundreds of Thousands Take to Streets to Urge Contact Group Avert a War in Kosova

[04] Houses Reported Burning in Two Gllogovc Village This Afternoon

[05] Another 15 Albanians Missing in Sealed-off Villages in Gjakova Area

[06] Dead Albanian Man Brought to Gjakova Morgue

[01] Half a Dozen Albanians Killed in Last 24 Hours

Agim Hasanaj was killed at his doorstep at the village of Gllarev& of Klina, two elderly Albanians were killed at Balinc& village of Malisheva. Mahmut (60) was killed in the yard of his house, whereas Nazif (60) was killed while pasturing cattle in a meadow.

Hanife Kelmendi (45), mother of seven, was wounded seriously, whereas the eight-year-old boy Taulant Kelmendi made a narrow escape.

The operations of Serbian forces and the terror campaign started yesterday afternoon and lasted till 21:00 hrs.

Several houses have been reported damaged from Serbian heavy fire, and cattle killed.

A considerable number of inhabitants of the village if Balinc&, most of the women and children, have left their homes.

In the southwestern border villages with Albania at least two Albanians were killed yesterday. The body of an old man was taken to the Gjkova hospital morgue.

The villages of Ponoshec and Morin& in Gjakova came under renewed Serbian attack yesterday.

In De^an, Serbian forces killed yesterday Haki Kameraj in his farmstead.

In De^an and Gjakova, municipalities bordering on Albania, tens of Albanians have been killed by Serbian forces since 22 April 1998.

On of the killed was a mourner shot dead while on his way back home from a funeral of 9 Albanians killed by the Serb military. Three days ago two elderly Albanian cattleherds were tortured to death, their bodies dumped on the Bistrica riverbed by suspected Serb paramilitaries.

Serbian violence and terror has befallen all Kosova.

In the town of Peja ('Pec') Vehbi Mustafa was buried. He had been killed a day earlier near the Serbian Monastery in De^an. Artim Jashari was buried in Mitrovica yesterday. He was killed on 6 May during an incident involving Serbian police. At T&rstenik village the body of a killed man was discovered yesterday.

Heavy Serb forces have blockaded since morning today the Prishtina- Peja ('Pec') road in the central Kosova part, between Komoran village of Gllogovc and Dollc village of neighboring municipality of Klina.

At the checkpoint in Komoran, 30 km west of Prishtina, the police has been preventing anyone from driving further in the direction of Peja. Several foreign reporters crews were likewise turned back there. A member of such a crew told KIC they attempted three times proceed to Peja, but were stopped by Serb police at Komoran and turned back.

The LDK Information Commission in Klina reported that the Serb police have blockaded the road at Klina-Peja-Gjakova intersection, namely at a police roadblock at Dollc village. No vehicle has been allowed to move in the direction of Prishtina for several hours now, sources said. Joint Serb police and army forces have been preventing even pedestrians proceed any further southward from Dollc village.

Witnesses in Klina said that access is impossible to the Gllareva village of Malisheva. A local resident of the village, Agim Hasanaj, was shot dead by Serb forces at his doorstep on Friday.

Sources in Gllogovc said Serb forces left today morning the small town, heading for the villages of Arllat, Balinc& and Negroc. The three villages have been rigorously sealed off by heavy Serb forces building up in the area since Friday.

It is feared that Serb forces could be launching a wide-scale campaign of reprisals in the three villages. Serb media have reported of a still unsolved incident in the area yesterday, in which three Serb policemen were allegedly wounded.

The already volatile situation escalated further yesterday on the even of the Contact Group meeting in London, expected to deliberate on the Serbian non-compliance with international demands on Kosova.

The Serbian war machinery has stepped up its campaign of violence and terror in an increasing territory in Kosova.

The Milosevic regime is responsible for this latest escalation of the situation in Kosova. Its attempts to lay the blame on the Albanians and the international community for this are outrageous.

Last but not least, Belgrade's refusal to accept the international community's envoy for Kosova, former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzales, who would mediate for a settlement in Kosova, is proof that Belgrade is intent on furthering its armed campaign against the will of the Albanian people of Kosova and defy the will of the world at large.

[02] Contact Group Imposes Investment Ban on Serbia

The ministers concluded that the 'FRY' has indicated no sign it was ready to heed calls of the six-nation Contact Group to withdraw troops from Kosova, and to start unconditional talks with Prishtina. The British Foreign Minister Robin Cook told reporters that "the ministers agreed the situation in Kosova was a cause of deep concern and that the Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic had been criticized for failing to meet the requirements of the six- nation Contact Group charged with implementing peace in the Balkans."

The members of the Contact Group decided to implement the investment ban on Serbia which was contained in the statement of the last meeting of the Contact Group, Cook told a news briefing.

The investment ban had been agreed by Contact Group members Britain, the United States, Germany, Italy and France, while Russia, a Serbian ally, dissociated itself.

Canada and Japan, also present at this weekend's meeting of G-8 foreign and finance ministers, lent support, reports said.

The Rome Contact Group meeting Statement said May the 9th was the deadline for the "FRY" President Milosevic to make progress on meaningful dialogue with Prishtina on the status of Kosova.

[03] Hundreds of Thousands Take to Streets to Urge Contact Group Avert a War in Kosova

The half-hour protest was called by the Republic's Protest Organizing Committee, made up of political parties and youth organizations in Kosova.

Over 100.000 people marched peacefully for half an hour along the Mother Teresa square in Prishtina, holding placards and chanting slogans in support of peace and Kosova's independence.

Today's manifestation was held at the time the world major powers were meeting in London.

Crowds in the Prishtina main street choired for a quarter of an hour a message prepared by the Organizing Committee addressed to the foreign ministers of the Contact Group meeting in London today.

Following is the message the protesters read out on the streets of Kosova: "Dear Foreign Ministers, You know that the Belgrade regime aims an ethnic cleansing of Kosova.

You know that this regime has not been tried for its crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Can you see that Belgrade is turning Kosova into a second Bosnia?

With your power and authority, you can stop a war in Kosova and in south- east Europe.

You can halt the ethnocide being committed against Kosova Albanians.

You can place the peaceful Albanian people under your protection.

You can prevent a new holocaust being prepared in Kosova by Serbia.

You should be aware that to tolerate a foretold crime amounts to taking part in it.

Like other nations of Europe, we are also entitled to live in peace and freedom, like other nations of Europe.

You have given up your colonies. On what basis is Serbia allowed to keep Kosova as its colony on the eve of the 20th century?

Two million Albanians live in Kosova. We have been a majority population here since ancient times.

Kosova was a federal unit of the former Yugoslavia and it had the right of self-determination.

It is high time that you halt ethnocide.

It is high time to give peace a chance in the Balkans.

We cannot live under Serbian rule.

We want to be free, free, free ...

Freedom for Kosova. Hello, Hello, Hello ..."

For nearly a month now, tens of thousands of Albanians have been marching in calm and peacefully from 12:00 through 12:30 in Prishtina and in other towns of Kosova to protest the Serb regime violence.

Sources said thousands of people marched peacefully today as well in all the Kosovar municipal centers, including Prizren, Podujeva, Rahovec, Lipjan.

Sources in Lipjan, a town 15 km south of Prishtina, said the Serb police cracked down brutally on the peaceful protesters. Scores of Albanians were beaten and/or detained, the LDK Information Commission in Lipjan said.

Reports from Vitia, south-east Kosova, said the Serb police intervened likewise against the protesters on the streets of the town, beating several of them.

[04] Houses Reported Burning in Two Gllogovc Village This Afternoon

The villages of Llapushnik, Negroc and Arllat came repeatedly under heavy Serb forces fire during the whole course of morning and early afternoon today, sources in Gllogovc said.

Since morning hours today, heavy Serb forces have rigorously sealed off a wide area stretching in two municipalities, Klina and Gllogovc. The part of the Prishtina-Peja road between Komoran village of Gllogovc and Dollc village of the neighboring municipality of Klina has been blockaded by Serb army and police forces which have been preventing anyone from driving through the area.

The attack of Serb forces was launched yesterday afternoon, when Balinca village of Klina came under heavy machine-gun and artillery fire. Two local elderly men were killed in their homesteads, while one woman as wounded during the Serb attack in the village. Several houses were damaged badly and cattle killed during the shelling.

Several villages of Gllogovc and Klina came under renewed Serb fire early today beginning from 5 a.m. Witnesses told KIC at around 14:00 houses were burning in the villages of Arllat and Gjurgjica of Gllogovc.

Some people, who could not drive through being turned back at the Serb police checkpoint in Komoran, said fire and a column of smoke could be seen coming from the area where the two villages are.

A Serb helicopter flew overhead in the area, sources said.

[05] Another 15 Albanians Missing in Sealed-off Villages in Gjakova Area

Men and women, as well as entire families of Ponoshec village, were missing since the Serb forces attack last weekend, the Commission said. It is feared that they could either be arrested by Serb forces or even killed or executed.

The Prishtina-based Bujku newspaper carried today names of 15 other Albanians, residents of another village of Gjakova, Morina, who have been missing for days. Quoting sources in Gjakova, Bujku said that following people have been missing for over one week now: Hysen Zeqiri (61) Ajmane Zeqiri (58 - Zeqir's wife), their children Isa Zeqiri (30) and Shk&lzen Zeqiri (15), Haxhi Zeqiri (58), his wife Hyre Zeqiri (54), their children Zenije (27) and Agron (20), Azem Zeqiri (50) his wife Sabrie Zeqiri (48), their son Sk&nder (20); Rukmane Zeqiri (68), Have Zeqiri (30), Fatjane Zeqiri (11) and Fatmire Zeqiri (13).

[06] Dead Albanian Man Brought to Gjakova Morgue

Meawhile, the LDK Information Comission in Gjakova said dead man was identified as Ram& Neziri (88), resident of Ponoshec village The Commission has failed to provide details regarding the cause of death of the old Albanian.

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