Kosova Daily Report #1503, 98-07-27

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

Kosova Information Center
KOSOVA DAILY REPORT #1503
Prishtina, 27 July 1998

CONTENTS

[01] Political Parties Calls for U.S. and NATO to Stop Serbian Aggression

[02] President Rugova Receives British Diplomat

[03] Two Albanians Killed by Serb Forces Sunday in Gjakova Area

[04] Serb Troops Shell Two Villages in Suhareka

[05] Serb Shelling of Three Villages of Shtime Resumes

[06] Serb Forces Embark on Large-scale Attack in Drenica

[07] Bujku Daily Accuses Europe and America for Condoning Serbian Crimes in Kosova

[08] Fresh Military Troops Arrive in Kosova

[09] Serbs Advance into Llapushnik Mountain Pass

[10] Four Albanians, Killed in Latest Serb Offensive, Buried in Malisheva

[11] Serbs Attack Lipjan Villages Bordering on Drenica Region

[12] Heavy Fighting around Gjakova Villages During Weekend

[13] Serb Forces Resume Shelling of De^an Villages

[14] Albanian Boy Receives Serb Police Bullet Wounds in Ferizaj

[15] Albanian Killed during Serb Shelling of Loxha

[16] Over a Dozen Albanians Arrested in Serb Police Checkpoint in Gjakova

[17] 54 Albanian Detainees To Be Transferred to Jails in Serbia on Tuesday

[18] Four LDSH Activists Being Held Incommunicado in Serb Custody

[19] Serb Police Seizes Humanitarian Relief Supplies, Ill-treats Activists

[01] Political Parties Calls for U.S. and NATO to Stop Serbian Aggression

In a joint statement, the parties said the recent Serb offensive, which has targeted a wide area in Kosova, "is based on the Serb strategy of terrorizing the Albanian population and destroying their settlements, as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign in Kosova".

The offensive has forced a large part of the civilian population flee their homes, and a humanitarian catastrophe is imminent, the parties said.

"At least 260.000 people have been forced to flee their homes so far in Kosova", the statement said, adding that the ongoing Serb crackdown has made a number of them hide in the woods, with no conditions for life at all.

The parties meeting today in Prishtina called for all Albanian parties to "create a functioning political unity" to reinvigorate the institutional mechanisms in pursuit of independence for Kosova, consistent with the political will of the people expressed in the 1991 referendum.

Against the background of dramatic and tragic developments in Kosova, the parties called for the United States and the NATO to "take resolute action to halt the Serbian aggression against the Albanian people of Kosova".

Such an intervention, and an international protectorate in Kosova, would create the environment for a lasting and negotiated settlement, the LDK, PSHDK, and other parties said, according to a statement issued this afternoon.

Meanwhile, the LDK had condemned earlier in the day the continued Serbian offensive in Kosova.

The Presidency of the LDK, the main political force in the country, said the Serb military, paramilitary and police operations are aimed at ethnically cleansing Kosova.

Such operations undermine the chances for a negotiated resolution in Kosova, the LDK said.

"Serbia does not have a valid case for keeping Kosova under occupation as the last colony in Europe and wider in the world", the party leadership said in a statement today.

The LDK Presidency said the Serbian shelling, destruction and burning of Albanian residential areas and atrocities against the civilian population, such as those in Likoshan, Prekaz, Lubeniq, De^an, Poklek and Rahovec, are part of the longstanding Serbian ethnic cleansing schemes in Kosova.

The party reconfirmed that it stood for a solution to the Kosova issue, consistent with the political will of the people for independence, in a talks process mediated and guaranteed by the international community.

"In an independent, multiethnic and multi-religious Kosova, all minorities would enjoy full and guaranteed rights", the LDK said.

[02] President Rugova Receives British Diplomat

The current situation in Kosova and the prospects for a political solution to the crisis were discussed.

President Rugova described the situation in Kosova as very grave and dangerous in the wake of atrocities committed by Serb army and police against Albanians in Rahovec last week, as well as the ongoing Serb offensive against a large area in central Kosova.

Rugova denounced the Serb attacks and atrocities, and called for an urgent intervention by the international community to bring Serb actions to an end and protect the people of Kosova.

President Rugova and the British diplomat discussed also ways to de- escalate the situation and create the conditions for the establishment of a dialogue between Prishtina and Belgrade.

[03] Two Albanians Killed by Serb Forces Sunday in Gjakova Area

The villages in the area along the border with Albania have been under intermittent attacks by Serb military and police for months now.

[04] Serb Troops Shell Two Villages in Suhareka

Some thirty tanks were involved in the Serb offensive, they added.

Local Albanian forces have been resisting the Serb onslaught, which started in the weekend.

The houses of two Albanian family compounds - Bajraktari and Suka - in the village of Bllac& have been burned, whereas Serb forces have been positioned near the school village.

[05] Serb Shelling of Three Villages of Shtime Resumes

The LDK Information Commission in Shtimje said houses and unharvested wheat fields have been burned in Zborc.

Haki Ilazi and Xun& Kadriu, two elderly men, are feared to have been trapped in the burned-out houses, as well as an elderly woman, from Godanc i Ul&t village, who was a visitor in Zborc.

In Carralev&, Zaim Syla was wounded seriously yesterday, whereas the fate of Lul&zim Maksuti and Burim Maksuti is unknown.

In the village of Breg i Zi in Lipjan, the village neighboring on Shtimje, Sahit Brestovci (55) died of trauma he experienced from Serb shelling in the vicinity, local sources said.

[06] Serb Forces Embark on Large-scale Attack in Drenica

All day long yesterday, hundreds of shells landed in the village of Llausha.

Serb forces tried to advance into the village yesterday, but the local Albanian resistance forces repelled the attack.

A similar situation is reported today. No word on casualties.

Two women and an old man were killed yesterday in three villages - Klin& e Poshtme, Klin& e Mesme and Klin& Ep&rme - sources said.

Sali Duraku, the old man, and Azize Hajdini (Mala) (1953), mother of five, are the two identified victims. The name of the third fatality is unknown.

In Runik and the surrounding villages intensive fighting was reported overnight and today. Police advanced into two villages.

In Kotorrk, Serb forces set ablaze the unharvetsed wheat fields.

Beqir Hajrizi (62) and his son; Azem Hajrizi (35), and Fidaim Hajrizi (25) were abducted in Kotorrk. In the village of Radishev&, Serbs abducted Shaip Selmani (45) and Nazim Ahmeti (27), local sources said. Their fate is unknown.

The villages of Le^in&, Padalisht&, ^itak, Suhog&rlla and other outlying areas, have been shelled today.

Serbian forces burned all the unharvested wheat fields.

In the town of Skenderaj, sealed off by heavy Serb forces, a tense situation is reported.

Reports from the municipality of Klina speak of Serb atrocities.

Sadri Boja, a resident of Kerrnic&, said Serb forces entered in the deserted village and burned the houses of Dr. Rexhep Boja, Sadri Boja, Hajriz, Brahim, Bajram, Rushit, Rrahman, Imer, Cen&, all of them of the Boja family compound, and Isuf Berisha, Bajram Oru^i, Zeqir Berisha, Hamdi, Ali and Nezir Do^i.

The village school has been burned by Serbs, too.

Besim Boja (26) was reported wounded.

The sound of heavy Serb artillery could be heard today coming from many villages of the Klina municipality - Dollc, Gllarev&, Cerovik, Stapanic&, etc.

[07] Bujku Daily Accuses Europe and America for Condoning Serbian Crimes in Kosova

Police and paramilitaries from all Serb-inhabited regions have joined the Serb military offensive, Ibrahim Berisha, the Bujku writer says.

"The crime, which is assuming dimensions of genocide and large- scale ethnic cleansing, is being committed with the approval of the European Union and the American Administration", Berisha says, 'approval' meaning probably 'tacit approval' in his language.

"Milosevic was given a green light to carry on with ethnic cleansing in Kosova (it's approval for a large week-long expedition) to affect some 500.000 Albanians".

The Bujku writer accuses some leaders of EU countries and the U.S. administration of having 'identical views' with Milosevic with regard to massive-scale ethnic cleansing in Kosova in favor of Serbs, "and to shroud in silence the killing of Albanian civilians and the destruction of Albanian settlements".

"In the wake of Skenderaj, De^an, Gllogovc, Rahovec and tens of huge and prosperous Albanian villages, the statements of world leaders on the Kosova tragedy amount in fact to giving credit to Milosevic, who on a daily basis is exhibiting new trophies in the museum of crimes: pregnant women, children, elderly women and men, Albanians only this time", Ibrahim Berisha writes in Bujku.

The Serb military offensive, helped also by Montenegrin policemen, has been waged against "the very Albanian being, physical and spiritual", and not against 'terrorists', he adds.

The fact that the world has not criticized the Serb government's decision to extend to five km the security zone in the [Kosova- Albania] border is also evidence that the Balkan criminals are being pampered, according to the Bujku writer.

In the wake of the condoned crime, leaving Albanian civilians killed and tens of settlements in rubble, a human and humanitarian tragedy, the EU and the U.S. will see to it to get the parties to the negotiating table: "Albanians as victims, Serbs as victors", Berisha writes.

As in Bosnia, injustice will be rewarded, justice punished, he adds.

"This week's crime in Kosova, condoned and timed by the Euro- Americans, gives Albanians a well-wrought signal", Ibrahim Berisha says, not specifying as to what they should do, having learned the lesson.

"Do not forget, this week the delegation of Europeans will come, the delegation of Americans, and the Serb one - with army, police, bringing death and destruction", Ibrahim Berisha concludes his article with a tone of irony and indignation.

The article is the harshest ever condemnation in the Albanian- language daily of Western policies towards Kosova.

[08] Fresh Military Troops Arrive in Kosova

The LDK Information Commission in Podujeva, the town in north- eastern Kosova near the border with Serbia, said yesterday (Sunday) at 21:00 hrs a convoy of 3 armored vehicles, 10 busloads of Serb soldiers, and other vehicles drove through Podujeva, heading to Prishtina, capital of Kosova.

Half an hour later, four lorries, escorted by a police armored vehicles and two APCs, headed likewise to Prishtina.

Meanwhile, LDK sources said at 20:00 hrs yesterday, Serb police forces, backed up by an armored vehicle, two APCs, and another car, went to a location called 'Pishat' (the pines), near the Serb church in Podujeva, and illtreated many citizens, young and elderly.

The LDK said Serb military troops stationed near the village of Llaush&, 6 km north of Podujeva, have been digging in.

The Serb tanks have been directed at the outlying villages, inhabited 99 percent by Albanians.

Many Albanian families in the nearby area have deserted their homes in fear of Serb crackdown.

[09] Serbs Advance into Llapushnik Mountain Pass

Serbian forces have been positioned in Negrofc and in the lands of the Gjergjica hamlet in Arllat. From there, outlying Albanian villages are being pounded by Serb artillery and mortar fire.

At least six Albanians are known to have been wounded.

Huge material damage has been reported in the Albanian settlements.

The population has left the area under direct threat, and found refuge in relatively safer villages. A considerable number of people have fled to wooded areas in the Kosmaqi mountains.

[10] Four Albanians, Killed in Latest Serb Offensive, Buried in Malisheva

Sami Nurkasa, Xhevat Kasapi and G&zim Mullaabazi, all from Rahovec, were killed in the fighting with Serb forces during the last weekend, sources in Malisheva said.

Another fighter, Habib Berisha (34), was buried Sunday in the cemetery of his native village of Gurbardh of Malisheva.

Sources said hundreds of mourners attended the funerals of four fighters.

The KIC learned on Sunday the identity of five other Albanians, civilians, killed in the latest Serb offensive against central Kosova villages.

[11] Serbs Attack Lipjan Villages Bordering on Drenica Region

Sources in Lipjan said the Albanian villages of Shala ('Sedlar') and Baica came under heavy machine-gun fire this morning.

Witnesses told the LDK chapter in Lipjan the population has been fleeing in panic. Many have run to the mountains surrounding the villages, whereas others attempted to move to villages that have not been attacked by Serbs yet.

Thousands of Albanians uprooted earlier from other parts of Drenica have been sheltered in village of Lipjan, including the two villages that came under Serb fire today, Shala and Baica.

Sources in Lipjan said two other villages in this municipality, Vershec and Leletiq, were shelled by Serb forces on Sunday.

Damage was caused to several farmsteads in the two villages, whereas three houses of the Nishori extended family and one of Ahmet Berisha in Leletiq were destroyed completely, sources said.

The LDK Information Commission in Lipjan said three Albanians received shrapnel wounds, but it failed to provide their names.

Witnesses have described the situation as extremely volatile in large areas of the Lipjan municipality.

The mining town of Magure is the most vulnerable, packed up with Serb forces. Albanian families have been fleeing Magura in panic, whereas many have been subjected to harassment and intimidation by both Serb forces and local Serb civilians.

[12] Heavy Fighting around Gjakova Villages During Weekend

Skirmishes were fought in the village of Nec, Smolic&, Berjah&, Stublla and Junik, the LDK chapter in Gjakova said. The hamlets of Nivokaz, Sheremet and Dobrosh came under particularly heavy fire on Sunday.

From 23:00 last evening though early in the morning today (Monday) Junik was attacked successively with machine gun fire, whereas other villages of Reka e Keqe were fired upon with heavy artillery, witnesses told the LDK chapter in Gjakova.

Still unconfirmed accounts speak of casualties and immense damage to the property of Albanians in the area.

Sources in De^an said the village of Dujaka, between Gjakova and De^an, came under heavy fire today morning. The village suffered immense damages, while the house of Ndue Luli was levelled to the ground.

The situation has been deteriorating in Gjakova itself on a daily basis. The heavy Serb police and military forces garrisoned in the town and around it and Serb snipers holding key positions in the area have made life impossible for the local Albanian papulation.

Scores of Albanians have been detained, harassed, beaten up and threatened by Serbs force in Gjakova over the past few days.

[13] Serb Forces Resume Shelling of De^an Villages

Sources in De^an said Serbs began shelling Albanian settlements and positions in the De^an area at around 7 p.m. Besides the villages of Voksh, Beleg, and Junik - which have been repeatedly shelled over the past months - the Serbs attacked for the first time the village of Kodrali.

Firefighting was reported on Sunday afternoon and evening around the villages of Carrabreg i Ul&t, Prejlep and Strellc i Ep&rm.

The villages of Voksh, Drenoc, Sllup and Junik came under hevy fire today morning, too, sources in De^an said.

There has been no immediate word on casualties .

[14] Albanian Boy Receives Serb Police Bullet Wounds in Ferizaj

Sources in Ferizaj said that the boy was wounded at around midday while swimming in a pool of water near his village of Lloshkobare.

Serb policemen who have been stationed in the forests adjacent to the village opened blind fire in the direction of the village, witnesses said.

Other children were swimming in the lake, but were not injured.

Shp&tim Ramadani's life condition is not critical.

[15] Albanian Killed during Serb Shelling of Loxha

The late Albanian was killed a couple of days ago during a Serb shelling of Loxha village, the LDK chapter in Peja said.

His body had been taken by Serbs to the town morgue to be buried yesterday by members of the Muslim Community.

The LDK Information Commission in Peja said the Loxha village was under repeated machine-gun fire during the last weekend.

[16] Over a Dozen Albanians Arrested in Serb Police Checkpoint in Gjakova

The LDK chapter in Gjakova said a large number of residents of Babaj village were held up at a Serb police checkpoint while on their way to the town. Most of them were let go after a short interrogation, whereas 13 others Ali Uka, Halim Rrustemi, Besim Myftari, Syl& Rexhepi, Uk& Haxhia, Myftar Avdullahu, Muhamet Avdullahu, Iljaz Hasani, Ibrahim Latifi, Nezir Salihu, Isuf Kadriu, Qazim Uka, Avdyl Rexhepi. Several of them including Ali Uka, Isuf Sadriu, Halim Sadriu, Avdyl Rexhepi and Sulejman Rexhepi were taken to the Serb police station.

Meanwhile, sources in Gjakova said 12 Albanians were released today afternoon, excepting Avdyl Rexhepi, who is being still held in custody.

[17] 54 Albanian Detainees To Be Transferred to Jails in Serbia on Tuesday

Bajram Kelmendi and Fazli Balaj, lawyers from Prishtina, told the KIC today that the Serb court in Prokuplje has instituted criminal investigations against the 54 Albanians. The detainees will face charges for alleged hostile activity, pursuant to article 136 of the Serb penal code, the lawyers said.

The 54 Albanians were arrested last week while returning from Western European countries, where they had been working and living.

[18] Four LDSH Activists Being Held Incommunicado in Serb Custody

Isa Kastrati, chairman of a LDSH chapter in Prishtina, and the party activists Hazir Borovci, Gani Sopi and Sabit Mushica, were arrested by police in Prishtina on Saturday evening.

The LDSH said the Serb police authorities have refused to say where the detained Albanians were being held.

[19] Serb Police Seizes Humanitarian Relief Supplies, Ill-treats Activists

Police intervened at a time the charity was distributing relief supplies to the needy families.

Emin Selaci, a leading member of the charity in Vushtrri ('Vucitern') was summoned to police today (Monday), and was told the goods found in the depot were confiscated, the LDK Information Commission in Vushtrri reported.

Meanwhile, reports from Istog said two activists with the 'Mother Teresa' charity were ill-treated by police manning a checkpoint at Rakish village of Saturday.

Sokol Zogaj and Ymer Shatri were beaten up, LDK sources in Istog said.

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