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Kosova Daily Report #1515, 98-08-08
Kosova Information Center
KOSOVA DAILY REPORT #1515
Prishtina, 8 August 1998
CONTENTS
[01] President Rugova Receives British Diplomat
[02] Serb Forces Continue Destroying Albanian Houses while Calling for
Albanians to Return Home
[03] Five More Killed in Three Villages of Drenica
[04] Two Albanians Killed in Clashes with Serb Troops in Gjakova Area
Friday
[05] Serbs Set 24 Hour 'Surrender or Be Bombarded' Deadline to Three
Villages
[06] Serb Infantry Sets Ablaze Farmsteads in Polac, Drenica
[07] Serbs Shell Village near Shtime Friday Night
[08] Serb Troops Launch Artillery Missiles from Town of Prizren
[09] Serbs Occupy Albanians' Flats in Klina
[01] President Rugova Receives British Diplomat
PRISHTINA, Aug 8 (KIC) - The President of the Republic of Kosova, Ibrahim
Rugova, received today in Prishtina Mr. Brian Donnelly, the British
Ambassador to Belgrade.
On behalf of political directors, the British diplomat delivered to
President Rugova a letter of options of the Contact Group on the political
resolution of the Kosova issue.
Rugova and Donnelly discussed about the current developments in Kosova and
the prospects for a negotiated settlement.
The situation is extremely grave as the Serbian military and police
offensive against Albanians in Kosova continues, President Rugova said,
pressing for an urgent international intervention to halt this offensive
and protect the people of Kosova.
Regarding the political resolution, Rugova said the best solution for the
entire region is for Kosova to be an independent and neutral country, with
an interim stage international protectorate pending a lasting solution.
This arrangement is based on the legal and constitutional position that
Kosova enjoyed in the former Yugoslav federation, which has disintegrated,
and the express political will of the people in the national referendum
for independence.
Negotiations for the resolution of the Kosova issue are necessary, but the
appropriate conditions for substantial and fruitful talks should be created
first, President Rugova said.
Ambassador Donnelly expressed his government's concern over the situation
in Kosova, adding that it stands for a political resolution.
[02] Serb Forces Continue Destroying Albanian Houses while Calling for
Albanians to Return Home
The plight of 30,000 Albanians, displaced from their homes in, is alarming,
LDK sources said PRISHTINA, Aug 8 (KIC) - The one-week long Serb offensive
in the municipality of Klina continues with shooting of a lower intensity
in the villages of ^abiq, Zab&rgj&, Si^ev& and elsewhere, the LDK
Information Commission in Klina reported.
Gunfire is reportedly continuing around the railway tunnel at Ujmir village,
where local Albanian forces have been resisting Serb troops.
Only 12 Albanians killed by Serb forces have been identified yet, but the
casualty-toll is presumed to be much higher.
The plight of some 30,000 Albanians, displaced from their homes in the wake
of the Serb offensive, is alarming, LDK sources said, adding that the
population is threatened with starvation and a total lack of medication.
There was sporadic shooting yesterday in the villages of Cerovik, Zab&rgj&,
^abiq and Dob&rdol.
Two Serb tanks levelled everything to the ground in the Buzhala family
compound of ^abiq village yesterday, sources said.
The Serb regime's call for displaced Albanians to return to their homes is
hypocritical for most of the Albanian houses in the municipality have been
destroyed by Serb troops, the LDK Information Commission said.
[03] Five More Killed in Three Villages of Drenica
PRISHTINA, Aug 8 (KIC) - Local human rights activists reported Thursday
that five more Albanians are known to have been killed in Drenica during
the last week.
Murat Musliu, an activist with the Council for the Human Rights and
Freedoms (CDHRF) said Ilmi (Veli) Kadriu (51) from Likoc village was killed,
as well as Sokol Aruqi (60) from Rezalla, a sick woman from the Zabelaj
family compound in Rezall&, as well as two young Albanians from the village
of Abria e Ep&rme. The bodies of the latter have not been identified
because their bodies have been carbonized in the fire caused by a shell.
In the Serb offensive the villages of Polac, Kryshec, Morin&, Rezall&,
A^arev&, Tic& and Pllozhin& have been almost completely destroyed.
In the village of Likoc the houses of the Zymeraj, Veselaj and Topallaj
family compounds have been destroyed, as well as the elementary school
building, the community center, the medical center and all the shops and
businesses, local sources said.
Tens of thousands of Albanians displaced by Serb offensive have been
streaming towards Mitrovica and Vushtrri, most of them being still in the
open.
In the fields near the village of V&rbovc there are some 30,000 inhabitants,
most of whom women, children and the elderly. They lack food and drinking
water.
[04] Two Albanians Killed in Clashes with Serb Troops in Gjakova Area
Friday
PRISHTINA, Aug 8 (KIC) - The Reka e Keqe and Dushkaj& regions in the
municipality of Gjakova were scenes of continued fighting on Friday
afternoon and evening, sources in Gjakova reported.
The LDK chapter said two Albanians were killed at Vraniq village, where the
heaviest clashes were fought last evening. Tun& Leshaj (73) and Kol&
Lleshaj died while attempting to repel the offensive of troops on their
village, the LDK said.
Serb forces took the bodies of Albanians to the town morgue in Gjakova last
evening.
The LDK said many shells landed in the Vraniq village yesterday, inflicting
immense damage to the farmsteads there. Women, children and weak persons
were evacuated from the village, fearing a possible crackdown by heavy Serb
police, army and paramilitary troops.
Skirmishes between Serb troops and local Albanians were fought Friday
around the villages of Koshare and Junik in the Reka e Keqe region, local
sources said.
Reports said the local population is on a move fleeing the continued Serb
offensive.
According to the LDK chapter in Gjakova at least 27 villages in the
municipality have become ethnically cleansed since the beginning of the
Serb offensive in south-west Kosova. At least 40.000 people from this
region have fled their homes, many being still on the run and others
sheltered in other parts of Kosova, the report said.
[05] Serbs Set 24 Hour 'Surrender or Be Bombarded' Deadline to Three
Villages
PRISHTINA, Aug 8 (KIC) - Serb troops have set a 24-hour deadline to
residents of three villages of Gjakova - G&r^in&, Lipovec and Skivjan - to
surrender or face bombardment, local LDK sources said.
On Friday afternoon, the Serb police and army sent an ultimatum to the
three villagers to surrender by 18;00 hrs today, or else be razed to the
ground.
The villages of G&r^in&, Lipovec and Skivjan have not been attacked by Serb
forces since the conflict break-out in the western Kosova last spring.
The LDK chapter in Gjakova has cautioned residents of these three villages
not to fall pray to provocations which may be well exploited by Serbs to
launch bloody campaigns against them.
[06] Serb Infantry Sets Ablaze Farmsteads in Polac, Drenica
PRISHTINA, Aug 8 (KIC) - The Serb police entered today morning the Polac
village near Skenderaj ('Srbica'), and started burning houses right away,
Murat Musliu, a member of the local chapter of the Prishtina-based Council
for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms (CDHRF) in Senderaj said.
The CDHRF said the Serb infantry, backed up by armored vehicles, has been
advancing in the direction of all the neighborhoods of the Polac village.
They have been dousing houses with petrol and setting them ablaze, he
said.
Several other villages near Skenderaj, including Llausha, Likoc and Rezall&,
which were successively pounded with Serb artillery during the pats few
days, were all on fire Friday afternoon, local sources said.
[07] Serbs Shell Village near Shtime Friday Night
PRISHTINA, Aug 8 (KIC) - The village of Godanc in the municipality of
Shtime, south of Prishtina, came under heavy artillery gunfire last night,
local sources said.
The LDK chapter in Shtime said it could not learn whether there were any
casualties in Godanc, noting only that several houses were hit and damaged
badly, including those of Asllan Hasani and Avdi Vesli.
The village was pounded for about one hour from a police checkpoint near
Shtime.
A large number of Albanians from the southern part of Drenica have been
sheltered in the village, who together with the local villagers began
fleeing the village during the last night and today morning, fearing other
Serb attacks.
[08] Serb Troops Launch Artillery Missiles from Town of Prizren
PRISHTINA, Aug 8 (KIC) - The Serb troops have fired a number of artillery
missiles last evening and today in Prizren, causing panic among the
population. Many families left their homes in Prizren Friday evening
fearing a Serb crackdown and shelling of their homes.
The LDK chapter in Prizren said that Serb troops garrisoned near the
"Farmakosi" plant fired missiles in the direction of the surrounding hills
yesterday at around 6 p.m. Today morning, at around 9 o'clock, five cannon
shells were launched from a Yugoslav army barracks in the town.
LDK sources in Prizren could not confirm the location the missiles landed,
noting only that shooting added to the growing uncertainty as Serbs
continue their campaign of intimidation.
[09] Serbs Occupy Albanians' Flats in Klina
PRISHTINA, Aug 8 (KIC) - Fifteen local Serbs, including policemen, have
broken into deserted Albanian flats and occupied them in the town of Klina,
the LDK Information Commission in Klina said.
It is the Albanians who have been forced to flee their homes amidst the
Serb campaign of violence that have had their flats seized now.
The house of Destan Selimi has been burned in the town of Klina, as well as
the three-storey house of an Albanian surnamed Ra^i, LDK sources said.
Kosova Information Center
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