Kosova Daily Report #1590, 98-10-22

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

Kosova Information Center
KOSOVA DAILY REPORT #1590
Prishtina, 22 October 1998

CONTENTS

[01] President Rugova Receives Ambassador Hill, EU Troika

[02] Serb Military Kills Four, Wounds Two Members of Kosovar Albanian Refugee Family

[03] LBD Calls for Jiri Dienstbir to Be Declared Persona non Grata in Kosova

[04] Serb Forces Repositioning in Podujeva Area

[05] Tanjug Journalists Are in the Hands of the U^K

[06] Bujku Unveils Names of Albanians in Hospital Detention Center in Prishtina

[07] Serb Forces Open Fire against Mitrovica Villages

[08] Fresh Serb Bombardments Force Albanians Flee Homes Again in Malisheva

[09] Serb Police Takes Body of Woman to Gjakova Morgue

[10] Volatile Situation in Western Kosova

[11] Serb Forces Tighten Grip on Albanians in Lugu i Baranit

[01] President Rugova Receives Ambassador Hill, EU Troika

Meanwhile, President Rugova received in a separate meeting the European Union troika of ambassadors, Wolfgang Petritsch, Austrian ambassador and UE special envoy for Kosova, Brian Donnelly, the British ambassador, and Wilfried Gruber, the German ambassador to Belgrade.

President Rugova said the situation in Kosova continued to be grave and volatile. He emphasized the importance of the withdrawal of Serb forces from Kosova and full implementation of the UNSCR 1199.

The President said the OSCE and NATO verification missions are important in this regard, to ensure that Belgrade fulfills its commitments, and preconditions for negotiations between Prishtina and Belgrade on Kosova are created.

After the meeting, Dr Ibrahim Rugova and Ambassador Petritsch spoke to the press in Prishtina.

[02] Serb Military Kills Four, Wounds Two Members of Kosovar Albanian Refugee Family

The Ministry named the killed as Ramiz Hamz& Sylmetaj (28), Mazllum Ramiz Sylmetaj (2), Muharrem Ramiz Sylmetaj (6) and Leonora Gani Sylmetaj (f, 12), all of them residents of G&r^in& village.

Two members of this family were seriously wounded, including Ramiz's wife, Ajshe Sylmetaj, who has been taken to the Gjakova hospital.

The Sylmetaj family was returning from Albania, where they had spent some time as refugees, having fled the war-torn Kosova.

Family members who survived the Serb attack said Serb army soldiers had shot at them with fire arms.

A fifth man, citizen of Albania, was said to have been killed in the same incident. He was reportedly escorting the returning Kosovar Albania family back across the border.

[03] LBD Calls for Jiri Dienstbir to Be Declared Persona non Grata in Kosova

PRISHTINA, Oct 22 (KIC) - The L&vizja e Bashkuar Demokratike (LBD) [the United Democratic Movement], a coalition of four Albanian political parties in Kosova, slammed yesterday Mr. Jiri Dienstbir, the UN special envoy for human rights in former Yugoslavia, for his "outrageous anti-Albanian remarks' in a Polish daily earlier this week.

The UN official denies the right of the people of Kosova to individual and collective defense, the LBD said in a statement, adding that he plays down the scope of the violence and terror committed by the Serbian forces against the Albanians in Kosova as well as the humanitarian tragedy here.

Jiri Dienstbir made "outrageous, openly anti-Albanian" remarks, the LBD says, calling for him to be declared persona non grata in Kosova.

The L&vizja e Bashkuar Demokratike, chaired by Rexhep Qosja, called on Albanian political prisoners to refuse Dienstbir's monitoring of their conditions and their trials.

The LBD is a political formation close to the U^K (Kosova Liberation Army), which was infamously criticized by Dienstbir in his interview for the Polish newspaper.

Adem Dema^i, the U^K political representative, slammed likewise Dienstbir's remarks during a press conference in Prishtina on Tuesday.

The UN official was quoted a couple of months ago as denying Serb forces were engaged in ethnic cleansing in Kosova, at a time more than 400,000 Albanians had been driven from their homes and hundreds of their villages destroyed by Serb military and police.

[04] Serb Forces Repositioning in Podujeva Area

Serb military and police troops have stepped up movements in the town of Podujeva today. Three Serb military vehicles with Serb soldiers and officers on board stayed for hours in front of the town hall building, LDK sources said.

Heavy Serb forces have been deployed in an area between the villages of Obran^& and Llapashtic&, a couple of km west of Podujeva, which are being beefed up on a daily basis.

Serb military forces, backed up with tanks, have been stationed also near the village of Lup^ i Posht&m, along the Prishtina- Podujeva road.

Gunfire was heard on the southern edge of the town of Podujeva Wednesday evening, around 21:20 hrs, local sources said.

Serb aircraft flew over the Podujeva area today, whereas a Serb police convoy consisting of three APCs and an armoured car left Podujeva, passed through Lluzhan and Orllan, and headed to B&rvenik village. The convoy later returned back.

Early in the afternoon today, further troop movements were reported in the town of Podujeva and in the area between Llapashtic& and Obran^& villages.

[05] Tanjug Journalists Are in the Hands of the U^K

Nebojsa Radosevic and Vladimir Dobricic were detained and arrested by the U^K in the Magura area, the spokesman said.

The two Serb journalists are under investigations, he added. If it turns out they have not been implicated in the war of the Serbian regime against the Albanian people, they will be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the spokesman of the U^K army police said.

The detainees are being treated humanely, he concluded.

[06] Bujku Unveils Names of Albanians in Hospital Detention Center in Prishtina

Serbian police have been placed everywhere inside the hospital, Bujku writes, adding that Albanian patients, among whom women and children, have been reportedly denied food on occasions.

Bujku quotes unnamed sources as saying the following Albanians have been going through utterly unacceptable and inhumane treatment in the Lungs Hospital: Valon Gexha, Arben Spahia, and Gjok& Hil Ndreca from Gjakova; Veli Vrellaku, Avdi Krasniqi, Hava Lestrani (f), Elfete Rama (f) and Fatmire Ahmetaj (f) from Gllogovc; Gjuke Zukaj (f) and Bashkim Brahimi from De^an; Shp&tim Dema and Milaim Krasniqi from Prizren; Afrim Morina from Klina.

One of them, Bislim Bislimi, from Vitia, has already been taken out from hospital, and transferred in a Serb jail in Ferizaj, the Bujku newspaper said.

[07] Serb Forces Open Fire against Mitrovica Villages

During that time, a convoy of Serb military vehicles, including tanks, was stationed in the premises of the "Trep^a" mining complex in Mitrovica, reports said.

[08] Fresh Serb Bombardments Force Albanians Flee Homes Again in Malisheva

The three villages, as well as the villages of Ostrozub, Dragobil and Guriq, were intermittently shelled from a Serb base at Ostrozub, both on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Malisheva LDK chapter said today morning that the latest Serb attacks against Albanian villages in the area forced more Albanians from their homes.

Clusters of refugees were seen heading toward the villages of T&rpeza and Lladroc yesterday and today morning, sources said.

[09] Serb Police Takes Body of Woman to Gjakova Morgue

PRISHTINA, Oct (KIC) - The Serb police brought Wednesday afternoon the dead body of a woman to the Gjakova town morgue, local sources reported.

The dead woman, in her early sixties, was brought to Gjakova from Llo^an village of De^an, the LDK chapter in Gjakova said. It added that her identity or the cause of hear death could not be established.

The LDK Information Commission in Gjakova reported today afternoon that it has learned the identity of two other women brought by the Serb police to the town morgue on 18 October.

They are Sherafete Tolaj and Zize Tolaj, both from Pob&rgj& village of De^an.

The bodies of the two women were charred, so it took this long to identify them, the LDK commission said.

It added that the remains of the three women have not been yet collected by their relatives.

[10] Volatile Situation in Western Kosova

During the course of last night and toady morning shooting and shelling was heard in several places in the area. Convoys of Serb forces have been moving and digging in around Albanian villages.

The LDK chapter in Gjakova said the village of Novosell& e Ep&rme was targeted on several occasions by the Serb police during the past two days. Over 15 local Albanians were tortured by Serb police, who entered the village yesterday. On of them had his eardrum torn off.

The De^an LDK chapter said Serb forces garrisoned at a location called "Suka e Biteshit" have been spraying with machine gun and artillery fire the outlying villages almost every night.

The situation in the Dushkaja region has been reported very tense, with huge Serb army and police forces remaining on the ground.

[11] Serb Forces Tighten Grip on Albanians in Lugu i Baranit

Young men, in their late teens and early twenties, have been targeted in particular, he said.

Both this activist and the LDK chapter in Peja confirmed that Serb police manning checkpoints in the area have taken a most hostile attitude towards the Albanian population in the area. At least six Serb police checkpoints are still in place near Albanian villages.

Shooting and bombardment in the villages of Kralan and K&puz in the neighboring municipality of Gjakova has been causing additional fear amongst the population in the Lugu i Baranit. Most of the schools in the area have not been opened yet because of the volatile situation.

Kosova Information Center

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