Kosova Daily Report #1628, 98-12-04
Kosova Information Center
KOSOVA DAILY REPORT #1628
Prishtina, 4 December 1998
CONTENTS
[01] President Rugova's Press Conference
[02] New Draft on Interim Settlement Presented to the Kosovar Side
[03] At Least One Albanian Killed, Four Others Wounded in Shoot-out
Incident in Peja Hospital
[04] Eight Kosova Albanians Killed near Kosova-Albanian Border Identified
[01] President Rugova's Press Conference
PRISHTINA, Dec 4 (KIC) - The situation in Kosova continues to be grave and
volatile amidst a still heavy presence of Serbian forces, the President of
the Republic of Kosova Ibrahim Rugova said at the outset of his press
conference in Prishtina today (Friday).
Speaking about the Serb regime violence, Rugova denounced the continued
detention of the LDK chapter vice-chairman in Gjilan, Lutfi Haziri.
Greater security should be created so that people can safely return to
their homes, President Rugova said, maintaining that the deployment of NATO
troops would provide a permanent security in Kosova. He urged international
organizations to offer all the care during the winter to thousands of
Kosova refugees in northern Albania.
President Ibrahim Rugova reiterated that an independent Kosova, with all
guarantees for local Serbs, is the best solution, pressing for an interim
stage international protectorate pending a lasting resolution.
Asked by a foreign reporter to comment on Ambassador Chris Hill's draft
plan for an interim solution in Kosova, Rugova said the Albanian side has
been working with the U.S. envoy and experts of the State Department on the
drafts. The latest draft will be discussed by the Kosova negotiating team,
he said, adding that the most recent draft [the Kosovar side had] was the
one of November 1st.
Regarding the recent killings in Kosova, Rugova said this is evidence to
the fact that the issue of security is still very much a thing of urgency.
"As soon as possible, Kosovar security forces should be created to protect
the citizens and bring about an end to Serbian violence".
The Kosova negotiating team will be completed with new members if and when
the need comes, President Rugova said in reply to a question. "The
negotiating team has worked a lot, and with results", he said, adding that
the size of the group was not the most important thing, but rather the
position on the Kosova issue.
Given the huge gap between the parties in the Kosova conflict, is there any
likelihood for an international conference, a local newspaper's reporter
asked. Work is being done at present on an interim deal, President Rugova
said. "Ambassador Hill has been trying to narrow the differences", he said,
adding that work should be done towards an international conference.
The issue of the Ministry of Defense in the Government of the Republic of
Kosova is a matter for the Government itself, President Rugova said when
asked to comment about it.
The Government of the Republic said in a statement earlier this week Col.
Halil Bicaj had been named Acting Minister of Defense.
[02] New Draft on Interim Settlement Presented to the Kosovar Side
PRISHTINA, Dec 4 (KIC) - Aides to the U.S. envoy for Kosova, Ambassador
Chris Hill, presented Friday the new draft plan on an interim settlement in
Kosova to the Kosovar negotiating team, the KIC has learned.
The draft was presented to Belgrade on Thursday, during a meeting
Ambassador Hill had with Serbian President Milutinovic, sources said.
The most recent draft should be a reworked version of the November 1st
draft plan on Kosova, which had been referred to as 'an enhanced' version
but still not acceptable to the Albanian side.
The Serb side had referred to it as utterly unacceptable.
[03] At Least One Albanian Killed, Four Others Wounded in Shoot-out
Incident in Peja Hospital
PRISHTINA, Dec 4 (KIC) - Today (Friday), at 11: o'clock in the morning, a
five-minute barrage of shooting from automatic weapons was heard inside the
Peja town hospital, but also in the front entrance to it, sources from the
local LDK and the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms
(CDHRF) chapters in Peja said.
Since the beginning of this year's conflicts, a huge number of Serb police
has been staying inside the town hospital day and night.
In the entrance to the Peja hospital, after the checking of the identity of
a young man, a conflict broke out, eye-witnesses said, adding that a burst
of automatic weapons ensued in the admissions office in the hospital.
Reportedly, a man, his wife and their son, as well as a boy around 10 years
old, were badly wounded.
After the shooting incident inside, several armed policemen in plain
clothes opened automatic fire in front of the hospital, fatally wounding a
woman whose identity is still unknown. The body of the woman was taken to
the hospital morgue.
Around the hospital area, automatic fire continued for some time up to the
Lungs Hospital, where police entered and started illtreating hospital
personnel and Albanians who happened to be there, threatening them with
liquidation. Tahir Ademaj (48), a lab staff member, was arrested.
The LDK chapter and the local chapter of the Council for the Defense of
Human Rights and Freedoms (CDHRF) in Peja said prior to the shoot-out
incident, a Serb police van had arrived to the hospital. The van had come
from the Dubrava (Istog) jail house, from which (the van) a wounded,
handcuffed young man got out.
Eye-witnesses said there were casualties amongst the Serb police, too.
The area around the Peja hospital was sealed off in the aftermath of the
shoot-out incident, sources said.
Meanwhile, local sources said at a police checkpoint in the suburbs of Peja
one or more people on a tractor were stopped, arrested and taken to the
Peja police station today. Other details surrounding the fate of the people
travelling with the tractor from the Rugova region remained unknown. The
tractor was seen parked in front of the police station.
[04] Eight Kosova Albanians Killed near Kosova-Albanian Border Identified
Twelve Albanians killed in Kosova in two days
PRISHTINA, Dec 4 (KIC) - Early Thursday morning, at a location called
"Trumsh" in the Kosova-Albania border area, Serbian military forces killed
eight Albanians, seven from Krusha e Madhe village of Rahovec, and one from
Mazrrek village of Prizren, the LDK chapter in Prizren.
The LDK named the eight killed Albanians as: Muhamet Mal&sori, Hysni Duraku,
Isak Adem Hoti, Ismet Daut Hoti, Sedat Aziz Hoti, Hyda Isa Hoti, Sinan Abaz
Hoti (all from Krusha e Madhe), and Sk&nder Hameli, resident of Mazrrek
village of the Hasi region in the municipality of Prizren, southern
Kosova.
The eight Albanians were killed deep inside Kosovar territory, and not at
the borderline zone, the LDK sources said.
The bodies of the killed Albanians were taken by Serb forces to the town
hospital morgue in Prizen Thursday. They will be buried today (Friday) in
their native villages.
Twelve Albanians were killed in Kosova in two days, Wednesday and
Thursday.
Three Albanians, including a Bujku journalist, were gunned down in their
car in Prishtina Wednesday.
An Albanian, Nexhmedin Bedra, 46, was killed Wednesday afternoon at Dollc
village in the Prishtina-Peja highway.
All the killings have been blamed on Serb security forces.
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