Kosova Daily Report #1677, 99-01-29
Kosova Information Center
KOSOVA DAILY REPORT #1677
Prishtina, 29 January 1999
First Edition: 13:30 CET
Second Edition: 17:30 CET
CONTENTS
[01] Serbian Forces Kill 23 Albanians in a Village in Southwestern Kosova
Today
[02] President Rugova's Press Conference
[03] Big Powers Demand Deal on Kosovo Within Weeks
[04] 73 Kosova Albanians Massacred by Serb Forces in a Fortnight
[05] Four Albanians Killed at the Border, Two in Bishtazhin Village
[01] Serbian Forces Kill 23 Albanians in a Village in Southwestern Kosova
Today
The 73 civilian Albanians massacred by Serbian forces in three separate
incidents in a fortnight is the Milosevic regime's response to the
international community's 'talk tough - act weak' policy over the Kosova
crisis
PRISHTINA, Jan 29 (KIC) - At least twenty-three Albanians were killed by
Serbian forces today (Friday) in the village of Rogov& e Hasit,
municipality of Gjakova, in southwestern Kosova, sources said.
The LDK chapter in Gjakova said the "Albanian civilians were executed by
Serbian forces" in the village.
Sandy Blyt, a spokesman for the OSCE Kosova Verification Mission (KVM) told
the KIC the Serbian Interior Ministry (MUP) had told the KVM the Serb
police was shot at around 6:45 a.m. today in the village of Rogov&. One
Serb policeman was killed, and possibly ten Albanians had been shot dead
when the police "returned fire", the MUP had told the OSCE mission.
The OSCE verifiers in fact found 23 killed people. "Eleven dead were found
inside a minibus, and three others outside it" in the village of Rogov&,
Mr. Blyt said, adding that five dead were found in a "hut", as he put it,
and four more in yet another hut, some 400 meters away in the village.
The killed Albanians were in civilian clothes, but "some small arms were
scattered around", Sandy Blyt told the KIC.
Meanwhile, the Serb regime Prishtina-based Media Center said in a report at
10:15 hrs in "an attack" on the police at 6:30 in Rogov& village a Serb
policeman, Predrag Rakovic, was killed. "Police returned fire and,
according to initial reports, around 20 attackers were killed".
A group of some 10 Serb policemen had moved into the village today morning
to "arrest terrorists who had been hidden inside a house", the Media Center
said, routinely referring to Albanians as 'terrorists'.
Meanwhile, sources from Prizren told the KIC the Serb police took the
bodies of 19 Albanians and a Serb policeman to the town morgue in Prizren.
Today's slaying of two dozen Albanians in Rogov& comes after the massacre
of 45 Albanians in the village of Re^ak, south of Prishtina, and the
slaying of five Albanians, including two children and a woman, in a tractor
in Rakovina village, southwestern Kosova, on 24 January. The Serbian regime
propaganda machine tried to cover up the Re^ak massacre, alleging
Albanians died in the 'heat of the battle' with Serb forces, whereas a
Serb health minister said the five Albanians died in a 'road accident'
in Rakovina.
The OSCE Mission said in a press release on 27 January it condemned "the
shooting of five civilians near the village of Rakovina, reported Monday,
as a criminal and brutal act which cannot be tolerated."
The KVM verifiers who attended the scene "of this horrendous incident [in
Rakovina] were shocked by the senseless ferocity exhibited. More than 200
rounds appear to have been fired at the victims", the press release said.
The 73 civilian Albanians massacred by Serbian forces in three separate
incidents in a fortnight is the Milosevic regime's response to the
international community's 'talk tough - act weak' policy over the Kosova
crisis.
[02] President Rugova's Press Conference
PRISHTINA, Jan 29 (KIC) - The President of the Republic of Kosova Dr.
Ibrahim Rugova said today the situation in the country continued to be very
dangerous. In the aftermath of the Re^ak massacre, when 45 Albanian
civilians were killed, 5 Albanians, including two children, were slain by
Serb forces in Rakovina village on Sunday, Rugova said.
The President held his press conference at 10 a.m. today (Friday), and was
apparently still unaware of the killing of 23 Albanians by Serbian forces
in the village of Rogova today.
There has been an ongoing Serbian military offensive in Kosova since
Christmas, President Rugova said, adding that Albanian villages in the
northern Podujeva area have been attacked these past few days with tanks
and heavy artillery, too.
Rugova pressed for an urgent NATO intervention in Kosova, "to protect the
people of Kosova and to create stability in southeastern Europe".
The best solution for Kosova is independence, with all guarantees for the
local Serb community, President Rugova said adding that such an arrangement
would stabilize the neighboring countries: Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro
and Serbia itself.
The Kosova President thanked U.S. President Clinton for having authorized
25 million dollars in humanitarian aid for Kosova.
Kosova will be represented by its legitimate representatives, including the
negotiating team, in any international press conference being talked about
or talks prepared by the Contact Group, Rugova said in reply to a
question.
Kosovar representatives have their platform - that is independence - he
said, adding that now an interim settlement is being sought for Kosova.
Meanwhile, President Rugova's office said Rugova received today the
Norwegian ambassador to Belgrade, Jan Gaarder.
Mr. Gaarder presented the President with a message by NATO Secretary
General Javier Solana regarding the outcome of Thursday's meeting of the
North Atlantic Council on Kosova.
[03] Big Powers Demand Deal on Kosovo Within Weeks
Talks to be held in a secluded French chateau, chaired by British and
French foreign ministers
PRISHTINA, Jan 29 (KIC) - The major powers within the six-nation Contact
Group on Friday summoned Belgrade and Prishtina to attend peace talks in
France by February 6 and set a tight deadline for concluding an agreement
on autonomy for Kosova, Reuters reported.
Foreign ministers of the Contact Group "agreed to summon representatives
from the Federal Yugoslav and Serbian governments and representatives of
the Kosovo Albanians to Rambouillet (southwest of Paris) by February 6...to
begin negotiations," a joint statement said.
Ministers from United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and Italy
"agreed that the participants should work to conclude negotiations within
seven days." An agreement should include "elements for a substantial
autonomy for Kosova," they said.
The Contact Group would allow a further period of less than one week if the
talks appeared to be heading for success.
British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said he would deliver the message to
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and to Kosova on Saturday. "We want
agreement on the Contact Group proposals within the next three weeks at
most," he said.
NATO is expected to back that timetable on Saturday with an explicit threat
of military action if the two sides do not heed the call to talk peace,
Reuters said.
NATO issued a statement on Thursday saying it would back up the political
package offered by the Contact Group regarding the Kosova crisis.
"The appropriate authorities in Belgrade and representatives of the Kosovo
Albanian leadership must agree to the proposals to be issued by the Contact
Group for completing an interim political settlement within the timeframe
to be established," NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana said in Brussels
on Thursday.
The Contact Group ministers were unanimous in demanding a return to a
ceasefire and were alarmed by news of more bloodshed on Friday, in which
Serbian forces killed twenty three Albanians in Rogova village of Gjakova
municipality.
"The killing must stop," Cook said.
They also demanded that the U.N. war crimes tribunal on former Yugoslavia
be granted access to Kosova, and international monitors must be allowed to
work unimpeded.
The statement said the Contact Group would hold both sides accountable if
they failed to seize the opportunity for peace but stopped short of
mentioning a threat of force, which Russia opposes, Reuters news agency
noted.
The talks at the secluded French chateau, where the first annual summit of
major industrialized countries was held in 1975, will be co-chaired by Cook
and French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine, the statement said.
Cook said Britain, France and their NATO partners were prepared to underpin
an agreement on self-rule for Kosovo by deploying ground troops, but only
if the warring parties signed up to a political process.
"We are only going to commit ground troops if there is a commitment to a
political process. Nobody is going to commit ground troops in the context
of a continuing war and a crumbling ceasefire," he said.
Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Jacques Chirac discussed
Kosovo over dinner on Thursday and said they were willing to send troops to
underpin any peace deal, Reuters said.
Chirac and Blair said they were "ready to envisage, along with their core
NATO partners, any military action, including sending ground troops
necessary to accompany the implementation of a negotiated settlement."
Put in a nutshell, the position of the Kosovar institutions, the Albanian
forces across the political spectrum, as well as the Kosova Liberation Army
(U^K), has been that an interim political arrangement for Kosova on a par
with Serbia and Montenegro at the 'FRY' level would be acceptable, if it
provided an independence referendum at the end of the three-year period.
[04] 73 Kosova Albanians Massacred by Serb Forces in a Fortnight
PRISHTINA, Jan 29 (KIC) - At least twenty-three Albanians were killed by
Serbian forces today (Friday) in the village of Rogov& e Hasit,
municipality of Gjakova, in southwestern Kosova, sources said.
The LDK chapter in Gjakova said the "Albanian civilians were executed by
Serbian forces" in the village.
Sandy Blyt, a spokesman for the OSCE Kosova Verification Mission (KVM) told
the KIC were wearing civilian clothing, but "some small arms were scattered
around".
Today's slaying of two dozen Albanians in Rogov& comes after the massacre
of 45 Albanians in the village of Re^ak, south of Prishtina, and the
slaying of five Albanians, including two children and a woman, in a tractor
in Rakovina village, southwestern Kosova, on 24 January. The Serbian regime
propaganda machine tried to cover up the Re^ak massacre, alleging
Albanians died in the 'heat of the battle' with Serb forces, whereas a
Serb health minister said the five Albanians died in a 'road accident'
in Rakovina.
The OSCE Mission said in a press release on 27 January it condemned "the
shooting of five civilians near the village of Rakovina, reported Monday,
as a criminal and brutal act which cannot be tolerated."
The KVM verifiers who attended the scene "of this horrendous incident [in
Rakovina] were shocked by the senseless ferocity exhibited. More than 200
rounds appear to have been fired at the victims", the press release said.
The 73 civilian Albanians massacred by Serbian forces in three separate
incidents in a fortnight (many others killed in smaller incidents) is the
Milosevic regime's response to the international community's 'talk tough -
act weak' policy over the Kosova crisis.
[05] Four Albanians Killed at the Border, Two in Bishtazhin Village
PRISHTINA, Jan 29 (KIC) - On Wednesday night the Serb military killed three
Albanians near the Lubizhd& village, northwest of Prizren, at the Kosova-
Albania border, local Serb sources said.
They were killed while trying to infiltrate the border, they added.
Another Albanian was killed Thursday evening at the Kosova-Albania border
in the municipality of Gjakova, sources said.
Meanwhile, LDK sources said the two Albanians killed in clashes with
Serbian forces in Bishtazhin village yesterday have been identified as
Kasim Shala (28) and Hamdi Berisha (22).
Kosova Information Center
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