Voice of America, 98-08-02

Voice of America: Selected Articles Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Voice of America <gopher://gopher.voa.gov>

CONTENTS

[01] KOSOVO REFUGEES (L) BY ART CHIMES (PRISTINA)

[02] KOSOVO UNREST (S ONLY) BY ART CHIMES (SEDLARE, YUGOSLAVIA)

[03] WORLD BASKETBALL SUNDAY (S) BY DAVID B. BYRD (ATHENS, GREECE)

[01] KOSOVO REFUGEES (L) BY ART CHIMES (PRISTINA)

INTRO: FIVE MONTHS OF FIGHTING IN YUGOSLAVIA'S EMBATTLED KOSOVO PROVINCE HAS DRIVEN AN ESTIMATED 150-THOUSAND PEOPLE FROM THEIR HOMES. THE SERB OFFENSIVE THIS PAST WEEK DEALT A MAJOR SETBACK TO THE SEPARATIST GUERRILLAS OF THE KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY AND SCATTERED PERHAPS 30-THOUSAND CIVILIANS, MANY -- PERHAPS MOST OF WHOM ARE LIVING OUT IN THE OPEN IN THE HILLS NEAR THEIR VILLAGES. V-O-A CORRESPONDENT ART CHIMES HAS BEEN THERE, AND HE HAS THIS REPORT.

TEXT: A COW GRAZES IN THE FIELD, HER BELL A REMINDER OF THE TIME, JUST DAYS EARLIER, WHEN SHE WAS KEPT IN THE FAMILY COMPOUND IN THE NOW-DESERTED MERUSA VILLAGE JUST A FEW KILOMETERS DOWN THE HILL. PERHAPS 50 PEOPLE ARE LIVING IN THIS CLEARING, SCATTERED IN FAMILY GROUPS AROUND THE PERIMETER. IN THE MIDDLE IS THE LIVESTOCK, CATTLE AND SHEEP, PLUS A FEW DOGS. THERE IS A SPRING THAT SUPPLIES DRINKING WATER A FEW HUNDRED METERS AWAY. WOMEN KNEELING AT AN OPEN FIRE BAKE A KIND OF BREAD FROM FLOUR THEY HAVE BROUGHT WITH THEM. BUT AID AGENCIES SAY THERE IS FOOD ENOUGH ONLY FOR A FEW MORE DAYS.

THERE ARE A COUPLE OF TRACTORS AND WAGONS, AND ONE SMALL TENT, BUT OTHERWISE THERE IS NO SHELTER FROM THE SUN OR RAIN OR THE WINTER THAT IS TO COME. AID WORKERS FEAR A HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE WHEN THE HARSH BALKAN WINTER SETS IN, BUT NO ONE HERE SEEMS TO BE THINKING ABOUT THE COLD NIGHTS AHEAD. ONE REFUGEE, 36-YEAR OLD ENVER THAQI, IS BANKING ON INTERNATIONAL ACTION TO SET THE STAGE FOR THEIR RETURN HOME.

MR. THAQI EXPLAINS SAYS THAT WHEN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY REALIZES HOW HIS CHILDREN AND EVERYONE ELSE ARE SUFFERING HERE, THEY WILL BE FORCED BY THEIR CONSCIENCE TO ACT. HE SEEMS TO BELIEVE IT.

THESE FAMILIES HAVE, MOST OF THEM, BEEN HERE SINCE TUESDAY, WHEN SEPARATIST REBELS OF THE KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY RETREATED FROM THEIR STRONGHOLD IN MALISEVO. TENS OF THOUSANDS OF ETHNIC ALBANIANS IN THE AREA FLED, MOSTLY TO THE NEARBY HILLS. MALISEVO SATURDAY APPEARED ENTIRELY DESERTED SAVE FOR SERBIAN POLICE AND AN ELDERLY GYPSY WOMAN SLEEPING BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD.

A FEW KILOMETERS OUTSIDE MALISEVO, THE UNITED NATIONS SATURDAY BROUGHT A TRUCKLOAD OF FOOD, WATER AND OTHER SUPPLIES TO CERNOVRANE VILLAGE, WHERE AN ESTIMATED 500 TO 1000 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN LIVING OUT IN THE OPEN. BUT NO ONE IS DELIVERING ANYTHING TO THOSE CAMPED OUT IN THE CLEARING WE VISITED, A SHORT DISTANCE AWAY. JOURNALISTS HAD NO TROUBLE MAKING THEIR WAY HERE, BUT UNITED NATIONS REFUGEE OFFICIAL THOMAS VARGAS EXPLAINS THE PROCESS FACING HIS ORGANIZATION IS MORE COMPLEX.

WE HAVE TO IDENTIFY WHERE THEY ARE FIRST BEFORE WE CAN DELIVER ANY ASSISTANCE OBVIOUSLY. WE FOUND THIS GROUP ON THURSDAY AND NOW WE ARE GOING TO PROVIDE THEM WITH THE ASSISTANCE, AND WE WILL CONTINUOUSLY BE DOING THIS IN THE HOPES, HOWEVER, THAT THESE PEOPLE WILL SOON BE ABLE TO RETURN TO THEIR HOUSES IF IT'S SAFE FOR THEM TO RETURN AND THEY FEEL IT'S SAFE.

THE DISTINCTION IS IMPORTANT. PRESIDENT SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC SAYS ITS SAFE FOR CIVILIANS TO RETURN HOME, AND HE HAS URGED THEM TO DO SO. BUT THIS MAN HAXHI THAGI WHO HAD COME DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN TO CHECK ON HIS HOUSE, SAYS HE DOESN'T BELIEVE THE GUARANTEES OFFERED BY PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC.

IF MILOSEVICS GUARANTEE WAS ANY GOOD, HE SAYS, WE WOULD NOT BE IN THE WOODS. LIKE THE OTHERS LIVING OUT IN THE OPEN, HE DOESN'T THINK ITS SAFE TO GO HOME.

THERE ARE CONSTANT RUMORS OF SERBIAN SNIPERS -- ONE MAN STOPS OUR CAR AS WE ARE LEAVING THE AREA TO WARN US ABOUT SHOTS BEING FIRED. BUT WE HAVE HEARD NO GUNFIRE AND SUSPECT THAT MANY OF THE REPORTS MAY HAVE MORE TO DO WITH STRESS AND SUSPICION THAN FACT. WE SUSPECT THAT, BUT THERE IS NO WAY TO KNOW FOR SURE. IN ANY EVENT THE REFUGEES ARE CONVINCED ITS UNSAFE TO RETURN, AND EVEN THOSE WHO MOST DESPERATELY WANT TO RETURN HOME -- EVEN IF THEIR HOME IS A BOMBED-OUT SHELL, AS MANY ARE -- EVEN THEY WONT GO BACK UNTIL THEY'RE CONVINCED THAT ITS SAFE. (SIGNED)
NEB/ART/SD
01-Aug-98 5:24 PM EDT (2124 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America

[02] KOSOVO UNREST (S ONLY) BY ART CHIMES (SEDLARE, YUGOSLAVIA)

INTRO: FIGHTING CONTINUED IN YUGOSLAVIA'S EMBATTLED KOSOVO PROVINCE AGAIN SUNDAY, AS SERB FORCES FIRED SHELLS NEAR ETHNIC ALBANIAN VILLAGES, AND A REBEL ATTACK KILLED TWO SERB POLICEMEN. V-O-A CORRESPONDENT ART CHIMES REPORT FROM SEDLARE VILLAGE, YUGOSLAVIA.

TEXT: JOURNALISTS SAW SMOKE COMING FROM A VILLAGE ON ONE SIDE OF THE MAIN EAST-WEST HIGHWAY, AND HEARD HEAVY WEAPONS FIRE NEAR SEDLARE VILLAGE ACROSS THE ROAD.

THAT MAIN HIGHWAY, PLUS ANOTHER ONE TO THE NORTH, REMAINED CLOSED SUNDAY BECAUSE OF THE FIGHTING. THE SHELLING BY GOVERNMENT FORCES CAME TWO DAYS AFTER YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC ANNOUNCED THE END OF AN OFFENSIVE AGAINST SEPARATIST GUERRILLAS.

TENS OF THOUSANDS OF REFUGEES REMAIN IN THE HILLS ABOVE THEIR VILLAGES, WHICH THEY FLED IN FEAR. RESIDENTS SUNDAY TOLD US SERB HELICOPTERS HAD DROPPED LEAFLETS URGING THEM TO RETURN HOME.

THE SERB-RUN MEDIA CENTER IN PRISTINA REPORTED TWO POLICEMEN WERE KILLED WHEN KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY GUERRILLAS ATTACKED THEIR CHECKPOINT (NEAR PRILIP VILLAGE ON THE DECANI-DJAKOVICA ROAD). ETHNIC ALBANIAN SOURCES (KOSOVO INFORMATION CENTER) SAY AT LEAST EIGHT PEOPLE WERE KILLED BY SERB FORCES IN THE DRENICE REGION. (SIGNED)
NEB/ART/MMK
02-Aug-98 4:48 PM EDT (2048 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America

[03] WORLD BASKETBALL SUNDAY (S) BY DAVID B. BYRD (ATHENS, GREECE)

INTRO: THE FIRST DAY OF SECOND ROUND PLAY IS UNDERWAY AT THE MEN'S WORLD BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS IN ATHENS, GREECE. V-O-A'S DAVE BYRD IS IN THE GREEK CAPITAL AND HAS THIS REPORT ON THE ACTION.

TEXT: SUNDAY'S SECOND ROUND ACTION BEGAN WITH YUGOSLAVIA, ONE OF THE FAVORITES AT THE TOURNAMENT, SCORING A 95-55 WIN OVER CANADA. MEANWHILE, AT PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP STADIUM, LITHUANIA WAS BEATEN FOR THE FIRST TIME AT THE TOURNAMENT, 71-61 BY AUSTRALIA.

THE U-S MEN'S TEAM WAS ABLE TO OVERCOME A STRONG CHALLENGE FROM ARGENTINA AND WIN, 87-74. COACH RUDY TOMJANOVICH SAYS HIS TEAM TRIED TO COUNTER THE ARGENTINE'S BIG WEAPON -- OUTSIDE SHOOTING. IN OTHER CONTESTS, RUSSIA SCORED A 71-55 WIN OVER ITALY.

THE TOP EIGHT TEAMS IN THE SECOND ROUND ADVANCE TO THE QUARTER FINALS. THE FINALS ARE AUGUST NINTH. (SIGNED)
NEB/DB/MMK
02-Aug-98 3:42 PM EDT (1942 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America

Voice of America: Selected Articles Directory - Previous Article - Next Article