"Quando la Germania invase la Jugoslavia nel 1941,
il popolo kosovaro fu liberato dai tedeschi.
Tutti i territori albanesi di questo stato, come il Kosova, la
Macedonia occidentale e le regioni di confine del Montenegro
furono riunificate con l'Albania propriamente detta. Furono
ristabilite le scuole in lingua albanese, l'amministrazione del
governo, la stampa e la radio"
(Da: www.klpm.org, sito web affiliato all'UCK).
---
MISCELLANEA DI ATTI TERRORISTICI ED ALTRI CAPOLAVORI DELL'UCKFOR
* CONDEMNATION OF PERSECUTION OF SERB JOURNALISTS
PRISTINA, July 16 (Tanjug) The arrest of Ljubisa Jovanovic, the
correspondent of the Serbian Radio and Television (RTS) from Kosovo
Polje,
by members of the international missions KFOR and UNMIK is yet another
deliberate move aimed at driving away the Serbs and represents a form of
intimidation of the remaining Serbs who are resisting the daily violence
in
KosovoMetohija, the Information SubCommittee of the Yugoslav Committee
for
Cooperation with the U.N. Mission in KosovoMetohija said on Saturday.
The UNMIK police searched Jovanovic's house on Thursday after
receiving a report by his wife that she had seen two ethnic Albanians
fleeing from their back yard upon her return from work. During the
search
of the house, the UNMIK police uncovered an automatic gun clearly
previously planted there. They waited for Jovanovic and took him to the
police station.
SubCommittee VicePresident Milorad Vujovic issued a statement
protesting strongly over the conduct of KFOR and UNMIK and recalling
that
this incident is yet another in a series of persecutions of Serb
journalists in Serbia's southern province who are constantly being
threatened and prevented from doing their job.
Two weeks ago, in the busiest part of Pristina, as yet
unidentified ethnic Albanian terrorists shot and seriously wounded
Valentina Cukic, the reporter of the Serbianlanguage program Radio
Kontakt,
and a man accompanying her, also a Serb.
The tepid position of the members of the international mission
contributes to the continuing jeopardy of the lives of Serb journalists
while, on the other hand, the ethnic Albanian media are publishing
warrants
for the arrest of innocent Serb civilians whom they continue
persecuting.
The Pristina paper Dita and ethnic Albanian radio stations, for
example, persist in issuing calls for the lynching of prominent citizens
and spreading lies and forged "proof" about their alleged involvement in
the 1999 war developments, the statement recalled.
The SubCommittee described the conduct of KFOR and UNMIK as
inadmissible because, instead of protecting the threatened Serbs
victims
of the ethnic Albanian terrorism, they tolerate the daily crimes of the
ethnic Albanian terrorists, such as murders, kidnappings, shelling of
Serb
villages, ethnic cleansing and an overall genocide of the Serb people,
the
statement said.
* ETHNIC ALBANIANS BLOW UP KFOR WATCHTOWER UNDER CONSTRUCTION
LIPLJAN, DOBROTIN, July 16 (Tanjug) Ethnic Albanian terrorists
early on Saturday blew up a KFOR watchtower under construction on the
crossroads of the Pristina Urosevac and Lipljan Janjevo roads only two
kilometres away from the Serb village of Dobrotin, south of Pristina,
local
radio hams said.
The watchtower, which is being built by the Finnish
peacekeepers,
should secure control of all routes in the vicinity, a fact clearly not
to
the liking of the ethnic Albanian extremists.
Eyewitnesses claim that after the KFOR investigators arrived at
the scene of the explosion, the ethnic Albanian translator suggested
that
the Serbs from Dobrotin had fired a rocket launcher at the watchtower.
The
UNMIK police, however, rejected these allegations after uncovering the
remains of the planted explosives.
* Serbs Denounce U.N. Elections
Saturday July 15 6:22 AM ET
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - Hard-line Serb leaders insist their refusal
to take part in Kosovo's first internationally supervised elections
remains firm - despite a U.N. decision to give them more time to change
their mind.
Saturday had been the deadline for Kosovars of all ethnicities -
Albanian, Serb, Turkish, Gypsies and others - to register for municipal
elections in October. However, U.N. administrator Bernard Kouchner
extended the deadline until the close of business Wednesday after
international officials said they had seen the first clear signs that
some Kosovo Serbs wanted to take part.
``It was decided to give them time to see whether those indications
produce something tangible,´´ said Roland Bless, spokesman for the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which will
supervise the balloting.
After that decision Friday, the official Yugoslav news agency Tanjug
quoted the hard-line Serb National Council as ruling out any possibility
of Serbs taking part in registration and elections until Serbs who fled
the province last year can return.
However, U.N. sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Serb
community in the small town of Leposavic was interested in registering.
Tensions flared Saturday in Kosovska Mitrovica after a grenade was fired
into the Serb sector of the city from the ethnic Albanian side, the
NATO-led peacekeeping command said.
No injuries were reported. But the blast prompted rumors that a Serb
cafe had been hit, and a crowd of angry Serbs flooded into the area.
They dispersed Friday night when peacekeepers convinced them the cafe
had not been hit.
But minutes later, another grenade was fired toward a complex of three
apartment buildings on the Serb side, exploding in an empty apartment,
NATO said. That brought crowds back out for an hour.
Kosovska Mitrovica is the site of the largest Serb enclave. And the Serb
leader there, Oliver Ivanovic, remained adamantly against any
participation in the elections.
He wants the United Nations to return 1,500 Serbs to Kosovo by July 25
and a timetable for the return of another 210,000 non-Albanians who fled
the province when Yugoslav forces evacuated in June 1999 following the
78-day NATO bombing campaign.
U.N. officials have resisted the demands, saying a premature return of
Serbs would only worsen the already tense ethnic climate.
``The Serbs from this region will not register nor take part in the vote
until Serbs start returning to Kosovo in bigger numbers,´´ said
Dragisa Milovic, spokesman for Ivanovic.
``If the international community succeeds in organizing the return of
the Serbs, guaranteeing their safety, we will change our minds,´´
Milovic added. ``For now, we have absolutely no security in Kosovo, nor
are we able to move around. Under those conditions, any election would
be absurd.´´
Some leaders of the 15,000-strong Turkish minority were also boycotting.
Only about 1,000 ethnic Turks had registered by late Friday, the OSCE
said.
Without minority participation, U.N. officials would be forced to decide
whether to go ahead with a multiethnic election even if only the
majority Albanians agree to participate in significant numbers.
Ethnic Albanians are believed to comprise more than 90 percent of
Kosovo's estimated 2 million people, although no reliable census has
been taken in decades.
* Mortar shells on Serb part of the town
http://www.serbia-info.com/news
July 15, 2000
Constant provocation of ethnic Albanian terrorists
Kosovska Mitrovica, July 14 - Ethnic Albanian terrorists tonight at
22.15p.m. fired from the southern part of Kosovska Mitrovica two mortar
shells at the Serb part of the town, which exploded on pavement close to
the first apartment building at the beginning of the street, near
bridge, which divides the town into ethnic Albanian and Serb part.
Luckily, there was no one in the street at the time of the blast. French
KFOR soldiers which were standing on the bridge, about 20 meters from
the explosion, panicky ran across the bridge to the southern part of the
town.
Hundreds of Serbs who demanded protection from French soldiers, gathered
in street immediately. According to the eyewitnesses, mortar shells were
fired from the Sport hall, which stands along the coast in the ethnic
Albanian part of the town.
North Brigade Commander General Jean Louis Sivlait hosted a reception
tonight, on the occasion of France's national holiday (July 14) attended
by UNMIK chief Bernard Kouchner and the leaders of the former "KLA"
(Kosovo Liberation Army) and now the commanders of the so-called Kosovo
Protection Corps - Agim Ceku, Sami Ljustaku and Rahman Rama.
Referring to the guests, Kouchner called leaders of both communities in
Kosovska Mitrovica, Oliver Ivanovic and Bajram Redzepi, and specially
General Agim Ceku, according to him, to help UNMIK, KFOR and to all
international community in order to unite the town.
Tonight's attack on Serb part of the town is clear sign of how Ceku's
terrorists see "union of Mitrovica".
* Rifle, grenades fired in troubled Kosovo town
The Associated Press
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Yugoslavia (July 15, 2000 3:22 p.m. EDT
http://www.nandotimes.com) - Angry crowds gathered early Saturday on the
Serb side of this ethnically divided city after a grenade was fired from
the ethnic Albanian area, setting off two hours of unrest.
No one was believed injured in the blast or the two-hour melee which
followed, according to the French military command. Leaders of both
ethnic communities appealed for calm.
After the blast, rumors spread through the Serb community that the
grenade, fired at about 11 p.m., had hit a Serb café frequented by
Serbs who monitor traffic across a bridge over the Ibar River, which
divides the city into Albanian and Serb districts.
Believing the café had been hit, a crowd of about 500 angry Serbs
rushed to the scene, shouting and taunting French peacekeepers. French
Brig. Gen. Jean-Louis Sublet rushed to the scene and spoke with Serb
community leader Oliver Ivanovic, convincing him the café had not been
hit and promising to investigate.
By midnight the crowd dispersed but a few minutes later, gunshots rang
out and another grenade was fired toward a complex of three apartment
buildings on the north side of the river, exploding in an empty
apartment, NATO said.
The complex, although located on the Serb side, contains apartments of
ethnic Albanians who were resettled in the area months ago by NATO
troops against the wishes of the Serb community.
The second grenade brought crowds back into the streets on the Serb side
of the river. They finally went home about 1 a.m., NATO said.
On Saturday, leaders of the Albanian and Serb communities - Dr. Bajram
Rexhepi and Ivanovic - met with the regional U.N. administrator William
L. Nash to discuss the security situation. Afterward, they issued a
joint statement condemning the violence.
"We are determined, however, to continue our efforts to improve
security, the rule of law, the return of displaced persons and the
economic development of the region," the statement said. "We will not be
deterred by the actions of a few."
In Belgrade, the opposition Serbian Renewal Movement called the
incidents "another denial of claims by international community officials
that the situation in Kosovo has stabilized," and that ethnic Albanian
militants have been disarmed.
The Democratic Party of Serbia said the attack "clearly shows that it is
futile for Serbs to try take part in the elections" planned for October.
Kosovska Mitrovica is the tensest city in the province because of the
presence of large numbers of Serbs and ethnic Albanians. French troops
have enforced an informal division of the city, which the ethnic
Albanians have denounced as a violation of the June 1999 peace agreement
which provided for a multiethnic Kosovo in which people could return to
their former homes.
* EIGHT BODIES UNCOVERED IN HOSPITAL GARBAGE CONTAINER IN GNJILANE
GNJILANE, July 14 (Tanjug) UNMIK police spokesmen in the town of
Gnjilane, eastern KosovoMetohija governed by the United Nations for more
than a year, said on Friday that eight bodies had been uncovered in a
metal
garbage container belonging to the local hospital.
The Committee for Protection and Human Rights of Gnjilane said
that the bodies had been in the garbage dump for more than eight months,
which means that they were hidden during the first or second week after
the
arrival of the U.N. peacekeepers to KosovoMetohija and the stationing of
the French and U.N. troops in Gnjilane.
It is believed that the victims are Serbs. The local Serbs have
demanded that the bodies be examined by foreign and domestic
pathologists
to determine the truth about this crime.
About 70 families of Serbs who were kidnapped from Gnjilane and
its vicinity, are very concerned and are awaiting the results of the
investigation with trepidation.
* ETHNIC ALBANIANS SHELL SERB PART OF KOSOVSKA MITROVICA
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, July 15 (Tanjug) Ethnic Albanian terrorists
on Friday evening fired from the southern part of Kosovska Mitrovica two
mortar shells at the northern (Serb) part of this town in central
KosovoMetohija.
The shells exploded in the street close to the first apartment
building near the bridge which divides the town into two parts (Serb and
ethnic Albanian).
Luckily, there was no one in the street at the time of the
blast.
Immediately before, North Brigade Commander General Jean Louis
Sivlait hosted a reception on the occasion of France's national holiday
(July 14) attended by UNMIK chief Bernard Kouchner and the leaders of
the
former "KLA" (Kosovo Liberation Army) and now the commanders of the
socalled Kosovo Protection Corps Agim Ceku, Sami Ljustaku and Rahman
Rama.
* GROUP OF ETHNIC ALBANIANS BEAT ELDERLY SERB
LIPLJAN, July 15 (Tanjug) A group of ethnic Albanians on Friday
evening beat 80yearold Serb Nikola Perencevic in the village of Lipljan,
some 20 km south of Pristina.
Local radio hams reported that the old man sustained serious
head
injuries.
Perencevic was taken by Finnish KFOR troops to the Russian
military hospital in Kosovo Polje to receive medical treatment.
The same sources say that so far KFOR has done nothing to find
and
arrest this group of ethnic Albanians.
* KOUCHNER EXTENDS DEADLINE FOR VOTER REGISTRATION
PRISTINA, July 15 (Tanjug) The head of the U.N. civilian mission
for KosovoMetohija, Bernard Kouchner, has extended for three more days
the
deadline for voter registration for elections to be held in this Serbian
province despite the fact that they are turning into a farce.
The final day for the registration was today. Kouchner decided
to
wait three more days because the nonAlbanians failed to respond to the
registration calls.
Field estimates show that the majority of the nonAlbanian
population could not have taken part in the forming of the election
lists
since during the one year U.N. administration the ethnic Albanian
extremists drove away from KosovoMetohija more than 350,000 Serbs,
Muslims,
Romanies, Goranci and others. In most cities there are no longer any
Serbs,
250,000 of whom have been expelled.
In Pristina it is said that the extension of the registration
deadline is the best proof of the failure of Kouchner's election option.
It is certain that neither the Serbs or the other nonAlbanians
will take part in the elections so that it is already possible to speak
about the total collapse of Kouchner's and UNMIK's mission.
The basic condition of the Serbs in KosovoMetohija for voting
at
the elections is the return of the expelled and the securing of the
safety
of their life and property all tasks UNMIK and KFOR should have carried
out in keeping with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244 dating from
1999.
* ETHNIC ALBANIAN EXTREMISTS THROW MOLOTOV COCKTAILS AT SERB HOUSE
OBILIC, July 15 (Tanjug) Ethnic Albanian extremists on Thursday
and Friday threw Molotov cocktails at the house of Nada Stolic, a Serb
woman from the town of Obilic, north of Pristina.
The ensuing fires, which were rapidly put out with the help of
the
neighbours, caused much material damage but no one was injured.
Local radio hams said that the first Molotov cocktail was
thrown
on Thursday at 2 p.m. and the other on Friday at 8 a.m
* KFOR and UNMIK are violating human rights of Gorani
http://www.serbia-info.com/news Tanjug
July 14, 2000
Exerting pressure on Gorani to take Islam
Prizren, July 13 - So-called UN peace mission in
Kosovo and Metohija - UNMIK and KFOR - in the
municipality Gora, in the area of Dragas are extorting
strong pressures on Gorani who live in that area with
the basic intention to denationalize them, "declare"
them as Muslims, which represents dramatic violation
of basic human rights, claims Center for peace and
tolerance from Prizren. This kind of violence
represents moral fall of UN representatives in Kosovo
and Metohija, because question is being asked, if the
UN after these "actions" can survive. With these
actions, which have not been seen since fascist
invasion on Kosovo and Metohija in 1941, according to
relevant evaluations of citizens of this area, first
of all, UN Charter is being destroyed, stresses
Center.
Center for peace and tolerance from Prizren has
respectable evidence of this violence, which is
underway in the municipality of Gora. There KFOR and
UNMIK are threatening to the population of this area
that they will take their property, cars, destroy
hoses, that they will be expelled if they do not
respond to the census and if they do not declare
themselves as representatives of nonexistent new
composed national community of Muslim nation…
President of the National community of Gorani and
member of Kosovo-Metohija Provisional Executive
Council Mr.Ibro Vait points out that KFOR and UNMIK
were trying to deny origin of Gorani with the
intention to "declare" them as Muslims, with ethnic
Albanians, from their arrival in Kosovo and Metohija.
"KFOR and UNMIK's pressure represents flagrant
violation of basic human rights and international
standards, calculated to destroy origin of Gorani",
warned Vait in today's statement to Tanjug, evaluating
that "peacekeepers' intention", in fact, is to
denationalize one ethnic community.
* Russia Opposes Elections in Kosovo
.c The Associated Press
By EDITH M. LEDERER
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Russia is arguing against U.N. plans to hold a
supervised election in Kosovo, warning that deteriorating security
conditions
for Serbs prevent any vote from being free and fair.
If the internationally monitored municipal elections go ahead this
year,
ethnic Albanian hard-liners will take power and the chance of creating a
truly multiethnic and democratic Kosovo will be lost, Russia's U.N.
Ambassador Sergey Lavrov told the Security Council Thursday.
The province's estimated 100,000 Serbs are boycotting the electoral
process
until the United Nations satisfies their demands for security against
ethnic
Albanian attacks and provides for the return of Serbs who fled when
Yugoslav
forces withdrew in June 1999 after a 78-day NATO bombing campaign.
He warned that their non-participation ``would distort both the ethnic
and
the political picture in Kosovo.''
Russia has close cultural and religious ties with the Serbs and has
been
Yugoslavia's strongest supporter on the Security Council along with
China,
which also questioned whether elections could be held freely and safely
when
minorities in Kosovo are still subject to numerous and well-organized
attacks.
With registration for the municipal elections set to end Saturday,
Assistant
Secretary-General Hedi Annabi told the Security Council that nearly
900,000
applications have been received. But despite intensive efforts by the
U.N.
mission which is administering Kosovo, the Serbs and much of Kosovo's
Turkish
population refuse to end their boycott, he said.
U.S. deputy ambassador James Cunningham said the United States believes
``the solution to violence lies in the political process'' and elections
and
a responsible government structure ``are the best way to temper
passions.''
Kosovo's chief U.N. administrator, Bernard Kouchner, signed a
regulation
July 8 which gives him the authority to determine the date for the
municipal
elections after consulting Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
It is widely expected to take place in October.
AP-NY-07-14-00 0113EDT
* PRIEST KOJIC, TWO OTHER PASSENGERS WOUNDED IN TERRORIST ATTACK
KOSOVSKA VITINA, July 13 (Tanjug) An automobile driven by Serbian
Orthodox priest Dragan Kojic of Vitina came under bursts of machinegun
fire
on the road VitinaKlokot on Wednesday and the priest was critically
wounded
in this incident, amateur radio operators reported from Serbia's Kosovo
and
Metohija province.
The attack was launched by ethnic Albanian terrorist from a
passing automobile where a road branches for Mogila village.
The priest has been taken to the military hospital at the U.S.
base Bondsteel where doctors are trying to save his life. Three other
persons were travelling with the priest, one of them his son. Two
passengers were also injured, but their wounds are not lifethreatening.
Villagers started to rally in Klokot after they heard of the
attack, protesting against this brutal attack on a man of the cloth.
International force KFOR troops blocked all approaches to this Serb
village, the sources said.
* UNHCR DENIES SERBS THE RIGHT TO TRANSPORT
VELIKA HOCA, July 13 (Tanjug) UNHCR representatives decided to
deprive the inhabitants of the Serbpopulated village Velika Hoca in
KosovoMetohija of the right to use the bus line commuting to Serbia
proper
on Wednesdays, local amateur radio operators said on Wednesday.
This decision came as a result of a recent incident, in which a
group of angry villagers set up barricades, in response to KFOR's
lenient
attitude towards repeated mortar attacks on Velika Hoca. In this
incident,
clashes took place between the villagers and KFOR soldiers, also, two
vehicles were demolished.
The radiooperators also say that the KFOR has not reacted at
all
to the shelling of Velika Hoca, even though it is known that the attack
were perpetrated by ethnic Albanians of Brestovac village.
* Klagen der türkischen Minorität im Kosovo
Mehr Rechte unter serbischer als unter UNO-Veraltung
(von Rainer Rupp)
Seitdem die NATO mit ihrem Einmarsch der UCK die Terrorherrschaft im
Kosovo gesichert hat, gehören nicht nur andersgläubige Serben und Roma
und Sinti zu den verfolgten Minderheiten in der serbischen Provinz,
sondern auch die muslimische, türkisch-sprechende Volksgruppe im Kosovo.
Der Verteidigung ihrer Rechte hat sich nun der türkische Außenminister
Cem Ismail in Ankara angenommen.
In einem Brief an UNO Generalsekretär Kofi Annan hat Außenminister Cem
seiner "großen Sorge" über die gleichgültige Haltung der UNO-Verwaltung
im Kosovo gegenüber den Anliegen der Kosovo-Türkischen Minorität
Ausdruck verleihen. In der Tat ist die türkische Minderheit so gut wie
nicht in dem "Interim Verwaltungsrat" vertreten, der von dem
umstrittenen UNMIK-Chef Bernard Kouchner ins Leben gerufen wurde. Auch
waren Mitglieder der türkischen Minderheit in der Vergangenheit
wiederholt Opfer von UCK-Anschlägen gewesen. Nicht wenige sind im
letzten Jahr nach Serbien oder Montenegro geflohen.
Außenminister Cem hob in seinem Brief an Kofi Anan hervor, daß sein Land
bereits verschiedene Male die Aufmerksamkeit der UNO-Verwaltung auf die
besonders Situation der türkischen Minderheit gelenkt habe und u.a. drei
Briefe an den UNO-Sondergesandten im Kosovo geschickt habe. Keine dieser
Initiativen hätte auch nur im geringsten gefruchtet und die drei Briefe
seien unbeantwortet geblieben.
Nach einem Bericht der albanischen Zeitung "Albanian Daily News" habe
der türkische Minister in diesem Zusammenhang betont, daß es um die
Minoritätenrechte der türkisch-sprachigen Volksgruppe im Kosovo "unter
UNO-Verwaltung schlechter bestellt ist als zu Zeiten der serbischen
Verwaltung". Nach Angaben der Zeitung "sprechen ungefähr 250.000
Einwohner der zwei Millionen zählenden Vorkriegsbevölkerung des Kosovo
zu Hause türkisch. ("Turkey Says Minority Rights Worse than Under
Serbian Rule"), Albanian Daily News, 11/07/2000)
Ganz nebenbei erfährt der Leser auf diese Weise etwas mehr über die
ethnische Zusammensetzung des Kosovo vor der NATO-Aggression zugunsten
der terroristischen UCK-Nationalisten. Dabei wäre interessant zu wissen,
ob die türkisch-sprechende Minderheit von den westlichen
UCK-Propagandisten auch zu den Albanern gezählt wurde.
In westlichen Medien hieß es bisher immer, daß 90% der Bevölkerung des
Kosovo ethnische Albaner seien. Bei einer Einwohnerzahl von knapp zwei
Millionen müßten folglich die nicht albanische Minderheiten 200.000
Menschen gezählt haben. Geht man jedoch von den offiziellen Zahlen der
UNO-Flüchtlingsorganisation und anderer Organisationen aus, dann sind
zwischen 250.000 und 300.000 Serben, Roma und Sinti, Juden, Griechen,
Ägypter u.a. aus dem Kosovo geflohen und harren z.Z. meist in Serbien
der Rückkehr ins Kosovo. Dort sollen sich nach verschiedenen offiziellen
Schätzungen immer noch bis zu 100.000 Serben befinden. Zählt man die
250.000 Kosovo-Türken - die sich offensichtlich nicht als Albaner sehen
- zu den nicht-albanischen Minderheiten hinzu, dann addieren sich die
Zahlen auf etwa 600.000 Menschen. Wodurch eine andere der vielen Lügen
der westlichen Politiker und Medien über das Kosovo entlarvt wäre.
Saarbrücken den 12.7.2000
* ETHNIC ALBANIAN SLAIN BY COMPATRIOT
GNJILANE, July 12 (Tanjug) In the ethnic Albanianpopulated
village of Velekinac near the town of Gnjilane, an ethnic Albanian was
murdered by his compatriot, said Gnjilane Committee for Civil Rights and
Protection on Tuesday, quoting a KFOR officer.
According to his statement, the murderer was caught and
detained
immediately.
The Committee says that instant arrests of ethnic Albanian
criminals and murderers who committed offenses against their compatriots
have became a quite regular practice for KFOR and the UNMIK police, as
opposed to those cases in which Serbs, or other nonAlbanians, are the
victims.
The mentioned officer said on Tuesday that house searches in
several villages of the Gnjilane municipality resulted in the seizure of
26
handguns, 31 handgrenades, 240 other items, and 2,700 pieces of
ammunition.
He added that those who possessed the weapons were detained.
There have been unofficial claims that another ethnic Albanian
was
killed in a blaze that broke out in a depot situated by the road
connecting
Gnjilane and Pristina on Monday. Two nearby houses caught fire and
collapsed, despite a quick reaction from the fire brigades of Gnjilane
and
Pristina, says the Committee statement.
* KFOR TROOPS PREVENT REGULAR BURIAL OF SERB WOMAN
PRISTINA, July 12 (Tanjug) Dragica Zivanovic, a Serb woman who
died in Besinje village, municipality of Pristina, on Monday, was buried
in
her back yard because international force KFOR troops refused to provide
an
escort for the funeral procession to take the body to the nearby
Orthodox
cemetery, amateur radio operators reported from Serbia's Kosovo and
Metohija province late on Tuesday.
Ethnic Albanian extremists daily provoke and attack Serbs in
Besinje. About eight Serb families remain in the village, mostly elderly
people who did not want to leave their ancestral homes.
The ethnic Albanian terrorists have stolen all agricultural
machinery from the Serb families, so that they cannot work their farms.
KFOR do not guarantee the Serbs' safety even on special occasions, such
as
funerals, said the sources.
* U.S. SOLDIER KILLS SEVENYEAROLD BOY IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
NEW YORK, July 11 (Tanjug) The Pentagon has announced that a U.S.
soldier of the international force KFOR in Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija
province killed a sevenyearold boy on Monday. The Pentagon alleged the
killing had been accidental, that the soldier's weapon had gone off
accidentally.
Meanwhile, a KFOR spokesman confirmed in Pristina late on
Monday
that an unidentified U.S. soldier had accidentally inflicted mortal
wounds
to an ethnic Albanian boy, Gentrid Rexhepi, 7, and that he soon died of
his
wounds, agencies reported.
The incident occurred near the village of Cerkes Sadovina, near
Vitina, and the boy died after being taken to the hospital in the U.S.
base
Bondsteel.
* Three Serbs Shot in U.S. Sector
.c The Associated Press
By ROBERT H. REID
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - Unidentified attackers fired at a car on a
rural
road in Kosovo's American sector Wednesday, wounding three Serb men, the
U.S.
command said.
Yugoslav news agencies identified the wounded as a Serbian Orthodox
priest
and two seminary students.
Later, U.S. troops fired warning shots over a crowd of angry Serbs who
gathered in the town of Klokot to protest the attack, a U.S. statement
said.
There were no injuries, and the crowd broke up.
The U.S. statement said the three men were traveling from Klokot to
Vitina,
about 30 miles south of Pristina when the attack occurred at midday.
U.N. civilian police found the wounded men along the road and took them
to
the U.S. military hospital at Camp Bondsteel where they were listed in
stable
condition pending surgery.
Yugoslavia's private news agency Beta and the state-run Tanjug agency
identified the three as clerics.
The attack was the latest against Kosovo's dwindling Serb minority in
wake
of the June 1999 withdrawal of Yugoslav forces following the 78-day NATO
bombing campaign. The alliance launched the airstrikes to stop Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown against ethnic Albanians.
Although the attackers were not identified, ethnic Albanian extremists
have
carried out numerous attacks against Serbs in the American sector over
the
past 13 months.
In another development, Serb villagers in two communities just across
the
provincial boundary from Kosovo reported a mortar fire early Wednesday
and
blamed ethnic Albanian extremists.
There were no injuries, the villagers said. The attack reportedly
occurred
near the Serbian villages of Merdare and nearby Borovac, 120 miles
southeast
of Belgrade.
``This is getting worse and worse,'' said Danijela Pavlovic, 35, who
lives
in Merdare. She said the fire came from Mirovac, an Albanian-populated
village on the other side of the separation line.
``We'll all leave if this continues,'' she said, adding she had sent
her
teen-age son to stay with relatives in a town farther from the border.
Serbian police declined comment, but an officer, speaking on condition
of
anonymity, said the mortar attack shortly after midnight was preceded by
sniper fire against a nearby police checkpoint.
AP-NY-07-12-00 1455EDT
* Diskussion um Trepca: Arbeiterinteressen versus Antiimperialismus?
Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2000 17:51:30 +0200
From: Jug Öster Solibeweg <joesb@...>
To: <joesb@...>
Innerhalb der Linken ist im Rahmen der Debatte um den Nato-Krieg gegen
Jugoslawien und den humanitären Interventionismus von jenen, die die
Agrression befürworteten oder zumindest schwiegen, immer wieder die
Frage
des Bergwerkkomplexes Trepca ins Treffen geführt worden.
Antijugoslawischen und versteckt proimperialistischen Positionen soll
mit
den Aussagen der albanischen Bergarbeitergewerkschaft, die von
"Arbeitereigentum" spricht, der Mantel der Arbeiterinteressen umgehängt
werden.
Stellt man allerdings eine Gesamtanalyse an, so ist klar, dass diese
Frage
der geopolitischen unterzuordnen ist, in der es nur zwei Seiten gibt:
Jugoslawien und die NATO (deren freiwillig versklavsten Anhängsel die
albanischen Kräfte sind). Politisch fordert nämlich die albanische
Bergarbeitergewerkschafts nichts anderes als das Kombinat völlig der
jugoslawischen Kontrolle zu entreißen, alles andere Gefasel ist Beiwerk.
Denn unter den realen Bedingungen heißt albanisches "Arbeitereigentum"
Herrschaft der NATO und UCK. Darum sind wir für die Wiedereingliederung
des
Trepca-Kombinats sowie des gesamtzen Kosovo nach Jugoslawien.
Lesen Sie die ausführliche kontroversielle Debatte unter:
http://www.vorstadtzentrum.net/cgi-bin/joesb/news/viewnews.cgi?category=all&id=962779078
und
http://www.vorstadtzentrum.net/cgi-bin/joesb/news/viewnews.cgi?category=all&id=961851904
---
"LO CHIAMEREMO CLINTON"
New York Post, June 13, 2000
BABY AMERIKAN DREAM SHATTERED
By NILES LATHEM
BORN IN THE USA: Baby Americkan, born in a New Jersey
refugee camp 13 months ago, stands up as proud parents
Naim and Lebibe watch. - AP
FERIZAJ, Kosovo - Baby Amerikan is now 13 months old,
plump, wide-eyed and curious. He's just starting to
walk and is grabbing everything in sight.
A year ago - at the height of NATO's bombing of
Yugoslavia - he captured everyone's hearts when he was
born in a New Jersey refugee center and given his
unusual name in a dramatic expression of gratitude by
his parents.
But now, on the anniversary of the end of the Kosovar
war, the feel-good story of Baby Amerikan has reached
a sad chapter.
The little boy, whose nickname is "Amir," and his
parents, Naim and Lebibe Karaliu, have been back in
Kosovo for nine months.
Naim had no choice but to go home. He'd been unable to
find a job that would cover the $900 rent on their
apartment near Dallas after their aid ran out.
They returned to discover that their "duvar" - a
traditional Albanian compound of family homes
surrounded by a wall - in a bucolic mountain village
had been destroyed by Serbian storm troopers.
Now, they share the cramped house - 10 people live
there - of Naim's brother Vesel in this chaotic, dusty
city. Naim, like the great majority of the Kosovar men
who survived Serbian ethnic cleansing, is broke and
jobless.
Lebibe, 22, pretty and stoic, is seven-months pregnant
with the couple's second child. She worries what kind
of future there will be for Amerikan and his new
sibling.
"I am happy Kosovo is free," Lebibe said through a
translator as she chased the active toddler around a
family room decorated with an American flag.
"But life is hard now. I am concerned about my baby
because we are poor."
Although their plight is shared by thousands of other
Kosovars, the Karalius seem especially bitter at
having lost their chance at the American Dream.
Several times, they asked to be paid for this story,
and complained about broken promises of aid workers in
the United States, and about how a trust fund set up
for Amerikan by good Samaritans in New Jersey had been
stolen by relatives.
"I would like to go back to America. I don't see a
good life in Kosovo," Naim said.
At the end of a winding mountain road, Naim got
teary-eyed as he displayed the damage done to his home
by the Serbs.
"This will cost at least $40,000 to fix. I don't know
what I'm going to do."
The topic of conversation later turned to the new
baby. The couple thinks it, too, will be a boy.
"If we get some help from the United States, maybe
we'll name him Clinton."
---
LISTE DI PROSCRIZIONE E CONDANNE SOMMARIE
PUBBLICATE SUI GIORNALI NAZIONALISTI ALBANESI-KOSOVARI
Albanische Zeitungen schüren Lynch-Justiz im Kosovo
("Dadurch werden die Genannten zum Tode verurteilt", Dan Everts,
OSZE-Botschafter)
(von Rainer Rupp)
Kosovo-albanische Journalisten, unterstützt von internationalen Wächtern
der Medienfreiheit, führen z.Z. eine hitzige Kampagne gegen die
UNO-Verwaltung, weil diese angeblich versucht, im Kosovo die
Pressefreiheit einzuschränken. Nach Angaben der New York Times vom
Donnerstag dieser Woche habe der Protest solche Formen angenommen, daß
ein hoher UNO-Beamter angedeutet hat, daß die Versuche, die albanischen
Medien auf einen minimalen Verhaltenskodex festzulegen, wahrscheinlich
aufgegeben würden. ("Death of Serb Named in Newspaper Sparks Battle Over
Media Restrictions in Kosovo", By STEVEN ERLANGER NYT-July 13, 2000)
Ein Gesetz allerdings, mit dem die UNO-Verwaltung eine Zeitung zu einer
Geldstrafe und/oder zur vorübergehenden Schließung verurteilen kann,
soll zur Empörung der freiheitsliebenden Kosovo-Redakteure weiterhin in
Kraft bleiben. Etliche Redakteure haben in ihren Beschwerden darauf
verwiesen, daß ein ähnliches Gesetz bereits unter serbischer Verwaltung
angewandt wurde.
Aber welche Freiheit meinen die radikalen, Kosovo-albanischen
Redakteure, die sie so vehement gegen die UNO verteidigen wollen? Es ist
die Freiheit, ihre Zeitungen auch weiterhin zu Instrumenten des Terrors
und zu Aufrufen zur Lynchjustiz zu benutzen, um somit den blutige
Terrorkrieg gegen Serben weiter zu führen. Dazu werden Namen, Photos,
zuletzt bekannte Adressen, Arbeitsplatz und mehr von angeblichen
serbischen Kriegsverbrechern veröffentlicht. Dadurch werden diese
Personen – und alle, die ihnen ähnlich sehen - praktisch zu
Todeskandidaten der Exekutionskommandos der UCK abgestempelt.
Mit ihren Aufrufen zur Lynchjustiz setzen sich diese kosovo-albanischen
Blätter bewußt über die Presseregeln der OSZE und UNO-Verwaltung im
Kosovo hinweg. Daß die Gefahr für Leib und Leben der in den albanischen
Blättern benannten Serben real ist, wurde letzten Monat durch die
brutale Ermordung eines serbischen UNO-Mitarbeiters (er war Übersetzer)
weltweit bekannt. Am Anfang der tödlichen Entwicklung stand ein
Exklusivbericht der Zeitung Dita, in dem diese behauptete, einen
serbischen Kriegsverbrecher aufgespürt zu haben, der für die UNO-Mission
im Kosovo (UNMIK) arbeitete. Dita veröffentlichte den Namen von Petar
Topoljski und seine Adresse. Keine drei Wochen später wurde die von
zahlreichen Messerstichen verstümmelte Leiche von Petar Topoljski mit
einem Draht um den Hals in einem Dorf außerhalb Pristinas gefunden.
Ähnliche Hetzartikel wie der in Dita sind in den letzten Monaten in der
Kosovo-Albanischen Presse regelmäßig erschienen. Diese indirekten
Aufrufe zum Mord wollte die Organisation für Sicherheit und
Zusammenarbeit in Europa (OSZE), die im Kosovo für die Medien
verantwortlich ist, nicht länger hinnehmen. Dan Everts, OSZE Botschafter
im Kosovo, wurde kürzlich von der BBC wie folgt zitiert "wir haben
einige sehr schlimme Artikel gesehen, in denen Personen dadurch zum Tode
verurteilt wurden, indem ihr Namen, Arbeitsplatz, Adresse und was sonst
noch alles genannt wurden. Das ist, als würde man den Leuten sagen:
<He!, paßt mal auf, hier sind sie und nun tut mit ihnen, was Ihr
wollt>." ("Kosovo papers defy UN", BBC, By Kosovo Correspondent Nicholas
Wood, Thursday, 6 July, 2000, 11:09 GMT 12:09 UK)
Daß die Zeitung Dita wegen ihrer Veröffentlichung über das Mordopfer
Petar Topoljski auf Anordnung der UNO-Verwaltung für eine Woche
geschlossen worden war machte, machte auf die Chefredaktion
offensichtlich keinen Eindruck, außer daß sich die Redakteure
beschwerten, daß es nun unter der UNO genau so schlimm wäre wie unter
Milosevic. Als die Zeitung Dita wieder erscheinen durfte, hatte
Chefredakteur Behlul Becaj nichts eiligeres zu tun, als den
beanstandeten Artikel erneut abzudrucken.
Zugleich ließ Becaj den UNMIK-Chef Bernard Kouchner wissen, daß die
albanische Presse verpflichtet sei, die (angeblichen) serbischen
Kriegsverbrecher zu benennen, solange die internationalen Organisationen
diese nicht verfolgen würden. Und prompt setzte Dita-Chef Behlul Becaj
seine Drohung in die Tat um. Letzte Woche veröffentlichte Dita eine
Doppelseite mit Namen und Photos von 15 Serben, denen die Zeitung
Kriegsverbrechen vorwarf. Auf eine Reaktion von der OSZE oder UNMIK hat
man bisher vergeblich gewartet.
Saarbrücken den 14.7.00
-
NYTimes.com July 13, 2000
Death of Serb Named in Newspaper Sparks Battle Over Media Restrictions
in Kosovo
By STEVEN ERLANGER
PRISTINA, Kosovo, July 6 -- The publication by an Albanian-language
newspaper
of the name and photograph of a Serb accused by the daily of crimes
against
Albanians, and his murder soon after, has stirred passionate debate
about
press freedom and the need to stop revenge killings in Kosovo.
After the murder, the United Nations administration that rules Kosovo
shut
down the newspaper, Dita, for eight days. Then, when Dita reappeared and
promptly reprinted the offending article, international officials sought
to
impose a formal code of conduct on the news media here.
But local Albanian journalists and international news media watch-dog
bodies
have protested the attempts to regulate media so strongly that the
United
Nations administration is likely to abandon the code, a senior United
Nations official says.
A law that provides for the fining, suspension or closing of print or
broadcast media will, however, remain on the books, the official said.
The
regulation, signed by the United Nations chief here, Bernard Kouchner,
is
intended to prevent the publication or broadcasting of personal details
about people who might become targets of Albanian or Serbian vigilantes.
The frustration of the United Nations authorities is evident as
interethnic
attacks continue, especially on the Serbian minority in Kosovo, while a
system of international judges to deal with such crimes is just
beginning to
function.
Mr. Kouchner issued the regulation after Dita published an article on
April
27 accusing two Serbs, Petar Topoljski and his father, of being members
of
paramilitary groups. Petar Topoljski, 25, still lived in Kosovo and
worked
as a translator for the United Nations; the paper published his address
and
photograph.
Three weeks later he was found murdered, stabbed with a wire wound
around
his neck.
His death seemed an example of the press feeding the cycle of vengeance
against Serbs, with no recourse to the police or the courts. While there
could be no direct connection drawn between the Dita article and the
murder,
Mr. Kouchner decided to act, judging that news media self-regulation was
not
working, and closed Dita for eight days.
More moderate Albanian newspapers, like Koha Ditore, criticized the
suspension of Dita as an arbitrary act of personal power. Dita's
publisher,
Behlul Beqaj, justified publication of the information by saying that
the
system of justice in Kosovo was not working, and that there had been no
punishment for people accused of war crimes.
As soon as the suspension was over, Mr. Beqaj republished the article.
Mr.
Kouchner then issued his regulation on June 17 covering broadcast and
print
media, naming a temporary news media commissioner with the power to
impose
sanctions, fine offending media up to $50,000, seize equipment or
material
and suspend or shut down an outlet.
Appeals are subject to a board appointed by Mr. Kouchner.
The commissioner, a former American diplomat, Douglas Davidson, was also
given power to issue temporary codes of conduct to be compiled in
consultation with local editors and imposed "in special circumstances."
Mr. Davidson defended the codes as common in Europe and necessary to
deter
"hate speech." But the United Nations is likely to abandon the effort to
compile a code, after what officials describe as long and frustrating
meetings with editors who oppose it as undemocratic.
Mr. Kouchner's regulation itself caused a furor. It was condemned by the
World Press Freedom Committee and other international news media
watch-dogs,
and Mr. Beqaj tested it on June 26, publishing the names of two Serbs
from
the town of Kosovo Polje accused of attacking ethnic Albanians. One of
those
Serbs is in close contact with the municipality and the United Nations.
This
time, Dita went to the police first, but did not heed United Nations
requests to delay publication.
Mr. Davidson then issued a warning to Dita and said the paper appeared
to
have violated the regulation on publishing personal details that "would
pose
a serious threat to the life, safety or security of any such person
through
vigilante violence or otherwise."
"Publishing names can put people's lives at risk," Mr. Davidson said in
a
statement. "It is also violating a fundamental principle of Western
journalism that someone is innocent until proven guilty."
Then, on July 5, Dita published the names, prewar addresses and
photographs
of 15 more Serbs it accused of committing crimes against ethnic
Albanians.
Mr. Beqaj is unrepentant. In one meeting with Mr. Davidson and other
editors, he noted that Dita was accused of involvement with just one
death
out of 500 or so that have occurred in Kosovo in the year since NATO
troops
arrived.
Mr. Davidson, Mr. Kouchner and other United Nations officials say they
must
have some way to stop hate speech and the incitement to murder
individuals
on the basis of uncorroborated accusations by news media. "This is not
yet a
normal place," Mr. Davidson said. "The international community must have
some control and if it wants to lower the level of hatred and tension
here,
not make it worse, then one thing you must look at is the media."
But Baton Haxhiu, the editor of Koha Ditore, said that Albanian news
executives are able to police themselves, and that the solution lies not
in
restricting press freedom, but in providing a functioning justice
system.
"All this just shows that the internationals are becoming Balkanized,
trying
to put restrictions on the freedom of the press," he said. "This is a
bad
precedent, and it will be used against us by some political party in the
future."
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
il popolo kosovaro fu liberato dai tedeschi.
Tutti i territori albanesi di questo stato, come il Kosova, la
Macedonia occidentale e le regioni di confine del Montenegro
furono riunificate con l'Albania propriamente detta. Furono
ristabilite le scuole in lingua albanese, l'amministrazione del
governo, la stampa e la radio"
(Da: www.klpm.org, sito web affiliato all'UCK).
---
MISCELLANEA DI ATTI TERRORISTICI ED ALTRI CAPOLAVORI DELL'UCKFOR
* CONDEMNATION OF PERSECUTION OF SERB JOURNALISTS
PRISTINA, July 16 (Tanjug) The arrest of Ljubisa Jovanovic, the
correspondent of the Serbian Radio and Television (RTS) from Kosovo
Polje,
by members of the international missions KFOR and UNMIK is yet another
deliberate move aimed at driving away the Serbs and represents a form of
intimidation of the remaining Serbs who are resisting the daily violence
in
KosovoMetohija, the Information SubCommittee of the Yugoslav Committee
for
Cooperation with the U.N. Mission in KosovoMetohija said on Saturday.
The UNMIK police searched Jovanovic's house on Thursday after
receiving a report by his wife that she had seen two ethnic Albanians
fleeing from their back yard upon her return from work. During the
search
of the house, the UNMIK police uncovered an automatic gun clearly
previously planted there. They waited for Jovanovic and took him to the
police station.
SubCommittee VicePresident Milorad Vujovic issued a statement
protesting strongly over the conduct of KFOR and UNMIK and recalling
that
this incident is yet another in a series of persecutions of Serb
journalists in Serbia's southern province who are constantly being
threatened and prevented from doing their job.
Two weeks ago, in the busiest part of Pristina, as yet
unidentified ethnic Albanian terrorists shot and seriously wounded
Valentina Cukic, the reporter of the Serbianlanguage program Radio
Kontakt,
and a man accompanying her, also a Serb.
The tepid position of the members of the international mission
contributes to the continuing jeopardy of the lives of Serb journalists
while, on the other hand, the ethnic Albanian media are publishing
warrants
for the arrest of innocent Serb civilians whom they continue
persecuting.
The Pristina paper Dita and ethnic Albanian radio stations, for
example, persist in issuing calls for the lynching of prominent citizens
and spreading lies and forged "proof" about their alleged involvement in
the 1999 war developments, the statement recalled.
The SubCommittee described the conduct of KFOR and UNMIK as
inadmissible because, instead of protecting the threatened Serbs
victims
of the ethnic Albanian terrorism, they tolerate the daily crimes of the
ethnic Albanian terrorists, such as murders, kidnappings, shelling of
Serb
villages, ethnic cleansing and an overall genocide of the Serb people,
the
statement said.
* ETHNIC ALBANIANS BLOW UP KFOR WATCHTOWER UNDER CONSTRUCTION
LIPLJAN, DOBROTIN, July 16 (Tanjug) Ethnic Albanian terrorists
early on Saturday blew up a KFOR watchtower under construction on the
crossroads of the Pristina Urosevac and Lipljan Janjevo roads only two
kilometres away from the Serb village of Dobrotin, south of Pristina,
local
radio hams said.
The watchtower, which is being built by the Finnish
peacekeepers,
should secure control of all routes in the vicinity, a fact clearly not
to
the liking of the ethnic Albanian extremists.
Eyewitnesses claim that after the KFOR investigators arrived at
the scene of the explosion, the ethnic Albanian translator suggested
that
the Serbs from Dobrotin had fired a rocket launcher at the watchtower.
The
UNMIK police, however, rejected these allegations after uncovering the
remains of the planted explosives.
* Serbs Denounce U.N. Elections
Saturday July 15 6:22 AM ET
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - Hard-line Serb leaders insist their refusal
to take part in Kosovo's first internationally supervised elections
remains firm - despite a U.N. decision to give them more time to change
their mind.
Saturday had been the deadline for Kosovars of all ethnicities -
Albanian, Serb, Turkish, Gypsies and others - to register for municipal
elections in October. However, U.N. administrator Bernard Kouchner
extended the deadline until the close of business Wednesday after
international officials said they had seen the first clear signs that
some Kosovo Serbs wanted to take part.
``It was decided to give them time to see whether those indications
produce something tangible,´´ said Roland Bless, spokesman for the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which will
supervise the balloting.
After that decision Friday, the official Yugoslav news agency Tanjug
quoted the hard-line Serb National Council as ruling out any possibility
of Serbs taking part in registration and elections until Serbs who fled
the province last year can return.
However, U.N. sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Serb
community in the small town of Leposavic was interested in registering.
Tensions flared Saturday in Kosovska Mitrovica after a grenade was fired
into the Serb sector of the city from the ethnic Albanian side, the
NATO-led peacekeeping command said.
No injuries were reported. But the blast prompted rumors that a Serb
cafe had been hit, and a crowd of angry Serbs flooded into the area.
They dispersed Friday night when peacekeepers convinced them the cafe
had not been hit.
But minutes later, another grenade was fired toward a complex of three
apartment buildings on the Serb side, exploding in an empty apartment,
NATO said. That brought crowds back out for an hour.
Kosovska Mitrovica is the site of the largest Serb enclave. And the Serb
leader there, Oliver Ivanovic, remained adamantly against any
participation in the elections.
He wants the United Nations to return 1,500 Serbs to Kosovo by July 25
and a timetable for the return of another 210,000 non-Albanians who fled
the province when Yugoslav forces evacuated in June 1999 following the
78-day NATO bombing campaign.
U.N. officials have resisted the demands, saying a premature return of
Serbs would only worsen the already tense ethnic climate.
``The Serbs from this region will not register nor take part in the vote
until Serbs start returning to Kosovo in bigger numbers,´´ said
Dragisa Milovic, spokesman for Ivanovic.
``If the international community succeeds in organizing the return of
the Serbs, guaranteeing their safety, we will change our minds,´´
Milovic added. ``For now, we have absolutely no security in Kosovo, nor
are we able to move around. Under those conditions, any election would
be absurd.´´
Some leaders of the 15,000-strong Turkish minority were also boycotting.
Only about 1,000 ethnic Turks had registered by late Friday, the OSCE
said.
Without minority participation, U.N. officials would be forced to decide
whether to go ahead with a multiethnic election even if only the
majority Albanians agree to participate in significant numbers.
Ethnic Albanians are believed to comprise more than 90 percent of
Kosovo's estimated 2 million people, although no reliable census has
been taken in decades.
* Mortar shells on Serb part of the town
http://www.serbia-info.com/news
July 15, 2000
Constant provocation of ethnic Albanian terrorists
Kosovska Mitrovica, July 14 - Ethnic Albanian terrorists tonight at
22.15p.m. fired from the southern part of Kosovska Mitrovica two mortar
shells at the Serb part of the town, which exploded on pavement close to
the first apartment building at the beginning of the street, near
bridge, which divides the town into ethnic Albanian and Serb part.
Luckily, there was no one in the street at the time of the blast. French
KFOR soldiers which were standing on the bridge, about 20 meters from
the explosion, panicky ran across the bridge to the southern part of the
town.
Hundreds of Serbs who demanded protection from French soldiers, gathered
in street immediately. According to the eyewitnesses, mortar shells were
fired from the Sport hall, which stands along the coast in the ethnic
Albanian part of the town.
North Brigade Commander General Jean Louis Sivlait hosted a reception
tonight, on the occasion of France's national holiday (July 14) attended
by UNMIK chief Bernard Kouchner and the leaders of the former "KLA"
(Kosovo Liberation Army) and now the commanders of the so-called Kosovo
Protection Corps - Agim Ceku, Sami Ljustaku and Rahman Rama.
Referring to the guests, Kouchner called leaders of both communities in
Kosovska Mitrovica, Oliver Ivanovic and Bajram Redzepi, and specially
General Agim Ceku, according to him, to help UNMIK, KFOR and to all
international community in order to unite the town.
Tonight's attack on Serb part of the town is clear sign of how Ceku's
terrorists see "union of Mitrovica".
* Rifle, grenades fired in troubled Kosovo town
The Associated Press
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Yugoslavia (July 15, 2000 3:22 p.m. EDT
http://www.nandotimes.com) - Angry crowds gathered early Saturday on the
Serb side of this ethnically divided city after a grenade was fired from
the ethnic Albanian area, setting off two hours of unrest.
No one was believed injured in the blast or the two-hour melee which
followed, according to the French military command. Leaders of both
ethnic communities appealed for calm.
After the blast, rumors spread through the Serb community that the
grenade, fired at about 11 p.m., had hit a Serb café frequented by
Serbs who monitor traffic across a bridge over the Ibar River, which
divides the city into Albanian and Serb districts.
Believing the café had been hit, a crowd of about 500 angry Serbs
rushed to the scene, shouting and taunting French peacekeepers. French
Brig. Gen. Jean-Louis Sublet rushed to the scene and spoke with Serb
community leader Oliver Ivanovic, convincing him the café had not been
hit and promising to investigate.
By midnight the crowd dispersed but a few minutes later, gunshots rang
out and another grenade was fired toward a complex of three apartment
buildings on the north side of the river, exploding in an empty
apartment, NATO said.
The complex, although located on the Serb side, contains apartments of
ethnic Albanians who were resettled in the area months ago by NATO
troops against the wishes of the Serb community.
The second grenade brought crowds back into the streets on the Serb side
of the river. They finally went home about 1 a.m., NATO said.
On Saturday, leaders of the Albanian and Serb communities - Dr. Bajram
Rexhepi and Ivanovic - met with the regional U.N. administrator William
L. Nash to discuss the security situation. Afterward, they issued a
joint statement condemning the violence.
"We are determined, however, to continue our efforts to improve
security, the rule of law, the return of displaced persons and the
economic development of the region," the statement said. "We will not be
deterred by the actions of a few."
In Belgrade, the opposition Serbian Renewal Movement called the
incidents "another denial of claims by international community officials
that the situation in Kosovo has stabilized," and that ethnic Albanian
militants have been disarmed.
The Democratic Party of Serbia said the attack "clearly shows that it is
futile for Serbs to try take part in the elections" planned for October.
Kosovska Mitrovica is the tensest city in the province because of the
presence of large numbers of Serbs and ethnic Albanians. French troops
have enforced an informal division of the city, which the ethnic
Albanians have denounced as a violation of the June 1999 peace agreement
which provided for a multiethnic Kosovo in which people could return to
their former homes.
* EIGHT BODIES UNCOVERED IN HOSPITAL GARBAGE CONTAINER IN GNJILANE
GNJILANE, July 14 (Tanjug) UNMIK police spokesmen in the town of
Gnjilane, eastern KosovoMetohija governed by the United Nations for more
than a year, said on Friday that eight bodies had been uncovered in a
metal
garbage container belonging to the local hospital.
The Committee for Protection and Human Rights of Gnjilane said
that the bodies had been in the garbage dump for more than eight months,
which means that they were hidden during the first or second week after
the
arrival of the U.N. peacekeepers to KosovoMetohija and the stationing of
the French and U.N. troops in Gnjilane.
It is believed that the victims are Serbs. The local Serbs have
demanded that the bodies be examined by foreign and domestic
pathologists
to determine the truth about this crime.
About 70 families of Serbs who were kidnapped from Gnjilane and
its vicinity, are very concerned and are awaiting the results of the
investigation with trepidation.
* ETHNIC ALBANIANS SHELL SERB PART OF KOSOVSKA MITROVICA
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, July 15 (Tanjug) Ethnic Albanian terrorists
on Friday evening fired from the southern part of Kosovska Mitrovica two
mortar shells at the northern (Serb) part of this town in central
KosovoMetohija.
The shells exploded in the street close to the first apartment
building near the bridge which divides the town into two parts (Serb and
ethnic Albanian).
Luckily, there was no one in the street at the time of the
blast.
Immediately before, North Brigade Commander General Jean Louis
Sivlait hosted a reception on the occasion of France's national holiday
(July 14) attended by UNMIK chief Bernard Kouchner and the leaders of
the
former "KLA" (Kosovo Liberation Army) and now the commanders of the
socalled Kosovo Protection Corps Agim Ceku, Sami Ljustaku and Rahman
Rama.
* GROUP OF ETHNIC ALBANIANS BEAT ELDERLY SERB
LIPLJAN, July 15 (Tanjug) A group of ethnic Albanians on Friday
evening beat 80yearold Serb Nikola Perencevic in the village of Lipljan,
some 20 km south of Pristina.
Local radio hams reported that the old man sustained serious
head
injuries.
Perencevic was taken by Finnish KFOR troops to the Russian
military hospital in Kosovo Polje to receive medical treatment.
The same sources say that so far KFOR has done nothing to find
and
arrest this group of ethnic Albanians.
* KOUCHNER EXTENDS DEADLINE FOR VOTER REGISTRATION
PRISTINA, July 15 (Tanjug) The head of the U.N. civilian mission
for KosovoMetohija, Bernard Kouchner, has extended for three more days
the
deadline for voter registration for elections to be held in this Serbian
province despite the fact that they are turning into a farce.
The final day for the registration was today. Kouchner decided
to
wait three more days because the nonAlbanians failed to respond to the
registration calls.
Field estimates show that the majority of the nonAlbanian
population could not have taken part in the forming of the election
lists
since during the one year U.N. administration the ethnic Albanian
extremists drove away from KosovoMetohija more than 350,000 Serbs,
Muslims,
Romanies, Goranci and others. In most cities there are no longer any
Serbs,
250,000 of whom have been expelled.
In Pristina it is said that the extension of the registration
deadline is the best proof of the failure of Kouchner's election option.
It is certain that neither the Serbs or the other nonAlbanians
will take part in the elections so that it is already possible to speak
about the total collapse of Kouchner's and UNMIK's mission.
The basic condition of the Serbs in KosovoMetohija for voting
at
the elections is the return of the expelled and the securing of the
safety
of their life and property all tasks UNMIK and KFOR should have carried
out in keeping with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244 dating from
1999.
* ETHNIC ALBANIAN EXTREMISTS THROW MOLOTOV COCKTAILS AT SERB HOUSE
OBILIC, July 15 (Tanjug) Ethnic Albanian extremists on Thursday
and Friday threw Molotov cocktails at the house of Nada Stolic, a Serb
woman from the town of Obilic, north of Pristina.
The ensuing fires, which were rapidly put out with the help of
the
neighbours, caused much material damage but no one was injured.
Local radio hams said that the first Molotov cocktail was
thrown
on Thursday at 2 p.m. and the other on Friday at 8 a.m
* KFOR and UNMIK are violating human rights of Gorani
http://www.serbia-info.com/news Tanjug
July 14, 2000
Exerting pressure on Gorani to take Islam
Prizren, July 13 - So-called UN peace mission in
Kosovo and Metohija - UNMIK and KFOR - in the
municipality Gora, in the area of Dragas are extorting
strong pressures on Gorani who live in that area with
the basic intention to denationalize them, "declare"
them as Muslims, which represents dramatic violation
of basic human rights, claims Center for peace and
tolerance from Prizren. This kind of violence
represents moral fall of UN representatives in Kosovo
and Metohija, because question is being asked, if the
UN after these "actions" can survive. With these
actions, which have not been seen since fascist
invasion on Kosovo and Metohija in 1941, according to
relevant evaluations of citizens of this area, first
of all, UN Charter is being destroyed, stresses
Center.
Center for peace and tolerance from Prizren has
respectable evidence of this violence, which is
underway in the municipality of Gora. There KFOR and
UNMIK are threatening to the population of this area
that they will take their property, cars, destroy
hoses, that they will be expelled if they do not
respond to the census and if they do not declare
themselves as representatives of nonexistent new
composed national community of Muslim nation…
President of the National community of Gorani and
member of Kosovo-Metohija Provisional Executive
Council Mr.Ibro Vait points out that KFOR and UNMIK
were trying to deny origin of Gorani with the
intention to "declare" them as Muslims, with ethnic
Albanians, from their arrival in Kosovo and Metohija.
"KFOR and UNMIK's pressure represents flagrant
violation of basic human rights and international
standards, calculated to destroy origin of Gorani",
warned Vait in today's statement to Tanjug, evaluating
that "peacekeepers' intention", in fact, is to
denationalize one ethnic community.
* Russia Opposes Elections in Kosovo
.c The Associated Press
By EDITH M. LEDERER
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Russia is arguing against U.N. plans to hold a
supervised election in Kosovo, warning that deteriorating security
conditions
for Serbs prevent any vote from being free and fair.
If the internationally monitored municipal elections go ahead this
year,
ethnic Albanian hard-liners will take power and the chance of creating a
truly multiethnic and democratic Kosovo will be lost, Russia's U.N.
Ambassador Sergey Lavrov told the Security Council Thursday.
The province's estimated 100,000 Serbs are boycotting the electoral
process
until the United Nations satisfies their demands for security against
ethnic
Albanian attacks and provides for the return of Serbs who fled when
Yugoslav
forces withdrew in June 1999 after a 78-day NATO bombing campaign.
He warned that their non-participation ``would distort both the ethnic
and
the political picture in Kosovo.''
Russia has close cultural and religious ties with the Serbs and has
been
Yugoslavia's strongest supporter on the Security Council along with
China,
which also questioned whether elections could be held freely and safely
when
minorities in Kosovo are still subject to numerous and well-organized
attacks.
With registration for the municipal elections set to end Saturday,
Assistant
Secretary-General Hedi Annabi told the Security Council that nearly
900,000
applications have been received. But despite intensive efforts by the
U.N.
mission which is administering Kosovo, the Serbs and much of Kosovo's
Turkish
population refuse to end their boycott, he said.
U.S. deputy ambassador James Cunningham said the United States believes
``the solution to violence lies in the political process'' and elections
and
a responsible government structure ``are the best way to temper
passions.''
Kosovo's chief U.N. administrator, Bernard Kouchner, signed a
regulation
July 8 which gives him the authority to determine the date for the
municipal
elections after consulting Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
It is widely expected to take place in October.
AP-NY-07-14-00 0113EDT
* PRIEST KOJIC, TWO OTHER PASSENGERS WOUNDED IN TERRORIST ATTACK
KOSOVSKA VITINA, July 13 (Tanjug) An automobile driven by Serbian
Orthodox priest Dragan Kojic of Vitina came under bursts of machinegun
fire
on the road VitinaKlokot on Wednesday and the priest was critically
wounded
in this incident, amateur radio operators reported from Serbia's Kosovo
and
Metohija province.
The attack was launched by ethnic Albanian terrorist from a
passing automobile where a road branches for Mogila village.
The priest has been taken to the military hospital at the U.S.
base Bondsteel where doctors are trying to save his life. Three other
persons were travelling with the priest, one of them his son. Two
passengers were also injured, but their wounds are not lifethreatening.
Villagers started to rally in Klokot after they heard of the
attack, protesting against this brutal attack on a man of the cloth.
International force KFOR troops blocked all approaches to this Serb
village, the sources said.
* UNHCR DENIES SERBS THE RIGHT TO TRANSPORT
VELIKA HOCA, July 13 (Tanjug) UNHCR representatives decided to
deprive the inhabitants of the Serbpopulated village Velika Hoca in
KosovoMetohija of the right to use the bus line commuting to Serbia
proper
on Wednesdays, local amateur radio operators said on Wednesday.
This decision came as a result of a recent incident, in which a
group of angry villagers set up barricades, in response to KFOR's
lenient
attitude towards repeated mortar attacks on Velika Hoca. In this
incident,
clashes took place between the villagers and KFOR soldiers, also, two
vehicles were demolished.
The radiooperators also say that the KFOR has not reacted at
all
to the shelling of Velika Hoca, even though it is known that the attack
were perpetrated by ethnic Albanians of Brestovac village.
* Klagen der türkischen Minorität im Kosovo
Mehr Rechte unter serbischer als unter UNO-Veraltung
(von Rainer Rupp)
Seitdem die NATO mit ihrem Einmarsch der UCK die Terrorherrschaft im
Kosovo gesichert hat, gehören nicht nur andersgläubige Serben und Roma
und Sinti zu den verfolgten Minderheiten in der serbischen Provinz,
sondern auch die muslimische, türkisch-sprechende Volksgruppe im Kosovo.
Der Verteidigung ihrer Rechte hat sich nun der türkische Außenminister
Cem Ismail in Ankara angenommen.
In einem Brief an UNO Generalsekretär Kofi Annan hat Außenminister Cem
seiner "großen Sorge" über die gleichgültige Haltung der UNO-Verwaltung
im Kosovo gegenüber den Anliegen der Kosovo-Türkischen Minorität
Ausdruck verleihen. In der Tat ist die türkische Minderheit so gut wie
nicht in dem "Interim Verwaltungsrat" vertreten, der von dem
umstrittenen UNMIK-Chef Bernard Kouchner ins Leben gerufen wurde. Auch
waren Mitglieder der türkischen Minderheit in der Vergangenheit
wiederholt Opfer von UCK-Anschlägen gewesen. Nicht wenige sind im
letzten Jahr nach Serbien oder Montenegro geflohen.
Außenminister Cem hob in seinem Brief an Kofi Anan hervor, daß sein Land
bereits verschiedene Male die Aufmerksamkeit der UNO-Verwaltung auf die
besonders Situation der türkischen Minderheit gelenkt habe und u.a. drei
Briefe an den UNO-Sondergesandten im Kosovo geschickt habe. Keine dieser
Initiativen hätte auch nur im geringsten gefruchtet und die drei Briefe
seien unbeantwortet geblieben.
Nach einem Bericht der albanischen Zeitung "Albanian Daily News" habe
der türkische Minister in diesem Zusammenhang betont, daß es um die
Minoritätenrechte der türkisch-sprachigen Volksgruppe im Kosovo "unter
UNO-Verwaltung schlechter bestellt ist als zu Zeiten der serbischen
Verwaltung". Nach Angaben der Zeitung "sprechen ungefähr 250.000
Einwohner der zwei Millionen zählenden Vorkriegsbevölkerung des Kosovo
zu Hause türkisch. ("Turkey Says Minority Rights Worse than Under
Serbian Rule"), Albanian Daily News, 11/07/2000)
Ganz nebenbei erfährt der Leser auf diese Weise etwas mehr über die
ethnische Zusammensetzung des Kosovo vor der NATO-Aggression zugunsten
der terroristischen UCK-Nationalisten. Dabei wäre interessant zu wissen,
ob die türkisch-sprechende Minderheit von den westlichen
UCK-Propagandisten auch zu den Albanern gezählt wurde.
In westlichen Medien hieß es bisher immer, daß 90% der Bevölkerung des
Kosovo ethnische Albaner seien. Bei einer Einwohnerzahl von knapp zwei
Millionen müßten folglich die nicht albanische Minderheiten 200.000
Menschen gezählt haben. Geht man jedoch von den offiziellen Zahlen der
UNO-Flüchtlingsorganisation und anderer Organisationen aus, dann sind
zwischen 250.000 und 300.000 Serben, Roma und Sinti, Juden, Griechen,
Ägypter u.a. aus dem Kosovo geflohen und harren z.Z. meist in Serbien
der Rückkehr ins Kosovo. Dort sollen sich nach verschiedenen offiziellen
Schätzungen immer noch bis zu 100.000 Serben befinden. Zählt man die
250.000 Kosovo-Türken - die sich offensichtlich nicht als Albaner sehen
- zu den nicht-albanischen Minderheiten hinzu, dann addieren sich die
Zahlen auf etwa 600.000 Menschen. Wodurch eine andere der vielen Lügen
der westlichen Politiker und Medien über das Kosovo entlarvt wäre.
Saarbrücken den 12.7.2000
* ETHNIC ALBANIAN SLAIN BY COMPATRIOT
GNJILANE, July 12 (Tanjug) In the ethnic Albanianpopulated
village of Velekinac near the town of Gnjilane, an ethnic Albanian was
murdered by his compatriot, said Gnjilane Committee for Civil Rights and
Protection on Tuesday, quoting a KFOR officer.
According to his statement, the murderer was caught and
detained
immediately.
The Committee says that instant arrests of ethnic Albanian
criminals and murderers who committed offenses against their compatriots
have became a quite regular practice for KFOR and the UNMIK police, as
opposed to those cases in which Serbs, or other nonAlbanians, are the
victims.
The mentioned officer said on Tuesday that house searches in
several villages of the Gnjilane municipality resulted in the seizure of
26
handguns, 31 handgrenades, 240 other items, and 2,700 pieces of
ammunition.
He added that those who possessed the weapons were detained.
There have been unofficial claims that another ethnic Albanian
was
killed in a blaze that broke out in a depot situated by the road
connecting
Gnjilane and Pristina on Monday. Two nearby houses caught fire and
collapsed, despite a quick reaction from the fire brigades of Gnjilane
and
Pristina, says the Committee statement.
* KFOR TROOPS PREVENT REGULAR BURIAL OF SERB WOMAN
PRISTINA, July 12 (Tanjug) Dragica Zivanovic, a Serb woman who
died in Besinje village, municipality of Pristina, on Monday, was buried
in
her back yard because international force KFOR troops refused to provide
an
escort for the funeral procession to take the body to the nearby
Orthodox
cemetery, amateur radio operators reported from Serbia's Kosovo and
Metohija province late on Tuesday.
Ethnic Albanian extremists daily provoke and attack Serbs in
Besinje. About eight Serb families remain in the village, mostly elderly
people who did not want to leave their ancestral homes.
The ethnic Albanian terrorists have stolen all agricultural
machinery from the Serb families, so that they cannot work their farms.
KFOR do not guarantee the Serbs' safety even on special occasions, such
as
funerals, said the sources.
* U.S. SOLDIER KILLS SEVENYEAROLD BOY IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
NEW YORK, July 11 (Tanjug) The Pentagon has announced that a U.S.
soldier of the international force KFOR in Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija
province killed a sevenyearold boy on Monday. The Pentagon alleged the
killing had been accidental, that the soldier's weapon had gone off
accidentally.
Meanwhile, a KFOR spokesman confirmed in Pristina late on
Monday
that an unidentified U.S. soldier had accidentally inflicted mortal
wounds
to an ethnic Albanian boy, Gentrid Rexhepi, 7, and that he soon died of
his
wounds, agencies reported.
The incident occurred near the village of Cerkes Sadovina, near
Vitina, and the boy died after being taken to the hospital in the U.S.
base
Bondsteel.
* Three Serbs Shot in U.S. Sector
.c The Associated Press
By ROBERT H. REID
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - Unidentified attackers fired at a car on a
rural
road in Kosovo's American sector Wednesday, wounding three Serb men, the
U.S.
command said.
Yugoslav news agencies identified the wounded as a Serbian Orthodox
priest
and two seminary students.
Later, U.S. troops fired warning shots over a crowd of angry Serbs who
gathered in the town of Klokot to protest the attack, a U.S. statement
said.
There were no injuries, and the crowd broke up.
The U.S. statement said the three men were traveling from Klokot to
Vitina,
about 30 miles south of Pristina when the attack occurred at midday.
U.N. civilian police found the wounded men along the road and took them
to
the U.S. military hospital at Camp Bondsteel where they were listed in
stable
condition pending surgery.
Yugoslavia's private news agency Beta and the state-run Tanjug agency
identified the three as clerics.
The attack was the latest against Kosovo's dwindling Serb minority in
wake
of the June 1999 withdrawal of Yugoslav forces following the 78-day NATO
bombing campaign. The alliance launched the airstrikes to stop Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown against ethnic Albanians.
Although the attackers were not identified, ethnic Albanian extremists
have
carried out numerous attacks against Serbs in the American sector over
the
past 13 months.
In another development, Serb villagers in two communities just across
the
provincial boundary from Kosovo reported a mortar fire early Wednesday
and
blamed ethnic Albanian extremists.
There were no injuries, the villagers said. The attack reportedly
occurred
near the Serbian villages of Merdare and nearby Borovac, 120 miles
southeast
of Belgrade.
``This is getting worse and worse,'' said Danijela Pavlovic, 35, who
lives
in Merdare. She said the fire came from Mirovac, an Albanian-populated
village on the other side of the separation line.
``We'll all leave if this continues,'' she said, adding she had sent
her
teen-age son to stay with relatives in a town farther from the border.
Serbian police declined comment, but an officer, speaking on condition
of
anonymity, said the mortar attack shortly after midnight was preceded by
sniper fire against a nearby police checkpoint.
AP-NY-07-12-00 1455EDT
* Diskussion um Trepca: Arbeiterinteressen versus Antiimperialismus?
Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2000 17:51:30 +0200
From: Jug Öster Solibeweg <joesb@...>
To: <joesb@...>
Innerhalb der Linken ist im Rahmen der Debatte um den Nato-Krieg gegen
Jugoslawien und den humanitären Interventionismus von jenen, die die
Agrression befürworteten oder zumindest schwiegen, immer wieder die
Frage
des Bergwerkkomplexes Trepca ins Treffen geführt worden.
Antijugoslawischen und versteckt proimperialistischen Positionen soll
mit
den Aussagen der albanischen Bergarbeitergewerkschaft, die von
"Arbeitereigentum" spricht, der Mantel der Arbeiterinteressen umgehängt
werden.
Stellt man allerdings eine Gesamtanalyse an, so ist klar, dass diese
Frage
der geopolitischen unterzuordnen ist, in der es nur zwei Seiten gibt:
Jugoslawien und die NATO (deren freiwillig versklavsten Anhängsel die
albanischen Kräfte sind). Politisch fordert nämlich die albanische
Bergarbeitergewerkschafts nichts anderes als das Kombinat völlig der
jugoslawischen Kontrolle zu entreißen, alles andere Gefasel ist Beiwerk.
Denn unter den realen Bedingungen heißt albanisches "Arbeitereigentum"
Herrschaft der NATO und UCK. Darum sind wir für die Wiedereingliederung
des
Trepca-Kombinats sowie des gesamtzen Kosovo nach Jugoslawien.
Lesen Sie die ausführliche kontroversielle Debatte unter:
http://www.vorstadtzentrum.net/cgi-bin/joesb/news/viewnews.cgi?category=all&id=962779078
und
http://www.vorstadtzentrum.net/cgi-bin/joesb/news/viewnews.cgi?category=all&id=961851904
---
"LO CHIAMEREMO CLINTON"
New York Post, June 13, 2000
BABY AMERIKAN DREAM SHATTERED
By NILES LATHEM
BORN IN THE USA: Baby Americkan, born in a New Jersey
refugee camp 13 months ago, stands up as proud parents
Naim and Lebibe watch. - AP
FERIZAJ, Kosovo - Baby Amerikan is now 13 months old,
plump, wide-eyed and curious. He's just starting to
walk and is grabbing everything in sight.
A year ago - at the height of NATO's bombing of
Yugoslavia - he captured everyone's hearts when he was
born in a New Jersey refugee center and given his
unusual name in a dramatic expression of gratitude by
his parents.
But now, on the anniversary of the end of the Kosovar
war, the feel-good story of Baby Amerikan has reached
a sad chapter.
The little boy, whose nickname is "Amir," and his
parents, Naim and Lebibe Karaliu, have been back in
Kosovo for nine months.
Naim had no choice but to go home. He'd been unable to
find a job that would cover the $900 rent on their
apartment near Dallas after their aid ran out.
They returned to discover that their "duvar" - a
traditional Albanian compound of family homes
surrounded by a wall - in a bucolic mountain village
had been destroyed by Serbian storm troopers.
Now, they share the cramped house - 10 people live
there - of Naim's brother Vesel in this chaotic, dusty
city. Naim, like the great majority of the Kosovar men
who survived Serbian ethnic cleansing, is broke and
jobless.
Lebibe, 22, pretty and stoic, is seven-months pregnant
with the couple's second child. She worries what kind
of future there will be for Amerikan and his new
sibling.
"I am happy Kosovo is free," Lebibe said through a
translator as she chased the active toddler around a
family room decorated with an American flag.
"But life is hard now. I am concerned about my baby
because we are poor."
Although their plight is shared by thousands of other
Kosovars, the Karalius seem especially bitter at
having lost their chance at the American Dream.
Several times, they asked to be paid for this story,
and complained about broken promises of aid workers in
the United States, and about how a trust fund set up
for Amerikan by good Samaritans in New Jersey had been
stolen by relatives.
"I would like to go back to America. I don't see a
good life in Kosovo," Naim said.
At the end of a winding mountain road, Naim got
teary-eyed as he displayed the damage done to his home
by the Serbs.
"This will cost at least $40,000 to fix. I don't know
what I'm going to do."
The topic of conversation later turned to the new
baby. The couple thinks it, too, will be a boy.
"If we get some help from the United States, maybe
we'll name him Clinton."
---
LISTE DI PROSCRIZIONE E CONDANNE SOMMARIE
PUBBLICATE SUI GIORNALI NAZIONALISTI ALBANESI-KOSOVARI
Albanische Zeitungen schüren Lynch-Justiz im Kosovo
("Dadurch werden die Genannten zum Tode verurteilt", Dan Everts,
OSZE-Botschafter)
(von Rainer Rupp)
Kosovo-albanische Journalisten, unterstützt von internationalen Wächtern
der Medienfreiheit, führen z.Z. eine hitzige Kampagne gegen die
UNO-Verwaltung, weil diese angeblich versucht, im Kosovo die
Pressefreiheit einzuschränken. Nach Angaben der New York Times vom
Donnerstag dieser Woche habe der Protest solche Formen angenommen, daß
ein hoher UNO-Beamter angedeutet hat, daß die Versuche, die albanischen
Medien auf einen minimalen Verhaltenskodex festzulegen, wahrscheinlich
aufgegeben würden. ("Death of Serb Named in Newspaper Sparks Battle Over
Media Restrictions in Kosovo", By STEVEN ERLANGER NYT-July 13, 2000)
Ein Gesetz allerdings, mit dem die UNO-Verwaltung eine Zeitung zu einer
Geldstrafe und/oder zur vorübergehenden Schließung verurteilen kann,
soll zur Empörung der freiheitsliebenden Kosovo-Redakteure weiterhin in
Kraft bleiben. Etliche Redakteure haben in ihren Beschwerden darauf
verwiesen, daß ein ähnliches Gesetz bereits unter serbischer Verwaltung
angewandt wurde.
Aber welche Freiheit meinen die radikalen, Kosovo-albanischen
Redakteure, die sie so vehement gegen die UNO verteidigen wollen? Es ist
die Freiheit, ihre Zeitungen auch weiterhin zu Instrumenten des Terrors
und zu Aufrufen zur Lynchjustiz zu benutzen, um somit den blutige
Terrorkrieg gegen Serben weiter zu führen. Dazu werden Namen, Photos,
zuletzt bekannte Adressen, Arbeitsplatz und mehr von angeblichen
serbischen Kriegsverbrechern veröffentlicht. Dadurch werden diese
Personen – und alle, die ihnen ähnlich sehen - praktisch zu
Todeskandidaten der Exekutionskommandos der UCK abgestempelt.
Mit ihren Aufrufen zur Lynchjustiz setzen sich diese kosovo-albanischen
Blätter bewußt über die Presseregeln der OSZE und UNO-Verwaltung im
Kosovo hinweg. Daß die Gefahr für Leib und Leben der in den albanischen
Blättern benannten Serben real ist, wurde letzten Monat durch die
brutale Ermordung eines serbischen UNO-Mitarbeiters (er war Übersetzer)
weltweit bekannt. Am Anfang der tödlichen Entwicklung stand ein
Exklusivbericht der Zeitung Dita, in dem diese behauptete, einen
serbischen Kriegsverbrecher aufgespürt zu haben, der für die UNO-Mission
im Kosovo (UNMIK) arbeitete. Dita veröffentlichte den Namen von Petar
Topoljski und seine Adresse. Keine drei Wochen später wurde die von
zahlreichen Messerstichen verstümmelte Leiche von Petar Topoljski mit
einem Draht um den Hals in einem Dorf außerhalb Pristinas gefunden.
Ähnliche Hetzartikel wie der in Dita sind in den letzten Monaten in der
Kosovo-Albanischen Presse regelmäßig erschienen. Diese indirekten
Aufrufe zum Mord wollte die Organisation für Sicherheit und
Zusammenarbeit in Europa (OSZE), die im Kosovo für die Medien
verantwortlich ist, nicht länger hinnehmen. Dan Everts, OSZE Botschafter
im Kosovo, wurde kürzlich von der BBC wie folgt zitiert "wir haben
einige sehr schlimme Artikel gesehen, in denen Personen dadurch zum Tode
verurteilt wurden, indem ihr Namen, Arbeitsplatz, Adresse und was sonst
noch alles genannt wurden. Das ist, als würde man den Leuten sagen:
<He!, paßt mal auf, hier sind sie und nun tut mit ihnen, was Ihr
wollt>." ("Kosovo papers defy UN", BBC, By Kosovo Correspondent Nicholas
Wood, Thursday, 6 July, 2000, 11:09 GMT 12:09 UK)
Daß die Zeitung Dita wegen ihrer Veröffentlichung über das Mordopfer
Petar Topoljski auf Anordnung der UNO-Verwaltung für eine Woche
geschlossen worden war machte, machte auf die Chefredaktion
offensichtlich keinen Eindruck, außer daß sich die Redakteure
beschwerten, daß es nun unter der UNO genau so schlimm wäre wie unter
Milosevic. Als die Zeitung Dita wieder erscheinen durfte, hatte
Chefredakteur Behlul Becaj nichts eiligeres zu tun, als den
beanstandeten Artikel erneut abzudrucken.
Zugleich ließ Becaj den UNMIK-Chef Bernard Kouchner wissen, daß die
albanische Presse verpflichtet sei, die (angeblichen) serbischen
Kriegsverbrecher zu benennen, solange die internationalen Organisationen
diese nicht verfolgen würden. Und prompt setzte Dita-Chef Behlul Becaj
seine Drohung in die Tat um. Letzte Woche veröffentlichte Dita eine
Doppelseite mit Namen und Photos von 15 Serben, denen die Zeitung
Kriegsverbrechen vorwarf. Auf eine Reaktion von der OSZE oder UNMIK hat
man bisher vergeblich gewartet.
Saarbrücken den 14.7.00
-
NYTimes.com July 13, 2000
Death of Serb Named in Newspaper Sparks Battle Over Media Restrictions
in Kosovo
By STEVEN ERLANGER
PRISTINA, Kosovo, July 6 -- The publication by an Albanian-language
newspaper
of the name and photograph of a Serb accused by the daily of crimes
against
Albanians, and his murder soon after, has stirred passionate debate
about
press freedom and the need to stop revenge killings in Kosovo.
After the murder, the United Nations administration that rules Kosovo
shut
down the newspaper, Dita, for eight days. Then, when Dita reappeared and
promptly reprinted the offending article, international officials sought
to
impose a formal code of conduct on the news media here.
But local Albanian journalists and international news media watch-dog
bodies
have protested the attempts to regulate media so strongly that the
United
Nations administration is likely to abandon the code, a senior United
Nations official says.
A law that provides for the fining, suspension or closing of print or
broadcast media will, however, remain on the books, the official said.
The
regulation, signed by the United Nations chief here, Bernard Kouchner,
is
intended to prevent the publication or broadcasting of personal details
about people who might become targets of Albanian or Serbian vigilantes.
The frustration of the United Nations authorities is evident as
interethnic
attacks continue, especially on the Serbian minority in Kosovo, while a
system of international judges to deal with such crimes is just
beginning to
function.
Mr. Kouchner issued the regulation after Dita published an article on
April
27 accusing two Serbs, Petar Topoljski and his father, of being members
of
paramilitary groups. Petar Topoljski, 25, still lived in Kosovo and
worked
as a translator for the United Nations; the paper published his address
and
photograph.
Three weeks later he was found murdered, stabbed with a wire wound
around
his neck.
His death seemed an example of the press feeding the cycle of vengeance
against Serbs, with no recourse to the police or the courts. While there
could be no direct connection drawn between the Dita article and the
murder,
Mr. Kouchner decided to act, judging that news media self-regulation was
not
working, and closed Dita for eight days.
More moderate Albanian newspapers, like Koha Ditore, criticized the
suspension of Dita as an arbitrary act of personal power. Dita's
publisher,
Behlul Beqaj, justified publication of the information by saying that
the
system of justice in Kosovo was not working, and that there had been no
punishment for people accused of war crimes.
As soon as the suspension was over, Mr. Beqaj republished the article.
Mr.
Kouchner then issued his regulation on June 17 covering broadcast and
media, naming a temporary news media commissioner with the power to
impose
sanctions, fine offending media up to $50,000, seize equipment or
material
and suspend or shut down an outlet.
Appeals are subject to a board appointed by Mr. Kouchner.
The commissioner, a former American diplomat, Douglas Davidson, was also
given power to issue temporary codes of conduct to be compiled in
consultation with local editors and imposed "in special circumstances."
Mr. Davidson defended the codes as common in Europe and necessary to
deter
"hate speech." But the United Nations is likely to abandon the effort to
compile a code, after what officials describe as long and frustrating
meetings with editors who oppose it as undemocratic.
Mr. Kouchner's regulation itself caused a furor. It was condemned by the
World Press Freedom Committee and other international news media
watch-dogs,
and Mr. Beqaj tested it on June 26, publishing the names of two Serbs
from
the town of Kosovo Polje accused of attacking ethnic Albanians. One of
those
Serbs is in close contact with the municipality and the United Nations.
This
time, Dita went to the police first, but did not heed United Nations
requests to delay publication.
Mr. Davidson then issued a warning to Dita and said the paper appeared
to
have violated the regulation on publishing personal details that "would
pose
a serious threat to the life, safety or security of any such person
through
vigilante violence or otherwise."
"Publishing names can put people's lives at risk," Mr. Davidson said in
a
statement. "It is also violating a fundamental principle of Western
journalism that someone is innocent until proven guilty."
Then, on July 5, Dita published the names, prewar addresses and
photographs
of 15 more Serbs it accused of committing crimes against ethnic
Albanians.
Mr. Beqaj is unrepentant. In one meeting with Mr. Davidson and other
editors, he noted that Dita was accused of involvement with just one
death
out of 500 or so that have occurred in Kosovo in the year since NATO
troops
arrived.
Mr. Davidson, Mr. Kouchner and other United Nations officials say they
must
have some way to stop hate speech and the incitement to murder
individuals
on the basis of uncorroborated accusations by news media. "This is not
yet a
normal place," Mr. Davidson said. "The international community must have
some control and if it wants to lower the level of hatred and tension
here,
not make it worse, then one thing you must look at is the media."
But Baton Haxhiu, the editor of Koha Ditore, said that Albanian news
executives are able to police themselves, and that the solution lies not
in
restricting press freedom, but in providing a functioning justice
system.
"All this just shows that the internationals are becoming Balkanized,
trying
to put restrictions on the freedom of the press," he said. "This is a
bad
precedent, and it will be used against us by some political party in the
future."
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