*** NOTIZIE DA KOSOVO E METOHIJA (fonte varia) ***

Selezione e titolazione italiana a cura del
Coordinamento Romano per la Jugoslavia

---

ATTACCATO CONVOGLIO NATO

http://www.thestar.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=977067580514&call_page=TS_World&call_pageid=968332188854&call_pagepath=News/World

THE TORONTO STAR, Monday, December 18, 2000
NATO patrol is attacked in Kosovo
Peacekeepers suffer no injuries in border attack

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - Gunmen fired on a joint American-Russian
patrol yesterday as it tried to seal the boundary between Kosovo and
part of southern Serbia where ethnic Albanian rebels have been
challenging Yugoslav forces, the U.S. army said.
Peacekeepers suffered no casualties in the attack, the first reported
against NATO-led troops since ethnic Albanian rebels escalated
cross-border raids in November.
The joint patrol returned fire but it was unclear whether the attackers,
whose identity was unknown, suffered casualties, U.S. army spokesperson
Capt. Alayne Cramer said in a statement.
The attack occurred one day after a violent incident in northwestern
Kosovo, in which Serbs angry over the arrest of a motorist set fire to a
police station, stoned vehicles and briefly took seven Belgian soldiers
hostage.
Two Serbs died in the melee in the town of Leposavic and one was
wounded, raising tensions in this troubled province.
The U.S. statement said the shooting attack occurred about 1:30 p.m.
local time as the patrol was trying to seal the boundary near the
village of Gornje Karacevo about 50 kilometres southeast of Pristina.
Peacekeepers had just detonated a series of explosive charges to destroy
a section of road believed used by the militants when they received
small arms fire, the statement said.
``The Multinational Brigade East was continuing the boundary closure
efforts to prevent the flow of supplies and movement of armed ethnic
groups across the border,'' the statement added. ``No suspects have been
detained.''
The new government of Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica has been
urging the NATO-led force in Kosovo to crack down on the ethnic Albanian
extremists of the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac,
known by its Albanian-language acronym UCPMB.
Last month, the rebels killed four Yugoslav police officers and seized
several positions in the five-kilometre-wide buffer zone along the
Yugoslav side of the boundary.
The zone was established in June, 1999 to prevent Belgrade's forces from
threatening the peacekeepers who took over Kosovo after the 78-day NATO
bombing of Yugoslavia, launched to force then-president Slobodan
Milosevic to halt his crackdown against Kosovo Albanians.
Yugoslav forces cannot use heavy weapons in the zone, so the ethnic
Albanians have been operating in the area with impunity.
They are trying to drive Yugoslav forces from the area, which has an
ethnic Albanian majority but is not part of Kosovo.

Letters to Editor: lettertoed@...

KOSTUNICA PER EMENDAMENTI AGLI ACCORDI DI KUMANOVO

YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT FOR AMENDMENTS TO KUMANOVO MILITARYTECHNICAL
AGREEMENT
BELGRADE, December 18 (Tanjug) Yugoslav President Vojislav
Kostunica urged on Monday, during a joint press conference with Norwegian
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, a dialogue with the representatives of the
international community and the moderate leaders of the Kosovo Albanians
and for amendments to the MilitaryTechnical Agreement between Yugoslavia
and NATO.
Kostunica said that "there is too much extremism in Kosovo"
despite the victory of the moderate ethnic Albanians at the October 28
local elections in the province.
Describing the current situation in southern Serbia as a very
serious problem, Kostunica said that there are certain unclear
interpretations of the MilitaryTechnical Agreement, signed last June in
Kumanovo, Macedonia, between the Yugoslav Army and NATO and under which the
local Serbian police in the land security zone can be armed only with light
weapons.
Kostunica said that the Agreement must be amended, adding that
this does not depend on Yugoslavia but on KFOR and the international
community.
"We urge our more extensive presence in order that people feel as
safe as possible," the Yugoslav president set out pointing out that the
security zone is populated both by Serbs and Serb police, but also moderate
ethnic Albanians who are being threatened by the ethnic Albanian terrorists.
Kostunica expressed great satisfaction over the visit by the
Norwegian president who is touring the Balkan countries. He said that
Norway was one of the first countries to recognize the democratic changes
in Yugoslavia.
Stoltenberg noted that Yugoslavia is no longer isolated and that
now it is fully participating in the activities of the international
community, in which Norwegian help and support played a role.
Stoltenberg said that today's talks also focused on the
implementation of the joint declaration on bilateral relations and
cooperation signed at the time of Kostunica's visit to Oslo in October.

KOSTUNICA SUGLI INCIDENTI DI LEPOSAVIC

PRESIDENT KOSTUNICA BLASTS INCIDENTS IN LEPOSAVIC
BELGRADE, December 17 (Tanjug) Yugoslav President Vojislav
Kostunica on Sunday deplored Saturday's clashes and tragic events with loss
of life in Leposavic, KosovoMetohija, and appealed to Serbs, ethnic
Albanians, KFor and UNMIK to take their share of responsibility and avoid
the trap laid by those "who care nothing about peace".
U.N. mission (UNMIK) police in the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's
U.N.administered KosovoMetohija province opened fire at a crowd of some
1,000 Serbs protesting in Leposavic against the arrest of their compatriot,
and killed two Serbs and wounded one.
A statement from the presidential cabinet quotes Kostunica as
saying that force solves nothing, whoever might use it.
He added that "it is not by accident that this should be happening
now, before Serbian elections which should endorse September's victory of
the democratic forces, and after the strengthening of moderate forces among
Kosovo Albanians".
Kostunica said that "UNMIK and KFor have the duty to discharge all
their obligations under the Kumanovo MilitaryTechnical Accord and U.N.
Resolution 1244, while the people must obey the law.
"This is the only way for peace and law and order to be restored
in Kosovo and its environs once and for all", he said.

ZIZIC SULLA SITUAZIONE A PRESEVO E DINTORNI

PREMIER ZIZIC: YUGOSLAVIA IS CAPABLE OF EXPELLING ETHNIC ALBANIAN
TERRORISTS
BELGRADE, December 18 (Tanjug) Yugoslav Prime Minister Zoran
Zizic told Monday issue of Blic daily that Yugoslavia is capable of
expelling ethnic Albanian terrorists from the buffer zone in southeastern
Serbia.
He said that the Yugoslav government will do only what is
necessary to push terrorists back from the buffer zone, to protect the
residents of the Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja municipalities, and to
enable Yugoslavia to pursue the process of joining the international
community.
The international community understands the need of expelling
terrorists from the buffer zone. Yugoslavia is capable to do that, if
necessary, Zizic said.
He pointed out that separatism, including that prevailing in
KosovoMetohija, which seems insurmountable at present, will lose its
strength as Yugoslavia continues developing economically.

SVILANOVIC A NEW YORK

YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER LEFT FOR NEW YORK
BELGRADE, December 18 (Tanjug) Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran
Svilanovic on Monday left for New York to attend Tuesday's U.N. Security
Council session on the KosovoMetohija crisis and its effects outside this
Serbian province, especially in the land security zone.
In New York, Svilanovic is expected to meet with U.S. ambassador
to the United Nations, Richard Holbrooke, current Security Council Chariman
Sergei Lavrov, and maybe Secretary General Kofi Annan and the new head of
the U.N. civilian mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Hans Haekkerup.
Yugoslav political and diplomatic circles attach great importance
to this Security Council session because, as Yugoslav President Vojislav
Kostunica said, it is expected to take a step further and clearly define
the situation in the land security zone with KosovoMetohija so that it
becomes really safe for all.
According to Kostunica, the Security Council should also adopt a
decision that the ethnic Albanian terrorists leave the security zone.
Svilanovic said that he will demand from the Security Council to
influence the Kosovo Albanian leaders that all armed persons withdraw from
the land security zone.

L'AMBASCIATORE USA NELLA ZONA DEGLI SCONTRI

SERBIAN VICE PREMIER AND U.S. AMBASSADOR TO YUGOSLAVIA MET IN
BUJANOVAC
BUJANOVAC, December 18 (Tanjug) Serbian Vice Premier Nebojsa
Covic and U.S. ambassador to Yugoslavia, William Montgomery, met in
Bujanovac on Monday afternoon.
The talks are also attended by Yugoslav Minister for National and
Minority Communities Rasim Ljajic, who is also a member of the Yugoslav and
Serbian governments' coordinating body for Bujanovac, Medvedja and Presevo,
and with Presevo municipality head Riza Halimi.
Before meeting with Montgomery, Covic and Ljajic conferred for
three hours with Halimi and Bujanovac municipality chief Stojan Arsic, as
well as with the ethnic Albanian deputies from this region.

LA KFOR ASPETTAVA LA NEVE

KFOR COMMANDER: KFOR'S HANDS TIED BECAUSE OF GOOD WEATHER CONDITIONS
ROME, December 18 (Tanjug) The warm weather has prevented KFOR
from completing its overall peace operations in the Presevo valley in
southern Serbia, Rome daily La Republica quoted KFOR commander, Italian
general Carlo Cabigiosu as saying.
"I had hoped for at least one metre of snow, but the snowfall has
been late," Gen. Cabigiosu set out adding that the snow would have made it
more difficult for the terrorists to infiltrate the buffer zone in southern
Serbia.

PROTESTA PER L'UCCISIONE DEI DUE SERBI

SERBS PROTEST KILLING OF TWO SERBS IN LEPOSAVIC
BELGRADE, December 17 (Tanjug) Hundreds of Serbs in Leposavic and
the surrounding area in U.N.administered KosovoMetohija protested in
downtown Leposavic on Sunday, indignant at Saturday's killing of two Serbs
and wounding of another by U.N. mission (UNMIK) police.
A delegation of the protesters delivered the protesters' demands
to the UNMIK and international force KFor commands in Kosovska Mitrovica.
UNMIK Kosovo Corps police, probably from the Belgian battalion,
fired bullets and teargas at a crowd of more than 1,000 protesters in
Leposavic shortly before midnight on Saturday, killing two Serbs and
wounding one.
The indignant protesters, demanding the release of their
compatriot, had started throwing stones at the police building and had set
three KFor vehicles and a private car alight.
Representatives of the Serb Crisis Command in Kosovska Mitrovica
met on Sunday with the local KFor commander, General Christian Falzone, and
UNMIK administrator Anthony Welch.
The officials promised to investigate the incident, publish the
names of the soldiers and police who had fired the shots into the crowd and
take the necessary action, and asked that the people of Leposavic refrain
from provoking and attacking KFor and the police.

ATTACCATO CONVOGLIO USA-NATO

USRUSSIAN PATROL UNDER FIRE IN KOSOVO
PRISTINA, December 18 (Tanjug) Unidentified attackers opened fire
on Sunday at a U.S.Russian patrol which was trying to close the border
between Kosovo and southern Serbia near Gornje Karacevo village, about 50
km southeast of Pristina, the U.S. contingent of KFOR said.
The patrol returned fire. There were no KFOR casualties, but there
may have been casualties among the attackers, U.S. contingent
representative Alayne Cramer said.
She said in a statement that the international brigade East
endeavoured to close the border in order to prevent armed ethnic groups
from crossing the boundary and carrying supplies.
No suspects have been identified yet, the statement added.

I BRITANNICI PREMONO AL CONFINE DELLA PROVINCIA

BRITISH TROOPS TO REINFORCE KOSOVOMETOHIJA BORDER AREA
PRISTINA, December 18 (Tanjug) Some 150 British soldiers of the
Kfor international peacekeeping force in Serbia's southern KosovoMetohija
province were deployed on Monday to reinforce the area near the
administrative border separating the province from Serbia proper, a Kfor
Spokesman said in Pristina.
Tim Pearce said that the Royal Regiment of the Princess of Wales
was deployed south of the zone where unidentified assailants fired shots at
soldiers of the Russian and U.S. Kfor contingents on Sunday.
He went on to say that the deployment of this regiment is not a
response to violence that happened during the weekend, but a result of
developments in the Presevo valley.
The British soldiers will be under the command of a U.S. Kfor
brigade whose task is to prevent ethnic Albanian separatist infiltration
and arms smuggling into the Presevo valley, part of the southSerbian land
security zone.

LA POSIZIONE DELL'SPS SULLA UCCISIONE DI DUE
SERBI DA PARTE DELLA KFOR A LEPOSAVIC

> http://www.sps.org.yu/aktuelno/2000/dec/17-1.html

IZVRŠNI ODBOR POKRAJINSKOG
ODBORA SPS KOSOVA I METOHIJE
POVODOM UBISTVA DVOJICE SRBA U
LEPOSAVIÆU OD STRANE POLICIJE
UNMIK-a

Izvršni odbor Pokrajinskog odbora
Socijalistièke partije Srbije Kosova i
Metohije oštro je osudio ubistvo dvojice
Srba u Leposaviæu od strane policije
Civilne misije Ujedinjenih nacija koja je
pucala u masu graðana Leposaviæa koji
su protestvovali zbog nepravednog
zatvaranja njihovog sugraðanina Vladimira
Tomoviæa.
Ubistvo Bojana Jokoviæa i Trifuna
Obradoviæa iz Leposaviæa i teško
ranjavanje devetnaestogodišnjeg Mladena
Obradoviæa iz Kruševca studenta
Prištinskog univerziteta, èija je krivica bila
samo u tome što su protestvovali zbog
nepravde, Izvršni odbor Pokrajinskog
odbora SPS Kosova i Metohije ocenio je
kao još jedan u nizu gnusnih zloèina koje
su pripadnici meðunarodnih bezbednosnih
snaga i Civilne misije UN, direktno ili
indirektno, u saradnji sa albanskim
separatistima i teroristima izvršili u
poslednjih godinu i po dana nad srpskim i
crnogorskim narodom i drugim graðanima
Kosova i Metohije.
Najnovija ubistva u Leposaviæu, upad više
hiljada naoružanih albanskih separatista i
terorista u zonu bezbednosti izmeðu
Kosova i Metohije i unutrašnjosti Srbije u
opštinama Bujanovac i Preševo, potom
danonoæni napadi na Srbe i Crnogorce
širom Kosova i Metohije, istièe IO PO SPS
Kosova i Metohije, deo su jedinstvenog
scenarija i jedinstvene antisrpske i
antijugoslovenske ofanzive preduzete od
pripadnika meðunarodnih bezbednosnih
snaga i policije Civilne misije UN i
albanskih separatista i terorista sa
zajednièkim i jedinstvenim ciljem
iseljavanja i poslednjeg Srbina sa Kosova i
Metohije.
Najuže rukovodstvo kosovsko-metohijskih
socijalista zahteva od aktuelnih
jugoslovenskih vlasti da se stane na put
takvim zloèinima i da se od meðunarodnih
bezbednosnih snaga i Civilne misije UN
zatraži da okonèaju svoju sramnu misiju i
da napuste Kosovo i Metohiju.
Podseæajuæi na hiljade ubijenih, ranjenih i
kidnapovanih Srba i Crnogoraca i drugih
graðana Kosova i Metohije i brojne druge
zloèine poèinjene u proteklih osamnaest
meseci u prisustvu i pred oèima više
desetina hiljada do zuba naoružanih i
najmodernije opremljenih pripadnika
meðunarodnih bezbednosnih snaga i
policije Civilne misije UN, Izvršni odbor
Pokrajinskog odbora SPS Kosova i
Metohije zakljuèuje da bi svako dalje
ostajanje tih snaga na Kosovu i Metohiji
znaèilo samo nove zloèine, nove žrtve i
novo stradanje naroda i destabilizaciju ne
samo Balkana veæ i šire - jugoistoène
Evrope.

UN COMMENTO DALL'ARIZONA

----- Original Message -----
From: TiM Publisher <publisher@...>
To: TiM GW Bulletins <tim@...>
Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2000 9:30 PM
Subject: NATO Tells Serbs to Stay Put, Adds Insult to Injury (TiM GW Bulletin 2000/12-4, Dec. 16, 2000)

>
> FROM PHOENIX, ARIZONA
> 2. NATO Tells Serbs to Stay Put, Adds Insult to Injury
>
> Western Diplomat Slights Yugoslav Army's Capability
>
> PRISTINA, Dec. 15 - In our Dec. 4 update about the situation in Kosovo,
> "Serb Wimps Kiss Up to NATO Pimps," we quoted Zoran Djindjic as saying
> that, "Yugoslav government was seeking NATO acceptance of the plan to drive
> the Kosovo Albanian rebels from the 80-square mile contested Presevo Valley
> buffer zone between Kosovo province and the rest of Serbia."
>
> Asking permission from a foreign occupying force if you can be allowed to
> defend your own land from terrorists who have killed and massacred your
> troops makes the label "wimps" fairly benign. Yet to the new Yugoslav
> president, Vojislav Kostunica, the remark by the man who is widely expected
> to become Serbia's prime minister after the Dec. 23 vote was not wimpy
> enough. Speaking last week after Djindjic's comments, Kostunica said that,
> "this is not the time for war drums."
>
> Belgrade's appeasing attitude toward the aggressors drew protests and
> demonstrations by the Serbs from Presevo Valley on Dec. 13. Thousands of
> angry Serbs blocked key roads near Kosovo today, demanding that the
> authorities drive out the ethnic Albanian militants entrenched in the area,
> the New York Times reported on Dec. 14. Some 3,000 people used cars,
> trucks and tractors to close roads into and out of Bujanovac and the rail
> line, and all roads that link Serbia to Macedonia and Greece.
>
> So now Kostunica and Djindjic have their own people rising up against them
> with no Slobodan Milosevic around any more to take the blame.
>
> Furthermore, Kostunica's willingness to prostrate himself and his country
> before NATO lower than even Djindjic was prepared to do was not lost on the
> KFOR leaders. Yesterday, they told Belgrade what its leaders' meekness
> asked for - butt out! Brig. Gen. Dennis E. Hardy, the American who
> commands peacekeepers, including 6,000 American troops, in the eastern part
> of Kosovo, said in an interview published Dec. 15 by the New York Times
> that, NATO "would not tolerate Serbian police or army use of force to
> reassert control of a three-mile-wide buffer zone along Kosovo's eastern
> border that ethnic Albanian rebels control."
>
> No surprise there. As eyewitnesses in the area have already reported to
> TiM, the U.S. troops are virtual accomplices of the Albanian terrorists,
> having been seen to provide logistical support for the rebel operations
> (see "Kosovo Eyewitness: American Troops Aided Albanian Rebels Who Killed
> Four Serb Policemen," Nov. 29, 2000).
>
> But don't take our word for it. Here's what the Kosovo Albanian
> recently-elected leader, Ibrahim Rugova, said in a Dec. 11 interview with
> the German Der Spiegel (The Mirror) magazine:
>
> "Thanks to the presence of KFOR peacekeeping troops, NATO's support and the
> UN's reconstruction assistance Kosovo today is de facto
> independent." Later in the interview, Rugova also added, "NATO is already
> our (Albanian) private army. But in the future we will share responsibility
> and also develop an army of our own as a protective power."
>
> So the new Serb leaders are appealing for help from the foreign troops that
> the Kosovo Albanian leader calls their "private army!" Is there any wonder
> the Serbs of the Presevo Valley are rising up against such Belgrade "leaders?"
>
> As if that was not demeaning enough, asked by the Times whether the Serb
> forces could flush out the Albanian in a quick clean operation, a Western
> diplomat added insult to injury by replying, "I don't think the Serbian
> forces are capable of that." Or was it realism? Because the Albanian
> rebels are certainly treating the Serb posturing as empty threats.
>
> Violence flared anew on Friday (Dec. 15). NATO spokesman said two cars in
> the southern (Bujanovac) part of the zone carrying Serbs were raked with
> gunfire Friday (Dec. 15), leaving one of the occupants wounded in the
> arm. The two targeted cars then drove to a crossing into Kosovo and the
> wounded man was treated by U.S. soldiers, a spokesman for the American
> peacekeepers, Maj. Jim Marshall, said in a statement.
>
> And in a report suggesting tensions might be spreading, locals in the
> northern part of the zone, near Kursumlija, said Albanian militants shot at
> a Serb-populated village late Friday (Dec. 15). It was the first such
> incident reported in the north. The villagers told police they had seen
> Albanian rebels digging trenches in the region. The shootings occurred
> even as Serbs lifted their barricades on roads along the tense border with
> Kosovo after a personal appeal by Kostunica.
>
> Meanwhile, the governments of Yugoslavia and of Serbia, its main republic,
> met today (Dec 16) in Bujanovac - on the edge
> of the tense region - and threatened tough action unless NATO peacekeepers
> and U.N. officials running Kosovo clamp down on the insurgents, according
> to a Dec. 16 Associated Press report.
>
> The commander of the Serb Third Army reported that ethnic Albanian
> militants are seeking to export their independence war from Kosovo into a
> neighboring Serbian area are assembling military hardware for a major
> offensive later this month, according to a Dec. 16 Associated Press
> report. Speaking before the meeting, Lt. Gen. Vladimir Lazarevic said his
> military intelligence was reporting a rebel offensive planned for Dec. 27
> by "several thousand terrorists."
>
> "They are fixing up bridges, improving their communications, and bringing
> in ... mortars and howitzers," said Lazarevic.
>
> The U.N. Security Council is to meet Tuesday to discuss the latest Balkan
> flashpoint. If it fails to produce an efficient plan and action, Yugoslavia
> will "invoke its legitimate right to solve the problem itself, with the use
> of all internationally permitted measures to fight terrorism," the
> Bujanovac declaration said.

(...)
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>
>

INIZIATIVE CONGIUNTE SUI FATTI DI PRESEVO

YUGOSLAV AND SERBIAN GOVERNMENTS ADOPT DECLARATION ON SOUTHERN SERBIA
BUJANOVAC, Dec 16 (Tanjug) The Yugoslav and Serbian governments
held a joint session in southern Serbia (Yugoslavia) on Saturday and
adopted a declaration on the crisis created by ethnic Albanian terrorist
raids from UNrun KosovoMetohija.
The closeddoor session was attended by Yugoslav President Vojislav
Kostunica.
It was decided that a joint coordinating body be set up to deal
with developments in southern Serbia's troubled Bujanovac, Presevo, and
Medvedja municipalities, and the buffer zone that separates KosovoMetohija
from the rest of Serbia, TANJUG learns.
YUGOSLAV AND SERBIAN GOVERNMENTS SET UP BODY FOR SOUTHERN SERBIA
CRISIS
BUJANOVAC, Dec 16 (Tanjug) The Serbian and Yugoslav governments
on Saturday appointed Serbian VicePremier Nebojsa Covic to head a joint
coordinating body to deal with the crisis created by ethnic Albanian
terrorist raids from U.N.run KosovoMetohija on southern Serbia (Yugoslavia).
The two governments held a joint session in Bujanovac, southern
Serbia, just outside the buffer zone that separates KosovoMetohija from the
rest of this Yugoslav republic.
According to TANJUG's sources, Yugoslav Minister for Minorities
and Ethnic Communities Rasim Ljajic has been appointed deputy chairman of
the 15member body which will coordinate government and political measures
for dealing with the crisis.
The other members are secretary in the Yugoslav Defence Ministry
Milovan Coguric, Serbian CoMinisters of the Interior Bozo Prelevic,
Slobodan Tomovic, Stevan Nikcevic, CoMinisters of Justice Dragan Subasic,
Zoran Nikolic, and Sead Spahovic, and CoMinisters of Information Biserka
Matic, Ivica Dacic, and Bogoljub Pejcic.
Also on the coordinating body are Serbian Minister for Local
SelfRule Veljko Odalovic, Assistant Yugoslav Interior Minister Milisav
Markovic, and a representative of the Yugoslav information secretariat, to
be appointed at a later date.

PROTESTA DEI SERBI A GORAZDEVAC

SERBS PROTEST IN KOSOVOMETOHIJA TOWN
GORAZDEVAC, Dec 15 (Tanjug) Serbs in Gorazdevac, near Pec,
KosovoMetohija, held a rally Friday in protest against the arrest and trial
of town resident Veselin Besovic before an ethnic Albanian court presided
by a Spanish judge.
Besovic was condemned to 3 years and 4 months for alleged armed
robbery. He was arrested a few weeks ago in Gorazdevac, after he reported
to UNMIK police the theft of wood on his land by a group of ethnic Albanians.
However, the group brought false charges against Besovic for armed
robbery and he was tried in a court where everyone but the presiding judge
were ethnic Albanians judges, prosecutors, lawyers and clerks, the
protesters said.
Gorazdevac residents are signing a petition to be presented to the
court and all international institutions in KosovoMetohija, as well as to
relevant Serbian and Yugoslav institutions.

SERBO FERITO NELLA ZONA-CUSCINETTO

SERB WOUNDED IN BUFFER ZONE ACROSS FROM U.N.RUN KOSOVOMETOHIJA
GNJILANE, Dec 16 (Tanjug) A Serb was wounded in an armed attack
late on Friday in the buffer zone that separates U.N.administered
KosovoMetohija from the rest of Serbia (Yugoslavia).
Zoran Mitrovic of Partes, near Gnjilane, southern Serbia, was
wounded when the car he was driving was peppered with bullets at Mucibaba
on the PresevoGnjilane road. His two passengers escaped unscathed,
according to amateur radio operators' reports.

LA TURCHIA "CONTROLLA" IL CONFINE TRA FYROM ED ALBANIA

TURKISH TROOPS TO CONTROL MACEDONIANALBANIAN BORDER
SKOPLJE, Dec 15 (Tanjug) Macedonian and Turkish Foreign Ministers
Srdjan Kerim and Ismail Cem will meet in Brussels to discuss a possible
deployment of Turkish troops to control the MacedonianAlbanian border, the
Skoplje daily Dnevnik writes Friday.
Turkey and Macedonia will attach a great importance to military
cooperation as part of the overall development of bilateral relations, the
daily writes quoting Turkish sources in NATO.
Ankara and Skoplje already have close cooperation in defense.
Turkish military experts have been training Macedonian army and police
officers.
Turkey's aid in border security is very important for Macedonia at
present, as there have been reports on the smuggling of arms by Albanian
extremists who have infiltrated southern Serbia.
Arms, military equipment and terrorists from Albania and
KosovoMetohija are being transported illegally through Macedonia's
territory to southern Serbia, sources in Skoplje said.

MESSAGGIO DI KOSTUNICA AGLI ABITANTI DI BUJANOVAC

YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE TO INHABITANTS OF BUJANOVAC
BUJANOVAC, Dec. 15 (Tanjug) The inhabitants of Bujanovac,
southern Serbia, on Friday received a message from Yugoslav President
Vojislav Kostunica who informed them that he had received assurances from
KFOR commander, General Carlo Cabigiosu, that KFOR would exert pressure so
that the terrorist gangs in the land security zone are finally disbanded.
In the message, read out to the citizens by Serbian transitional
Vice Premier Nebojsa Covic, Kostunica said that the KFOR commander had told
him that "NATO is seriously considering ways how to support the Yugoslav
government and help it fully realize its rights over a territory over which
it has undisputed sovereignty."
Covic told the gathered people that the state, police and army
have done everything to ensure their maximum protection and safety. He
informed them about the proposals for the resolution of the problems in
this part of Serbia and called on them to lift the barricades, which was
loudly accepted.
The federal and Serbia governments will meet in Bujanovac on
Saturday and set up a information centre in this town, Covic set out also
promising help for the local radio.
Covic stated that the police received new tasks to stop the
smuggling and acquisition of wealth "from the blood of the people."

RIMOSSE TUTTE LE BARRICATE

ALL BARRICADES IN BUJANOVAC REGION LIFTED
BUJANOVAC, Dec. 15 (Tanjug) All barricades in the region of
Bujanovac, southern Serbia, were removed at 1:15 p.m. local time on Friday
and all routes, including the highway and railway towards Skopje, are now
open, police sources told Tanjug.
The action released, after two days and two nights, some 800
trucks, including six cisterns carrying heating oil for the city of Cacak
and two trucks with Yugoslav Red Cross aid for the people of Presevo.
The local population of Bujanovac and the Kosovo Morava River
region, which erected the blockades on Wednesday, made three main demands
for their lifting: the immediate withdrawal of the ethnic Albanian
terrorists from the occupied ares, the opening of the GnjilaneBujanovac
road and that Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica comes to Bujanovac once
more to talk with them.
Serbian CoPremier Nebojsa Covic and Information CoMinister Biserka
Matic arrived in the region on Thursday evening. They held meetings with
the local authorities and representatives of the citizens throughout the
night and on Friday morning.
After agreement was reached at midday, all roads and railways were
deblocked in only one hour.

LA ALBRIGHT CONDANNA I SUOI ALLEATI

ALBRIGHT CONDEMNS ETHNIC ALBANIAN EXTREMISTS
BRUSSELS, Dec 15 (Tanjug) U.S. State Secretary Madeleine Albright
said on Thursday at the session of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels that
all NATO members condemn ethnic Albanian extremist activities in the
Presevo valley.
Albright stressed that the NATO states join Yugoslav President
Vojislav Kostunica in condemning activities by armed ethnic Albanian
extremists in the Presevo valley.
She pointed out that the chief task of KFOR is to help the U.N.
mission secure respect for Security Council Resolution 1244.

ROBERTSON CONDANNA I SUOI ALLEATI

ROBERTSON: NATO WILL ACT RESOLUTELY AGAINST EXTREMISTS
BRUSSELS, Dec 15 (Tanjug) NATO SecretaryGeneral George Roberston
said on Thursday at the close of the first day of work of the Ministerial
Council in Brussels that KFOR and NATO would act resolutely and severely to
stop the violence of ethnic Albanian armed extremists.
At the same time, ties with the Yugoslav Army within the joint
commission for the implementation of the Military Technical Agreement of
Kumanovo will be expanded, he said.
Robertson warned that a small group of hotheads in the security
zone in the Presevo valley in southern Serbia would not be allowed to
provoke an aggravation of conflicts.
Chances for peace have been increased with the arrival of new
Yugoslav President Vojislav kostunica and the elections called for late
next week, he said, much more than it was the case in the past decade, as
well as prospects for strengthening stability and prosperity in the entire
region and a new beginning for Serbia and its people.
For its part, NATO wants to expand cooperation with the democratic
government in Yugoslavia and build friendly relations, Robertson said. The
first signs of such relations were observed in our recent contacts woth the
new Yugoslav government, he said.

TRAFFICI DI ARMI

ARMS DELIVERED TO SERBIA FROM ALBANIA AND KOSOVO KFOR GENERAL
SKOPJE, Dec 15 (Tanjug) KFOR Headquarters Rear Major General
Volker Loew said on Thursday that there are indications that arms for the
socalled Liberation Army of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja arrive in
southern Serbia from Albania, but also from Kosovo via Macedonia.
Maj. Gen. Loew told a press conference in Skopje that Macedonian
security forces are undertaking measures to prevent illegal arms
deliveries, but they cannot seal the border. He could not state the exact
number of the Serbian forces in the Presevo valley, but stressed that they
absolutely respect the Kumanovo Agreement.
Commenting the statement of the KFOR commander, Macedonian Defense
Ministry spokesman Djordji Trendafilov said that the Macedonian army is
undertaking all measures in keeping with regulations to secure the border.
He added that an additional number of troops were guarding the northern
border, with Kosovo, especially the directions from which attacks could be
expected.
The Macedonian army defends the border line, but controls a border
belt which is 100 metres wide, the spokesman said.
Television Telma of Skopje said in a news broadcast on Thursday
that it had learned from reliable sources that not only arms are being
smuggled into the Presevo valley in southern Serbia from Albania and Kosovo
via Macedonia, but also persons who are then recruited for the socalled
Liberation Army of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja.
Large quantities of arms were smuggled over Macedonian territory
into southern Serbia already at the time when the disarming of the socalled
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) had been announced, the Telma sources said.

L'UNMIK NON RICONOSCE LE ELEZIONI SERBE IN KOSMET

UNMIK WILL NOT ORGANIZE VOTING OF SERBS IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
PRISTINA, Dec 15 (Tanjug) United Nations Interim Administration
Mission in Kosovo and Metohija chief Bernard Kouchner said on Thursday that
UNMIK would not organize elections for Serbian parliament in this southern
Serbian province.
However, he said the U.N. mission would ensure safety if Kosovo
Serbs went to the polls on Dec 23, as they did during the Yugoslav
parliamentary and presidential elections in September.
Kouchner said UNMIK would provide security for everyone, Serbs and
ethnic Albanians, but stressed that UNMIK would not have any observers at
the elections.
The UNMIK observers will not monitor anything, he said. "We'll
just ensure the maximum of security," Kouchner told reporters.
At the federal elections, UNMIK had an observer team of 300
members who only tried to check the turnout.
NO INCIDENTS AT BUFFER ZONE DEMARCATION LINE NEAR BUJANOVAC
BUJANOVAC, Dec 15 (Tanjug) There were no armed provocations by
ethnic Albanian terrorists in the demilitarized buffer zone near Bujanovac
on Thursday, overnight, or Friday morning, wellinformed circles told Tanjug.
The terrorists infiltrated the zone in southern Serbia proper from
Kosovo and Metohija province and temporarily seized a part of the Bujanovac
municipality, several villages from which many ethnic Albanians, mostly
young people, had fled to escape mobilization by the terrorists.
The situation in Bujanovac and the wider area is extremely
complex, and the people are apprehensive because of the uncertainty as to
its outcome.

12 ALBANESI ARRESTATI

KFOR ARREST 12 ALBANIANS
PRISTINA, Dec 15 (Tanjug) International force KFOR
representatives said on Thursday that their troops arrested 12 Albanians
and that five of them are suspected of belonging to the socalled Liberation
Army of Presevo, Medvedja, and Bujanovac which infiltrated Serbian
territory last month.
KFOR military police intercepted a vehicle with these men near
Gnjilane, close to the administrative border of Kosovo and Metohija
province and Serbia proper.
The statement said it was not certain yet whether the KFOR police
would open an investigation against them.
Within an action of monitoring and controlling the zone along the
provincial boundary, KFOR in the past week seized arms and arrested several
Albanians suspected of terrorist incursions into Serbia proper last month.

ANCORA BLOCCATE PER PROTESTA
LE VIE DI COMUNICAZIONE PRESSO BUJANOVAC

RAIL AND ROAD TRAFFIC IN SOUTHERN SERBIA STILL BLOCKED
BUJANOVAC, Dec 15 (Tanjug) Serbs from the Pcinj district and
their compatriots expelled from KosovoMetohija continued the blockade,
started near Bujanovac on Wednesday, of the railway and highway leading to
Macedonia and Greece.
The Serbs blocked the road in protest against the incursion by
ethnic Albanian terrorists into the Bujanovac municipality, southern
Serbia, a month ago. The terrorist remain in the area.
Apart from the railroad and highway linking Belgrade with Salonica
via Nis and Skopje, the Serbs have blocked several regional and local roads
near Bujanovac.
They claim they are determined to maintain the barricades until
the ethnic Albanians are pushed back from southern Serbia.
The protesters are also demanding the opening to traffic of the
regional road linking Bujanovac and Gnjilane, seized by the ethnic
Albanians, and to meet with Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica.
Serbian transitional government VicePremier Nebojsa Covic is in
Vranje and Bujanovac where he is trying to reach an agreement with the
local residents on removing the barricades.

SALTA IN ARIA UNA CASA SERBA

SERB HOUSE IN KLOKOT BLOWN UP
KOSOVSKA VITINA, Dec 15 (Tanjug) The house of Serb Dusan
Vlatkovic in Klokot village, municipality of Kosovska Vitina, was razed in
an explosion late Thursday, amateur radio operators reported from crisis
areas of Serbia's southern Kosovo and Metohija province early on Friday.
Representatives of Vitina Serbs had repeatedly warned
international force KFOR representatives that they had knowledge that
Vlatkovic's house would be targeted by ethnic Albanian extremists. Many
other Serb houses in the territory of this municipality have already been
blown up.
The responsible KFOR authorities, however, ignored these warnings
and ethnic Albanian extremists succeeded in destroying yet another Serb
house with planted explosives, the report said.

E' HEAKKERUP IL SUCCESSORE DI KOUCHNER

RUSSIAN EXPECTATIONS FROM NEW UNMIK CHIEF HEAKKERUP
MOSCOW, Dec. 13 (Tanjug) Russia expects from the new head of the
U.N. civilian mission in KosovoMetohija (UNMIK), Hans Heakkerup, to
strictly respect all provisions of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244
primarily the principle of the territorial entirety of the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia, Moscow said on Wednesday.
The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed hope that Heakkerup will
make maximum efforts to avoid all the mistakes of his predecessor Bernard
Kouchner whose replacement Moscow demanded on several occasions.
In the realization of his mission Heakkerup should establish
"constructive relations with the new democratic authorities in Yugoslavia
regarding all political, humanitarian and military issues," the Russian
Foreign Ministry said.
Kouchner totally lost credibility by ignoring Resolution 1244 and
by supporting the actions of the Kosovo Albanians which basically aim to
undermine the sovereignty and territorial entirety of Yugoslavia, the
Russian Foreign Ministry said.

SERBO DESAPARECIDO

SERB DISAPPEARS, BELIEVED KIDNAPPED BY KOSOVO ALBANIAN TERRORISTS
BUJANOVAC, Dec 14 (Tanjug) Zoran Stankovic of Rakovac village has
gone missing in Bujanovac, local police and Bujanovac Mayor Stojanca Arsic
confirmed to Tanjug on Thursday.
Stankovic was last seen when he set off from Bujanovac for Veliki
Trnovac village on a motorcycle on Saturday, Dec 9. Since he disappeared on
this road, it is believed that he has been kidnapped by ethnic Albanian
terrorists, the sources said. An investigation is under way.

BLOCCHI STRADALI PRESSO BUJANOVAC

ROADS IN SOUTHERN SERBIA STILL UNDER BLOCKADE
BUJANOVAC, Dec 14 (Tanjug) Serbs of Bujanovac and Vranje and
those expelled from Kosovo and Metohija province who have found temporary
haven in these two southern Serbian municipalities maintained their
blockade of roads in southern Serbia on Wednesday night as well, Bujanovac
Mayor Stojanca Arsic said in a statement for Tanjug.
The Serbs, who have set up six road blocks, demand the expulsion
of the Kosovo Albanian terrorists, who have seized several villages in
southern Serbia, and the opening of the trunk road from Bujanovac to
Gnjilane for free and safe traffic.
Arsic specified that the blockades are on the highway section
linking Vranje and Presevo leading to the YugoslavMacedonian border, the
trunk roads toward Gnjilane and the St. Prohor Pcinjski monastery, and the
old road to Vranje and Nis.
He said long lines of stranded vehicles were stretching along the
highway. The protesting Serbs allow only ambulances and other emergency
cases to pass.
The Serbs claim they will not remove the road blocks until the
ethnic terrorists are pushed out of southern Serbia and normal traffic is
secured between Bujanovac and the Kosovo and Metohija town of Gnjilane.

PROVOCAZIONI A LUCANI

KOSOVO ALBANIAN TERRORISTS OPEN FIRE AT SERBIAN POLICE IN LUCANI
BELGRADE, Dec 14 (Tanjug) Ethnic Albanian terrorists opened
automatic fire at positions held by Serbian police in Lucani from the very
line of the security zone just after 0615 hrs Wednesday, sources close to
the Serbian Interior Ministry confirmed to Tanjug late Wednesday.
There have been no reports of casualties among the Serbian police.
The police acted in keeping with the ceasefire and did not

PROTESTA DEI SERBI DI BUJANOVAC

TRAFFIC IN SOUTHERN SERBIA STILL BLOCKED OVER SERB PROTESTS
BUJANOVAC, Dec 14 (Tanjug) International road and railway traffic
in southern Serbia toward Macedonia and Greece is still paralysed due to a
blockade of the highway and railway line at Bujanovac.
Bujanovac Mayor Stojanca Arsic has told Tanjug that Serbs set up
also six barricades around Bujanovac, so that traffic on several trunk and
local roads is also blocked.
More than 2,000 Serbs of Bujanovac and Vranje and those expelled
from Kosovo and Metohija province blocked the highway at Bujanovac shortly
after noon on Wednesday with heavy vehicles, and then also the railway
tracks on the route BelgradeNisVranjeSkopjeSalonika.
Traffic on the highway section linking Macedonia and Vranje, and
the border crossing at the St. Prohor Pcinjski monastery is also blocked.
Lines of stranded vehicles stretch for several kilometres along
the highway. Serbs holding the barricades allow only ambulances and other
emergency cases to pass.
Groups of Serbs kept watch at the roadblocks all night. They
warmed themselves by lighting fires and making tea, and citizens of
Bujanovac brought them sandwiches and other food.
The Serbs claim they will not remove the road blocks until their
demands are met the withdrawal of ethnic Albanian terrorist bands from
southern Serbia, strict implementation of United Nations Security Council
Resolution 1244, the reopening of road traffic on the BujanovacGnjilane
route which has been blocked by ethnic Albanian extremists, and a meeting
with Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica to acquaint him directly with
the situation. respond to this attack, the sources said.

SERBO UCCISO A KOSOVSKA VITINA

SERB MURDERED IN UNADMINISTERED KOSOVOMETOHIJA
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Dec 14 (Tanjug) A Serb was gunned down
outside a shop owned by an ethnic Albanian in the Serbian (Yugoslav)
UNadministered KosovoMetohija province late on Wednesday, according to
reports in Kosovska Mitrovica on Thursday.
The Serb, Milorad Krstic, aged 55, was shot from a pistol in
Kosovska Vitina, eastern KosovoMetohija, where he had moved after being
driven by ethnic Albanian extremists from his native Urosevac.
Since a month ago, he was working as a watchman in the local UN
Mission (UNMIK) office.

COMMENTI SULLA VITTORIA DI BUSH

> http://sg.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/world/article.html?s=singapore/headlines/001214/world/afp/Bush_victory_worries_Kosovo_Albanians.html

Thursday, December 14 6:52 PM SGT
Bush victory worries Kosovo Albanians
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Dec 14 (AFP) -

Kosovo Albanian commentators expressed concern Thursday that the victory of
George W. Bush in the US presidential election may cost them a vital ally in
their struggle for independence.
"In Kosovo, there is a fear of a Bush administration," said an editorial in
the daily Zeri, "Albanians fear that Bush will name in his cabinet allies of
his father who have urged that the United States distance itself completely
from the Balkans and leave policy in the area to Europe."
Two officials from George Bush senior's administration tipped to hold top
posts in his son's new government, probable Secretary of State Colin Powell
and expected National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice are "extremist
conservatives who do not believe in America's interventionist
foreign policy and are opposed to its participation in peacekeeping," the
paper said.
In late October at the height of the US election campaign, Rice told the New
York Times that a Bush administration would pull out of peacekeeping
operations in Bosnia-Hercegovina and Kosovo.
With 8,600 troops in Kosovo and neighbouring Macedonia, the United States is
by far the largest single contributor to the 44,000 strong NATO-led KFOR
peacekeeping force.
KFOR has been responsible for the security of the breakaway province since the
end of the 1998-1999 conflict between ethnic Albanian sepaprtist rebels and
Yugoslav security forces.
Kosovo's Albanian majority regards the continuing US presence as their best
guarantee against the return of the forces of Belgrade, which continues to
insist on its sovereignty over the territory.
"With calls for the removal of US forces from Europe, the Albanian question
could be left in the hands of European states traditionally closer to the
Slavs," notably France, Zeri warned.
But the main Kosovo Albanian parties, who all back independence, were less
dismayed by the US result. Hajredin Kuqi, the vice-president of the Democratic
Party of Kosovo (PDK) which sprang from the guerrilla movement, dismissed
Rice's intervention as an "electoral tactic."
And Skender Hyseni, spokesman for Kosovo's largest party the Democratic League
of Kosovo (LDK), told AFP: "We are expecting US policy to show continuity as
long as the problems here are unresolved."
Bujar Dugolli, a member of the ruling council of the Alliance for the Future
of Kosovo (AAK) whose leader Ramush Haradinaj is in close and regular contact
with US officials, said "The Americans have spent too much money in Kosovo to
pull out now."
The main US military base in Kosovo, Camp Bondsteel, is the largest
constructed by the United States since the Vietnam war. Contractors employed
to build some of its facilities told AFP they had been told it had to last for
at least 15 years.

UN COMPITO INGRATO PER HEAKKERUP

NEW UNMIK ADMINISTRATOR WILL HAVE DIFFICULT JOB
BELGRADE, Dec 13 (Tanjug) Danish Defence Minister Hans Heakkerup,
who succeeds U.N. administrator in KosovoMetohija Bernard Kouchner, will
have a difficult job but "we are ready to help him in every way," Yugoslav
Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic said on Wednesday in Belgrade after
meeting with his Danish counterpart Niels Helveg Petersen.
Svilanovic told a joint press conference that the talks with
Petersen are an introduction into future cooperation between the Yugoslav
and Danish governments, as well as with UNMIK.
Stressing that he has cooperated with Haekkerup for a long time,
Petersen said that the U.N. secretarygeneral has made a wise choice in
selecting the new UNMIK chief. The Danish foreign minister said that
Haekkerup is well trained for this job, well acquainted with the Balkan
region and is preparing extensively for the job of administrator of
Serbia's southern province.
Talking about his first visit to Belgrade, Petersen said that he
is impressed how quickly Yugoslavia is reintegrating in the international
community, illustrating this with Yugoslavia's membership in the United
Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),
its efforts to join the Council of Europe and talks on future relations
with the E.U.

PRESA DI POSIZIONE DEL GOVERNO

SERBIAN GOVERNMENT DEMANDS EXPULSION OF TERRORISTS FROM SECURITY ZONE
BELGRADE, Dec 12 (Tanjug) The Serbian government assessed at its
session Tuesday that the security situation in the Presevo, Bujanovac and
Medvedja municipalities in southern Serbia is very serious and demanded
that KFor and UNMIK honour their commitments and secure the expulsion of
ethnic Albanian terrorists from the buffer zone, the premier's cabinet said
in a statement.
The latest attacks by ethnic Albanian terrorists constitute a
fresh escalation of endangering the country's sovereignty and territorial
integrity, as a consequence of systematic nonimplementation and violations
of the Security Council Resolution 1244 and the Kumanovo MilitaryTechnical
Agreement, the statement says.
Ethnic Albanian terrorists, whose numbers in the buffer zone are
constantly growing, are a factor of a dangerous security crisis and
endanger people and territory, Serbia's transitional government stressed.
KFor and UNMIK are entirely responsible for the present situation,
as they have allowed terrorists to infiltrate the security zone unhindered,
the government said.
The Serbian government demands that the Yugoslav federal
government and other Yugoslav institutions insist with the UN Security
Council that KFor and UNMIK carry out their tasks and secure the expulsion
of ethnic Albanian terrorists from the security zone in the interest of
peace and safety of all residents of the area.
The Serbian government insists that the federal government demand
from the Security Council that KFor and UNMIK immediately cut off the
sources of terrorism, dismantle terrorist centres and training bases, and
disarm and completely dismantle the terrorist organization and its
infrastructure in KosovoMetohija in line with the Article 15 of the
Resolution 1244, the statement says.

NESSUN INCIDENTE

SOUTHERN SERBIA SPENDS INCIDENTFREE NIGHT
BUJANOVAC, Dec 13 (Tanjug) Ethnic Albanian terrorists provoked no
incidents on Tuesday, during the night or on Wednesday morning in the
buffer zone between U.N.run KosovoMetohija and the rest of Serbia
(Yugoslavia), wellinformed sources in Bujanovac say.
No terrorist operations have been reported since ethnic Albanian
extremists opened fire from the villages of Sveti Ilija and Ravno Bucje in
the evening of Dec. 11.
The terrorists had opened automatic fire and fired four mortar
shells on a Serbian police patrol at the village of Cestelin. The police
returned fire.
There were no police casualties in the incident.

MALUMORI DEI SERBI DI BUJANOVAC

SERBS FROM BUJANOVAC, KOSOVO DEMAND OUSTING OF
TERRORISTS BUJANOVAC,
Dec. 13 (Tanjug) Over 2,000 Serbs from Bujanovac, Presevo Valley,
and persons temporarily displaced from KosovoMetohija who found refuge in
this area, protested in the centre of the town on Wednesday demanding that
the ethnic Albanian terrorists who seized several villages in southern
Serbia are immediately ousted and that the BujanovacGnjilane regional road
linking Serbia proper and its southern province is opened to free and
unimpeded traffic.
The protesters demanded from the state organs to help liberate the
occupied territory near Bujanovac and that problems in KosovoMetohija are
resolved in keeping with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244.
They also demanded to meet with Yugoslav President Vojislav
Kostunica who visited Bujanovac, Medvedja and Presevo all located along
the administrative border with KosovoMetohija, some ten days ago.
The protesting Serbs blocked the BujanovacPresevo road in the
direction of the YugoslavMacedonian border to the south and the Serbian
cities of Vranje and Nis to the north.

RUGOVA PARLA CON TUTTI TRANNE CHE CON I SERBI

ETHNIC ALBANIAN LEADER SAYS WILLING TO TALK WITH WORLD, NOT SERBIA
BERLIN, Dec 13 (Tanjug) KosovoMetohija's ethnic Albanian leader
is quoted on Wednesday as saying ethnic Albanians would negotiate on the
Serbian province's independence with the international community, and
Serbia was allowed to attend.
Ibrahim Rugova, who heads the Democratic League of Kosovo, told
Germany's DPA news agency in Pristina, KosovoMetohija, it was to be seen
how far the Belgrade government would be democratic and cooperate with the
West.
Rugova urged the Serbian government to consider a peaceful
settlement for the conflict in southern Serbia, instead of "making matters
worse and raising tensions between (ethnic) Albanian rebels and the Serbian
police".
What Rugova calls "Albanian rebels" are terrorists who daily shoot
without provocation at lightly armed Serbian police in the buffer zone that
separates U.N.administered KosovoMetohija from the rest of Serbia
(Yugoslavia).

NOTTE QUIETA DOPO LA SPARATORIA

SOUTH SERBIA SPENDS QUIET NIGHT AFTER ETHNIC ALBANIAN ATTACK ON
POLICE
VRANJE, Dec 12 (Tanjug) Southern Serbia spent a quiet night after
Monday evening's ethnic Albanian terrorist attacks on Serbian police.
After several days of calm, ethnic Albanian terrorists late on
Monday resumed operations from the demilitarised zone between U.N.
administered KosovoMetohija and the rest of Serbia (Yugoslavia), opening
fire on a Serbian police patrol, but causing no casualties.
The terrorists, who had come from KosovoMetohija, first opened
automatic fire from the village of Sveti Ilija, and then fired four mortar
shells from the direction of the village of Ravno Bucje, on the police
patrol in the Cestelin hills northwest of Vranje.
The police returned fire, putting an end to the
incident. Expectations that the nationalist extremists of ethnic
Albanian terrorist hardline leader Hashim Thaci would discontinue armed
operations for the duration of the Ramadan holidays have not materialised.
Instead, they have spread their operations to the Vranje
municipality deeper in southern Serbia.
Cestelin is notorious for its World War II fierce and protracted
battles between partisans and Nazi Germany's ethnic Albanian allies.

PASTORE SERBO FERITO

ETHNIC ALBANIANS WOUND SERB SHEPHERD
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Dec. 11 (Tanjug) Borislav Orkovic, 70, a Serb
from the village of Gornji Strmac close to Kosovska Mitrovica, was wounded
on Sunday afternoon while tending his cattle some 150 metres from his
house, Tanjug learned on Monday from Serb sources.
Orlovic was shot from the nearby forest which belongs to a
neighbouring ethnic Albanian village.
Orlovic was then taken by cattle wagon to the Serb hospital in the
northern part of the ethnically divided Kosovska Mitrovica where he was
operated upon on Sunday evening. He is out of danger.
The attack on Orlovic is only one in a series carried out over the
past few weeks in the zone controlled by the Dutch peacekeepers.

ATTACCO CONTRO POLIZIOTTI

ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORISTS SHOOT AT SERBIAN POLICE
BELGRADE, Dec 12 (Tanjug) Ethnic Albanian terrorists on Monday
opened automatic fire on a Serbian police patrol from the village of Sveti
Ilija in the buffer zone that separates UNrun KosovoMetohija from the rest
of Serbia (Yugoslavia), a report said late on Monday.
According to Serbian state radio and television RTS, the police
returned fire, after which the terrorists fired four mortar shells from the
direction of the village of Ravno Gucje.
There were no casualties among the police.

UN MORTO ED UN FERITO

ONE SERB KILLED, ANOTHER ONE SERIOUSLY INJURED
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Dec 11 (Tanjug) One Serb, 19, was killed and
his cousin was seriously injured in a Monday explosion of a mine laid by
ethnic Albanian terrorists on a local road in northern KosovoMetohija.
Srdjan Tomasevic was killed on Monday near Suvo Grlo village in
Srbica municipality, and his cousin Stevan Tomasevic was taken to Spanish
hospital of KFor in Istok.
Executive Board of Srbice municipality President Slavica Jaredic,
who has toured the village together with KFor troops, told Tanjug that the
local residents of Suvo Grlo and Banja villages are desperate and urge the
state and the international peace forces to be more energetic in resolving
this problem, because Srdjan Tomasevic is the 6th victim from these two
villages since the deployment of KFor in KosovoMetohija.

BOMBA CONTRO ABITAZIONE SERBA

BOMB ON SERBIAN HOUSE
GNJILANE, Dec 12 (Tanjug) A bomb was thrown on the house of Djora
Milosevic, a Serb, in Gnjilane, eastern Kosovo, late on Monday, the
Gnjilane Church Council has said.
The strong blast damaged the house, but fortunately there were no
casualties.

DUE BAMBINI ARSI VIVI IN UN ROGO A MITROVICA

TWO CHILDREN BURN TO DEATH IN FIRE IN KOSOVO
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Dec. 12 (Tanjug) A fire, which broke out
early on Tuesday in the house of the Serb family of Dragos and Dragica
Radojevic in the northern part of the ethnically divided (Serb) part of the
city of Kosovska Mitrovica, killed fouryearold Pavle and threeyearold Ruzica.

VIOLENZA IN CRESCITA

VIOLENCE IN KOSOVOMETOHIJA ON THE RISE
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Dec. 12 (Tanjug) Following several months of
calm in the region of Kosovska Mitrovica, in the past week several
incidents took place and violence and crime are on the rise in both ethnic
communities (Serb and ethnic Albanian) in KosovoMetohija, the spokesman of
the U.N. mission in KosovoMetohija (UNMIK), Frank Benjmisen, said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a press conference, Benjmisen called on the ethnic
Albanians and Serbs to comprehend the reality and stop the violence because
this is not the road which will lead them into Europe.
U.N. police spokesman Dag Ebestad confirmed on Monday that Srdjan
Tomasevic, 19, a Serb, was killed on Monday when his tractor activated an
antitank mine in central Kosovo, while Stefan Tomasevic and Vladimir Dobric
were seriously injured.
In a shootout on Monday afternoon in a cafe in Srbica, an ethnic
Albanian was injured and another arrested, Ebestad stated.
He confirmed that an ethnic Albanian house in the northern (Serb)
part of Kosovska Mitrovica burned down three days ago, and its owner was
declared missing.

1500 IRREDENTISTI ALBANESI ARMATI A BUJANOVAC

FEDERAL DEFENCE MINISTER: CRISIS IN SOUTHERN SERBIA IS COMPLEX
BELGRADE, December 7 (Tanjug) Deputies of the Chamber of the
Republics (upper house) of the Yugoslav parliament said at their session
Thursday that the crisis caused in southern Serbia by raids by ethnic
Albanian terrorists in the security zone was still very serious.
Yugoslav Defense Minister Slobodan Krapovic said that although the
tension was reduced in southern Serbia, the situation remained very complex.
According to available reports, there are about 1,500 ethnic
Albanian terrorists in the security zone, deployed mainly west of
Bujanovac, he said.
The terrorists are consolidating the positions they have taken and
recruiting and arming young ethnic Albanians from the Presevo and Bujanovac
areas, Krapovic said. Krapovic said that Yugoslav security forces
deployed along the 450 km long security zone are in control and are aware
of what is going on, except in two places a section connected to
Montenegro and a section controlled by US forces.
In all other areas, there is good cooperation between the police
and KFor, Krapovic said.
Underlining that incidents had occurred precisely in the zone
under the control of US forces, Krapovic said it was obvious that there was
specific international support behind the incidents.
Ethnic Albanian terrorists are expected to pursue provocations,
Krapovic said and noted that Yugoslav leadership and army did not give in
to the terrorist provocations, paving the way for settling the crisis by
diplomatic means.
All opportunities must be used on order to fully coordinate
diplomatic, political and military activities, Krapovic said.

ANCORA LETTERE AL CONSIGLIO DI SICUREZZA

YUGOSLAV PREMIER WRITES TO SECURITY COUNCIL
NEW YORK, December 7 (Tanjug) The latest developments in
KosovoMetohija clearly demonstrate that the situation there is
characterized not only by classic terrorist acts, but also by political
violence, which must be halted, Yugoslav Prime Minister Zoran Zizic said in
a letter to the UN Security Council President, Russian Ambassador Sergei
Lavrov.
The letter, presented to Lavrov by the Yugoslav Charge d'Affaires
at the UN Vladislav Mladenovic, points to the deteriorating situation in
the security zone in southern Serbia.
The following is the official text of the letter:
In their letters of 22 and 27 November 2000 addressed to your
predecessors, President of the FR of Yugoslavia Vojislav Kostunica and
Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Goran Svilanovic expressed deep
concern over the deterioration of the situation in the Ground Safety Zone
in the Presevo valley in southern Serbia. It is an uncontestable fact that,
despite their clear obligations under United Nations Security Council
resolution 1244 and the MilitaryTechnical Agreement, KFOR and UNMIK have
allowed large armed groups of Albanian terrorists from Kosovo and Metohija
to enter the Ground Safety Zone and carry out armed attacks, including by
heavy weapons, on lightly armed members of police. On that occasion 4
policemen and 1 civilian were killed, while 5 policemen were gravely or
lightly wounded. The local police were therefore compelled to abandon their
positions in the Ground Safety Zone which, under the provisions of the
MilitaryTechnical Agreement, they are obliged to control.
The Government of the FR of Yugoslavia, in anticipation of
adequate reaction by the Security Council and other influential
international factors, has taken urgent diplomatic steps aimed at calming
down the situation and requested the most responsible international
factors, primarily UNMIK and KFOR, to take appropriate measures in view of
their responsibilities under Security Council resolution 1244 and the
MilitaryTechnical Agreement. The Government leaned fully on the authority
of the Security Council and the condemnation of these terrorist acts by the
international community. However, it is its duty to note with regret that
the situation in the field has not changed and that there is no effective
prevention of the violation of Security Council resolution 1244 and the
MilitaryTechnical Agreement, i.e. that no measures are being taken to
compel the infiltrated armed groups to withdraw and disarm without delay.
The latest developments in Kosovo and Metohija indicate clearly
that not only cl<br/><br/>(Message over 64 KB, truncated)