Note: Place names rendered primarily in Serbian spelling
"It [Kosovo] is a political problem that needs a political solution...I am
optimistic that everyone has got the message. We are going to look very
carefully at some ideas we are getting from both sides..."
US Envoy Christopher Hill, quoted by Reuters - Pristina, 11/27/98
"We have no illusions about President Milosevic. We do not see him as a
guarantor of stability in Kosovo or elsewhere in the former Yugoslavia,
including Bosnia... Milosevic has been at the center of every crisis in the
former Yugoslavia over the last decade. He is not simply part of the problem;
Milosevic is the problem... I don't think we would lose any sleep if he passed
from the scene.
US State Department spokesman James Rubin -- Washington, 12/1/98
"I'm here to work on a negotiated settlement for Kosovo. I work with the
relevant people in this process and I will continue to do so."
US Envoy Christopher Hill, quoted by Reuters - Pristina, 12/3/98
I. DISPLACED PERSONS/ATTACKS ON CIVILIANS/HUMAN RIGHTS
Reuters reported Tuesday that "a key [Serbian police] position in
Kosovo
is frightening hundreds of ethnic Albanians from returning home.... Reporters
who visited Malisevo [central Kosovo]...saw only stray dogs, abandoned
livestock, international observers in conspicuous orange vehicles and some 20
heavily-armed Serb policemen standing behind sandbags. 'All Malisevo's
inhabitants are waiting in other villages and are asking us if the police have
left the town yet,' a passing aid worker told journalists." A Kosovo Diplomatic
Observer Mission (KDOM) report Tuesday noted that "sandbags protecting the
Malisevo police patrol have been removed."
A United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman today
said Malisevo "has become a symbol of fear among the displaced people of Kosovo
and a sign that all is not well in the Serbian province. Many of the houses in
Malisevo are habitable, but none of the residents are returning because they
fear the large police presence there."
Reuters reported Wednesday: "Relief agencies believe some 75,000 Kosovo
residents have returned home, a month after Serb military activity...eased
enough to persuade people to leave mountain shelters... At least another
175,000 refuse to leave safer areas fearing Serb police patrols on the main
roads, or have found their homes and farms too damaged to be reinhabited...
[United Nations High Commission for Refugees spokesman in Pristina] Fernando
del Mundo said 'the situation has improved a lot in the past month...But fear
persists and the returns are very, very tentative. The level of confidence is
not high.' "
The Kosovo Diplomatic Observer Mission noted November 28 that "a Mother
Theresa Society official says there are some 20,000 IDPs [internally displaced
persons] who may be prepared to return to 18 villages around Malisevo."
Independent news service ARTA (Pristina) reported November 30
"shooting...in the direction of dozens of Albanian villages...coming from the
stationed places of the Serb police/military forces in Volljake, Sferke,
Gremnik, Dollove, Gllareve, Jashanice, Grapc, and Bince [villages in the Klina
district, 35 miles west of Pristina]." ARTA November 27 noted "shooting from
different caliber weapons and frequent movements of Serb police and military
forces were witnessed again in the region of the municipality of Kline...[and]
it was aimed against the villages of Jashanice, Ozrim, Leskoc, and Kosh."
ARTA noted November 26 that "residents of the Grejcec village were
prevented from returning to their homes due to the large presence of the Serb
forces." ARTA November 29 cited a Koha Ditore correspondent stating that "the
Serb forces situated in Kijeve, in the periphery of Mlecan, and in Pishat e
Llozices, attacked the villages of Mlecan, Llozice and Belince...[also] Serb
forces stationed in Kijev and Quka e Gllareves shelled the villages of
Gllareve, Zabergje, Cerrovik, Rigjeve, and Doberdol [villages in the Klina
district]."
The Washington Post in a report yesterday cited continuing trials and
convictions of ethnic Albanians under a "chapter of the Yugoslav criminal code
barring involvement in terrorism...nearly two months after the government
acting at the insistence of the United States promised a general amnesty for
"crimes related to the conflict in Kosovo." But by all accounts here, that
pledge has been ignored, and the pace of trials in Kosovo for ethnic Albanians
accused of such offenses has accelerated recently. In the first three weeks of
November, 19 men were convicted in Pec [western Kosovo] and Prizren [southern
Kosovo]- Kosovo's second- and third-largest cities... A dozen or so other men
are slated to be tried next week, and as many as 1,500 more are being detained,
mostly without formal charges, while government investigators hunt for
incriminating evidence, according to official and independent sources in
Kosovo. The government's amnesty pledge was part of an agreement reached in
October between Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and U.S. special envoy
Richard C. Holbrooke."
The Post report went on to note that Barbara Davis, chief of mission in
the Belgrade office of UNHCR, "said her office has obtained credible evidence
that suspects often have been tortured within three days of arrest, while they
are in the custody of troops assigned to the Yugoslav Interior Ministry...
Beatings are mostly carried out with clubs and other 'implements' rather than
fists, and torture has included electric shocks... [the independent
Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Center concluded recently that] ethnic
Albanians detained at a prison in the town of Lipljan...are at a particular
risk of beatings... [saying] 'detainees...are abused on a daily basis' while
moving from one part of the prison to another. Moreover, 41 of its inmates have
been beaten while being transported to and from the court in Prizren."
The Post report also noted "human rights workers in Pec and Prizren
report that many of those being held were suspected of terrorist activities
solely because they have tested positive in the 'paraffin glove' test...[which
has] been administered to numerous men in their mid-twenties to their
mid-forties... But the test is highly flawed, according to Western diplomats
and human rights experts: The same chemicals [used to track the use of
gunpowder] exist in cigarette ash or cow dung and are routinely found on the
hands of chain smokers or farmers - categories that encompass virtually every
adult male in Kosovo." Following his extended negotiations with Yugoslavia's
President Slobodan Milosevic, US Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke said in a
television interview October 16 that "the paraffin test is over."
Independent Radio 21 (Pristina) reported Kosovo "President" Ibrahim
Rugova said during a press conference today that LDK [Democratic League of
Kosovo, Kosovo's largest ethnic Albanian political party] activists from Giljan
were still being held in prison.
ARTA reported December 1 that two Albanians were arrested on Monday.
Radio 21 reported December 1 that "Serb police [in Vucitrn, 20 miles north of
Pristina] arrested three Albanians." Radio 21 also noted that "[one Albanian]
has committed suicide after the tortures of Serb police" in Recak village.
Radio 21 also reported December 2 that "in Prizren, Serb police arrested [one
person]. The same source reports that two men were arrested in Klina village
but after a while, one was released, while other one is still in prison."
ARTA reported November 30 that "three persons from Rahovec [35 miles
southwest of Pristina] arrested in Nis [were] released." Radio 21 reported the
same day that "Serb police kidnaped 3 Albanians in Shtime [15 miles south of
Pristina]." ARTA reported November 27 that "three Albanians [were] kidnaped
these past ten days." Radio 21 reported November 27 that 'Serb police arrested
4 Albanian LDK activists in Gjilan municipality... [and]... 4 members of
Albanian Ibraj family in Rugova, municipality of Peja.' The reasons for these
arrests are unknown."
ARTA reported November 25 that "new police checkpoints are
contentiously
being installed in the roads leading to Terrnac, Runike, Kline e Eper,
Skenderaj, and Polac [central Kosovo]. Even though the movements on these roads
has been reduced, the maltreatment of younger passer-by still
continues...vehicles filled with police officers are constantly cruising up and
down the streets of Rahovec and in the direction of Malisheve and Xerxe."
The Toronto Star reported November 30 that a "study of more than 5,000
Kosovo children - from infants to 18 year olds...found that 20 percent were
suffering from symptoms of traumatic stress."
International media reported that the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army)
December 4 released two Serbian journalists and two ethnic Albanian
politicians. The state news agency Tanjug journalists had disappeared more than
a month ago in a KLA-controlled area; the politicians -- members of Kosovo's
largest ethnic Albanian party, the Democratic League of Kosovo -- had been
taken prisoner three weeks ago, on the grounds they were "collaborating with
the Belgrade regime," according to a KLA communique. The Guardian (London)
noted Saturday that KLA spokesman Sali Bashota "said that the four had been
released as a 'goodwill gesture.' "
Reuters reported that the KLA November 24 "staged an unprecedented
public release of a Serb policeman they arrested for allegedly looting
abandoned ethnic Albanian homes... US members of the Kosovo Diplomatic Observer
Mission said they had been negotiating with the KLA since Friday to win the
release of Zbilic, who disappeared last Tuesday..."
Independent Radio B-92 (Belgrade) reported November 27 that "more
than a
hundred ethnic Serbs attended a protest rally in the Kosovo town of Orahovac
yesterday. They were demanding the release of, or information about, members of
their families who had been abducted in the town during the summer. The missing
people are believed to number about forty. The protest's organisers announced
that demonstrations would be held daily until December 1."
II. HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
Reuters reported Wednesday that "officials of... Yugoslavia are slow to
grant visas, have blocked a demining team that could have cleared booby-traps
from homes and have refused radio frequencies needed for coordination and
safety, say aid workers. 'People are not waiting for our help, they're doing
things for themselves,' said [UNHCR spokesman] del Mundo. 'But you don't see
permanent reconstruction, there's too much uncertainty for that.' "
International NGO Mercy Corps International reported December 1 that
"both DRC [Danish Refugee Council] and CRS [Catholic Relief Service] have been
approached by the [Serbian] government requesting information on expatriate and
national staff salaries, leases, rental agreements, etc. ostensibly as part of
their visa processing procedures. This has happened with several other NGOs in
the past."
Reuters November 24 cited a UNHCR envoy to the former Yugoslavia saying
"the UNHCR's policy [on Kosovo's displaced who fled to Bosnia] is that we are
not promoting repatriation, we are not encouraging people or urging them to go
back for very obvious reasons...we are only aware of very few individuals who
have requested to repatriate to Kosovo... Refugees interviewed by Reuters
confirmed that they were still unwilling to return to Kosovo."
III. FIGHTING/FORCE DEPLOYMENTS
Associated Press reported yesterday that "Yugoslav border guards killed
eight ethnic Albanian rebels today, Serb sources said, in the worst violation
of a Kosovo cease-fire reached in October. [The official Serbian Media Center]
said the eight armed ethnic Albanians were killed near the town of Prizren when
nine of them fired on Yugoslav soldiers guarding the border...Yugoslav troops
were not harmed." The Financial Times reported today that "the casualties were
the heaviest inflicted on the KLA since an informal cease-fire."
Associated Press today cited a KLA commander saying the victims were
refugees returning to their village, and reported that "western officials who
visited the shooting site said it appeared the Albanians had stumbled on the
army unexpectedly, raising questions about the army's account."
The Serbian Media Center (Pristina) noted reports by the Yugoslav Army
of three separate attempts to enter Kosovo from Albania over the weekend, two
Friday night and one Saturday. The Media Center reported one group retreated
into Albanian Friday night, and that "one of the attackers [Saturday] was
wounded and transported to the Djakovica Military Hospital. He had with him
passports of the MuslimCroat [Bosnian] Federation and Yugoslav as well, it was
confirmed to the Media Centar at the Yugoslav Army Pristina Corps
Headquarters."
Reuters Monday reported an account on Yugoslavia's state television
saying the "Albanian Charge d'Affairs...was summoned to the Yugoslav Foreign
Ministry where a strong protest was conveyed to him... These border incidents
are carried out with the aim of...dealing a blow to efforts to reach a
political solution.' "
Reuters reported "gunmen shot dead three men on Wednesday in a
gangland-style attack on their car in Pristina...eyewitnesses said. Two men
stepped from a white Mercedes and blasted a black Renault with machine gun fire
before driving away at high speed, they said. The attack took place in a side
street of a densely populated suburb... Police at the scene gave no details on
the identity of the dead men or the motive for the attack."
Radio B-92 reported Wednesday that "one of the three Kosovo Albanians
murdered in a gang style killing in a suburban Pristina street this morning was
a member of the editorial staff of Albanian-language daily Bujku, the paper
confirmed this afternoon. Bujku Editor in Chief Binak Kelymendi described the
killing as a political murder, probably carried out by the Serb police. The
office of UCK [KLA] political representative Adem Demaci late this afternoon
issued a statement that one of the other men killed was an UCK officer and the
third a student. Demaci's statement claims that the three were killed by Serb
security forces. [Official Belgrade daily] Politika reported today that
witnesses to the crime described the assailants as wearing black balaclavas and
uniforms with UCK insignia. The paper claimed that the shootout had been
factions of the Albanian terrorists settling scores among themselves."
Reuters reported Tuesday that "despite strong pressure from Western
envoys, Milosevic has done nothing to remove heavily-armed Serb police from a
makeshift base in Malisevo...[one diplomat working in Pristina said] 'He's been
told: There is nobody there to guard so get your people out of there, they
weren't in Malisevo before this conflict and they aren't needed'.... Ambassador
William Walker...spent 30 minutes reinforcing the need for a Serb police
withdrawal at a meeting with the Yugoslav president two weeks ago. 'Milosevic
said he would consider it,' a Western envoy said. 'But his argument is the
police are needed to prevent the place being retaken by the KLA and if they
left it would be perceived by Serbs as a defeat.' "
The Times (London) reported Tuesday that "as you drive through the
deserted villages near Prizren, you can spot Serb armored cars being kept out
of sight in depots and outhouses while the increasingly well-armed KLA [Kosovo
Liberation Army] hides not far away in apparently abandoned houses. 'Come the
spring, there will be more massacres, more battles,' said a Serb journalist in
Belgrade. 'Then the threat of NATO bombing again - and then peace.' "
ARTA November 26 reported Committee for the Defense of Human Rights and
Freedoms (Pristina) sources said that "a Serb police/military convoy, composed
of 3 tanks and 4 trucks filled with soldiers, and 3 terrain vehicles loaded
with police officers, headed in the direction of the railroad station in
Mitrovice [central Kosovo]. A Koha Ditore correspondent reported that '2 APCs
with mine-launchers, and 4 trucks filled with soldiers, were spotted leaving
military barracks in Mitrovice.' They were leaving in the direction of Stanterg
and "settled in the barracks in the village of Kutlloc, in Shale e Bajgores. It
is also reported that there is constant shooting in Kutlloc from mentioned
barracks."
ARTA reported November 25 that a "Serb police convoy, comprised of
three
buses, six trucks, two armored vehicles with three-barreled anti-aircraft guns,
three jeeps and two Landrover, arrived in Kosova from Serbia. They have also
reinforced checkpoints along the way Peje [Pec] -Cakorr. Koha Ditore also
reported that shooting has continued by the Serb forces who are "situated in
the mushroom factory in Jashanice, in Fusha e Madhe Dush, Gllareve, Dollove,
Grapc, and Bince.' "
ARTA reported November 26 that "Serb military forces blocked the
village Dobruzhde, municipality of Prizren...two trucks filled with Serb
soldiers joined these forces. According to Koha Ditore corespondent for ARTA,
'the Serb infantry, and military machinery, began cruising down the villages of
Cupeve, Sferke, Volljake, and Perceve....' "
ARTA cited November 25 a report by independent daily Koha Ditore
(Pristina) of "four Landrovers, two buses, two transporting trucks, three
'Niva' vehicles and four military trucks carrying heavy anti-craft armament
[entering] Gllogoc...and [getting] stationed close to the 'Ferronikel' factory.
It has also been stated that the vehicles have left in the direction they came
from, but emptied."
The ethnic Albanian student newspaper Bota e Re (Pristina) November 26
quoted an instructor of the KLA's "Special Commando Unit" saying "this unit is
trained for anti-terrorist operations, such as the release of civilians
kidnapped by the enemy, the elimination of police checkpoints, 'hit-and-run'
attacks (of course under the full control of the command), the assembly and
defusing of mines and many other tasks..."
The Scotsman (Edinburgh) reported November 30 from Pristina that US
diplomats asked KLA representatives "to distance themselves from so called
Mujaheddin fundamentalists, amid reports that Islamic extremists are arriving
[in Kosovo] to fight...KLA leaders have accepted the US request, prompted by
fears in Washington that the war in Kosovo will provide fertile ground for
Muslim fundamentalists...a joint CIA-intelligence operation has reported
Mujaheddin units from at least half a dozen Middle East countries streaming
across the border into Kosovo from safe bases in Albania... A senior KLA source
told the Scotsman that the group agreed to the request: 'It's a clear position;
we don't want anything to do with these people'... Approximately a quarter of
KLA members are Roman Catholics, and the organization has insisted throughout
this year's fighting that its war with the Serbs, who are Orthodox Christian,
is nationalist, and not religious... The US request was top of a 'shopping
list' the KLA says the Americans gave it. As well as refusing offers of help
from the Mujaheddin, the KLA says it agreed not to use terrorist tactics such
as car bombings against the Serbs outside Kosovo. It also promised not to
foment revolt among the ethnic Albanian majority in neighboring Macedonia."
KDOM reported that observers in Junik [50 miles west of Pristina]
yesterday "saw a T-55 tank behind a school, with guard posts at each end of the
school property."
Agence France Presse reported Sunday from Lausa that "hundreds of
guerrillas in camouflage battledress...and armed civilians gathered in a school
playground Saturday to mark a first 'birthday'.... On Saturday, columns of KLA
combatants in battle dress and 'special forces' in black uniforms and red
berets emerged from the surrounding mountains to take part in anniversary
ceremonies" marking the first public appearance of KLA members at a funeral."
The New York Times November 25 quoted a European diplomat in Kosovo
saying the current cease-fire "looks good, but I think we are living in a false
reality, because neither side really believes they can get what they want
without more combat."
The official Serbian Media Center today reported: "A woman was killed
and six persons were wounded during shooting [today] at the entrance of the Pec
Hospital. According to eyewitnesses, the incident happened when a man and a
woman attacked a policeman with a gun and then took his assault rifle and shot
at him and wounded several persons who stood behind him in a corridor. In the
corridor, they also threw a hand grenade, which did not explode... A gun and
two hand grenades were found at the woman. Several persons were wounded during
the attack."
KDOM reported today that "tensions are now building in the
Pec-Djakovica-Decan area [along the Yuogslavia-Albania border]." Mercy Corps
International today reported 'a general increase in police, military and UCK
presence as well as an increase in armed incidents in the Pec area.' "
IV. OSCE KOSOVO VERIFICATION MISSION/NATO RAPID REACTION FORCE
BETA yesterday quoted Serbia's vice Premier Tomislav Nikolic: "The
agreement we signed with the OSCE does not allow any military or police
presence in Kosovo with the exception of the verifiers, who, we are well aware,
actually are police officers, soldiers and spies in disguise."
Reuters reported Tuesday that as part of an effort to convince
Milosevic
to comply with requests to dismantle a Serbian police post in Malisevo, "US
escorts have agreed to give an armored escort to Serb police patrols that run
through hostile territory to Malisevo and keep the police base provisioned...
'The escorts make the Serbs feel more comfortable as they haven't been attacked
while we've been accompanying them,' said a senior US official in Kosovo. But
European Union observers say the US escorts contradict the diplomatic message
to Milosevic and give an impression of confusion within the truce compliance
mission."
Agence France Presse reported November 30 that "deployment of the OSCE
verification mission in Kosovo, due to become operational in the first days of
December, will be delayed for at least two weeks because of administrative and
logistics problems.... Deployment of the mission has run into 'paralyzing'
bureacratic obstacles from the Yugoslav authorities, who seem to have been
extremely slow in granting visas to the verifiers or in authorizing the
material needed by the OSCE, a Western diplomat told AFP. Logistic problems are
also responsible for the delays - lack of proper housing, especially in the
countryside, and a bad communications system.... [Duncan Bullivant, OSCE's
spokesman in Pristina, said] 'By December 2, the capability of KVM [Kosovo
Verification Mission] headquarters and the number of people will be on a
sufficient level, but we still can not say when it (the KVM) will be
operational.' "
Agence France Presse also reported November 30 that KVM head Ambassador
William Walker "added that all members of the verification mission...will
probably be in Kosovo 'at the beginning of next year, in January.' "
Reuters reported November 29 that KVM head Walker "told a group of new
recruits to the Kosovo Verification Mission...that they would be doing more
than ensuring separatist guerrillas and the Serb military were at arms length.
Stemming human rights violations, reforming the police, laying the ground for
elections and giving ethnic Albanians access to the electronic media were all
on an agenda much broader than the Yugoslav authorities envisaged. 'The
Yugoslav government is reading the agreement (on the verification mission) in
the narrowest possible way and we're reading it in the widest possible way.' "
Agence France Presse reported November 25 that some 70 OSCE verifiers
had begun a five-day training course at an Italian-run center in a ski resort
near Brezovica, Kosovo. Agence France Presse noted that the verifiers will
"start off with lectures on the policy and geography of the province, then move
on to recognizing different armed forces and weapons and dealing with security
issues, including mines and reacting to crises like a hostage-taking."
Reuters reported Wednesday "Macedonia's new government gave the
go-ahead
on Wednesday for a NATO force to be deployed on its territory to rescue [KVM
members] from Kosovo." Agence France Presse yesterday reported Macedonia's new
Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski "said his government's decision was
motivated by Macedonia's main goals -- to join the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization and to support the peace process in Kosovo."
The Russian news agency TASS reported November 26 that Russian experts
"are waiting for a 'standby command' " to take part in NATO surveillance
flights over Kosovo. TASS noted that "the Russian Defense Ministry has prepared
two crews for surveillance flights and ground specialists for analysis of
photographic information, poised to go into action after political decision on
Russia's part is made. The chief of the Russian Army's General Staff, Anatoly
Kvashnin...[said] that Russia would participate in the aerial monitoring" and
information processing.
V. POLITICAL STATUS NEGOTIATIONS
Official Belgrade Radio reported that Yugoslavia's parliament adopted
yesterday a declaration that "decisively condemns the contacts and cooperation
between senior US representatives and Albanian terrorists, murderers,
kidnappers, cunning bandits of the Albanian drug mafia and organized
international crime. With this, the US representatives extend open support to
separatism and terrorism in Kosovo..." Reuters reported Wednesday a similarly
worded memorandum sent by Yugoslavia to the OSCE conference on European
security held December 3-4 in Oslo. Agence France Presse Wednesday called the
memorandum "a swipe at US envoy Christopher Hill, who is expected to meet
again this week with KLA commanders to discuss Washington's blueprint for
Kosovo autonomy."
Reuters Monday cited Albania's Foreign Minister Paskal Milo saying
during a visit to Denmark that the "KLA is going to be seen now as a political
factor, not a military one in deciding Kosovo's future... This is very
important, it is a new stage in the political life of Kosovo for the KLA to
join other political parties in their efforts to get a peaceful political
solution."
Agence France Presse quoted KLA political representative Adem Demaci
saying Tuesday that the KLA would " 'accept as a provisional solution that
Kosovo become a republic within the Yugoslav federation that is equal to Serbia
and Montenegro.' Such a status, he added, must include 'international
guarantees concerning the right of ethnic Albanians to self-determination after
a three-year transition period.' Asked if the KLA intended to keep its weapons
until the day that Kosovo's independence is declared, Demaci replied: 'Yes.
That is absolutely correct.' "
Reuters noted Sunday that "a Western diplomat, informed of the latest
comments by Demaci, said it appeared the rebels were 'getting the message.' "
Associated Press noted November 27 that "some KLA commanders in the
field think it's too soon to negotiate. 'Negotiations should come after the war
ends, and the war hasn't finished,' said Mensur Kasumi, a KLA sub-regional
commander who referred to US envoy Hill as 'President Hill of Kosovo.' "
Independent news service BETA (Belgrade) yesterday reported that
"spokesman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's
Verifying Mission Duncan Bullivant on Dec. 2 said 'the Yugoslav government's
memorandum on the situation in Kosovo and Metohija is partly acceptable but on
the other hand it is also partly unacceptable for the international community
and the OSCE.' Bullivant told BETA that 'attempts to contest the contacts
established by the international negotiators and the OSCE, above all the talks
with the Kosovo Liberation Army of Kosovo, are regarded as the unacceptable
part of the memorandum. We shall continue studying the memorandum. However, I
can already say that the Yugoslav and Serbian governments are not in a position
which enables them to decide with whom we and other negotiators will speak,'
said Bullivant. He also said that 'the OSCE, however, is ready to welcome the
part of the document in which the Yugoslav authorities have undertaken to
continue the negotiating process and absolutely supports the agreement reached
by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and U.S. Ambassador Richard
Holbrooke.' "
The Financial Times reported Serbia's Vice Premier Vojislav Seselj
saying at a news conference yesterday that "the current US administration
behaves in the same way as Adolf Hitler in the 1930's, and then the
concentration camps followed...they are criminally destroying whole peoples and
countries." Reuters yesterday quoted Seselj saying "the Americans are most
brutally violating all norms of international public law... In a criminal way
they are interfering in the internal affairs of others." Associated Press
reported that Serbia's Vice-Premier Milovan Bojic "repeated Sunday...his
country's rejection of a US plan for Kosovo...Bojic said the plan 'is an
indirect way to full secession' of Kosovo."
The Financial Times reported today that Hill yesterday presented the
latest version of the US-drafted interim agreement to Serbia's President Milan
Milutinovic yesterday, and noted "a US source described the meeting as
'business-like but admitted this week's sparring had not made Hill's job any
easier."
Reuters reported yesterday that "behind the scenes, Belgrade seems
to be
going along with the US mediation, although whether it [Belgrade] is taking it
[the negotiations] seriously or playing for time is not clear." [US envoy Hill
said] 'They've never refused to meet with me and the discussions have been very
businesslike and they are continuing even as we continue to have
disagreements.' "
Radio B-92 reported November 30: "US Envoy Christopher Hill will
continue his search for a peaceful solution to the problems of Kosovo, despite
the negative opinion of the Serbian Government, a US source told Radio B92
yesterday."
Radio B-92 reported November 26: "The chairman of the European Union
Council of Ministers, Wolfgang Scheussel, said in Brussels yesterday that he
expected Hill's proposal for Kosovo to be accepted by both sides before
Christmas. Scheussel added that the pressure on the Belgrade regime would
continue and that sanctions against Yugoslavia would be stepped up. He also
emphasised that pressure on the armed wing of the UCK would be increased."
Agence France Presse November 27 quoted US envoy Christopher Hill
saying
"I see no reason why one should wait till the spring in order to get a
political solution, the time for that is soon as possible... I would hope that
we can do it well before then...I hate to use the term 'end game' but I hope we
are getting to a point where we have to get the people's ideas incorporated....
The pace is quickening now...and we would really like to move ahead. I do like
exchanging gifts for Christmas but I really do not want to get into a target
date, it will be as soon as we can get it."
Associated Press November 27 quoted Hill saying "it's not just the
spring offensive, or the fraying of the cease-fire, I worry about whether
political attitudes will harden still further and whether there will be enough
malleability to sculpture...I think we are getting pretty hard and crusty right
now."
Agence France Presse reported November 27 that Kosovo "President"
Rugova
said the launch of US-brokered face-to-face talks between Belgrade and Pristina
was "not far away. Every solution should be reached through a political process
and peacefully."
Reuters reported November 25: "Serbia moved Wednesday to impose its own
peace deal for Kosovo, defying a US plan... Top Serbian officials arrived in
Kosovo's capital for another doomed attempt to hold talks with...Albanians, who
refuse to attend without foreign mediation. The Serbian delegation did not let
the other side's absence stop them, signing a declaration supporting self-rule
for Kosovo with representatives of other groups instead [including ethnic
Turks, Moslems, Roma and Egyptians].... A spokesman for the chief US envoy for
Kosovo, Christopher Hill, dismissed the declaration signed in Pristina, saying
'it has nothing to do with us.' "
Agence France Presse November 27 quoted US envoy Hill saying that the
Serbian plan "provides some useful suggestions. We are going to go through
their draft to see if there are some suggestions there that we can incorporate
into our draft."
Reuters yesterday quoted the head of Serbia's negotiating team Ratko
Markovic saying "there is no solution for Kosovo if the area is excluded for
Serbian authorities. In state territory, nobody has the right to...to create
another state... [granting anything more than self-rule for Kosovo would be] 'a
tragic political attack leading inevitably to a military conflict, not only
within Serbia but also among other countries bordering Kosovo and probably a
wider regional war.' "
Agence France Presse reported November 27 that Rugova "slammed Serbian
President Milutinovic and representatives of other communities living in Kosovo
for signing a document, drawn up by Belgrade...[Rugova said] 'this was not
serious. Negotiations should be seriously prepared by Hill in order to obtain
concrete results. Milutinovic's visit was a show by Belgrade we know quite
well.' "
Agence France Presse reported Kosovo Albanian lead negotiator Fehmi
Agani Tuesday called the interim plan proposed by Serbia " 'catastrophic and
negative.... The process of negotiation is in crisis, and the latest Serb
proposal is blocking it'.... Agani said all Albanian political forces would
accept the possibility of Kosovo becoming a 'federal unit'...for a three-year
interim period. But he slammed 'hardline factions, notably the KLA and the
United Democratic Movement, which have refused to join Rugova's negotiating
team. Their uncompromising calls for independence after three years are
preventing progress, Agani said."
KLA representative Demaci Sunday told independent Radio B-92 that the
agreement proposed by Serbia was "something that not even a dog would swallow."
BETA reported yesterday that "the chairman of the Serbian Resistance
Movement - the democratic movement from Kosovo, Momcilo Trajkovic, stated on
Dec. 2 that the ambassadors of Russia and Great Britain in Yugoslavia, Yuri
Kotov and Brian Donelly, have positive views about the inclusion of the Serbs
from Kosovo and Metohija in the negotiations on the southern Serbian province.
In his statement to BETA, Trajkovic announced that the delegation of the
Serbian Resistance Movement...would meet in the next few days with the U.S.
envoy for Kosovo, Christopher Hill, and the head of the OSCE's verification
mission, William Walker."
VI. INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY
A two-day Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
conference on European security ended yesterday in Oslo with a final statement
on Kosovo urging "Serbian authorities and all Kosovo Albanians to cooperate in
the search for a political settlement, so that substantial political dialogue
could start as soon as possible. The international community is determined to
help. But only the parties can overcome their differences. The sooner they do
so, the sooner the reconstruction and development of Kosovo can make headway."
Reuters reported yesterday that at the OSCE conference "Albania and
Russia were at loggerheads over who was to blame for the crisis in [Kosovo]...
The dispute centered on a statement on Kosovo... Conference sources said Russia
wanted the statement to avoid any reference to Yugoslavia, or its main republic
Serbia...being to blame for violence in the province. 'The Russians don't want
to upset their friends in Belgrade,' said one conference source."
Reuters yesterday quoted Albania's Foreign Minister Paskal Milo
saying "
'there are some delegations which like to put the on the same level the
responsibilities of Milosevic and the Belgrade authorities with those of the
Kosovo Albanian leadership for the crisis'... Milo also complained that the
draft did not name the Albanians as the principal victims of the violence but
simply referred to several ethnic groups. Conference sources said that most
countries in the conference...would be willing to accommodate Albania's
feelings, but Russia was determined not to single out Milosevic. One proposal
was to include a sentence appealing to the Yugoslav and Serb authorities and
all Kosovo Albanians to cooperate in finding a political settlement, but it was
unclear whether Albania would find that acceptable."
Earlier at the conference, Reuters reported, OSCE chairman-in-office
Bronislaw Geremek "accused big powers...of ignorning his warnings before a
Serbian crackdown [in Kosovo, and] also said ethnic Albanians in Kosovo should
have been involved in talks on a shaky truce... Geremek said that 'I have not
hidden my reservations that the representatives of the Albanian population of
Kosovo have not been a party to the negotiated agreement. I maintained contacts
with all interested parties.' "
Reuters reported Tuesday that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's
"non-cooperation over Malisevo underlines the West's lack of a means of
persuasion short of an all-out NATO air attack.... 'There are lots of
non-compliances at the moment but not enough to justify an air strike,' said
one EU official. 'Things are peaceful but not too stable.' "
