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![]() Documenti----All texts taken without permission - for fair use only---- The Sunday Times March 1 1998 Albanian gunmen open new Balkan battlefront by Chris Stephen Pristina ON A road winding through the rolling bandit country of the southern Serbian province of Kosovo, a boy in a green T-shirt jumped out of a car, brandishing an AK47. No more than 10 years old, he pointed the gun briefly at my vehicle until a guerrilla appeared behind him to retrieve the weapon. "It's probably just his son," said my translator. "They won't shoot you." Weapons are a familiar sight on the road near Srbica, a town 20 miles west of the provincial capital of Pristina in the heartland of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) - an emerging guerrilla organisation whose initial skirmishes with Serbs represent the latest threat to peace in the Balkans. Thirteen people have died in the past six weeks, including a member of the local Serbian council, who was assassinated in his car in daylight, and several members of the majority Albanian community suspected of acting as informers for the authorities. A university rector survived a bomb attack on his car, but a number of Serbian police officers have been killed. In apparent retaliation, the police have shot several Albanians, among them a man and two women whose farmhouse they surrounded. At the latest funeral - that of an Albanian farmer who hitched a lift in a Serbian truck - KLA members appeared last week in immaculate German army uniforms, which can be bought on the open market, with black balaclavas and green caps bearing Albania's national symbol of twin black eagles on a bright red square. The guerrillas formed a guard of honour for the coffin, draped in a huge Albanian flag. Watched by 3,000 mourners, they stood to attention as the service began and listened as the crowd, led by the dead man's brother, chanted pro-KLA slogans at the end. Their new machineguns were said to have been looted from factories during an outbreak of unrest in Albania last year. Contrary to the belief of western diplomats in Belgrade, who play down the significance of the KLA and describe it as fragmented and disorganised, its members are operating openly throughout a large area of Kosovo, their movements co-ordinated by walkie-talkie to help them evade Serbian police vehicles and helicopters. The Serbs have erected roadblocks with blue-turreted tanks in an attempt to contain a group that was unknown until shortly before Christmas. It is believed to be funded by Albanian exiles in Switzerland who have grown impatient with their community's peaceful campaign to win independence. Kosovo's autonomy, granted in 1974, was ended nine years ago by Slobodan Milosevic, then president of Serbia, in a tide of nationalistic fervour that led to civil war in the former Yugoslavia. The Albanians, who make up nine-tenths of Kosovo's population, responded by setting up a so- called parallel state with its own unofficial government, education and health systems. It is led by Ibrahim Rugova, an academic known as the "Gandhi of the Balkans" for his style of passive resistance. Rugova's failure to secure independence has encouraged the extremist elements behind the KLA. A sweep by Serbian troops is now expected, despite warnings that this could lead to full-scale fighting. KLA members patrolling the edge of their enclave refused to discuss the movement's aims. "Everybody knows what we want, the whole world knows," shouted one. Robert Gelbard, the American Balkans envoy supervising implementation of the Dayton peace accord that ended the war in Bosnia two years ago, has no doubt about the nature of the organisation. "They are terrorists," he said. "I used to be responsible for counter-terrorism in the United States government, and I know them when I see them." But he said any offensive by the Serbs would lead to tough sanctions. Western diplomats fear it would embroil Albanians in neighbouring Macedonia, and Albania itself. Amid growing tension in the run-up to regional elections later this month, Albanian farmers have armed themselves ready for conflict. "We will defend ourselves if it comes," said one. Members of the ruling Serbian minority are equally apprehensive. They sent a delegation to Belgrade last month to plead for dialogue, but government ministers refused to see them. "Will there be war? I don't know," said a driver in Pristina. "We want the Americans in here but they won't come. This is not Kuwait. We have no oil." Copyright 1998 The Times Newspapers Limited. Diplomats fear the start of a Milosevic backlash, write Tom Walker and James Pettifer Kosovo violence flares as Serbia sends in troops SERBIA'S southern and Albanian-dominated province of Kosovo exploded into violence yesterday, with government reports of 20 deaths after clashes between secessionist paramilitaries and Serb police and army units. Helicopter gunships and armoured personnel carriers were seen entering a triangle of territory controlled by a guerrilla organisation called the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK). Diplomats fear that a backlash, long threatened by President Milosevic of Yugoslavia, has begun. After last year's anarchy in Albania, the region is awash with guns and other weaponry, and neighbouring Albanian communities in Montenegro and Macedonia could also join the struggle for autonomy. Albania itself is teetering on the brink of chaos, as armed elements loyal to Sali Berisha have made the northern highlands, the former President's homeland, a virtual no-go zone for European Union monitors and the United Nations. Local newspapers claim there are now 45,000 army and security personnel in Kosovo, almost one for every two Serb inhabitants. Army bases near the Albanian border are on full alert. In the key strategic town of Gjakova, near the border, soldiers guard the bus station and trucks with revolving radar aerials keep in touch with border security patrols. The violence began on Saturday when ethnic Albanians attacked a Serbian police patrol at Glagovac, a small town 20 miles west of Kosovo's capital, Pristina. According to the Serbian Interior Ministry, the death toll of 20 included four policemen. Reports of what followed vary, but the Serbian police and army have been looking for an excuse to crack down on the Albanians for months, and the Democratic League for Kosovo (LDK) claims that at least 15 Albanians died and 21 were wounded in Serb reprisals in nearby villages. In Pristina, capital of Kosovo, about 2,000 Albanian women staged a one-hour demonstration in the city centre yesterday calling for freedom for the province. Holding banners declaring "America is with Kosovo", and "We want freedom", they gathered outside the US information centre before dispersing peacefully. Ibrahim Rugova, the LDK leader, appealed for intervention from America and the European Union to prevent further bloodshed. Last week President Clinton's special envoy, Robert Gelbard, sensing the danger of imminent chaos, denounced the UCK as a terrorist group while warning President Milosevic of further sanctions in the event of a clampdown. For the international community, the prospect of a swath of country spanning the Yugoslav border, controlled by a loose alliance of Albanian paramilitaries and bandits, is dismal, and American officials also handed Mr Berisha a blunt warning that he must start behaving like a proper political Opposition. Mr Berisha, who wants the Socialist Government to accept fresh elections, did not appear at a rally of his Democratic Party at the weekend, and he appears to be considering his options. His supporters, meanwhile, marched through central Tirana, shouting slogans against Fatos Nano, the Socialist Prime Minister. [09] U-S-KOSOVO (S ONLY) BY RON PEMSTEIN (STATE DEPARTMENT) INTRO: THE UNITED STATES HAS PROTESTED TO YUGOSLAVIA ABOUT THE POLICE ACTION AGAINST ETHNIC ALBANIAN DEMONSTRATORS IN THE SERBIAN PROVINCE OF KOSOVO. V-O-A'S CORRESPONDENT RON PEMSTEIN REPORTS FROM THE STATE DEPARTMENT. TEXT: THE UNITED STATES IS BLAMING THE YUGOSLAV FEDERAL AUTHORITIES AND THE SERBIAN GOVERNMENT FOR THE VIOLENCE THAT HAS KILLED MORE THAN 20 PEOPLE IN THE SERBIAN PROVINCE OF KOSOVO. THE STATE DEPARTMENT IS WARNING YUGOSLAVIA THAT IT FACES CONTINUED INTERNATIONAL ISOLATION IF IT DOES NOT ENGAGE IN A POLITICAL DIALOGUE WITH KOSOVO'S POPULATION THAT IS PREDOMINANTLY ALBANIAN. SPOKESMAN JAMES RUBIN EXPRESSED THE AMERICAN PROTEST TO BELGRADE. ///RUBIN ACT/// THE UNITED STATES IS APPALLED BY THE RECENT VIOLENT INCIDENTS IN KOSOVO WHICH ONLY UNDERLINE BELGRADE'S READY RECOURSE TO FORCE TO ADDRESS THE SERIOUS POLITICAL DISPUTE BETWEEN BELGRADE AND PRISTINA. ///END ACT/// MR. RUBIN REMINDS THE YUGOSLAV AUTHORITIES THAT AMERICAN SANCTIONS BLOCKING INTERNATIONAL LOANS TO BELGRADE WILL REMAIN IN PLACE UNTIL THE UNITED STATES SEES MEANINGFUL STEPS TO ADDRESS THE GRIEVANCES OF ALBANIANS IN KOSOVO. AT THE SAME TIME, THE STATE DEPARTMENT CALLS ON SANCTIONS BLOCKING INTERNATIONAL LOANS TO BELGRADE WILL REMAIN IN PLACE UNTIL THE UNITED STATES SEES MEANINGFUL STEPS TO ADDRESS THE GRIEVANCES OF ALBANIANS IN KOSOVO ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [10] YUGO / KOSOVO (S ONLY) BY JULIA GLYN-PICKETT (BELGRADE) INTRO: SERBIA'S BITTERLY DIVIDED POLITICAL LEADERSHIP IS UNITED ON ONE ISSUE. JULIA GLYN- PICKETT IN BELGRADE REPORTS SERBIAN POLITICIANS STRONGLY BACKED THE ACTIONS OF STATE SECURITY FORCES TO STAMP OUT WHAT THEY CALL TERRORIST VIOLENCE IN SERBIA'S TROUBLED KOSOVO PROVINCE -- WHERE AS MANY AS 25 PEOPLE HAVE DIED IN THREE DAYS OF VIOLENCE. TEXT: THE VICE PRESIDENT OF SERBIA'S RULING SOCIALIST PARTY (ZORAN LILIC) PRAISED WHAT HE CALLED THE GOOD WORK OF SERBIA'S POLICE FORCE IN WHAT HE SAYS IS ITS FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM. HE SAID THE ACTIONS BY SECURITY FORCES IN KOSOVO WERE NECESSARY IN ORDER TO CREATE A PROPER ENVIRONMENT FOR PEACEFUL DIALOGUE. ANOTHER KEY MEMBER OF THE SOCIALISTS -- GORICA GAJEVIC -- EXPRESSED THE SAME POSITION. SHE SAID THE STATE MUST AND WILL TAKE ALL NECESSARY MEASURES TO STAMP OUT THE EVIL OF TERRORISM. THE OPPOSITION DEMOCRATIC PARTY CRITICIZED THE SERBIAN GOVERNMENT FOR NOT DOING ENOUGH TO DEFEND ORDINARY CITIZENS AGAINST TERRORISTS. AND THE LEADER OF THE EXTREMIST SERBIAN RADICAL PARTY -- VOJISLAV SESELJ -- SAID ALL TERRORISM MUSTS BE DESTROYED. AND HE BLAMED WHAT HE CALLED ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORISTS FOR PROVOKING THE CLASHES WITH POLICE. MILS NEWS Skopje, 03 Skopje, 1998 KOSOVO CREATES WORRIES, `ARM' UPS COMBAT READINESS The Govt. of Macedonia has been extremely worried by the development of events on Kosovo. It once again reiterated that conflicts of this sort needed to be resolved peacefully, through dialogue and international mediation. MTV reports this to be a statement given by Govt. Spokesperson Zoran Ivanov after yesterday's Govt. session. According to Ivanov the Govt. did nevertheless not discuss the Kosovo issue, but entrusted the relevant ministry with monitoring the situation and take concrete measures required by it. In addition to this Ivanov rejected the information that checkpoints at the Macedonian-Yugoslav border (in the section bordering with Kosovo) had been closed as untrue. `Dnevnik' reports that the units of ARM securing the border towards FR Yugoslavia and Albania have been put in a state of increased combat readiness. This daily reveals that the MOD confirmed the build-up of operative power at both border areas due to a possible escalation of conditions in the region. Monday March 2 4:49 PM EST Police Quell Kosovo Protest after Killings By Jovan Kovacic PRISTINA, Serbia (Reuters) - Serbian police armed with tear gas, water cannon and clubs waded into thousands of demonstrators protesting in Pristina on Monday against the killing of 16 Kosovo Albanians by police in weekend bloodshed. Scores of demonstrators were clubbed when they tried to flee as the police moved in to prevent them reaching the city center. Western eyewitnesses described the intervention as brutal. At least 10 police charged into the offices of the local newspaper Koha Ditore in pursuit of protesters and one of its journalist broke his leg when he leapt from a window to escape them. Vetan Suroi, the paper's chief editor and a leading ethnic Albanian political activist in Kosovo, was beaten in a separate incident near Pristina's city radio station and representatives of Western news organizations were also attacked. Unconfirmed reports said security forces sealed off the Vranjavac area of Pristina and moved in anti-terrorist units after shots were fired. Organizers claimed that up to 50,000 Albanians obeyed calls from their political leaders to join the protest, one of the biggest since Serbia's southernmost province was stripped of its autonomous status by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in 1989. While Western governments condemned the violence and Kosovo police banned further demonstrations, Yugoslav Defense Minister Pavle Bulatovic said Belgrade did not think the army or a state of emergency would be needed to restore order. But he told the federal parliament that "there could be no talks with terrorists in Kosovo." The mainly-Muslim Albanians outnumber Orthodox Serbs by nine to one among the two million population of Kosovo which has been a source of dispute between the two nationalities for centuries. The weekend killings, in which four policemen also died according to the official toll, risked becoming a turning point in Kosovo's nationalist violence which has escalated gradually over the last two years during which several dozen people have died. Albanian political leaders waging a campaign of civil disobedience to win restored autonomy have come under increasing pressure from the underground militants trying to force the pace by attacking Serb police and Albanians accused of collaborating with them. In a rare show of unity between government and opposition in neighboring Albania, Socialist Prime Minister Fatos Nano and former president Sali Berisha both called on the West to intervene. Some 2,000 Albanians marched to the Yugoslav embassy in Tirana, chanting "Down with Serbia! Long Live Kosovo!" In Washington, State Department spokesman James Rubin said Washington was "appalled" by the violence and had protested to the Serbian and Yugoslav governments. He said trade sanctions remaining on Yugoslavia after the Bosnian conflict would not be lifted until the authorities took "meaningful steps to address the legitimate grievances of the Kosovo Albanian community." Rubin said the United States also asked Kosovo Albanian leaders to condemn violence by underground militants. Russia, a traditional ally of Orthodox Slav kinfolk in Serbia, called for dialogue between the two sides but supported Serbia's account of the violence, describing the ethnic Albanian dead as "terrorists." NATO sources in Brussels said alliance ambassadors were expected to discuss the situation on Monday and hinted that Milosevic risked the renewal of international sanctions if he intensified his action in Kosovo. The latest violence began on Friday evening when security forces intercepted a car carrying members of the clandestine Kosovo Liberation Army in central Kosovo. Official Serb sources said there were more incidents early on Monday, with grenades thrown at Serb houses in towns and villages in central Kosovo. No casualties were reported. Police said five Albanians were arrested over the weekend and Serbian state television showed large quantities of captured weapons and ammunition. In condolences to the families of the dead policemen, Milosevic urged Albanians to abstain from bloodshed and said that "terrorism aimed at the internationalization (of the Kosovo) issue would be most harmful to those who had resorted to these means." The flare-up occurred less than a week after U.S. Balkans envoy Robert Gelbard visited the province to try to reopen a dialogue between the two communities. Subject: EU warns Milosevic over Kosovo crisis BRUSSELS, March 3 (AFP) - The European Union on Tuesday issued a strong warning for Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to restore the Kosovo Albanians' autonomy status. "Milosevic must open a dialogue of peace with the Albanians of Kosovo ... and restore its autonomy," the EU commissioner for external relations, Hans van den Broek, told reporters. "If he does not act, he must not be surprised if others do so in his place," van den Broek said after a meeting with the prime minister of Bosnia's Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik. Milosevic repealed Kosovo's autonomy status in 1989 when he was president of Serbia, triggering strong protests from the province's ethnic Albanian population. Meanwhile, Britain, which currently holds the EU presidency, appealed to the authorities in Belgrade and to Albanian community leaders in Kosovo to settle their differences through dialogue. As British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook prepared to discuss the crisis in Serbia's Kosovo region with Yugoslav officials in Belgrade, the EU statement strongly condemned the recourse to violence in the province. The EU deplored the fact that police intervention was directly responsible for casualties among the civilian population, the statement said. It urged "repressive" Serbian security forces to respect human rights as they went about their duties and asked "all sides to abstain from resorting to violence." The statements were prompted by four days of clashes between ethnic Albanian demonstrators and Serbian police, who continued their crackdown on Monday. Twenty people died in the initial clashes in Drenica. The political committee of the EU, a group of top foreign ministry officials from all 15 member countries, were to discuss the situation in Kosovo on Tuesday. Van den Broek said he hoped the meeting would formulate "clear recommendations on the supplementary measures to take" to bring Belgrade to the negotiating table. Press review TIRANE, March 3 (ATA)-Tuesday's newspapers extensively report on the latest developments in Kosove. "Conflict arouses in Kosove. The whole international community intervenes to start dialogue", says Koha Jone. The paper says that the Serb machine of violence is in offensive and civilians are under the attack of helicopters and tanks. "Kosove: 30 Albanians killed. Prishtina on streets. Around 300 000 people clash with police", the paper says. Koha Jone also reports on the special session of Albanian parliament on the emergency situation in Kosova, stressing the demand:"Parliament: NATO troops to be established in Albania". The same paper refers to NANO's statement on the indispensability of an immediate intervention in Kosova by the international community. According to Nano "solution in Kosova cannot be put off for tomorrow", The paper also reports on U.S. official attitude: Violence deepens Belgrade's isolation. Zeri i Popullit, under the titles:"Kosova in bloodshed" and "The Albanian government in solidarity with the Kosova Albanians", carries the press release of Prime Minister Fatos Nano. The paper also reports on Nano's commitment to this issue, stressing that he has addressed a letter to the Foreign Ministers of the Contact Group, asking as a necessity unconditional dialogue in Kosova. Zeri i Popullit also reports on the session of Albanian parliament, also carrying its statement on its full solidarity with the efforts of the Kosova people. The paper also carries the statement of the SP spokesman which says that for the solution of the Kosova issue "'no' should be said to conflict and 'yes' to the peaceful way"./a.ke/lm/ (more) (press...2) In face of the tense situation in Kosova, Zeri i Popullit stresses that the International Community supports Kosova and condemns Serb repression on Albanian protesters. The paper also carries the statement of the U.S. State Department which says that "violence on the Albanians in Kosova will lead Belgrade to international isolation". The same paper carries the statement of the European Council Parliamentary Assembly as well as that of the European Union which unreservedly condemn violence in Kosova and urge dialogue. The paper also carries the article:"World diplomacy in alarm". "War breaks out in Kosova, tens of people killed", says Gazeta Shqiptare, which says that "Official Tirana issues calls for laying down arms and starting dialogue as tomorrow it will be too late". Shekulli carries the article:"Powder keg likely to explode". Dita Informacion says:"Parliament issues statement asking the presence of the Euro-Atlantic army". "Kosova's streets in blood. The number of the killed unknown," the paper says. "The whole Kosova is in Drenice", Rilindja says and dwells on the protest staged yesterday at the Scanderbeg square, in front of the former Yugoslav embassy, under the motto "Kosova is not alone". "Kosova in bloodshed. DP denounces Serb terror on the Albanians of Kosova and calls for an urgent round table of the political parties on Albania," Rilindja Demokratike says. Albania says:"War breaks out in Kosova". /a.ke/lm/ Violence feared at Kosovo funerals Funerals are taking place in the Serbian province of Kosovo of 16 ethnic Albanians who died in weekend clashes with Serbian forces. Large crowds are expected to attend amid rising tension in the region and widespread international condemnation of the Serbian actions. Journalists who tried to enter the region to attend the funeral services were turned back by Serbian police at a checkpoint on the road leading from Pristina. Several funerals taking place in the mountain village of Quirez, 40km (25 miles) south west of the main city, Pristina, where journalists were shown the bodies of six victims, including a pregnant woman whose head was shot away. Surviving family members said the village was attacked by Serbian police helicopters and armoured cars and that the six were riddled with machinegun fire as they huddled in their home. The Serbian authorities said the fatalities occurred during a police raid on members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, an ethnic Albanian guerrilla group who killed two Serbian policeman in an ambush in the area on last Friday. A total of four Serbian policemen were killed in the fighting. During the raid, the police encircled seven villages and carried out armed house-to-house searches. They say they made a number of arrests and seized large quantities of weapons. Demonstration violently broken up Ethnic Albanian parties called on people to hold a peaceful protest on Monday under the slogan "Stop terror, violence and ethnic cleansing" after Serbian authorities poured police, armoured vehicles and helicopters into the central region of Srbica. Large numbers of protestors took to the streets of Pristina but they were violently dispersed by police using teargas, batons and water cannon. Albania has called on the authorities in Belgrade to stop the violence, which it says could destabilise the region. The violence is the worst since Belgrade stripped Kosovo of its autonomous status in 1989, provoking a campaign of civil disobedience against rule from Belgrade by the province's overwhelming ethnic Albanian majority. Belgrade is already under international pressure to ease tension by giving Kosovo more autonomy. The US State Department spokesperson James Rubin said Washington had protested to Belgrade and warned the Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic that existing financial sanctions crippling his economy would remain until he took "meaningful steps to address the legitimate grievances of the Kosovo Albanian community". The European Union has warned Slobodan Milosevic to restore the Kosovo Albanians' autonomy status. "Milosevic must open a dialogue of peace with the Albanians of Kosovo ... and restore its autonomy," said the EU commissioner for External Relations Hans van den Broek in a statement to the press. "If he does not act, he must not be surprised if others do so in his place," Mr Van den Broek said Kosovo in Serbia's backyard Mr Milosevic has firmly rejected any international involvement. He said he was categorically opposed to an "internationalisation" of the situation and that "it could not be successfully resolved in the same manner as Serbia" according to Radio Belgrade. Ninety per cent of the people in Kosovo are ethnic Albanians, but they are ruled by the Serbs. They want more autonomy, but the authorities have resisted such moves. The Serbs see Kosovo as the cradle of their culture and refuse to give it up. The BBC correspondent says the Serbs have been accused of conducting grave human rights abuses against the Albanians. Violence has increased there over the last year following the emergence of the Kosovo Liberation Army. á US envoy in Kosovo The American special envoy to the Balkans, Robert Gelbard, has called for urgent dialogue between the Serbian authorities and the ethnic Albanian majority in the troubled Serbian province of Kosovo. Mr Gelbard, who's visiting Kosovo, condemned the escalating ethnic violence there, which, he said, could destabilize the whole Balkans. At meetings with Serbian officials and Albanian political leaders, he called for the resumption of tuition in Albanian at Pristina University as a confidence-building measure. He also strongly backed the moderate Albanian leader, Ibrahim Rugova, who is being challenged by radicals within his party the Kosovo Democratic League and by armed separatists from the underground Kosovo Liberation Army >From the newsroom of the BBC World Service áMoscow expresses "deep concern" over Kosovo Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennadiy Tarasov on Monday expressed "deep concern" over the situation in Kosovo, the Russian news agency Interfax reported. The ministry "unequivocally denounced terrorist acts and called for refraining from using force," a statement issued by the ministry said. It urged the Yugoslav authorities to begin a dialogue with Albanian representatives. "The Kosovo problem should be settled on the basis of the territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and of observing the rights of ethnic Albanians and other nationalities in accordance with OSCE standards, the Helsinki principles and the UN Charter," the statement said. áMontenegro urges dialogue on Kosovo The newly-elected President of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, has sharply criticised the Yugoslav policy towards the ethnic Albanian majority in the province of Kosovo. Speaking on Montenegrin television, Mr Djukanovic said Yugoslavia could not return to the international community unless it opened dialogue in Kosovo and granted the region a greater autonomy. He said strong police and state repression in Kosovo had exhausted both Serbia and Yugoslavia, and urged Belgrade to make the issue central in its platform of re-integration. A settlement in Kosovo is one of conditions for the lifting of the last remaining sanctions on Yugoslavia. >From the newsroom of the BBC World Service International News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 3 March 1998 Issue 1012 Albanians clash with Kosovo riot police By Colin Soloway in Sarajevo and Tim Butcher, Defence Correspondent THE ethnically Albanian province of Kosovo in southern Serbia was on the brink of serious civil unrest yesterday as Serb riot police clashed with 30,000 Albanian demonstrators on the streets of the capital, Pristina. Serb police used water cannon and baton charges to disperse large crowds protesting after 16 ethnic Albanians were killed by Serb security forces over the weekend in the worst violence in the province for four years. The violence raised fears about more bloodshed in the Balkans. A clampdown by ethnic Serbs against Kosovo's Albanians in the late 1980s is widely held to have sparked the wars in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia. In a development ominously similar to the early days of the Bosnian war, a local political party urged the European Union and America to intervene in Kosovo to prevent further bloodshed. Ethnic Serbs are outnumbered nine to one by Albanians in Kosovo but the Serbs regard the province as the ancient cradle of their civilisation and have forcefully refused Albanian calls for independence. About 30,000 people responded to calls from ethnic Albanian political parties to take to the streets of Pristina yesterday. Accusing the Serb security forces of unnecessary force in clashes over the weekend when four Serbs as well as the 16 Albanians died, the crowds vented their anger at the police. They jeered, threw stones and, as a Serb helicopter circled overhead, taunted the paramilitary forces in Albanian, singing "We'll give our lives, but we won't give up Kosovo". The police charged the crowd, which fled in chaos. There were no confirmed reports of serious injuries but some witnesses said that a number of women were left bleeding on the ground. One reporter broke his leg when he jumped from a window to escape from Serb police who stormed the offices of an Albanian newspaper, Koha Ditore. Vetan Suroi, the chief editor and a leading ethnic Albanian political activist in Kosovo, was beaten in a separate incident near Pristina's radio station. A police statement carried by Tanjug, the Yugoslav news agency, made clear that the protesters were regarded as supporters of terrorism. "No demonstrations or similar acts supporting terrorism will be allowed," the statement said, adding that the protests had been "efficiently cleared up". Kosovo has become steadily more violent since 1996 when a shadowy organisation calling itself the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) surfaced and began claiming responsibility for bloody attacks against Serb security forces. A triangle of territory on the border between Kosovo and Albania proper was declared a no-go area for Serb police, and it was in this area that the weekend violence erupted. Government helicopters and armoured troop carriers were reported to have entered the triangle and, after clashes, the government reported the 20 deaths. The situation in Kosovo was made worse by the civil unrest in Albania last March when thousands of weapons filtered across the border after the barracks and arsenals in Albania were looted. Albania's main opposition party, the Democratic Party, led by Sali Berisha, issued a statement inviting the EU and America to intervene in Kosovo to prevent "any further aggravation of the conflict, which could have unforeseen consequences for Kosovo and the southern Balkans". The statement said: "Berisha calls on the political leadership and individual Albanians in Kosovo to restrain themselves so as not to aggravate the conflict of Belgrade's police regime." In spite of attempts by the EU to develop a clear policy, it is unlikely that Brussels would become involved in Kosovo, which is one of the most ethnically explosive parts of an ethnically explosive region. Kosovo was an autonomous republic within Serbia until the late 1980s when Slobodan Milosevic, then the Serbian leader, changed Yugoslavia's constitution to deprive the province of its autonomy. There have been protests ever since, with ethnic Albanians organising elections declared illegal by the Serb authorities. Albania's Kadare urges European action on Kosovo 11:33 a.m. Mar 03, 1998 Eastern By Eric Faye PARIS, March 3 (Reuters) - Albanian writer Ismail Kadare on Tuesday said the people of Kosovo were living under hostile, colonial rule and urged Europe to shake off its lethargy and stand up to what he called Serbian aggression. "What is going on in Kosovo is tragic," Kadare, Albania's best-known writer, told Reuters in an interview. At least 16 ethnic Albanians and four Serbian policemen died in weekend clashes, the worst since Belgrade stripped the Serbian province of Kosovo of its autonomous status in 1989, provoking a campaign of civil disobedience against rule from Belgrade by the region's overwhelming ethnic Albanian majority. The Serbian authorities said the fatalities occurred during a police raid on ethnic Albanian guerrillas who killed two Serbian policeman in an ambush on Friday. "The most urgent thing to do is to condemn and halt Serbian barbarity," said the writer whose novel "The Wedding Procession Was Caught in Ice" describes bloody repression of 1981 riots in Kosovo's capital Pristina. "Two million hostages are living in a hostile country. Kosovars are Europe's only people living in archaic colonial conditions. Police repression is unprecedented," he said. Kadare, who lives in Paris and has often been mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel prize for literature, said ethnic Albanians in Kosovo were involved in a "desperate resistance." He said Belgrade was accusing them of terrorism in order to enlist international support. "Albanians have been waiting for years for Europe to do something for them but have never been rewarded. Their anger can be understood. Peaceful and patient policy has failed," he said. "Europe's passive acceptance of Serbian policy in Kosovo must end...Letting this happen will be a failure and disillusion for the whole of Europe," he said. Several Western governments, fearing another bout of instability threatening Balkan peace, have held the Serbian government responsible for the latest incidents. They hinted that sanctions against Yugoslavia could be reinforced unless President Slobodan Milosevic reined in his police and negotiated with Kosovo Albanian leaders seeking autonomy for the province. Russia has sided with Belgrade and described the Albanian dead as "terrorists," while appealing to both sides to show restraint. EU says Kosovo crackdown would bring sanctions 12:02 p.m. Mar 03, 1998 Eastern By Douglas Hamilton BRUSSELS, March 3 (Reuters) - Europe warned Yugoslavia on Tuesday that it can forget about better economic ties if nothing is done to solve the Kosovo problem, and expect tough sanctions if tensions there escalate into open conflict. European Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Hans van den Broek said Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic had the power to pacify the southern province through negotiations with its ethnic Albanian majority, and Europe was waiting. "The clock is ticking and it's almost 12 o'clock," van den Broek said after the worst weekend of violence in Kosovo's troubled recent history claimed at least 20 lives, sparking a mass protest which was ended by Serbian riot police. "We feel very clearly that President Milosevic bears very great responsibility in this respect," he told reporters. It was Milosevic, stirring Serb nationalism, who slashed the political rights of Kosovo's overwhelming ethnic Albanian majority a decade ago, and has used a heavy police presence since to try to keep the lid on dissent. Several hundred ethnic Albanians demonstrated loudly outside the European Union headquarters on Tuesday as officials of the EU's 15 foreign ministries met for regular consultations overshadowed by the violence in Kosovo. Protesters waved the red and black double-headed eagle flag of Albania and chanted slogans against Milosevic, who was depicted in one banner offering a rose to the West with one hand while stabbing Kosovo in the heart with the other. The demonstration coincided with a visit to Brussels by Yugoslav Trade Minister Borislav Vukovic at the head of a 40-member business delegation, in what appeared to be an unfortunately timed bid to improve economic relations. With Vukovic by his side, van den Broek said he had made it clear to the minister that there could be no business as usual as long as Kosovo festered on the edge of conflict. "I hope very much that President Milosevic will assume the statesmanship which is necessary to come forward with proposals for the Albanian community which give them hope and perspective for their legitimate aspirations—by which we do not mean independence or separation," he said. The EU expected Belgrade to restore to Kosovo the substantial degree of political autonomy it enjoyed before its rights were removed in 1989. If a heavy-handed crackdown were to drive Kosovo into open conflict, threatening to spill over into neighbouring Albania and Macedonia, it would be very surprising if the international community stood idle, van den Broek said. "I personally believe at that point in time it also becomes a matter for the (United Nations) Security Council to deal with," he added, in a clear hint at sanctions against Belgrade. Vukovic said he had told the EU that the Yugoslav government favoured "open and constructive dialogue" with Kosovo's ethnic Albanians, but expected the Europeans and the international community to condemn separatist terrorism. "There have been attempts to restart this dialogue and we have seen with regret that the impatience of certain forces to have recourse to other means of resolving the problem disturbed the negotiation process. Now we are hoping that very soon we will be able to continue with it," Vukovic said. But he added that he was unable to state when talks might start. The EU's clearly strained talks with the Belgrade delegation contrasted markedly with an earlier visit by a Serb to van den Broek's office on Tuesday, highlighting the carrot-and-stick policy Europe is pursuing on Bosnia and Yugoslavia. Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik, championed by the West as the antidote to hardline Serb intransigence and the best hope yet for realisation of the Dayton peace accord in Bosnia, was received warmly and given pledges of further economic support for his 40-day-old government. Albanians protest in Brussels against Milosevic 07:18 a.m. Mar 03, 1998 Eastern BRUSSELS, March 3 (Reuters) - Several hundred Albanians demonstrated outside the European Union headquarters on Tuesday as the EU warned Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic against launching any crackdown on dissent in Serbia's restive province of Kosovo. Protesters waved the red and black double-headed Eagle flag of Albania outside the EU's Council office, chanting slogans against Milosevic. The demonstration coincided with preparations by Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanians to bury their dead after weekend clashes with Serbian police. At least 16 ethnic Albanians and four Serbian policemen died and riot police dispersed a protest demonstration by around 50,000 Albanians in the Kosovo capital Pristina with water cannon, tear gas and baton charges on Monday. In the Brussels protest, one banner depicted the Serbian leader offering a rose to the West while stabbing Kosovo with a bloody dagger. "I can't imagine that the international community would tolerate that a new escalation in the south Balkans would develop and would put that region into flames," said the EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner, Hans van den Broek. "That would directly affect us as well," he told reporters after talks with Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik. Van den Broek said the 15-member EU felt "very clearly that President Milosevic bears very great responsibility in this respect." "He continues to claim that Kosovo is an internal Serbian affair. Maybe he is right, but then he should take the initiative to have the dialogue and to seek a peaceful political solution with the Albanians," van den Broek said. The EU has stated repeatedly that it did not back demands for a separate republic in Kosovo. But it insists that Belgrade should restore to the province the political autonomy which Milosevic stripped away in 1989. West has limited influence to halt Kosovo crackdown 10:21 a.m. Mar 02, 1998 Eastern By Paul Taylor, Diplomatic Editor LONDON, March 2 (Reuters) - Western governments are dangling financial enticements and wielding diplomatic warnings in an effort to prevent a harsh clampdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, but they admit their influence on Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is limited. NATO has been anxious since late last year that the deteriorating situation in Serbia's southern province, populated 90 percent by ethnic Albanians, was the most menacing potential flashpoint in the Balkans. "Kosovo is our biggest worry. The NATO council has been getting weekly intelligence briefings on the situation since December because of the risk of an explosion," an official at the alliance's Brussels headquarters said. U.S. special envoy Robert Gelbard last week offered Milosevic some minor economic concessions to reward his supportive attitude towards the new, more moderate Bosnian Serb leadership. Gelbard made clear that the so-called "outer wall" of sanctions in force since 1991, which bar Yugoslavia from membership of international financial institutions and access to vital Western credit, would remain in force until Belgrade grants greater self-rule to Kosovo. He visited Kosovo in an attempt to broker talks between the Yugoslav president and moderate ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova, notably on implementing an agreement on Albanian-language education. A Franco-German initiative last November to promote autonomy negotiations was angrily rebuffed by Milosevic, who stripped Kosovo of its autonomous status within Yugoslavia in 1989. Nearby Greece and Bulgaria have also offered their good offices to no effect so far. Milosevic has repeatedly warned the West not to interfere in the province, insisting it is a purely internal Serbian matter. The six-nation Contact Group, which steers the peace process in Bosnia, said last Wednesday it was concerned by the continuing lack of dialogue over Kosovo and urged Serbia to grant the restive province "meaningful self-administration." Western officials said 10 days ago they were worried by signs that the Yugoslav president might be planning to take advantage of the distraction of international attention by the Iraq crisis to launch a crackdown in Kosovo. In the event, Serbian interior ministry forces began a search and arrest operation on Friday night during which at least 16 ethnic Albanians and four Serbian police were killed in the worst bloodshed in the province's nine-year campaign to regain autonomy. But diplomats said the crackdown did not necessarily mean Milosevic had decided to pursue pure repression without conciliation in Kosovo. An operation against the clandestine Liberation Army of Kosova (LAK), which has claimed responsibility for killing some Serb policemen this year, might go hand-in-hand with some concessions to Rugova. "This could be a tough cop, soft cop routine in which Milosevic shows Serb hardliners he's tough on the terrorists while going some way towards helping Rugova," one European official said. The ethnic Albanian leader, an apostle of non-violence whose credibility has been undermined by his failure to wring concessions from Milosevic, is standing for re-election in an unofficial Kosovo presidential election on March 22. NATO officials have long painted a "nightmare scenario" in which worsening instability in Kosovo would suck in neighbouring Albania and Macedonia, where ethnic Albanians make up about one quarter of the population. "Milosevic must know that he would face more crippling economic sanctions if there is a bloodbath in Kosovo," one said. Many weapons are believed to have been smuggled into Kosovo from Albania last year during the breakdown of law and order in the impoverished former Stalinist state. Diplomats say the situation in Kosovo, which Serbs regard as the cradle of their culture, was complicated by the strong role of organised crime, some of which may have switched funding to the LAK. NATO is also discussing a possible replacement force for the U.S.-led UNPREDEP observer force in Macedonia, which has helped stabilise the most southerly former Yugoslav republic and prevent the wars in the northern Balkans from spreading there. The force's mandate expires in August and Russia has made clear it will not permit a renewed U.N. presence. Long history of rebellion in Serbia's Kosovo region 02:38 p.m Mar 02, 1998 Eastern BELGRADE, March 2, Reuter - The following is an outline chronology of unrest in Serbia's Kosovo province since World War Two: 1945 - As World War Two drew to a close and Nazi forces were driven out of Yugoslavia, some 10,000 ethnic Albanian rebels battled 40,000 Yugoslav troops for control of Kosovo. No casualty figures have ever been published, but historians say the death toll was high. Serbia, communist Yugoslavia's largest republic, imposed a clampdown in the early 1950s and dozens were killed in various incidents. 1968 - Ethnic Albanian students, encouraged at being given a first tentative measure of self-rule by President Josip Broz Tito, staged mass protests. 1974 - New Yugoslav constitution grants Kosovo autonomy. 1981 - Kosovo Albanians demanding a separate republic within Yugoslavia rioted and many students were arrested. At least nine people died and hundreds were injured. Troops were sent in and martial law was briefly imposed. 1988 - More than 6,000 Serbs and Montenegrin residents of Kosovo staged a mass protest over alleged harassment by ethnic Albanians. 1989 - To a background of strikes and protests by ethnic Albanians, Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic began to remove from the Yugoslav constitution the rights of autonomy Kosovo had been granted in 1974. Street violence erupted when Kosovo's assembly approved new Serbian controls over the province. Clashes between police and rioters escalated to gun battles, with more than 20 people killed and scores arrested. 1990, January - Police used tear gas, trucheons and water cannon on thousands of ethnic Albanian demonstrators. The unrest escalated and on January 28 police shot dead at least 10. 1990, February - Yugoslavia sent troops, tanks, warplanes and 2,000 more police to Kosovo. By the end of February more than 20 people had been killed and a curfew imposed. 1990, July - Ethnic Albanian legislators in the province declared Kosovo province independent from Serbia. Belgrade dissolved Kosovo's autonomous assembly and government. Strikes and protests rumbled on. 1991 - Neighbouring Albania's parliament recognised Kosovo as an independent republic. 1992, May - Writer Ibrahim Rugova was elected president of the self-proclaimed republic after an election held in defiance of Serbian authorities. 1992, October - Serb and ethnic Albanian leaders in Kosovo held face-to-face peace talks for the first time in three years. 1993 - Police said they had arrested more than 30 ethnic Albanians on suspicion of preparing an armed uprising. 1995, July - A Serbian court sentenced 68 ethnic Albanians for up to eight years in prison for allegedly setting up a parallel police force. 1995, August - Serbian authorities said they had settled several hundred Croatian Serb refugees in Kosovo, drawing protests from ethnic Albanian leaders. 1996 - Serbia signed a breakthrough deal with ethnic Albanian leaders to return Albanian students to mainstream education after a six-year boycott of state schools and colleges. 1997, January - the Serb rector of Pristina University was badly injured by a car bomb. Within weeks, at least 26 ethnic Albanians had been arrested in a series of police raids and a suspected leader of the outlawed Liberation Army of Kosovo was killed in a gunbattle with police. 1997, March - Four people were injured when a bomb exploded in the centre of Pristina. The state prosecutor charged 18 alleged members of the illegal "National Movement for the Liberation of Kosovo" with terrorism offences. Hopes began to fade that President Slobodan Milosevic would try to win relief from remaining international sanctions against Yugoslavia by restoring some degree of autonomy to Kosovo. 1997, September - Armed men staged simultaneous night attacks on police stations in 10 Kosovo towns and villages. As the number of guerrilla incidents increased, clashes also continued sporadically betwen police and peaceful protesters. 1997, October-December - Attackers launched a grenade and machinegun raid on a Serb refugee camp, but there were no casualties. Separatists claimed to have shot down a Yugoslav Airlines training aircraft. 1997, December - A Serbian court sentenced 17 ethnic Albanians to a total of 186 years in jail on terrorism charges. 1998, January - An ethnic Serb politician was killed in apparent retaliation for a police action 24 hours before in which an ethnic Albanian was reported killed. 1998, February-March - Gunbattles left 16 Albanians and four police dead. Tens of thousands protested in Pristina against the violence, and street clashes erupted. Key facts about Serbia's turbulent Kosovo province 02:59 p.m Mar 02, 1998 Eastern PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, March 2, Reuter - These are the key facts about Serbia's Kosovo province, where violence erupted at protests on Monday after weekend clashes between security forces and ethnic Albanians left at least 20 dead. POPULATION: About 1.95 million, of whom about 90 per cent are Moslem ethnic Albanians. The remainder are mostly Serbs and Montenegrins. AREA: 10,887 sq km (4,252 sq miles), bounded by the Yugoslav republic of Serbia to the north and east, the Yugoslav republic of Montenegro to the west, the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia to the south and Albania to the southwest. PROVINCIAL CAPITAL: Pristina, population about 200,000. ECONOMY: Kosovo is the poorest region of former Yugoslavia, with wages among the lowest in Europe and unemployment very high. Many travel abroad for work. Kosovo has half Yugoslavia's deposits of lignite, lead, zinc and silver, 36 per cent of its magnesite, and 98 per cent of its chrome. Key industries: electricity, lignite mining and acid and cement production. HISTORY: The area's earliest known settlers were Illyrians, ancestors of the Albanians. Slavs settled later, in the 7th to 9th centuries. Although Serbs are greatly outnumbered by ethnic Albanians in modern Kosovo, Serb nationalists regard the region as their historic heartland. A supposedly heroic defeat in battle against the Ottoman Turks in Kosovo in 1389 has been elevated to the Serbs' most powerful national legend, its memory often evoked by Belgrade leaders in recent years. In 1459 the Ottoman empire imposed direct rule which lasted until 1912. With the collapse of both the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires in 1918, Kosovo became part of newly created Yugoslavia, which was dominated by a Serbian monarchy until World War Two. Kosovo guerrillas joined other Yugoslavs in fighting Nazi occupiers but were soon fighting against Yugoslav troops for control of the region as the Nazis retreated. They lost and in 1945, Kosovo became part of postwar Communist Yugoslavia under Josip Broz Tito. In the 1950s Tito's security chief Alexandar Rankovic, a Serb, ruthlessly repressed Kosovo separatism. But a highly-decentralised federal system introduced in 1974 allowed the region to develop its own security, judiciary, territorial defence and foreign relations and to control all social affairs. This left Serbia, Yugoslavia's biggest republic, with scarcely any control over the region, although it remained nominally within the republic. Civil unrest broke out in 1968 and in 1981, fuelled by the confrontation between Albanian desire for greater autonomy and resurgent Serbian nationalism. Martial law was imposed briefly in 1981 after at least nine died in riots. As Yugoslavia began to fragment in the late 1980s, Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic seized on Kosovo as a symbol of Serb grievances. Arguing that Albanian separatism had to be stamped out, he engineered amendments to the Yugoslav constitution dissolving Kosovo's assembly and government and returning to Serbia control over police, courts, civil defence and official appointments. Ethnic Albanians formed an unofficial assembly and government which claimed to have overwhelming support in Kosovo. Elections and a referendum they organised were declared illegal by Belgrade, which increased tight police and military control of the region during the 1990s and tried to encourage migration there by Serbs, often refugees from the ethnic wars in Bosnia and Croatia. Albanians accuse police and troops of torture and arbitrary detention of Albanians while Serbs in the region often describe themselves as intimidated by the overwhelming Albanian majority. The goals of ethnic Albanian activists have varied, with some seeking only autonomy and a minority calling for unification of the region with neighbouring Albania. The Democratic League of Kosovo, the largest ethnic Albanian party, said this year it wanted to achieve an independent, democratic state in Kosovo through "political and democratic means." Albanian leaders have worked to hard to enlist the sympathy of the United States and EU governments, who have made improvements in Belgrade's treatment of the region a condition for the removal of the last international sanctions against Serbia. Until recent months, the anti-Belgrade campaign was typified by peaceful activism such as school boycotts and rallies, rather than the kind of armed political violence that brought bloody conflict to other parts of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. The fear of many diplomats is that Kosovo is however a powderkeg whose detonation could mean full-scale war and draw in Serbia's neighbours. ^REUTERS@ U.S. protests to Belgrade at Kosovo repression 06:14 p.m Mar 02, 1998 Eastern WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) - The United States has protested to Belgrade at the violent repression of ethnic Albanian demonstrations in the Kosovo region, the state department said on Monday. The United States advised the Serbian and Yugoslav federal governments to address the grievances of the ethnic Albanians in the mainly Albanian province or face the prospect of prolonged sanctions and greater international isolation. But the state department also asked Kosovo Albanian leaders to condemn violence by the clandestine Kosovo Liberation Army (LAK), spokesman James Rubin told his daily briefing. At least 20 people -- 16 Kosovo Albanians and four policemen—have been killed in the troubled province since the latest round of violence broke out on Friday. The unrest continued on Monday as Serbian police armed with tear gas, water cannon and clubs waded into thousands of demonstrators protesting in Pristina against the killings. "The U.S. is appalled by the recent violent incidents in Kosovo, which only underline Belgrade's ready recourse to force to address the serious political dispute between Belgrade and Pristina," Rubin said. "Our charge (d'affaires) in Belgrade has already protested to Serbian and Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) authorities. Let me remind those authorities that the outer wall of sanctions against the FRY remains in place," he added. "Belgrade will live with these sanctions until Serbian and FRY authorities have taken meaningful steps to address the legitimate grievances of the Kosovo Albanian community." The United States wants the Serbians and the Kosovo Albanians to start an unconditional dialogue and the Serbian authorities to reduce tensions by implementing an education agreement for Kosovo, the spokesman added. "We have also called on Kosovo Albanian leaders to condemn terrorist action by the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army," he said. LAK militants, impatient at the lack of political progress and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's refusal to negotiate, have tried to force the pace with attacks on Serb police and Albanians accused of collaborating with Belgrade. Rubin added: "The United States expects the Serbian police in Kosovo to act with maximum restraint and the Yugoslav army to take no action that might lead to further violence. "Further state-sponsored violence will only deepen Belgrade's isolation and dim prospects for the integration of the FRY into the international community." ^REUTERS@ FOCUS-Albania's squabbling parties unite on Kosovo 05:03 p.m Mar 02, 1998 Eastern By Llazar Semini TIRANA, March 2 (Reuters) - Albanias government and opposition made a rare show of unity on Monday by calling on the West to help prevent war in Serbias Kosovo province and urging ethnic Albanians to act with restraint. Socialist Prime Minister Fatos Nano said he had asked European leaders to try to ease tension in the troubled province, where at least 16 ethnic Albanians and four members of the Serbian police died in weekend violence. "I have contacted European and Balkan leaders, asking for their valuable, necessary and useful contribution to calm the situation," Nano told reporters. "The Kosovo problem remains one which should be resolved peacefully, by democratic means, by dialogue but with the powerful support of joint European and North American organisations and the international community in general." The Foreign Ministry on Sunday urged Yugoslavia to halt what it called escalating violence against Albanians and called for the European Union and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to exert pressure on Belgrade. The opposition Democratic Party, led by former President Sali Berisha, also called for western intervention to prevent an escalation of the conflict and suggested domestic differences be put aside in the search for a solution. Berisha, who has been leading a boycott of parliament since September last year, invited all Albanian political leaders to hold a roundtable discussion on Kosovo and proposed a Dayton-like conference to find an agreement. The U.S. airbase at Dayton, Ohio, was host to peace talks which ended the war in Bosnia. Some 2,000 Albanians, chanting "down with Serbia, long live Kosovo," on Monday marched from Tiranas main Skanderbeg Square to the Yugoslav embassy, a Reuters photographer said. The clashes at the weekend were the worst bloodshed in Kosovo since Yugoslavia removed its autonomy nine years ago. Nano cited unconfirmed reports which put the number of dead and injured as high as 30. Many ethnic Albanian protesters were hurt in the Kosovo capital Pristina on Monday when Serbian police armed with tear gas, water cannon and clubs broke up a demonstration. The Albanian premier said the upsurge in violence demonstrated that Serbia and Yugoslavia were reneging on their commitment to resolve the situation in the province. "The events... show that efforts to find a solution cannot be put off until tomorrow and the Albanian government is totally prepared to play its part," he said. Nano said he had sent a letter to the representatives of countries which make up the Contact Group on Yugoslavia—the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and Italy—repeating Tiranas insistence that the trouble in Kosovo must be contained. "Any spillover into other territories would make a peaceful negotiated solution difficult, if not impossible," Nano said. Yugoslav authorities removed Kosovo provinces autonomy in 1989, prompting a boycott of official institutions by ethnic Albanians who established a parallel government. REUTERS Allies worried by signs of Kosovo crackdown 08:26 a.m. Mar 02, 1998 Eastern By Douglas Hamilton BRUSSELS, March 2 (Reuters) - Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is making a big mistake if he thinks he can launch a bloody crackdown in Kosovo province with impunity, NATO diplomats said on Monday, The Serbian leader should realise that using force to crush the political aims of ethnic Albanians who form 90 percent of Kosovo's population could result in rapid radicalisation, an explosion of conflict and a new, tougher ring of international sanctions which Serbia's economy might not withstand. The Western allies, whose troops form the backbone of peacekeeping operations in ex-Yugoslavia, are very worried by signs that Milosevic was moving to crush Albanian dissent in the tense southern province, diplomats said. Ambassadors of the Atlantic alliance were expected to discuss the latest political violence in Kosovo at their regular meeting on Wednesday, following weekend clashes in which at least 20 people died, including four Serb policemen. The 15-member European Union on Monday also condemned the violence and the loss of life. In a statement, European Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Hans van den Broek called on "all parties to abstain from the use of violence." "We feel that more pressure is needed on Milosevic to enter into a dialogue to find a peaceful solution," he added. The EU political committee, which meets on Tuesday, would be discussing what steps to take. "A concerted international effort is needed to decide what pressure can be brought to bear on Belgrade," Van den Broek said. NATO, which leads the 34,000-strong Stabilisation Force in Bosnia (SFOR), has been receiving weekly intelligence reports on Kosovo for some time. Ethnic Albanian demands for greater autonomy have festered for a decade since Milosevic, who rode a tide of Serbian nationalism to the presidency, ended its special status. "We don't want to find ourselves working like hell to secure peace in the north only to see it slip away in the south," one diplomat said. A crackdown by Belgrade at a time when the United States and its allies are trying to promote dialogue leading to political compromise might result in a new wave of "draconian sanctions" which Serbia's economy could not withstand, he added. Several thousand ethnic Albanians took to the streets of the provincial capital Pristina on Monday to protest against the killings. With some 45,000 Serbian police, paramilitary and army troops deployed, the province of two million people is "one of the most over-policed, over-secured territories in the world," NATO sources said. Milosevic has warned the United States and other would-be Western mediators concerned about the fragile stability in the Balkans not to intervene in Kosovo. In condolences to the families of the policemen killed at the weekend, he urged ethnic Albanians to abstain from bloodshed and said that "terrorism aimed at the internationalisation (of the Kosovo) issue would be most harmful to those who had resorted to these means." The flare-up occurred less than a week after U.S. Balkans envoy Robert Gelbard visited the province to try to reopen a dialogue between the two communities and a few weeks ahead of unofficial elections organised by the Albanian community. In what diplomats said was an "olive branch" to Milosevic, SFOR-backed restrictions on the movements of members of the Bosnian federal government were lifted last week. NATO sources said the Western allies condemned the activities of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which emerged relatively recently on the scene, staging attacks on Serbian police. But this could not be used as the pretext for a bloody clampdown that could only drive more ethnic |