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Military source says ethnic Albanian guerrillas trained by "Muslim army" in Bosnia

'Dnevni Telegraf', Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 5 Mar 98

Text of report by B. Maric: "OVK terrorists trained in the Muslim army in Bosnia-Hercegovina" , published by the Yugoslav newspaper ' Dnevni Telegraf'in Serbo-Croat on 5th March

Banja Luka: "The Shiptar [derogatory term for Kosovo Albanians] terrorists in Kosovo-Metohija are also being trained by the former members of the special units Crni Labudovi [Black Swans] and Zivinicke Ose [Zivinica Wasps] of the Muslim army in Bosnia-Hercegovina," a senior Yugoslav Army officer claims in a statement for 'Dnevni Telegraf'.

"A part of the fascist Kosovo Liberation Army [Serbo-Croat abbreviation - OVK; Albanian abbreviation - UCK] was also trained in Bosnia-Hercegovina in its army's units. A certain number of the Muslims from Raska [Sandzak - region straddling Serbia and Montenegro] underwent the training, too. They were all on the lists of soldiers of the regular Muslim army units in Bosnia-Hercegovina."

"There are indications that recent events in Skadar [Shkoder, in northern Albanian, where there was unrest in late February] were actually a dress rehearsal for the OVK terrorists; the terrorists were to demonstrate in practice if they were capable of taking full control over a town that in size corresponds to several towns in Kosovo-Metohija," the source for 'Dnevni Telegraf' says.

"The Zivinicke Ose were a part of the 2nd Tuzla Corps while the Crni Labudovi were the striking fist of the 1st Sarajevo Corps of the Muslim Army. These saboteur-terrorist formations were pronouncedly aggressive in nature," 'Dnevni Telegraf's source says. -----------------

Ethnic Hungarians view implications of Kosovo clashes

Excerpts from of report by Budapest 'Nepszabadsag' on 5th March

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is the cause of the troubles in Kosovo. Although he looks upon the Kosovo extremists as mortal enemies, he would not be able to continue his policies without them. In this region of Serbia, nationalist forces are poised against each other, which cannot at all be beneficial for Vojvodina. The establishment of Vojvodina's autonomy must not be linked to that of Kosovo, Nenad Canak, chairman of the Vojvodina Social Democratic League, has told 'Nepszabadsag'...

When settling the status of the two regions, it might be best for Vojvodina to take priority. If the international community first settles the Kosovo issue and forces concessions from Milosevic in the interest of this, this could certainly have an unfavourable influence on Vojvodina's autonomy efforts. Belgrade would use such a possible political defeat over Kosovo for its own propaganda purposes. It would argue that new negotiations on Vojvodina's autonomy would create similar conditions to those in Kosovo, Canak said. However, this is not true at all, because, unlike Kosovo, none of the forces in Vojvodina want to break this region free from Serbia, he added.

The Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians [SVM; Hungarian: VMSZ], the only parliamentary party of the Vojvodina Hungarians, also finds it unacceptable to implement political goals with arms. According to party chairman Laszlo Kasza, the Albanian ambitions could trigger another Balkan war. The SVM finds the bloodshed pointless and is worried that the international community will not try to settle the situation until armed fighting intensifies. "If Kosovo gets its autonomy at such a cost, it will not help Vojvodina at all; indeed, it will prove that the international community does not appreciate peaceful efforts. This kind of attitude could create new dissatisfaction and antagonism against the major politicians in Vojvodina, but it will not persuade anybody to follow the example of the Kosovo extremists," Kasza believes. -------------------

Discontent at Yugoslav policy growing - agency

Beta news agency, Belgrade, in English 5 Mar 98

Opposition is growing in Montenegro to the policies of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, the independent Belgrade-based news agency Beta has reported. The party of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic refused to support the federal budget as it offered insufficient funds to the army, the support of which Djukanovic is determined to keep, the agency said. The following is an excerpt from a report by the independent Belgrade-based news agency Beta on 5th March; subheadings as published:

[No dateline as received] The Montenegrin delegation in the Yugoslav parliament "bared its teeth" at the beginning of this week, abstaining during the federal budget vote. The budget was adopted in the upper house, where the ruling [faction of the] Democratic Party of Socialists, who support President Milo Djukanovic, abstained.

In the upper house of parliament, Serbia and Montenegro have 20 representatives each. The Montenegrin delegation has eight members from [Djukanovic's faction of] the Democratic Party of Socialists [DPS], six members from the [DPS] faction of former President Momir Bulatovic, five members from Novak Kilibarda's People's Party and one from the Democratic Action Party [SDA].

The authorities in Montenegro are controlled by the DPS faction of Milica Pejanovic-Djurisic, but such a balance of power is not expressed in the federal parliament. Bulatovic's followers voted in favour of the budget, Djukanovic's abstained, while the People's Party voted against. With the support of the members of [the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's] ruling left bloc parties and leading opposition parties from Serbia, that was sufficient for the budget to pass.

The chairwoman of the DPS, Milica Pejanovic-Djurisic told reporters in Podgorica that the representatives of her party abstained because budget funds intended for the Yugoslav Army were neither sufficient for its modernization nor could maintain the standard of living of military personnel. She said that Djukanovic had called for a discussion on the situation in the army at the session of the Supreme Defence Council.

The authorities in Montenegro are striving to maintain good relations with the army, and know that, in this respect, insisting on a better wages for the military could only improve relations. Good relations with the army are of importance to Djukanovic because it is the only federal institution that is present in Montenegro. The police have for several years now been under exclusive responsibility of the two federal units of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Explaining Montenegro's remarks concerning the budget, Pejanovic-Djurisic also pointed out that the budget allowances for the Montenegrin pension fund do not cover even half of last year's expenses, forcing Montenegro to have to finance the fund on its own. Also, for many years now, there has been no mechanism for controlling customs revenue deposits in the federal budget, she said, adding that his was also a source of Montenegro's ill treatment in favour of Serbia within the federation.

Following the lead of the Serbian Radical Party [SRS], the DPS also complained that funds from the budget were being used to finance federal institutions "which have become disoriented as to their real purpose" , among which Pejanovic-Djurisic included the state owned news agency, Tanjug, and the 'Borba' daily. "Those are party rather than state owned media" , she said. While the Radicals, despite objections, voted for the budget, the DPS abstained.

Kosovo

The bloody weekend in the province of Kosovo, which united Serb political forces, resulted in the relatively easy adoption of the federal budget, served to additionally antagonize Montenegro. The ruling party, Djukanovic's faction of the divided DPS of Montenegro, held off on any reactions in Montenegro to the events. No reaction on the situation in Kosovo could be had from Montenegrin state institutions.

The Montenegrin opposition had a different reaction to the violence in Kosovo. The Liberal Alliance of Montenegro, the largest opposition party, blamed the Serbian authorities and Milosevic for the situation in Kosovo. That party called on the government of Filip Vujanovic to " take a position on the events in Kosovo" . The Social Democratic Party [SDP], called a ban on Montenegrin military recruits being deployed to Kosovo.

In the meantime, there were negative reactions to the information that Montenegrin recruits were being transferred to Kosovo, and that the reserve had received orders to attend military drills in Kosovo. No-one, however, knows the exact number of soldiers in question, since that is a military secret. Some sources estimate that "several hundred or maybe a thousand" Montenegrin youths were performing their military service in Kosovo. Last week's initiative of the Social Democrats, that recruits from Montenegro not go to Kosovo until measures were taken to build trust and until Serb-Albanian dialogue started, also gained momentum. The Liberals had even asked for a referendum to be called on whether Montenegrins should serve their military service outside of Montenegro.

The political faction of Momir Bulatovic, which is currently in the opposition, supported the actions of the Serbian authorities, saying that it was "a state battle against separatism and terrorism" , and described the proposals of the Social Democrats and the Liberals as " unconstitutional and punishable" .------

President says problems with neighbours must be resolved Radio Macedonia, Skopje, in Macedonian 1430 gmt 4 Mar 98

Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov has said that misunderstandings with his country's neighbours must be resolved. He said whoever succeeds him as president should not allow relations with Yugoslavia to deteriorate, and that he did not believe Bulgaria could attempt to change the borders of neighbouring states. The following is the text of a report by Macedonian radio on 4th March:

The president of the Republic of Macedonia, Kiro Gligorov, in an interview given to the weekly 'Puls', talks, among other things, about our relations with the neighbouring countries.

Misunderstandings with our neighbours are very acute, says President Gligorov. They will hinder us in reaching our strategic goals and they have to be resolved. The question is whether they will be resolved in a way that would enable us to maintain our national dignity and identity, or whether a combination of forces will slowly erode the Macedonian entity. Will somebody give in under pressure from Bulgaria that we allegedly have common historic roots, that allegedly the Macedonian language is Bulgarian, that is, that we are branches of the same tree. Or, with regard to the name, [the dispute] with Greece. These are very important things for the future of Macedonia, said President Gligorov. These neighbours have divided Macedonia among themselves and, if necessary, would sit down again and agree about Macedonia.

Answering the question on how he perceives his successor's profile, President Gligorov says the important thing is whether that person, the future president, would conduct a policy based on principles also towards the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which has a central position in the Balkans. We should not be playing around here with what should be the object of the game or allowing relations to deteriorate in order to show who can do what. [Yugoslav President Slobodan] Milosevic is now expecting some greater heat and disturbances in Kosovo that would cause a new distribution of forces, interests of surrounding countries, and suchlike. Albania will interfere. President Gligorov believes that what could happen in Kosovo might change the situation in Macedonia.

When asked to comment on the Bulgarian doctrine for the 21st century, President Gligorov says: "Bearing in mind the atmosphere being created there now on the so-called Macedonian issue and the recent moves made with the national doctrine for the 21st century, and even with the tourist guide, Bulgaria is going back to the goals of San Stefano Bulgaria. I do not consider this could be realized in any other way than by war. Bulgaria is not capable of leading such a war. And it is questionable whether such a thing would be possible. This also runs counter to Bulgaria's present determination to become a member of NATO and EU. Thus the notion that it could change the borders of several states in the Balkans by force is excluded. If this policy has become or is already the official policy of the Bulgarian state, this would cause significant misunderstandings in the Balkans, and there would be a deterioration not only in the political situation, but also in the possibilities for economic cooperation, this being the concept of certain programmes circulating and becoming official, as in the SECI [Southeast European Cooperative Initiative], for example."

According to Gligorov, there is one more problem linked with Bulgaria. Bulgaria's nonrecognition of the national minorities. He believes that this, if not now then later, would be a big obstacle for Bulgaria's accession to the European institutions and NATO. This firm insistence on the stand that Bulgaria is a one-nation state is in fact a denial of the existence of any national minority there. In fact, national minorities in Bulgaria are not able to articulate their identity, their national characteristics, their demands for minority rights, and so on. The best illustration of this, says President Gligorov, is OMO [United Macedonian Organization] Ilinden, a relatively small organization that is struggling in an atmosphere such as in Bulgaria, for recognition that in that country there are also Macedonians, who represent another nationality.

These were excerpts from President Gligorov's interview for the weekly 'Puls', published in its latest issue. ----------------------

Foreign ministry issues statement on Kosovo

Text of report by the Bulgarian news agency BTA

Sofia, 5th March: The Republic of Bulgaria again expresses serious concern over the bloodshed in Kosovo. The crisis in Kosovo may escalate into an interethnic conflict which may spread into other parts and countries of the region.

As close neighbours, we call on the sides to the conflict to start a constructive dialogue and stop the deterioration of the situation which endangers regional security and stability.

A new conflict in southeastern Europe would send us back to the early Nineties, characterized by a crisis in relations, instability, impossibility to have a really functioning economy and possible new sanctions. A new conflict in southeastern Europe would have a devastating effect on our efforts to make the region part of the European and Euro-Atlantic integration processes. Bulgaria is ready to work to the best of its ability to prevent this from happening.

Even before tensions escalated late last week, Bulgaria stated that a lasting solution to the Kosovo problem should be sought on the basis of the following principles:

- Full respect for the fundamental human rights and freedoms of the Albanian, Serbian and other citizens of the province in accordance with the UN Charter, the Helsinki principles and the OSCE standards;

- Immediate unqualified implementation of the 1996 agreement on education;

- Strict respect for the existing borders in the region. Ethnic Albanians should give up any separatist policy and show full respect for the territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia;

- The authorities in Belgrade should take a most responsible attitude towards the problems and seek solutions based on granting broad autonomy to Kosovo within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Bulgaria is ready to provide unstinting help to the Contact Group in its efforts to find a peaceful political solution to all issues related to the Kosovo problem

In mid-February the Bulgarian foreign minister proposed to her counterparts from Greece, Turkey and Romania to issue a joint declaration on the Kosovo problem. A categorical expression of our serious concern would have a deterrent and preventive effect on the sides to the conflict and a stabilizing effect in a regional context.

We believe that at a time of danger the countries of the region should pool their efforts to defend their shared interests. There is no other way they can play a significant role in preventing the conflict. ---------------

Spokesman rejects Macedonian president's view on Kosovo

Excerpt from report by Greek radio on 5th March

[Presenter] Government spokesman Dhimitrios Reppas today commented on FYROM [Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia] President Kiro Gligorov' s statement that Skopje [Macedonia] may break up if the situation erupts in Kosovo. Correspondent Faidhon Leondopoulos reports:

[Leondopoulos] Good afternoon. Yes, we do have a comment on a statement made by Skopje President Kiro Gligorov that if the situation in Kosovo erupts there is a danger of Skopje being divided between Greece and Bulgaria. Reppas said positions of this kind did not contribute to the development of relations between neighbouring countries. He clarified: We want the current Balkan borders to remain as they are.

The spokesman also referred to the situation in Kosovo in general, reiterating the Greek position that the human rights of the Albanians who lived there must be respected and the Yugoslav sovereignty in the area maintained. He also criticized US intervention warnings if no solution is found, saying that it is inappropriate for any third country, any third force, to get involved in the domestic affairs of another country.

Reppas stressed that the Kosovo crisis must be handled through dialogue - that is, in a diplomatic manner - and other solutions must be avoided.

[Reporter] Faidhon, I guess Reppas's mistake yesterday when he referred to Skopje as Macedonia was discussed today. Was Reppas asked about it and what did he say?

[Leondopoulos] This verbal mistake was certainly discussed. Some said it was a mistake, others a gaffe, and others said it marked some policy change. Reppas said the Greek position had not changed. He said: We do not accept any name that will include the term Macedonia or any of its derivatives. He also called on the other side, Skopje, to contribute in order to overcome this last point of friction in Greek-Skopje relations... ------------

Deputy premier says Kosovo problem caused by Serbia revoking old rights

Excerpts from report by Turkish TV on 4th March

[Presenter] Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit addressed the Democratic Left Party [DSP] assembly group meeting today. Among other things, Ecevit said that there are no early elections on the government's agenda. He added, however: We are ready for early elections because we are a minority government.

[Ecevit] ... Very painful events have been taking place in Kosovo recently because of Serbian pressure. Many of our Albanian brothers have died because of this. In my opinion, the reason for the Kosovo problem lies in the fact that the Serbian administration revoked certain rights and freedoms given to the people of Kosovo, especially the Albanian majority in Kosovo, rights and freedoms that were recognized even during the oppressive communist regime. In my view, therefore, the primary requisite for solving this problem consists of reinstating of the rights and freedoms that were granted to the Albanians even during the communist era.

Official expresses concern over clashes in Kosovo

Excerpt from report by the Japanese news agency Kyodo

Tokyo, 6th March: Japan on Friday [6th March] expressed "grave concern" over clashes between Serbian police and an Albanian armed group in Kosovo, Yugoslavia from 28th February to 1st March.

Yutaka Iimura, director-general of the Foreign Ministry's European and Oceanian Affairs bureau, told Nemanja Jovic, charge d'affaires of the Yugoslavian embassy in Tokyo, that if the situation worsened it would have adverse impact on the Balkans as a whole.

Iimura expressed hopes that the government of Serbia and the Albanians in Kosovo will make efforts to start dialogue at the earliest possible time...

Largest demonstration in 10 years in Kosovo as world powers meet

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (March 9, 1998 07:01 a.m. EST http://www.nando.net) -- Tens of thousands of ethnic Albanians held their biggest demonstration in a decade in Pristina Monday, protesting the killing of dozens by Serb police.

For the first time since the restive province of Kosovo was stripped of autonomy in 1989, police did not interfere with the 50-minute protest. Heavily armed riot squads sat in buses in side streets, but made no attempt to break up the crowd.

The lack of police intervention was a clear sign that Serbian authorities did not want violence on a day when ministers from six foreign powers were meeting in London to weigh sanctions against Yugoslavia for last week's police crackdown in Kosovo.

A similar protest in Pristina last week ended with riot police lobbing tear gas and clubbing fleeing demonstrators.

Tens of thousands of ethnic Albanians also were reported to have taken to the streets in other towns across Kosovo. There were no immediate reports of violence in those places, but news is sometimes hampered by poor telephone links.

In Pristina, protesters flashed the victory sign and chanted "Drenica," the region that has seen some of the worst police crackdowns over the past week.

"All we need are weapons to fight the Serb power," said architecture student Visar Bajraktar. He and his companions expressed surprise that police did not intervene, and said they would attend daily protests to press their cause of freedom from Serbia.

The last peaceful demonstrations in Kosovo were in 1988, months before Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, then president of Serbia, stripped the province of its autonomy. Serbs, outnumbered in Kosovo 9-1 by ethnic Albanians, have ruled with heavy police and military presence ever since.

Police with submachine guns and clad in bullet-proof vests lined up in front of buildings, watching as the crowd marched past, bearing signs that read "We'll give our lives, but won't give up Kosovo" and "Stop Serbian Terror."

Seeking to cap the violence, the United States and other powers of the Contact Group -- set up during the Bosnian war to bring peace to the Balkans -- met in London.

Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Russia and the United States hoped to forge a common response to the Serb crackdown but were still far apart.

Russia, a traditional Serbian ally, follows Milosevic in arguing that the conflict is purely an internal matter; the United States refuses to rule out foreign intervention in order to avoid another Balkan tragedy.

Attempts at a firm international response followed a four-day sweep by Serb police that left houses in ruins and forced thousands to flee. The official casualty toll from two sweeps of villages west of the capital, Pristina, included 46 Albanians and six Serb policemen killed.

But Enver Maloku, a spokesman for the leading ethnic Albanian party, said that toll was too low. He said Serb police killed at least 57 people in their last sweep alone. Maloku based that figure on body counts from relatives who came to claim the corpses of victims killed in the latest police attacks on Donji Prekaz village.

Amid widespread fears of a refugee exodus, meanwhile, about 3,500 Albanians have fled Kosovo into neighboring Montenegro in the past two days, Montenegro media reported.

Journalists and other outsiders, kept away from the fighting, were finally allowed into the region Sunday. Authorities took reporters and diplomats on bus tours of Donji Prekaz and other virtually deserted villages whose Albanian residents had fled.

"The operation to liquidate the heart of Kosovo terrorism has ended," said the Serb deputy chief of Kosovo province, Veljko Odalevic.

In Donji Prekaz, a prime target of the Serbs, about half the village's 50 houses had been destroyed or heavily damaged, with gaping holes in facades from heavy weapons, charred or bullet-riddled walls and shattered windows.

Worst-hit was a walled compound of five new houses that belonged to Adem Jashari, who Serbs say was the leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

The militant group has claimed responsibility for the killing of more than 50 people since it surfaced 19 months ago. Jashari was one of those reported killed in the crackdown.

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC, Associated Press Writer

Belgrade ready for Kosovo autonomy talks-envoy 10:53 a.m. Mar 09, 1998 Eastern MOSCOW, March 9 (Reuters) - Yugoslavia's ambassador to Russia said on Monday the only way to stop violence in the province of Kosovo was to start talks about its autonomy, but he ruled out its secession. "I think that the way to resolve the situation is for the Albanians (in Kosovo) to agree to talks about the region's autonomy and to realise their rights within Yugoslavia," Danilo Markovic told Public Russian Television through an interpreter. "Any other way will not lead to a peace solution. Instead it will lead to undesired consequences not only for us but for the whole of Europe, for the world community and for the population of Kosovo," he said. "We are not talking about concessions to separatists. The Yugoslav authorities have always been ready for dialogue and talks about Kosovo's autonomy within Yugoslavia. But Yugoslavia will never agree to secession of Kosovo." Markovic was apparently speaking before major world powers demanded that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic end a crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and open a political dialogue on autonomy. Ministers from the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and Italy met in London to discuss Kosovo. But Russia dissented from a decision by the five Western powers to impose immediate financial sanctions on Belgrade and threaten to freeze Yugoslavian and Serbian government assets on March 25 unless Milosevic reverses course. Markovic, speaking separately on Ekho Moskvy radio, said Belgrade was ready to grant Kosovo "autonomy in education, economy and so on, but without any sign of statehood." Dozens of ethnic Albanians have been killed last week in clashes between Serbian police and the guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo, where 90 percent of the 1.8 million population is of Albanian descent. The West is worried that the confrontation between Belgrade and ethnic Albanians demanding outright independence for Kosovo could flare up into a war that might spread across the southern Balkans.

Milosevic under pressure to relent on Kosovo

LONDON (March 9, 1998 10:36 a.m. EST http://www.nando.net) - Major world powers demanded on Monday that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic end a crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and open a political dialogue on autonomy.

But Russia dissented from a decision by five Western powers to impose immediate financial sanctions on Belgrade and threaten to freeze Yugoslav and Serbian government assets on March 25 unless Milosevic reverses course.

"The violent repression of non-violent expression of political views is completely indefensible," ministers from the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and Italy said in a joint statement. "The situation in Kosovo cannot be resolved by heavy-handed policing activity, and the international community will not tolerate the use of the police in such a repressive way as we have seen over the past week with so many deaths," British Foreign Minister Robin Cook told a news conference.

The six-nation Contact Group, created to promote peace in Bosnia, urged the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia in The Hague to consider prosecuting people accused of war crimes in the Kosovo crackdown, in which at least 80 people have been killed in the last 10 days.

The ministers called for former Spanish prime minister Felipe Gonzalez to mediate in Kosovo on behalf of the 54-nation Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

They also demanded that Belgrade allow the U.N. Commissioner for Human Rights to investigate the situation in the southern Serbian province.

The five Western powers agreed on an immediate ban on government-financed export credit support for trade, investment and privatisation in Serbia. Cook noted that Milosevic was using the proceeds of privatisation to pay his security forces.

After a telephone call with Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov in Moscow, Cook said all six countries had agreed the U.N. Security Council should consider a comprehensive arms embargo, and would ban sales of equipment that could be used for repression and deny visas for senior Yugoslav and Serbian officials involved in the crackdown.

However Russia did not agree to the two key financial sanctions.

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said she was satisfied with the agreement despite Russia's reservations, adding: "We need to remember the only kind of pressure President Milosevic understands is the kind that imposes a real price on his unacceptable behaviour."

Albright said it was vital to avoid a repetition of the international community's hesitant response to the start of the Yugoslav wars in 1991.

The Contact Group will meet to review the situation on March 25.

As Monday's meeting began, Albanian sources in Kosovo said police had returned to their families the bodies of 57 people killed in last week's fighting, more than twice the number Belgrade had admitted killing.

Ethnic Albanians staged a huge protest demonstration in the Kosovo capital Pristina but Serbian police did not intervene this time to break it up.

Cook said the ministers agreed that a United Nations peacekeeping force should remain in neighbouring Macedonia to prevent the conflict spreading to that former Yugoslav republic, which has a restive Albanian minority.

Milosevic, who ordered last week's onslaught on suspected Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrilla strongholds, told the visiting Turkish foreign minister on Sunday that Kosovo was an internal affair.

But Albright rebutted that argument in her speech to the ministers, saying: "We must first acknowledge that this crisis is not an internal affair of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The violence is an affront to universal standards of human rights we are pledged to uphold."

Gonzalez brokered a solution to a stand-off between Milosevic and Serbian opposition parties in 1996 over disputed municipal elections, but there is no sign that the Yugoslav leader will accept such mediation this time.

Diplomatic sources said NATO was expected to hold a meeting this week at Albania's request to discuss Kosovo.

The meeting would mark the first time that a country in NATO's Partnership for Peace (PFP) organisation has invoked a clause giving it the right to call for emergency talks with the ambassadors of NATO's 16 member states.

By DAVID LJUNGGREN, Reuters

Kosova Information Center KOSOVA DAILY REPORT # 1366C Prishtina, 9 March 1998

Third Edition: 20:00hrs

Contact Group Adopts a Range of Measures against Belgrade over Kosova Crackdown

PRISHTINA, March 9 (KIC) - The foreign ministers of the six-nation Contact Group met for several hours today (Monday) in London to discuss the extremely tense situation in Kosova following the Serbian crackdown on Albanian villages in the Drenica region this past week. The meeting lasted for a couple of hours longer than expected. The ministers came up with a four-page statement on Kosova and measures against Belgrade. The statement recalled the Contact Group's position on the need for dialogue ("without preconditions") towards a political solution. "We note with particular concern the recent violence in Kosovo resulting in at least 80 fatalities and condemn the use if excessive force by Serbian police against civilians", the minister said in the statement. The Contact Group said it condemned "terrorist actions by the Kosovo Liberation Army or any other group or individual". The Ministers called on the Belgrade authorities to "invite independent forensic experts to investigate the very serious allegations of extrajudicial killings". The Contact Group ministers meeting in London said it decided to take a broad range of action to address the current situation on an urgent basis. It "welcomes the continuation of consultations in the United Nations Security Council, in view of the implications of the situation in Kosovo for regional security". Against this background, the six-nation Contact Group requests a mission to Kosova by the UNHCR; urges the office of the Prosecutor of the ICTY to begin gathering information related to the violence in Kosova that "may fall within its jurisdiction"; supports the proposal for a new mission by Felipe Gonzales as the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office for the FRY that would include a new and specific mandate for addressing the problems in Kosova. "It is not enough for the killing (in Kosova) to stop", the statement said. Because of the gravity of the situation, the Contact Group endorsed today the following measures to be pursued immediately: "a) UN Security Council consideration of a comprehensive arms embargo against the FRY, including Kosovo; b) Refusal to supply equipment to the FRY which might be used for internal repression, or for terrorism; c) Denial of visas for senior FRY and Serbian representatives responsible for repressive action by FRY security forces in Kosovo; d) A moratorium on government financed export credit support for trade and investment, including government financing for privatisation, in Serbia." The last two measures were not supported by Russia for immediate imposition. It would be willing to discuss them if there is no progress towards the steps called for by the Contact Group. The ministers called on 'FRY' President Milosevic to take rapid and effective steps to stop the violence and "engage in a commitment to find a political solution to the issue of Kosovo through dialogue". Specifically, Milosevic should within ten days "withdraw the special police units and cease action by the security affecting the civilian population", and allow access to Kosova for the ICRC and other humanitarian organisations as well as by representatives of the Contact Group and other Embassies. Milosevic should commit himself publicly to begin a process of dialogue with the leadership of the Kosova Albanians, the Contact Group said. "We support an enhanced status for Kosovo within the FRY, ...including meaningful self-administration", the Group noted. Belgrade should offer Kosovar Albanians a genuine political process. "The authorities in Belgrade and the leadership of the Kosovar Albanian community must assume their responsibility to enter without preconditions into a meaningful dialogue on political status issues. The Contact Group stands ready to facilitate such a dialogue", the Contact Group's statement on Kosova concluded. The ministers held a press conference after the conclusion of the meeting in London. The UK Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, who chaired the Contact Group meeting, briefed the journalists on the outcome of the meeting. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said "all options are open", replying to a question by a reporter who wanted her comments about a possible military response against Serbia along the Bush/Clinton warnings. No military response is under consideration at present, she said.

Serb Forces Wound by Fire Arms at Least 15 Peaceful Protestors in Istog

PRISHTINA, March 9 (KIC) - The Serbian police cracked down brutally on Monday against peaceful protesters in Istog. Serb snipers opened fire and wounded at least 15 persons, the LDK sources in Istog reported. Two Albanians wounded badly have been reported taken to hospital in Peja. Sources said the police used truncheons to disperse peaceful protesters. The LDK Information Commission has named the following persons injured by Serb police: Ahmet Ahmetaj from Istog, Agron Metaj, Fadil Kali^ani, Avni Kali^ani, Bislim Bicaj, Ejup Kamberaj, Zymer Haxhijaj, Ismet Hajdinaj, Haxhi Sylaj, Qerim Brahimaj.

Skenderaj Faces Shortage of Food and Other Supplies, Residents Appeal for Help

PRISHTINA, March 9 (KIC) - LDK sources in Skenderaj reported late afternoon they are facing enormous problems with the identification of the persons killed by the Serb criminal forces over the last week. Several dead bodies have burnt beyond recognition. The situation in town is critically difficult. There is lack of food and other supplies. Shops and bakeries have closed out of fear from Serb snipers, who shoot on everything that moves.

Accounts on Peaceful Protests Staged in Kosova Monday

PRISHTINA, March 9 (KIC) - Hundreds of thousands of Albanians rallied Monday in Kosova's capital Prishtina and municipal centers all over Kosova to protest the Serb regime terror. Half-an-hour protest manifestations were called by political parties and students and trade-union organizations. Over 100.000 people protesters rallied in the "Mother Teresa" square of Prishtina, sympathizing with the people of Drenica who have been suffering under the deadly siege of the Serb forces for days. Displaying pancards against violence and war, ralliers called for an immediate end to the Serb regime violence and ethnic cleansing drives. The protests ended without incidents. Meanwhile, sources from other Kosova towns said the police intervened against protesters in several places. Below is a digested account about protests in half a dozen places in Kosova. Peja Heavy Serb police forces were stationed today morning in all the key places of the town in advance to the beginning of the protest rally. Scores of Albanians from surrounding villages of Peja were reported beaten while on their way to the town center, the venue of the protest. Chanting slogans like "Drenica, We Stand By You" and Stop the Serb Terror", the protesters rallied in the main square of the town. Over 50 thousand people are believed to have rallied in Peja today. Sources in Peja said scores of protesters were beaten up by Serb police. The LDK branch in Peja could learn the identities of the following Albanians beaten today: Riza (Z) Kastrati (1964), from Dob&rdol, Gani (U) Berisha (1971) from Qallapeku, Artan (H) Berisha (1979 from Qallapeku, Avni Gashi (1977) from Baran, Visar Krasniqi (19754) from Vranoc, Sefedin Kelmendi (1976) from Kosuriqi At least a dozen were detained and were released after having been ill-treated in custody. Gjakova: - Over 30 thousand people participated in the peaceful protests in Gjakova (south-west Kosova) today Monday. The protesters were disciplined and with dignity. The Serb forces prevented a number of people from Dushkaja from entering the town. They were reported beaten up. Hani i Elezit: - Some 5 thousand Albanian protested in downtown Hani i Elezit, a town bordering Macedonia. Sources reported of heavy presence of Serb forces in town. No incidents were reported. Shtime: At least 15 thousand Albanians protested peacefully against the Serb forces' terror against Albanian families in Drenica. They called for freedom and independence and an end to violence. Kamenic&: Some 15 thousand Albanians protested peacefully in Kamenica. The Serb forces blocked the main road leading into town and prevented people from the surrounding areas to enter the town. Reportedly, the police beat dozens of people and prevented them from gathering in downtown Kamenica. The protests were held in suburbs of the town. Selami Myrtaj, Njazi Feraj, G&zim Hotnjani, Ekrem D&rmaku, Valton Selimi, Abdullah Ahmeti were reported beaten by the Serb forces following the protest. Obiliq: Some 1 thousand Albanians protested today in the small town of Obiliq. After the protest a number of Serb civilians attacked the Albanian teacher Bedri Neziri, whereas, Serbian police arrested four persons. Ka^anik - Some 20 thousand Albanians protested peaceful in downtown Ka^anik Monday. They demanded peace, denouncing strongly the Serb forces' violence and criminal acts against Albanians in Drenica. The protest began at 11 a.m, and ended half-an-hour later. No incidents were reported. Ferizaj: - Sources in Ferizaj said some 70 thousand people protested peacefully in downtown Ferizaj. They demanded peace and denounced the violence and terror of Serb forces. No incidents were reported. Malisheva: - Albanians residing in the Malisheva municipality, some 30 thousand of them, staged a peaceful protest Monday in the streets of Malisheva. Sources said the Serbian police did not intervene. Prizren: - Some 80 thousand Albanians protested peacefully today (Monday) in downtown Prizren. The protesters called for the end of violence, and held pancards: "stop the Serbian terror"; "Drenica we are on your side": "Stop the Genocide"; "We Want Freedom"; "We Want Peace". Although there was a presence of heavy Serbian forces in town, and in the roads leading to the town the police did not intervene. Sources said the Serbian police beat several people after the protest, among them G&zim Basha and Fiti Hoxha. De^an: - Some 30 thousand people protested in De^an this morning, demanding end of violence and Serb terror against Albanians in Kosova.

Serb Forces Beat Humanitarian Activists

PRISHTINA, March 9 (KIC) - Serb forces beat severely Tahir B. Mjekiqi, activist with the Mother Teresa humanitarian association, while transporting food and other supplies for the displaced people of the Drenica region. Four heavily armed members of Serb forces stopped for an hour the lorry of Mother Teresa charitable organization in Grabovc i Ep&rm village. Mr. Mjekiqi was also ordered to report at the police station on Tuesday.

Medical Workers Beaten Severely in Rahovec

PRISHTINA, March 9 (KIC) - Sources in Malisheva reported the Serbian police beat severely the local chairman of the LDK Women's Forum, Mrs. Sanije Desku. Mrs. Desku is a nurse at the local medical center in town. Together with Mrs. Desku the Serb forces in Rahovec beat severely Bajrush Hoti and Sinan Mazreku, also medical workers from Malisheva. In Bubavec, a dozen of Serbian police beat innocent residents in this village, arrested Orhan Kryeziu, instead of his brother Remzi Kryeziu the police were inquiring for.

Fresh Serb Forces Deployed to Mitrovica from Serbia, CFDHRF Reported

PRISHTINA, March 9 (KIC) - The Human Rights Chapter in Mitrovica reported heavy Serbian forces were deployed from Serbian towns to Mitrovica today (Monday). Some fifteen buses, three vans and two police vehicles, all with license plates from Serbia (Nis, Pirot) entered at the Serbian military (JNA) barracks in Mitrovica, other stationed at the fire- brigade buildings. Five police vehicles with Serb civilians, and 6 buses, some of them empty, headed at noon in the direction of Skenderaj (Drenica). At 1 p.m, another 4 buses and one APC took off for Skenderaj, Human Rights Council reported.

At Least 10 Thousands Displaced People Find Shelter Outside Drenica

PRISHTINA, March 9 (KIC) - Residents of Drenica have continued to flee out of the region today (Monday), amidst the ongoing terror of Serb forces. According to the Council for the Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms in Prishtina (CFDHRF), at least 10 thousand displaced persons have found shelter in the neighboring municipalities Mitrovica, Obiliq, Vushtrri, Fush&-Kosova and Lipjan. CFDHRF says some 3,5 thousand have found shelter in Montenegro. Meanwhile, the Kosova Red Cross said 12 150 persons left their homes and found shelter in other parts of Kosova.

Kosova Information Center

Western Press Review: Commentators Warn Of Dangers Of Kosovo

By Joel Blocker/Dora Slaba/Esther Pan

Prague, 9 March 1998 (RFE/RL) -- With tensions mounting in Serbia's southern Kosovo province, the six-nation Contact Group on the former Yugoslavia is due to meet urgently in London today to seek a resolution of the conflict between Belgrade and the regions's ethnic Albanian majority. Western press opinion and commentary today and over the weekend focused strongly on the crisis in Kosovo, with most expressing apprehension about a possible spread of the conflict to other parts of the Balkans.

NEW YORK TIMES: Kosovo's conflict could spread

In an editorial yesterday, the New York Times said that "the violence in Kosovo could ignite the Balkans beyond the former Yugoslavia." The paper wrote: "When top diplomats from the United States and five European nations (Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia) meet (today), they should affirm Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's strong warning on Saturday to the Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic, to stop the killings of Kosovo's Albanians....If violence increases, Kosovo's conflict could spread to neighboring Macedonia, which has an Albanian minority. Since many of Macedonia's neighbors have territorial claims on it, chaos in Macedonia could encourage Albania, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey to join a war."

The editorial continued: "Leaders in Washington and Europe have been talking about the danger for years. But even the Clinton administration, which has contributed the most to maintain the peace, is not doing enough. (And) if Russia is not willing to stop its sales of oil and arms, it should at least demand cash instead of barter from Serbia. The New York Times concluded: "Milosevic keeps Serbian and possibly personal bank accounts abroad, many reportedly in Cyprus. These should be frozen. To reinforce the message, the top diplomats of all NATO nations should make clear that Milosevic's defiance in Kosovo is being closely watched and is of great concern to them."

WASHINGTON POST: The diplomatic fire brigade must help the parties keep the violence from spinning out of control

The Washington Post wrote yesterday that "the long-feared 'second Bosnia' may be igniting in Kosovo, a province of Serbia with a 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority." In an editorial, the paper said: "Kosovans have been demanding independence from a Belgrade government that has ruled repressively and resisted restoring even the lesser autonomy Belgrade revoked in 1989. Now a collision of the 'Greater Serbia' idea identified with Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic and a similarly nationalistic 'Greater Albania' could draw in principals and region alike." The paper continued: "The diplomatic fire brigade (meeting today in London) must help the parties keep the violence from spinning out of control. Serbia cannot expect escape from its isolation, nor the Albanians from their neglect, if others see either as responsible for an escalating war. Any political changes must be made at a table. The (present) sanctions against Serbia can't be made much tougher. But NATO military options need to be reviewed. Bill Clinton has reiterated George Bush's unspecific but resonant 1992 'Christmas warning' against Serbian aggression --a warning Mr. Milosevic cannot possibly find advantage in testing."

CHICAGO TRIBUNE: U.S. may have inadvertently given Milosevic a pretext to order a crackdown

On Saturday, the Chicago Tribune carried a news analysis from Washington by David Cloud that also warned of the consequences of an expanded conflict. Cloud wrote: "Continued violence in Kosovo would undercut the U.S. claim to be forging a durable Balkan peace and the instability could spill over into neighboring Albania and Macedonia, which has a sizable population of ethnic Albanians as well." The analysis continued: "The most worrisome scenario to U.S. officials is that continued fighting will produce a stream of refugees going out of Kosovo as weapons from Albania are smuggled in to arm the guerrilla movement fighting the Serb forces....Ironically, the U.S. may have inadvertently given Milosevic a pretext to order a crackdown when (U.S. special envoy Robert Gelbard) in late February branded the Kosovo Liberation Army, a guerrilla organization blamed for attacks against Serb police, 'without any question a terrorist group.'"

FINANCIAL TIMES: No-one, its seems, has learnt anything in the Balkans since 1991

Britain's Financial Times today writes that the situation in Kosovo is "deja vu (that is, already seen) all over again." In its editorial, the paper writes: "European envoys urge restraint, the U.S. sends mixed signals, and Slobodan Milosevic ploughs on with his chosen strategy, using force against non-Serb civilians and playing on Serb nationalist passions to keep himself in power. No-one, its seems, has learnt anything in the Balkans since 1991." The editorial continues: "Only this time the results could be even worse. Ethnic war between Slavs and Albanians will be difficult to confine to Kosovo. It could spread to Macedonia and Montenegro, putting intense pressure on Albania to succor its kith and kin. Greece, Bulgaria and even Turkey could soon be sucked into the maelstrom." To prevent the conflict from spreading, the Financial Times says that "the violence has to be stopped in Kosovo itself. That requires a willingness to use the sort of NATO air force which, when deployed in Bosnia, helped bring Mr. Milosevic to the Dayton (Bosnia peace) talks....At the same time," the paper concludes, "Albanians throughout the region must accept that autonomy (for Kosovo) is all that the international community will support. Changing territorial boundaries in this part of the world is too dangerous."

FIGARO: There are no guarantees that diplomats can prevent a repetition of the scenario

France's daily Figaro also feels that "the pictures of oppressive force from Kosovo provoke a feeling of deja vu." In its editorial, the paper writes: "The international diplomats are flying from Rome to Belgrade and from Paris to London. But there are no guarantees that they can prevent a repetition of the scenario that we know all too well: divisions, lack of agreement, splintering and impotence." The editorial warns: "The international consequences of an ethnic explosion in Kosovo would be very alarming. On the map, the Yugoslav Albanians share a border with their brothers in Albania and Macedonia, two countries which are themselves unstable. Unlike Bosnia, Kosovo is not landlocked. It lies on a dividing line."

LA STAMPA: Once again the choice is between the diplomatic way and the threat of force

Italy's La Stampa calls Kosovo "a powder keg." The Rome paper writes: "For the Serbs, (Kosovo) is the historic cradle of the Serbian state; for the Albanians, it is truly their home... .Once again the choice is between the diplomatic way and the threat of force. Whatever happens, the Kosovo chapter is now open. In hindsight, we remember Bosnia. Let's hope this will be less gruesome."

AKTUELT: It seems like the beginning of a new Balkan crisis

Denmark's daily Aktuelt also sees history repeating itself in Kosovo. It writes: "Once again, this time in Kosovo, warning voices have cried, 'the wolf is coming!' Yet the international community was truly shocked, surprised and paralyzed to see the wolf itself really appear. The region is exploding in armed internal conflict. It seems like the beginning of a new Balkan crisis."

SUEDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG: Klaus Kinkel and Manfred Kanther seem to live in two different worlds

In the Sueddeutsche Zeitung today, commentator Peter Muench writes about what he calls "schizophrenic Kosovo politics" in Germany, comparing Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel's weekend remarks (in an interview with the Welt am Samstag) about Kosovo to those made earlier by Bavaria's Minister of Interior Manfred Kanther. He says the two "politicians seem to live in two different worlds. At any rate, they sometimes speak two different languages." He explains: "In the Kinkel language of German foreign policy, Kosovo today constitutes an explosive crisis region --the next war scene in the Balkans, where two million Albanians are being oppressed by the Serbian central power. On the other hand, in the Kanther domestic-policy language...Kosovo is a normal province in a normal state which is being treated according to normal diplomatic relations." Muench continues: "Kosovo in the Kinkel cosmos is positioned in the center of the UN Security Council's crisis diplomacy and the (six-power) Contact Group. But (for) Kanther, the aim is to take action to deport refugees who claimed in Germany that they are facing threats."

Balkan violence forces Yugoslavia into renewed isolation

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (March 9, 1998 4:06 p.m. EST http://www.nando.net) -- Just as the world seemed ready to reopen its door to Yugoslavia, a weeklong Serb police sweep on ethnic Albanians slammed it shut, crushing any hopes that crippling sanctions would be lifted any time soon.

Those hopes were high in Belgrade last month, after Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic helped the West install a moderate government in the Serb half of Bosnia. The United States, at least, appeared ready to ease penalties imposed over Yugoslavia's role in the Bosnian War.

Instead of such rewards, however, the Serb-dominated federation of Yugoslavia received more punishment today when foreign powers endorsed an arms embargo and other measures in response to Serbia's bloody crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

Ethnic Albanians said today that at least 52 people died in the second of two police sweeps last week through the province, where ethnic Albanians outnumber Serbs 9-to-1.

Serbia -- the largest of two republics in the Yugoslav federation -- has vowed to never give up Kosovo, the heartland of Serbia's medieval empire.

The United States and five other countries threatened Milosevic today with even more reprisals unless special police units are withdrawn from the region in 10 days. The conference also urged ethnic Albanians to enter into negotiations without conditions.

"The only kind of pressure that President Milosevic understands is the kind that imposes a real price on his unacceptable behavior," Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said today in London.

The reintroduction of sanctions comes just after Belgrade was allowed to upgrade sparse diplomatic representation in Washington by reopening a consulate. Yugoslav Airlines, the national carrier shut out of the United States since the Bosnian war erupted in 1992, also had been permitted to operate charter flights to major U.S. cities.

And Serb-dominated Yugoslavia was allowed membership in the U.S.-led Southeastern European Cooperation Initiative. It was the first such organization Belgrade was permitted to rejoin since 1992, when the United Nations banned it from all international clubs because of its support of Bosnian Serb war efforts. The United Nations lifted the last of its sanctions in 1996.

Though mostly symbolic, the concessions were meant to send Milosevic a clear message: Work for peace and democracy in Yugoslavia and other, more devastating sanctions would soon be lifted as well.

The most crippling ones were a ban on loans from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and a freeze on foreign assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

And after the recent violence in the Serb province of Kosovo, those will likely remain in place indefinitely.

The U.S. envoy for the Balkans, Robert Gelbard, warned last week that the sanctions could become even harsher unless Milosevic compromises.

"The situation can become an awful lot worse, and we can make it worse," he said.

But does Milosevic care?

Though the state-run economy is bankrupt and more than half of the work force is unemployed, he remains at the helm in Yugoslavia.

His closest supporters have amassed immense wealth, in part by exploiting sanctions loopholes. The last group of opposition figures to challenge him split in disarray last spring.

More than anything else, the Bosnian war was ended by NATO's resolve to use force against those opposing peace. With the international community far away from such a drastic move in Kosovo, Milosevic is unlikely to bow to sanctions alone.

By JOVANA GEC, Associated Press Writer

Belgrade ready for Kosovo autonomy talks, envoy says

MOSCOW (March 9, 1998 4:06 p.m. EST http://www.nando.net) - Yugoslavia's ambassador to Russia said on Monday the only way to stop violence in the province of Kosovo was to start talks about its autonomy, but he ruled out its secession.

"I think that the way to resolve the situation is for the Albanians (in Kosovo) to agree to talks about the region's autonomy and to realise their rights within Yugoslavia," Danilo Markovic told Public Russian Television through an interpreter.

"Any other way will not lead to a peace solution. Instead it will lead to undesired consequences not only for us but for the whole of Europe, for the world community and for the population of Kosovo," he said.

"We are not talking about concessions to separatists. The Yugoslav authorities have always been ready for dialogue and talks about Kosovo's autonomy within Yugoslavia. But Yugoslavia will never agree to secession of Kosovo."

Markovic was apparently speaking before major world powers demanded that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic end a crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and open a political dialogue on autonomy.

Ministers from the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and Italy met in London to discuss Kosovo.

But Russia dissented from a decision by the five Western powers to impose immediate financial sanctions on Belgrade and threaten to freeze Yugoslavian and Serbian government assets on March 25 unless Milosevic reverses course.

Markovic, speaking separately on Ekho Moskvy radio, said Belgrade was ready to grant Kosovo "autonomy in education, economy and so on, but without any sign of statehood."

Dozens of ethnic Albanians have been killed last week in clashes between Serbian police and the guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo, where 90 percent of the 1.8 million population is of Albanian descent.

The West is worried that the confrontation between Belgrade and ethnic Albanians demanding outright independence for Kosovo could flare up into a war that might spread across the southern Balkans.

Russia unhappy with Albania army on Serbian border

TIRANA (March 9, 1998 4:06 p.m. EST http://www.nando.net) - Russia has told Albania its deployment of troops on the border with Yugoslavia could aggravate tensions after a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo province, Tirana said on Monday.

Albania's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Russian ambassador Igor Saprikin had told Foreign Minister Paskal Milo he was concerned about reports of infiltration of weapons and "terrorist groups" from Albania into Kosovo.

Albanian troops in northern regions bordering Yugoslavia have been on high alert since last week when dozens of Albanians were killed in Kosovo in fighting with Serbian forces.

According to the statement, Saprikin said the Yugoslav government had confirmed to Russia it had no plan to use its armed forces "except in the case of a foreign intervention."

"In this respect, we think the deployment of Albanian army formations on the border ... could only aggravate the ituation," he was quoted as telling Milo at a meeting on Sunday.

Milo replied: "The deployment of Albanian forces on the Albanian-Yugoslav border is a measure that has been taken to control the border, to avoid any kind of incident that might happen there, intentionally or not, (and) to avoid possible provocations."

Milo said Albania believed the Russian government had been informed Yugoslavia had concentrated troops on its side of the border and that Belgrade used not only police but also military and paramilitary forces in an attack in Kosovo's Drenice area.

The West fears the confrontation between Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and ethnic Albanians demanding outright independence for Serbia's Kosovo province could flare into a war that might spread across the southern Balkans.

Dozens of ethnic Albanians have been killed in the last week in clashes between Serbian police and the militant Kosovo Liberation Army in the southern Serbian province, where 90 percent of the 1.8 million population is ethnic Albanian.

Albania remains awash with more than half a million weapons in the wake of last year's civil unrest in which armouries were looted. There have been reports of weapons being smuggled to Greece, Italy, Macedonia and even to Kosovo.

Saprikin said Moscow expected Tirana to refrain from statements or actions that could be termed as intervention in the internal affairs of Yugoslavia.

"We also hope the Albanian leadership will not only denounce but will also not allow any gesture, even indirect, supporting separatism and terrorism," Saprikin said.

Milo said he regretted the Russian position, saying it was "deeply one-sided."

Milo rejected suggestions that Albania had organised "terrorist groups" on its territory and allegations that Albania was serving as a base to send "weapons, consciously and intentionally, to Kosovo."

"The Albanian government has declared very clearly and repeatedly that it does not support any terrorist actions."

By BENET KOLEKA, Reuters

Spain's Gonzalez says he may mediate Kosovo crisis

MADRID (March 9, 1998 4:06 p.m. EST http://www.nando.net) - Former Spanish prime minister Felipe Gonzalez on Monday said he would accept the role of international mediator in the conflict in Serbia's Kosovo province if Yugoslav authorities gave their approval.

Six major powers meeting in London called on Gonzalez to undertake a mission on behalf of the 54-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Gonzalez, in Mexico attending an academic conference, told state radio earlier on Monday: "Any OSCE mission ... depends on its acceptance by Yugoslav authorities."

"If there is no (approval), then there's no mission. It is no longer in my hands to decide this," he said.

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who ordered last week's crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, told the visiting Turkish foreign minister on Sunday that the conflict was an internal matter.

Fighting between Serbian police and ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of the province's population, has resulted in the worst bloodshed since Kosovo's autonomy was withdrawn in 1989. Dozens of people have been killed.

Ministers from the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and Italy on Monday agreed on a plan to press Milosevic to end the crackdown.

NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana, who served as foreign minister under Gonzalez's former Socialist administration, said last week there was a "good possibility" Gonzalez would be entrusted with an OSCE peace mission in Kosovo.

The OSCE was due to discuss the Kosovo crisis at a meeting on Wednesday in Vienna.

Gonzalez was credited during his 14 years in power with guiding Spain in its transition to democracy after four decades of dictatorship. His government was voted out in 1996 after a series of corruption and security scandals.

That year he brokered a solution to a standoff between Milosevic and Serbian opposition parties over disputed municipal elections.

Recent violence in Serbia's Kosovo region

BELGRADE (March 9, 1998 4:06 p.m. EST http://www.nando.net) - The following is an outline chronology of the latest violence in Serbia's Kosovo province:

Feb. 28-March 1 - At least 24 ethnic Albanians and four Serbian police died in clashes between police and alleged separatist guerrillas.

March 2 - Serbian police armed with tear gas, water cannon and clubs waded into thousands of demonstrators protesting in the provincial capital of Pristina against the killings of Kosovo Albanians by police.

March 4 - Britain said foreign ministers of the "big power" Contact Group -- Britain, the United States, France, Britain, Germany and Italy -- would meet in London on March 9 to discuss Kosovo.

March 5 - Serbia said 20 ethnic Albanians and two Serbian policemen had been killed in fighting in the Kosovo Albanian village of Prekaz. Kosovo Albanians said more than 50 nationalists had died; the United States punished Yugoslavia for escalating violence in Kosovo province by withdrawing limited economic concessions granted in February.

March 6 - Serbian police said they had "destroyed the core" of the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army in central Kosovo, killing guerrilla leader Adem Jasari and capturing 30 of his fighters.

March 7 - Scores of ethnic Albanian villagers slept out in the open in the hills of Kosovo for a third night as Serbian police continued their onslaught against alleged separatist guerrillas; Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the United States would not tolerate a return to bloodshed in former Yugoslavia and believed Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was responsible for the Kosovo problem.

March 8 - The United States, France and Britain called for the inernationalisation of the conflict. French President Jacques Chirac said Europe could not tolerate a new outbreak of ethnic hatred.

At a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem in Belgrade, Milosevic in effect told other countries to mind their own business. Kosovo, he said, was a domestic Serbian matter.

In Pristina, thousands of ethnic Albanian women demonstrated peacefully against the killings.

March 9 - At least 50,000 ethnic Albanians took part in a peaceful demonstration in Pristina. In nearby Srbice, families refused to bury 60 victims of fighting whose bodies were returned for burial by the Serbs. They included 14 women and 12 children, according to officials of the LDK, the biggest Albanian political party in Kosovo.

World powers of the "Contact Group" demanded that Milosevic end the Kosovo crackdown and open a political dialogue on autonomy. But Russia dissented from a decision by five Western powers to impose immediate financial sanctions on Belgrade and threaten to freeze Yugoslavian and Serbian government assets on March 25 unless Milosevic reversed course.

Text of Contact Group statement on Kosovo

LONDON (March 9, 1998 4:06 p.m. EST http://www.nando.net) - Following is a statement on Kosovo issued on Monday by foreign ministers from the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and Italy.

1. We the foreign ministers of Contact Group countries, together with representatives of the European Commission and the Office of the High Representative, met in London on 9 March to discuss the increasingly tense situation in Kosovo, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), and the unacceptable use of force over recent days. The Balkans region has seen too much bloodshed in recent years for the international community to stand aside.

2. We recalled that when we met in New York on 24 September, 1997, we voiced deep concern over developments in Kosovo and called on the authorities in Belgrade and the leadership of the Kosovar Albanian community to join in a peaceful dialogue. We are dismayed that in the period since September, rather than taking steps to reduce tensions or to enter without preconditions into dialogue toward a political solution, the Belgrade authorities have applied repressive measures in Kosovo. We note with particular concern the recent violence in Kosovo resulting in at least 80 fatalities and condemn the use of excessive force by Serbian police against civilians, and against peaceful demonstrators in Pristina on 2 March.

3. Our condemnation of the actions of the Serbian police should not in any way be mistaken for an endorsement of terrorism. Our position on this is clear. We wholly condemn terrorist actions by the Kosovo Liberation Army or any other group or individual. Those in the Kosovar Albanian community who speak for the different political constituencies should make it clear that they, too, abhor terrorism. We insist likewise that those outside the FRY who are supplying finance, arms or training for terrorist activity in Kosovo should immediately cease doing so.

4. We condemn the large-scare police actions of the last 10 days that further inflamed an already volatile situation. The violent repression of non-violent expression of political views in completely indefensible. We call upon the authorities in Belgrade to invite independent forensic experts to investigate the very serious allegations of extrajudicial killings. If those accusations are borne out, we expect FRY authorities to prosecute and punish those responsible.

5. Our commitment to human rights values means that we cannot ignore such disproportionate methods of control. Government authorities have a special responsibility to protect the human and civil rights of all citizens and to ensure that public security forces act judiciously and with restraint.

6. In the light of the deplorable violence in Kosovo, we feel compelled to take steps to demonstrate to the authorities in Belgrade that they cannot defy international standards without facing severe consequences. The Contact Group has decided to take a broad range of action to address the current situation on an urgent basis. The Contact Group welcomes the continuation of consultations in the United Nations Security Council, in view of the implications of the situation in Kosovo for regional security. Against that background, the Contact Group: + requests a mission to Kosovo by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. + urges the office of the Prosecutor of the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia) to begin gathering information related to the violence in Kosovo that may fall within its jurisdiction. The FRY authorities have an obligation to cooperate with the ICTY. Contact Group countries will make available to the ICTY substantiated relevant information in their possession. + supports the proposal for a new mission by (former Spanish prime minister) Felipe Gonzalez as a personal representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office for the FRY that would include a new and specific mandate for addressing the problems in Kosovo. + supports the return of the OSCE long-term missions to Kosovo, the Sandzak and Vojvodina. + recommends that the special session of the OSCE Permanent Council meeting on 11 March arrange for embassies in Belgrade of OSCE participating states to intensify their visits to Kosovo so as to provide for a continuous presence. + will continue vigorously to support (humanitarian group) Sant Egidio's efforts to secure implementation of the Education Agreement, and identify resources to assist a fair and acceptable arrangement. + proposes the establishment of an international consortium including non-governmental organisations that would promote civil-society building in Kosovo and the distribution of humanitarian assistance. + recognising that neighbouring countries of the FRY have legitimate security concerns stemming from violence and unrest in Kosovo, will arrange an urgent meeting of the Contract Group with representatives of governments in the region to discuss the grave consequences of an inter-ethnic conflict and its possible spillover to other parts of the region. We expect them to do all in their power to prevent support of terrorism. The meeting will in particular address:

the possible despatch of a short-term OSCE monitoring group to enhance the ability of the Albania mission's Shkodra field office to monitor the FRY (Kosovo) border.

the possible strengthening of the present OSCE mission in Skopje. + recommends that consideration be given to adapting the current UNPREDEP (observer force in Macedonia) mandate, and would support the maintenance of an international military presence on the ground in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia when the current mandate of UNPREDEP expires. + will monitor the situation in Kosovo by frequent joint visits to Pristina by Contact Group and other representatives.

7. At the same time, it is not enough for the killing to stop; too much damage has already been done to human life and to the FRY's credibility. Because of the gravity of the situation, we endorse the following measures to be pursued immediately: a) U.N. Security Council consideration of a comprehensive arms embargo against the FRY, including Kosovo; b) refusal to supply equipment to the FRY which might be used for internal repression, or for terrorism; c) denial of visas for senior FRY and Serbian representatives responsible for repressive action by FRY security forces in Kosovo; d) a moratorium on government financed export credit support for trade and investment, including government financing for privatisations, in Serbia.

The Contact Group notes that the Russian Federation cannot support measures c) and d) above for immediate imposition. But if there is no progress towards the steps called for the Contact Group, the Russian Federation will then be willing to discuss all the above measures.

We call upon President (Slobodan) Milosevic to take rapid and effective steps to stop the violence and engage in a commitment to find a political solution to the issue of Kosovo through dialogue. Specifically, he should within 10 days: - withdraw the special police units and cease action by the security forces affecting the civilian population. - allow access to Kosovo for the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) and other humanitarian organisations as well as by representatives of the Contact Group and other embassies. - commit himself publicly to begin a process of dialogue, along the lines in paragraph 10, with the leadership of the Kosovar Albanian community. - cooperate in a constructive manner with the Contact Group in the implementation of the actions specified in paragraph 6 above which require action by the FRY government.

If President Milosevic takes these steps, we will immediately reconsider the measures we have now adopted. If he fails to take these steps, and repression continues in Kosovo, the Contact Group will move to further international measures, and specifically to pursue a freeze on the funds help abroad by the FRY and Serbian governments.

The Contact Group has decided to meet again on 25 March to assess the response of the government of the FRY.

8. Belgrade's own actions have seriously set back the process of normalisation of the FRY's relations with the international community. Unless the FRY takes steps to resolve the serious political and human rights issues in Kosovo, there is no prospect of any improvement in its international standing. On the other hand, concrete progress to resolve the serious political and human rights issues in Kosovo will improve the international position of the FRY and prospects for normalisation of its international relationships and full rehabilitation in international institutions.

9. No one should misunderstand our position on the core issue involved. We support neither independence nor the maintenance of the status quo. As we have set out clearly, the principles for a solution of the Kosovo problem should be based on the territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and be in accordance with OSCE standards, Helsinki principles, and the U.N. Charter. Such a solution also must take into account the rights of the Kosovo Albanians and all those who live in Kosovo. We support an enhanced status for Kosovo within the FRY which a substantially greater degree of autonomy would bring and recognise that this must include meaningful self-administration.

10. The way to defeat terrorism in Kosovo is for Belgrade to offer the Kosovar Albanian community a genuine political process. The authorities in Belgrade and the leadership of the Kosovar Albanian community must assume their responsibility to enter without preconditions into a meaningful dialogue on political status issues. The Contact Group stands ready to facilitate such a dialogue.

NEWS ANALYSIS: West seeks to draw lessons of history in Kosovo

LONDON (March 9, 1998 4:06 p.m. EST http://www.nando.net) - The specter of failure to prevent the Balkan wars of the early 1990s has loomed large over the West's handling of bloodshed in the Serbian province of Kosovo in the last 10 days.

"What I have been saying is that we do not want a repeat of 1991," U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told a news conference on Monday after ministers of the six major powers united in a warning to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

But while the international response has been speedier and more united than it was to the break-up of Yugoslavia, experts say there is no guarantee that it will be more successful in averting another bloodbath.

"In terms of speed of reaction, it is better. In terms of what we can do, not necessarily. Things haven't really changed," said Spyros Economides, a lecturer on the Balkans at the London School of Economics.

"The chances of success may be less than 50-50 but short of military intervention, which no one is talking about, there's not much else we can do."

Russia joined the five major Western powers on Monday in demanding that Milosevic end repression of the ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo and open a dialogue with their moderate leaders on autonomy.

But it refused to go along for now with financial sanctions against Belgrade.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Nikolai Afanasyevsky grumbled: "Unlike some of our partners in the Contact Group, we oppose laying the entire blame for what is happening on Milosevic, the former republic of Yugoslavia and Serb authorities."

U.S. officials say there are two key differences between 1991 and now -- firstly, the United States is taking a leadership role this time whereas it left the problem largely to Europe when Yugoslavia broke apart.

Indeed a senior official said Albright had threatened on Monday to go it alone in punitive measures against Belgrade if others did not join in, "given the history of slowness to act in cases like this."

Secondly, Washington now has thousands of troops on the ground in Bosnia and several hundred in Macedonia, bordering on Kosovo, giving it a vital interest in preventing another Balkan inferno.

European analysts say that unlike in earlier crises in Croatia and Bosnia, there is broad agreement on what needs to be done in Kosovo, with all major powers opposed to independence for the southern Serbian province but in favour of negotiated autonomy.

However, analysts say there are also some worrying similarities between 1991 and now, including charges that the United States may have sent confusing signals seen by Milosevic as a green light to launch military action.

In 1991, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker visited Belgrade in a doomed effort to hold federal Yugoslavia together just as Slovenia and Croatia were breaking away. He then effectively washed his hands of the problem and left it to the European Community, as it was then called.

Last month, U.S. special Balkans envoy Robert Gelbard visited Belgrade, praised Milosevic for his new cooperation in Bosnia and branded the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) "without question a terrorist group."

Albright has since sought to dispel any impression that Washington condoned the subsequent crackdown.

Despite its efforts to create a common foreign and security policy, the European Union is not necessarily much more influential or effective than at the outbreak of the Balkan wars.

In June 1991, declaring that "the hour of Europe has dawned," Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jacques Poos led the first of many ill-fated European missions to try to mediate in former Yugoslavia.

But European member states soon split over whether to recognise the independence of the seceding republics, as Germany insisted, or set conditions on civil and minority rights, as France and Britain wanted.

This time, the Europeans seem united but have no illusions about their own ability to solve the problem without active American and Russian participation.

"Nobody is talking about the hour of Europe now. We are sadder but hopefully wiser," a senior European diplomat said.

By PAUL TAYLOR, Reuters

U.S. envoy heads for Kosovo on mediation mission

PRISTINA, Serbis (March 9, 1998 8:30 p.m. EST http://www.nando.net) A U.S. envoy was due in Kosovo on Tuesday seeking to open a dialogue between Serbia and ethnic Albanians in its troubled southern province and head off punitive sanctions against Belgrade.

Robert Gelbard flew to Belgrade for talks with Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic on Monday immediately after five Western powers agreed to impose economic sanctions against Belgrade and threaten tougher ones.

The U.S. and major European powers apart from Russia agreed in London to bar government credits to Serbia and threatened to freeze its assets abroad unless it halted violence against Albanians in Kosovo and started talks with them on restoring the province's autonomy.

After lengthy talks with Milosevic, who has told other countries to keep out of what it says is an internal matter, Gelbard said he had briefed the Yugoslav leader on the outcome of the London talks.

"I listened to his account of events in Kosovo and I expressed very strong views of my government regarding the need for very urgent dialogue and a political solution to the future of Kosovo," he told reporters after the talks.

Belgrade reacted to the sanctions by saying Kosovo Albanian leaders must first publicly renounce "terrorism and secession" before talks with Serbia could begin.

Information Minister Radmila Milentijevic told Reuters: "Once these two things are accomplished, we can sit at the table as reasonable people and look at all the various problems and look for political solutions in a peaceful and meaningful way."

Milentijevic said Belgrade would study the sanctions threat "very, very carefully" but insisted that Serbs wanted even-handed treatment from the international community.

The official Yugoslav news agency Tanjug, in a tougher response, accused the Big Powers of trying to usurp the authority of the U.N. Security Council, where sanctions would be subject to a Russian or Chinese veto.

"These countries are doing what even the U.N. Security Council does not do -- interfering in the internal affairs of a sovereign country," Tanjug said.

In Kosovo's capital Pristina, the leader of the main ethnic Albanian political party LDK, Ibrahim Rugova, declared two days of mourning from Tuesday for those killed in police operations last week.

On Monday at least 50,000 Albanians held a peaceful demonstration in Pristina in protest over the killings by Serb police who said they were only targeting hard-line separatist guerrillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).

LDK officials said the dead included 14 women and 12 children and reported that families were refusing to bury them until autopsies had been performed by foreign pathologists.

But the Western sources said later that a number of bodies were collected during the day and at least one was buried.

Serbian police put the unclaimed bodies of 46 Albanians under cover for the night on Monday, Western sources said.

In London, ministers of the six-member Contact Group -- the U.S., Russia, Britain, France, Germany and Italy -- did manage to reach agreement on a joint statement saying: "The violent repression of non-violent expression of political views is completely indefensible."

"The situation in Kosovo cannot be resolved by heavy-handed policing activity, and the international community will not tolerate the use of the police in such a repressive way as we have seen over the past week with so many deaths," British Foreign Minister Robin Cook told a news conference.

The six also called for former Spanish premier Felipe Gonzales, who helped broker a stalemate between Milosevic and the Serbian opposition in 1996, to mediate in Kosovo on behalf of the 54-nation Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

They also demanded that Belgrade allow the U.N. Commissioner for Human Rights to investigate the situation in the province.

In another international initiative, five Balkan neighbours -- Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Turkey and Macedonia -- were working on a statement due to be finalised on Tuesday calling for a peaceful solution in Kosovo and greater autonomy for its minorities, but within existing borders.

By Jovan Kovacic, Reuters

CRISIS IN KOSOVO

March 9, 1998

The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Transcript

In the Serbian province of Kosovo, clashes between ethnic Albanians and Serbian authorities have left scores dead and many more wounded. In the provincial capital Pristina today, an estimated 50,000 people protested the killings in a peaceful rally. Following a background report, Margaret Warner and guests discuss the recent violence and the future of the region.

MARGARET WARNER: Now, two views on all this. Former Foreign Service Officer Warren Zimmerman was the last U.S. ambassador to Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1992. He's now a professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. And John Fox was a member of the State Department's policy planning staff from 1989 to 1993. He is now director of the Open Society Institute created by international financier George Soros to promote independent media, education, and the rule of law in Central and Eastern Europe. Amb. Zimmerman, why are we seeing the situation erupt into bloodshed now?

WARREN ZIMMERMAN: We had a kind of a frozen situation for nine years, Margaret, after Milosevic took away all the political and cultural autonomy of the Albanians in 1989. I don't think either Milosevic or the Albanian leadership, the moderate Albanian leadership, wanted trouble. And that's why things held on for so long in this non-violent tension. But it became inevitable because the Serbs made no concessions to the Albanians that moderate Albanian leadership would be challenged by a more radical group. And that's what we've seen.

MARGARET WARNER: And then, one, do you agree with that, and why do you think Milosevic responded with such a hard crackdown?

JOHN FOX: I do agree with that. I think the ground on which the moderates have tried to stand in Kosovo has been cut away, not least by the international community, which failed to deal with Kosovo during the Dayton peace negotiations, has really neglected the issue since we've seen the rise of this insurgency, the Kosovo Liberation Army, since Dayton, and I think it's important to note that. I think also Milosevic, himself,

and the regime in Belgrade has been paradoxically weaker and yet, more--seeking more--still more control in Kosovo. And it's the last card really that Milosevic has to play on the international scene. He has a clear history of starting wars and then playing the peacemaker with the international community, and I think we're seeing a repeat of that now.

MARGARET WARNER: How do you explain the crackdown on the part of the Serbs? Do you agree with that?

Mr. Zimmerman: "Kosovo is the founding myth of Serbs and Serbia. It's the battle of Kosovo 1389, in which the Serbs believed they defended Europe."

WARREN ZIMMERMAN: Yes, I do. I think it's important to remember the role that Kosovo has for all Serbs, not just Serbian nationalists, but all Serbs. Kosovo is the founding myth of Serbs and Serbia. It's the battle of Kosovo 1389, in which the Serbs believed they defended Europe. It was the betrayal at that battle. Serbs are always betrayed. There's that myth. There's the myth that Serbs are always betrayed. There's that myth. There's the myth that Serbs are always victims. There's the myth that Serbs are and ought to be the dominant power in the Balkans. All of those myths come back to Kosovo. So when Milosevic comes to power on the Kosovo issue in the late 1980's and when he uses power, as he has in the last few days, there is at least reason to think that he will have a lot of people in Serbia, and, as I say, not just nationalists, in support of him. This makes it very different from Bosnia, which was an adventure for the Serbs. This is right at the heart of Serbian essence and integrity.

MARGARET WARNER: But here Serbia was just beginning to come out from under some of the international sanctions. Why would Milosevic risk all that to crack down so hard against this KLA and what's going on in Kosovo?

JOHN FOX: Well, his position really has weakened in the last year, six months, quite a bit. He has essentially lost control of Montenegro, the other constituent republic of Yugoslavia, to a multiethnic reform government, which wants to do many of the things that the international community would like to see. His--I think he, I'm sure, recognizes that the KLA is gaining strength as this--in the absence of any real political track. They are--there's no question that the Kosovars, themselves, the Albanian Kosovars, are being radicalized. And I think he also may have gotten the idea that the international community's red line in Kosovo that was drawn by President Bush and reiterated early in the term of President Clinton has eroded.

MARGARET WARNER: Let's just remind people, President Bush actually sent a letter to Milosevic in the end of 1992, saying the U.S. was prepared to intervene militarily if he went in militarily in Kosovo. Do you think Milosevic doesn't believe that's true anymore?

Mr. Fox: "These actions were not a surprise to the U.S. government. Indeed, we've learned in recent days that there were very clear warnings provided by the intelligence community."

JOHN FOX: Well, I think that the credibility of that red line is very much in doubt by the time that these actions took place. These actions were not a surprise to the U.S. government. Indeed, we've learned in recent days that there were very clear warnings provided by the intelligence community, as, indeed, there had been on Croatia and Bosnia and the other fronts that have been opened in years past about the nature of the crackdown, the kind of forces that would be used, the fact that paramilitaries and special forces that were used in other parts of the region to commit really heinous war crimes against civilians that they, indeed, would be used again. So this should not have been a surprise to the administration. I think, in fact, they were well down a blind alley of their own when this took place. They were--really were confident that there would be a breakthrough on incremental measures toward--on a political track.

MARGARET WARNER: You mean, some reforms or some--

JOHN FOX: Some concessions putting Albanian students back in the schools in which they had been expelled and so forth in years past, and it was a grand deception, really, by Belgrade of the type that we have seen before. And I think it--Washington, in particular, was badly misled here.

MARGARET WARNER: What is the U.S. interest in this conflict?

WARREN ZIMMERMAN: Well, the U.S. interest I think, first of all, is to--is to support the victims of repression, and that's the Albanians. But in a larger sense I think the U.S. has every interest in trying to see some sort of reconciliation of these two very contradictory principles that apply in Kosovo. There's a Serbian principle that we have been there forever since the Middle Ages, Kosovo has always been ours, it's our heartland, and there's the Albanian principle where 90 percent of the people of Kosovo--it's not unlike the West Bank in Jerusalem, the Arab--the Israeli and the Palestinian issue--and we have to hope that a way can be found to reconcile these principles perhaps by having an umbrella of Yugoslavia over a Kosovo, which is in it, but which--in which the Albanians have virtually total autonomy to run their own affairs. If we can't get that kind of solution through mediation or any other way, then I think chaos is going to break out.

JOHN FOX: I think the situation has been much more radicalized just in the past 10 days than when these actions began. We've had something close to 100 people killed in Kosovo, 90 percent of them Albanians, most of those civilians in really savage ways. One cannot expect politics now to resume, or to begin.

MARGARET WARNER: So, you mean--let me interrupt you for a second--but the so-called "contact" group called on both sides to negotiate. Do you think are prospects for that?

JOHN FOX: Well, I think that the international effort that's required now to prevent the broadening of this conflict is much greater than it would have been two weeks ago, two months ago, much less two years ago. And so the cost, as we have seen all the way through these crises in the Balkans, the cost to the international community, and most particularly the U.S., which will have to take a lead, and I fear a military lead in this, in this area again, is far greater.

MARGARET WARNER: Why? What is the danger of this broadening or widening?

WARREN ZIMMERMAN: Well, Bosnia was, for all its blood-letting, was a contained situation. It didn't spill beyond the borders of Bosnia. If real violence comes to Kosovo, a lot of people are killed, then you will almost certainly get a spill over into Macedonia, the neighboring republic, a very fragile and democratic government, which has to contend with an Albanian minority of 30 or 35 percent who are watching the Kosovo issue very carefully. You've got Albania--40 million Albanians--next to Kosovo, who are obviously watching very carefully as well.

MARGARET WARNER: Are you saying that the Albanians or Albanians, Macedonia, might come in themselves and intervene, get involved in that conflict, or that somehow the conflict spreads?

WARREN ZIMMERMAN: Well, I think the greater probability would be a lot of refugees from Kosovo fleeing into Macedonia, the Macedonian Albanians becoming radicalized by a situation of brutality, perpetrated by the Serbs, and that in itself could de-stabilize an already fragile government in Macedonia. That brings an interest from Greece, which has been very negative about the existence of Macedonia at all. It brings in the problem of Bulgaria, which has never recognized the Macedonians as a separate nation. You get what we used to call in the Vietnam era a real domino effect.

MARGARET WARNER: Do you agree?

Mr. Fox: "I think you essentially get a Lebanon in the middle of Southeastern Europe in a proxy situation where outside powers are drawn in...."

JOHN FOX: I do agree. I think you essentially get a Lebanon in the middle of Southeastern Europe in a proxy situation where outside powers are drawn in first with the immediate neighbors that Amb. Zimmerman describes, and you get a very divisive and rather rapid split in NATO, itself, Greece on one side, Turkey on the other, and divisions which are already emerging, even in the last couple of weeks in the international community on how to deal with Kosovo. That is all the more reason why the crisis in Kosovo has to be dealt with persuasively at the very start.

MARGARET WARNER: And you're saying that can only be militarily?

JOHN FOX: Well, I'm afraid that this is really now, what's been done in London today is a noble form of diplomatic catch-up, but they have drawn--they've attempted now, having I think allowed the red line to erode, they've now tried to draw a diplomatic line in the sand, which says get the security forces out, get the paramilitaries out, don't take any more actions against civilians or else. But the "or else" is not all that strong.

MARGARET WARNER: Do you agree, very briefly, that diplomatic can't work?

WARREN ZIMMERMAN: I think diplomatic must work because, unlike Bosnia, I'm not sure that force is going to work on the part of the West in this case. Air strikes against Serbia could very well unite the Serbs behind Milosevic because they feel so strongly about Kosovo. They didn't about Bosnia. That's the danger, I think.

MARGARET WARNER: All right. Well, thank you both very much.

CRISIS IN KOSOVO

March 9, 1998

The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Transcript

MARGARET WARNER: More than 200 people have died since 1989 in violence between Kosovo's Albanian majority and Serb authorities in the province. Kosovo is considered part of Serbia. But nearly 90 percent of Kosovo's 2 million people are Albanian and Muslim.

Kosovo's place in history.

The small province is strategically located, just South of the two Yugoslav republics of Serbia and Montenegro; and just North of two other countries, Albania and the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia. Serbs and Muslims have been fighting over Kosovo for hundreds of years. As elsewhere in the Balkans, the Serb-Kosovar differences are rooted in centuries of ethnic and religious conflict and differing interpretations of history. But the current tensions go back just a couple of decades to the Tito era. In 1974, Yugoslavia's Communist ruler recognized the Albanian majority in Kosovo by granting the province autonomy within Serbia. For the first time, Albanian Muslims had virtual control over Kosovo's internal affairs. But Serbs in Kosovo and in Serbia, itself, never fully accepted Tito's decision. Serb nationalists revere Kosovo as the cradle of their civilization, dating back nearly 2,000 years, when their forebears there embraced Orthodox Christianity. They view the Muslims who inhabit Kosovo today as infidels.

1989: The 600-year anniversary of the battle of Kosovo.

The Serbs' resentment towards the Albanian Kosovars reached a crescendo in 1989, when thousands of Serbs converged on an ancient battlefield to commemorate the 1389 battle of Kosovo. Serbia lost that encounter to an invading army of Muslim Turks, ushering in centuries of Ottoman rule. But the 600-year-old battle remains a shameful symbol to Orthodox Serbs, and they have vowed to avenge the defeat ever since. As Yugoslavia began fracturing after Tito's death, Slobodan Milosevic, who was then the Communist Party boss of Serbia and is now Yugoslavia's president, saw a political opportunity in Kosovo. He vowed to protect local Serbs and to revoke the province's autonomy.

By late 1989, Milosevic had done just that and had put Serbs in control of Kosovo's local government. Albanian Kosovars accuse the Serbs of instituting a police state to terrorize the Albanian majority and of trying to force Albanians to leave Kosovo to reverse the province's ethnic and religious balance. The Albanians responded by boycotting the Serb-run institutions and creating their own parallel government in Kosovo under the leadership of Ibrahim Rugova. Their stated goal was simply a restoration of Kosovo's autonomy.

The emergence of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

Then, last year, a new, more militant force emerged, the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army, or KLA. Its members advocate armed struggle. Their goal is Kosovo's independence and possible unification with Albania. The KLA has clashed repeatedly with the Serb authorities. Late last month KLA fighters killed four Serb policemen. The Serbs launched this past week's violent crackdown in retaliation for those killings. Now the United States and European governments are trying to head off more violence. Representatives of the so-called contact group of six nations that monitor developments in the former Yugoslavia--the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Russia--convened in London today. They agreed on a comprehensive arms embargo and other steps against Yugoslavia. Russia agreed to support only some of the measures, however. Separately, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he will urge the Security Council to extend the current U.N. troop presence in neighboring Macedonia beyond the scheduled August 31 withdrawal date.

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. Secretary-General: In light of the recent developments, I think we all have to reconsider our approach. And I'm confident that the member states will take a second look and not insist on withdrawing the troops from Macedonia.

MARGARET WARNER: Thus far, Yugoslav Leader Milosevic has rejected all international appeals, insisting that the unrest in Kosovo is an internal matter.

Humanitarian Law Center Avalska 9 110000 Belgrade FR Yugoslavia Tel/Fax: 38-111-444-3944 Email: hlc@EUnet.yu

INVESTIGATIONS IN DRENICA 8 March 1998

Investigating reports on the killing of a large number of people in Likosane and Cirez villages in the Drenica area (Kosovo), the Humanitarian Law Center arrived at findings which contradict Serbian police reports on the number of dead and the locations and circumstances in which they were killed. HLC representatives toured the area, scrutinized the houses and outbuildings, examined traces, and spoke with eyewitnesses and people who heard the gunfire and cries. The HLC investigations were conducted on 1 March after the police withdrew from the area, and on 3 March when the dead Kosovo Albanians were buried. The investigations established that police killed 26 persons, not 16 as officially reported by the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs. At least 10 were killed in the yards of houses, near barns, on the local road and in a field. Rukije Nebiu, mother of two and near term with her third child, was killed in her home in Cirez. Her husband D`em{ir and brother-in-law Ilir were also killed, while their father Sefer was seriously wounded. Ajet, 63, and his nephew Be}ir were killed in the Red`epi family house. Four Sejdiu brothers were killed: Be}ir, 28; Bekim, 23, and the 24-year-old twins Nazmi and Bedri. Ibi{ Rama and Ismaih Behrami were kiled in the same village but the HLC was unable to establish the circumstances of their death. Ten members of the Ahmeti family and a number of other people went missing during the police action in Liko{ane village. On 2 March, a private citizen sent word to Liko{ane that the bodies of the Ahmeti family members were at the morgue of the Pri{tina state hospital. When taking over the bodies on 3 March, relatives took also the bodies of five more persons, among whom they recognized [aban Muju and Behram Fazliu from the neighboring village Gradica and who were at the Ahmeti house during the police action. The three remaining bodies were identified by relatives before they were buried. The HLC was unable to determine whether the Ahmetis, Djelji and Behrami were killed on the spot or after they were taken from their houses or the village. All the Ahmeti family members killed were males, from the 16-year-old Elhami to the 50-year-old Ahmet. There were body parts, teeth and scattered clothing close to the wall encircling the Ahmeti property. On the wall itself, there was an inscription made with a piece of brick reading: "This is what will happen next time too," and a drawing of four pieces of flint in the squares of a cross. Muhamet Islam Djelji, 70, and his son Naser, 37, were killed in the house opposite to the Ahmetis. Muhamet was killed in an outbuilding on whose floor there was a pool of coagulated blood, an ax and a cap. His son Naser was killed in the next room in the presence of his wife and two children. He was hit by a bullet that came through a window over which he had placed a mattress for protection. Traces of blood through the room, over the doorstep and into the yard showed that his body had been dragged out of the building. It was subsequently found at the Pri{tina state hospital morgue. While conducting investigations in the field, the HLC learned that Bekim Be}ir Deliju, a 16-year-old cigarette seller, was killed in the village of Gornja Obrija in the same police action. HLC representatives visited the homes of the Ahmeti family and their neighbors, the Djeli, in Liko{ane, and the homes of the Sejdiu brothers and the Red`epi and Nebiu families in ]irez. They saw traces of blood in the rooms, yards and walls and on the walls surrounding the properties. The furniture was broken and personal belongings were scattered around. Outbuildings in some of the yards had been torn down, and shell casings of various caliber were everywhere. Tracks made by heavy vehicles and signs of attack from helicopters were clearly visible on 3 March. Police blocked all the roads leading to Drenica on the day of the funerals. All men who tried to reach Liko{ane to attend were stopped on the road at Kosovska Mitrovica and Komorane, searched and turned back. The Ahmeti family encountered major problems in getting to Pri{tina to pick up the bodies of their relatives, and were detained for several hours when transporting their dead back to the village. Many foreign correspondents, reporters for domestic media and others were prevented from entering Drenica. No autopsies were performed on the bodies left in the village. Nor were signs of autopsies visible on the bodies taken over from the morgue in Pri{tina, and the families were not given any medical reports. The HLC is unable to report developments in Drenica after 1 March as the area is under police siege. The Humanitarian Law Center urges the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs to give reporters and representatives of humanitarian and human rights organizations access to the area and thereby enable accurate, full and timely informing of the public. The indications that that the persons killed, wounded or arrested were connected with the attacks on police must be presented to the public. It is in Serbia's best interest to immediately institute an inquiry into the circumstances of the death of 26 Kosovo Albanians in the police actions of 28 February and 1 March, including exhumation of the remains for forensic examination.