KOSOVO NEWS WIRE

KOSOVO NEWS WIRE: MARCH 23, 2004
Various Agencies - March 23, 2004

Holkeri tourned burned down Serbian houses in Obilic

20:58 KOSOVSKA MITROVICA , March 23 (Tanjug) - UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri visited on Tuesday Obilic, north of Pristina, where after touring the burned down houses he met with local Serbs.
Holkeri said that the attack had been planned and the extremists were just waiting for a favorable moment.
(end)

Leaflets against UNMIK, Kfor in Kosovo and Metohija

20:48 PRISTINA , March 23 (Tanjug) - In some towns in Kosovo and Metohija appeared on Tuesday leaflest demanding "liberation (of Kosovo) from UNMIK at any price," and which called the international forces an enemy of Kosovo.

In the leaflets that apperaed on buildings it is said that last week's violence was "in essence revolt that has accumulated durign the incessant injustice towards our people to date by the dictatorial UNMIK leadership and erroneous policy of domestic institutions."
(end)

Attempt to annihilate Serbs in Kosovo, Coordination Centre official

20:10 BELGRADE , March 23 (Tanjug) - In the attack on the Serbian population in Kosovo eight Serbs were prefidiously killed, some on their doorstep, and some were burned alive, said on Tuesday department for the judiciary and human rights chief of the Coordination Centre for Kosovo and Metohija Vladimir Bozovic.

"It was an attempt to physically annihilate members of the Serbian people, to stamp out their spiritual and cultural heritage, by the destruction and burning down of churches, monasteries, cemeteries and to destroy their houses, schools, hospitals, cultural centres," Bozovic told Tanjug.
(end)

UN police arrested 196 persons because of violence in Kosovo

18:59 PRISTINA , March 23 (Tanjug) - UN police in Kosovo has arrested so far 196 persons suspected on taking partb in the violence over the Serbian population in the province, said on Tuesday UN police spokesperson Angela Joseph.

Joseph said on Monday that, according to a previous count, 63 persons had beee arrested, most of them for unlawfull possession of arms and for setting fires, the French news agency AFP reported.
(end)

In violence on March 17 in Kosovo-Metohija at least 8 Serbs killed

18:52 BELGRADE , March 23 (Tanjug) - The Coordination Centre for Kosovo and Metohija said in a statement on Tuesday that to its department for the judiciary and human rights had been confirmed so far the names of eight Serbs killed in the massive terrorist attack on Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija on March 17.

According to that data, in Lipljan, outside the Ju program building was killed Nenad Vesic (53), in Gnjilane professor of physical education Slobodan Peric (52), in Kosovo Polje outside the school Zlatibor Trajkovic (62), and in Prizren Dragan Nedeljkovic (61), who was burned alive in the theological school.
(end)

Talks on plan for cantonisation in coming months, Prorokovic

17:33 BELGRADE , March 23 (Tanjug) - Parliamentary Council for Kosovo and Metohija president and official of the Democratic Party of Serbia Dusan Prorokovic said on Tuesday that the plan on the cantonisation of Kosovo and Metohija would be discussed in the coming months both in Belgrade and between Belgrade and Brussels and Belgrade and Pristina.

"The most important thing for us is to obtain political approval for the decentralisation of Kosovo," Prorokovic told reporteres in the Serbian Assembly.
(end)

General Kammerhoff says ethnic Albanian extremists failed

17:17 BONN , March 23 (Tanjug) - International peackeeping force for Kosovo and Metohija KFOR commander, German General Holger Kammerhoff on Tuesday said any attempt at rekindling violence in the province would be countered with a strong response.

Anyone who tries to attack Serb enclaves or cultural objects will have to deal with KFOR, the German officer said in an interview to the Frankfurt daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
(end)

Events in Kosovo planned, says Brayshaw

16:26 PRIZREN , March 23 (Tanjug) - UNMIK deputy chief Charles Brayshaw said in Prizren on Tuesday that the latest developments in Kosovo and Metohija had been planned and that the perpetrators must be identified and brought to justice.

Many perpetrators have been identified and they will definitely answer for these acts, Brayshaw told reporters.
(end)

Twenty Serb policemen withdraw from Kosovo police force

11:38 KOSOVSKA MITROVICA , March 23 (Tanjug) - The International Press Centre in Kosovska Mitrovica said on Monday that 20 Serb Kosovo police force members had not been at work since March 18, because in two days of ethnic cleansing the southeastern Kosovo-Metohija town of Vitina, had been completely cleared of Serbs, who received no assistance from Kosovo police, UNMIK police or KFOR.

A letter written by the 20 Serb policemen, which the Press Centre received, had been sent to UNMIK's Vitina police station commander Robert Birden first, as a response to his insistence that Serb policemen return to Vitina and continue working.
(end)

Holkeri, Scheffer criticise ethnic Albanian leaders for not condemning violence against Serbs

11:28 PRISTINA , March 23 (Tanjug) - UNMIK head Harri Holkeri and NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Monday criticised Kosovo Albanian leaders for not clearly condemning violence against Serbs, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Holkeri said that it was "utterly disappointing" that ethnic Albanian leaders had not condemned violence against Serbs.
(end)

Ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and Metohija under UNMIK

14:36 NEW YORK/BRUSSELS/PRISTINA , March 23 (Tanjug) - The present time, five years since the NATO military intervention in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Kosovo and Metohija, which was justified as attempt to prevent the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo Albanians, is now marked by the biggest bloodshed - the persecution of the remaining Serbs from this southern Serbian province and the erasing of their historic roots in those lands.

The international community is visibly upset following the latest wave of violence in Kosovo and Metohija, which began on March 17, but its representatives still do not have the stamina to admit that a precedent took place in this province: the ethnic cleansing of Serbs proceeding under the umbrella of the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping forces. This has never been seen anywhere in the world.
(end)

Covic and Shoigu agree that ethnic cleansing took place

14:23 BELGRADE , March 23 (Tanjug) - The ethnic cleansing of Serbs took place in Kosovo and Metohija and no-one can deny this horrendous fact, Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija President Nebojsa Covic and Russian Minister for Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu agreed in Belgrade on Tuesday.

Following this latest pogrom of Kosovo Serbs, the international community must take an absolutely neutral position toward both ethnic Albanians and Serbs, which has not been the case so far, the sides agreed in the talks, as quoted in a Coordinating Center statement.
(end)

Territory of Kosovo-Metohija has to be reorganised

12:07 BELGRADE , March 23 (Tanjug) - The concept of multiethnic Kosovo-Metohija has failed and a territorial reorganisation of the province has to be carried out, Serbia-Montenegro Ambassador to Greece Dusan Batakovic told the Belgrade B92 television station on Monday.

"It is quite certain that the mandate of UNMIK and KFOR will be redefined and that territorial reorganisation will have to be carried out," said Batakovic, who is an expert on history and author of a proposal for the cantonisation of Serbia's southern province, voicing belief that the European Union was now ready to change the way of resolving the Kosovo crisis.
(end)

Five years since NATO aggression

16:22 BELGRADE , March 23 (Tanjug) - On Wednesday it will be five years since NATO, the most powerful armed force in the world, launched an aggression on the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY).

This year's commemoration of the onset of the air campaign, explained as an attempt to protect the human rights of Kosovo Albanians, has been marked by an escalation of ethnic Albanian violence over Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija province.
(end)

Five years since NATO air strikes commemorated

15:52 BELGRADE , March 23 (Tanjug) - Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) Patriarch Pavle will hold a commemorative service at the Church of St Mark in Belgrade at noon on Wednesday to mark five years since the onset of the NATO air strikes on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and the service will be attended by the Serbian government president and ministers, and representatives of the deputy clubs.

Acting Serbian President Predrag Markovic has invited representatives of all top republican institutions to join in the commemoration of the NATO bombardment of the country which began on March 24, 1999, the Serbian parliament Public Relations Service said.
(end)

Shoigu denounced ethnic cleansing in Kosovo

17:54 BELGRADE , March 23 (Tanjug) - Russian Minister for Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu denounced on Tuesday, in talks with Serbia and Montenegro Foreign Trade Minister Branko Lukovac the ethnic cleansing and perishing of nonAlbanian populations in Kosovo and Metohija.

Minister Shoigu emphasized that the Russsian Federation would send humanitarian aid, and that the company Ruski aluminijum had set aside one million dollars as aid for the population in need from Kosovo and Metohija, said the SCG Information Directorate said.
(end)

Aid from Russia on its way for Kosovo refugees

17:46 MOSCOW , March 23 (Tanjug) - The first contingent of the announced Russian aid for Serbs who feld from terror in Kosovo and Metohija would start off on Wednesday for Belgrade.

According to a representative of the Ministry for emergency situations, whose chief Sergei Shoigu arrived on Monday to Belgrade, the aid would be carried by two IL-76 planes.
(end)

Russia will strive for complete picture on Kosovo developments

16:52 BELGRADE , March 23 (Tanjug) - The ethnic cleansing of Serbs and other non-Albanians of Kosovo and Metohija must be stopped, and the Russian government and Duma will strive for the international community getting the complete picture on the tragic developments in this Serbian province, Duma MPs Valeri Draganov and Andrei Yuryevitch said in Belgrade on Tuesday in talks with Serbia and Montenegro (SCG) state union parliament MPs Zoran Sami and Ivan Kalezic.

The Russian MPs announced that the state Duma would prepare a report on the situation in Kosovo and Metohija, after their visit to the state union, and that this report will then be presented in the European parliament.
(end)

Shoigu says Moscow's position on situation in Kosovo clear

15:42 BELGRADE , March 23 (Tanjug) - Russian Minister for Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday, after a meeting with Serbia and Montenegro (SCG) Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic, that there is a consolidated standpoint on the situation in Kosovo and Metohija in Russia, and that this clear position of official Moscow will not change.

Addressing reporters with Svilanovic after their talks, Shoigu pointed out that Russian President Vladimir Putin had presented the national stand on Kosovo following a state leadership meeting on Saturday, when he called the latest wave of violence in Kosovo and Metohija province - ethnic cleansing of Serbs, and that it should be followed by a strong reaction.
(end)

Reports say concept of multi-ethnic Kosovo abandoned | 16:41 - March 23, 2004 | Beta

OBILIC -- Tuesday – Broadcast media in Belgrade have quoted UN Kosovo governor Harri Holkeri as saying that the concept of a multi-ethnic Kosovo is no longer feasible.

Holkeri, who visited the town of Obilic today, is reported to have announced a new concept for the province very soon.

Serbs in Obilic, ten kilometres from Pristina, abandoned their homes during last week’s violence. Groups of ethnic Albanians set their houses on fire.

Holkeri brands Kosovo violence a “crime against humanity” | 19:15 - March 23, 2004 | Beta

GRACANICA -- Tuesday – The UN governor in Kosovo, Harri Holkeri, has described last week’s violence in the province as a “crime against humanity.”

“We must bring to justice all perpetrators and isolate extreme forces that oppose peace,” he told reporters in Gracanica, where he met Raska-Prizren Bishop Artemije.

Kostunica backtracks on “cantons” as EU scowls | 19:04 - March 23, 2004 | B92, Reuters

BRUSSELS -- Tuesday – Serbia rowed back from a proposal to divide the ethnically torn province of Kosovo into "cantons" on Tuesday after the European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said it was a non-starter.

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said following the first of several meetings with senior EU officials that creating "sub-regions" in Kosovo would help prevent a repeat of last week's clashes between Albanian and Serb communities.

But, emerging from talks with Solana a few hours later, he spoke only of "decentralisation" and "new institutional devices" and insisted that Belgrade was not in favour of carving up Kosovo.

"When they sat down, Solana immediately said cantonisation is not a word the EU uses," one diplomat said. "When the word appeared over lunch he was urged not to use it."

Solana, who is due to travel to Kosovo on Wednesday, told Kostunica he was keen to help find ways to protect Kosovo's minority Serb community, but within a multi-ethnic society.

"I explained the idea of decentralisation, that is the word that I am using, which is some sort of additional protection of the Serbian and non-Albanian population in Kosovo," Kostunica said at a joint news conference with Solana.

Although he did not spell out what this might entail, he said it was important to prevent a repeat of the violence that erupted on March 17 and left 28 people dead and 870 injured.

“This has nothing to do with the final status of Kosovo, just normal life there, or something that should look like normal life and prevent violence such as we saw on March 17,” he said.

Solana said it was a “fact” that minorities, in particular Serbs, are not well enough protected in Kosovo.

Parties support cantonisation proposal | 17:33 - March 23, 2004 | B92

BELGRADE -- Tuesday – Most parties in the Serbian parliament expressed support today for Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica’s proposal for the cantonisation of Kosovo.

Vuko Antonijevic, a member of Kostunica’s Democratic Party of Serbia, said the proposal was the best way to solve the problems in the province. As possible cantons he mentioned Central Kosovo, Strpce, the Morava region, North Kosovo, Velika Hoca and Orahovac.

Kostunica presented the plan during talks today in Brussels. Antonijevic dismissed claims it should first have come before the Serbian parliament. “I trust that Prime Minister Kostunica has the best intentions when it comes to Kosovo. This is not a division of Kosovo, nor does cantonisation lead to the loss of Kosovo,” he said.

G17 Plus senior official Ksenija Milivojevic said the plan was acceptable, particularly after the events of last week.

Zoran Andjelkovic of the Socialist Party of Serbia said he supported the cantonisation of Kosovo, but did not understand why Kostunica had not secured a consensus in Serbia before presenting the plan in Brussels.

Democratic Party deputy leader Dusan Petrovic said autonomy for Serbs in Kosovo was the right solution.

Only the Serbian Radical Party opposed the plan. Tomislav Nikolic said Kostunica had no right to present the plan to the international community before Serbia had had its own say.

Belgrade insists on Kosovo investigation | 12:12 - March 23, 2004 | B92

MERDARE -- Tuesday – Federal Human Rights Minister Rasim Ljajic, together with the Kosovo Coordination Centre’s human rights representative, Vladimir Bozovic, met Kosovo Ombudsman Antoni Marek Nowicki at the Kosovo border yesterday to discuss last week’s events in the province.

Bozovic said that the Serbian Government insisted that the Kosovo authorities bring everyone involved in the ethnic cleansing of Serbs to justice, and urgently investigate the violence. Belgrade also demanded involvement in the investigation, he said.

Nowicki said that the description of last week’s events as ethnic cleansing had been supported by noted Pristina journalists and publisher Veton Surroi.

“Now it is important for international officials and Kosovo Albanian leaders to convince Serbs that they are able to live freely in Kosovo,” said the ombudsman.

Ljajic told media after the meeting that the three officials had discussed ways of bringing calm to Kosovo. The meeting had also focused on the Council of Europe’s Conventions on Human Rights and the Defence against Terrorism and the ways in which these could be applied in the province.

Kosovo violence organized, say Serb police | 14:34 - March 23, 2004 | Beta

NOVI SAD -- Tuesday – Last week’s violence against Serbs in Kosovo was organised, conducted and orchestrated from one centre, the Serbian Interior Ministry said today.

“The violence and terror of the armed Albanian extremists, the way they launched their attacks on Serb enclaves at the same time, their numbers and organisation all point to a synchronised action conducted from one centre,” said the Ministry in a statement given to journalists in Novi Sad today.

The Ministry also noted that the UN administration in the province and NATO peacekeepers had themselves been attacked by terrorists after failing to protect Kosovo Serbs.

Seven Serbs are reported to have died in the violence, with fifteen reported missing, said police, adding that it is impossible to be certain about the number of casualties.

More than five hundred buildings have been damaged and burned, including 27 Orthodox churches and monasteries and three Orthodox cemeteries. About 1,400 Serbs have fled or been forced from their homes in five towns and eight villages.

In Belgrade, 33 police officers were injured in, protests, eight vehicles destroyed and 89 people detained.

In the northern province of Vojvodina, 24 protesters were arrested.

A total of forty attacks had been recorded on business or other facilities owned by Albanians or Goranci, said the Serbian Interior Ministry.

Bomb hoax in Serbian Government building | 12:19 - March 23, 2004 | Studio B

BELGRADE -- Tuesday – Special units of the Belgrade police last night searched the Serbian Government building after an anonymous caller warned that a bomb had been planted on the premises.

Belgrade’s Studio B TV reported last night that the police search established that the call had been a hoax.

Hundreds of Serbs still in KFOR bases | 18:05 - March 23, 2004 | Beta

PRISTINA -- Tuesday – Some 500 Serbs are still being accommodated in KFOR bases in Kosovo, Beta reports today.

Around 160 Serbs from Obilic, near Pristina, have been transferred from the nearby KFOR base to Gracanica.

The Serbs have asked to be sent to northern Kosovska Mitrovica.

More than 170 Serbs have crossed the administrative border into Serbia proper since the eruption of violence in Kosovo last week.

Serb refugees transferred to Gracanica | 12:52 - March 23, 2004 | Beta

GRACANICA -- Tuesday – More than two hundred Serbs forced out of their homes in Pristina during last week’s violence were this morning bussed out of the British KFOR base where they have been accommodated.

The 206 Serbs were taken to the courtyard of the school in the Serbian enclave of Gracanica.

Negotiations are underway between Serb representatives, KFOR leaders and Kosovo municipal authorities to evacuate the Serbs to northern Kosovo or central Serbia.

“We don’t want to leave Kosovo, we only want to find some peace within a few days,” one of the Serbs told media.

Belgrade names Serb victims | 19:34 - March 23, 2004 | SRNA

BELGRADE -- Tuesday – The authorities in Belgrade have released the names of eight Serbs killed in the wave of attacks in Kosovo on March 17.

In Kosovska Mitrovica, Borivoje Spasojevic (63) and Jana Tucev (36). In Lipljan, Nenad Vesic (54). In Drajkovic, Dobrivoje Stolic (49) and his son Borko (20). In Gnjilane, Boban Peric (52), and in Prizren Dragan Nedeljkovic (61).

Arrests over Nis mosque arson attack | 19:08 -> 21:17 - March 23, 2004 | SRNA

NIS -- Tuesday – Police in Nis have arrested ten people in connection with the destruction of the city’s Hardovic mosque on March 17.

The suspects were turned over to the investigating judge in Nis, said a police statement.

21:40 (INET – March 23, 2004) Assistant of UNMIK chief Charles Brayshow has stated in Prizren today that recent events in Kosovo and Metohija were planned and that perpetrators have to be identified and brought to justice.

16:30 (INET – March 23, 2004) SCG Defence Minister Boris Tadic said yesterday that Serbia-Montenegro would have had a much wider space for a political and defence manoeuvre if the State Union had been a Partnership for Peace member. 'If we, for example, had participated in peace operations along with the countries whose troops are in Kosovo-Metohija, we would have had much stronger arguments as their peace allies to urgently, decisively, energetically military intervene against the Albanian terrorists.'

16:15 (INET – March 23, 2004) Serbian and Montenegrin (SCG) Defence Minister Boris Tadic said yesterday that, after the statement of the Head of UNMIK Harri Holkeri that that ethnic cleansing was 'too strong' a word for the wave of violence against Serbs in the province last week, the Albanian lobbyists in the US would try to make relative the violence against the Serbs. 'Holkeri's statement is a precursor to a new political offensive that the Albanians will launch with the aim of putting pressure on the international community to make relative the violence against the Serbs', Minister Tadic told Beta agency. He accused the UN chief of playing down the violence because he himself is responsible for the situation in the province and joined calls for his resignation.

16:00 (INET – March 23, 2004) UNMIK Police have arrested 163 people suspected of arson, looting, murder and other crimes during last week's explosion of ethnic violence in Kosovo, a United Nations police said. Police estimate 51,000 people were involved in 33 riots, spokesman Derek Chappell said, giving new details of the scale of the clashes between Albanian and Serb communities. About 28 people from both communities were killed and 870 injured, as mobs of Albanians attacked Serb villages and churches last Wednesday and Thursday, clashing with NATO-led troops and police. Attackers burnt down or blew up 30 Serb churches, vandalised or damaged another 11 churches or monasteries, 80 houses and 25 other buldings and totally destroyed 286 houses, Chappell said. Seventy-two United Nations vehicles were destroyed.

15:40 (INET – March 23, 2004) St Sava church in the southern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, toarched by Albanian extremists on March 18th, is being guarded by heavy KFOR forces from last night. Increased security measures are the result of potential danger that the curch might be blown up.

14:50 (INET – March 23, 2004) Coordination centre for Kosovo-Metohija has announced today that they receive almost 1,000 calls a day, ever since they introduced Information centre on Kosovo-Metohija hotline. The numbers you can call are + 381 11 310-89-14, + 381 11 310-89-15 and + 381 11 310-89-16 and are awailable 24 hours a day.

14:00 (INET – March 23, 2004) More than two hundred Serbs forced out of their homes in Pristina during last week’s violence were this morning bussed out of the British KFOR base where they have been accommodated. The 206 Serbs were taken to the courtyard of the school in the Serbian enclave of Gracanica. Negotiations are underway between Serb representatives, KFOR leaders and Kosovo municipal authorities to evacuate the Serbs to northern Kosovo or central Serbia. 'We don’t want to leave Kosovo, we only want to find some peace within a few days,' one of the Serbs told media.

13:00 (INET – March 23, 2004) UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura strongly condemned the latest attacks at the Serbian cultural heritage, saying that they were aimed at erasing the memory and cultural identity of a nation.

12:40 (INET – March 23, 2004) The concept of multiethnic Kosovo-Metohija has failed and a territorial reorganisation of the province has to be carried out, Serbia-Montenegro Ambassador to Greece Dusan Batakovic said. 'It is quite certain that the mandate of UNMIK and KFOR will be redefined and that territorial reorganisation will have to be carried out,' said Batakovic, who is an expert on history and author of a proposal for the cantonisation of Serbia's southern province, voicing belief that the European Union was now ready to change the way of resolving the Kosovo crisis.

March 24, 2004
LENGTH: 512 words

HEADLINE: THEY HAVE STOLEN EVERYTHING. TVS, TELEPHONES, FURNITURE, EVEN CLOTHES'

BYLINE: Kim Sengupta in Gracanica

BODY:

KOSOVO WAS mourning the murders, looting and arson that shattered the fragile reconciliation process of the Albanian and Serbian communities when the Nato secretary general flew in this week to declare that such violence would not be tolerated again.

But for Radijka and Liyana, two women driven with their families from their homes in the capital, Pristina, by a baying mob, all that meant nothing. Huddled in the sports hall of a school in Gracanica - one of the few remaining Serbian enclaves in the former Yugoslav province - they were angry, confused and full of foreboding. These were among 1,200 Serbian civilians "cleansed" from their homes in the towns and villages by Albanians and now herded into makeshift refugee centres.

Neither woman wanted to give her surname because they feared retribution. "It is the second time that I have had to run away like this, hiding, frightened for our lives,'' said Radijka, 41. "After the war in 1999 I fled with my husband and children from Llubljana to Pristina. We thought things were getting better, and we were safe there. Now this has happened. I don't know what is going to happen to us, but I cannot face a third time of this. We cannot go back to our homes, it is simply not safe there.''

Radijka, her 49-year-old husband, Mirko, and their three children were at home in the YU Apartments in the centre of Pristina, inhabited solely by Serbs, when a crowd of about 2,000 surrounded the building about 5pm on Wednesday.

For the next eight hours they and their neighbours were besieged by groups of men hurling bricks and Molotov cocktails. The attackers broke down the doors and attacked many with knives and baseball bats. Dozens were injured, and at least one man, Dragan Smiliavic, a United Nations official, is critically ill with stab wounds.

The Serbs were eventually rescued by a unit of Nato's Kosovo Force. Some are now at Slim Line, the military barracks in Pristina where the newly arrived British troops have also taken up residence. Others are at Gracanica, among 10,000 fellow Serbs.

Liyana, 40, her 44-year-old husband, Zoran, and their five children were also part of the exodus. She, too, does not want to go home. "What is the point? They have stolen everything, TVs, telephones, furniture, even our clothes. A policeman has been to our flat, and he said there is nothing left. What they had not taken, they had smashed,'' said Liyana.

"It is all very well for Nato to say now that they have sent more troops. But they were not there when we needed them. And they'll leave in a few weeks' time. If we go back to our homes, who will protect us then?''

A representative of the United Nations mission in Kosovo came in with photographs of the refugees' homes, many of them burnt after being ransacked.

A frail woman of 82, sitting rocking on a camp bed, stared at the photograph in her hand and would not let go. "She has no family. They smashed down her door and got in. Will you send her back for another experience like that?'' a Serbian Red Cross official asked.

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March 24, 2004 Wednesday

SECTION: International News

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HEADLINE: Two dead after UN police vehicle attacked in Kosovo

DATELINE: PRISTINA, Serbia, March 23

BODY:
A UN and local police officer were killed when a UN police vehicle was attacked late Tuesday in northern Kosovo, a UN police spokesman said.

"One international policeman and one Kosovo policeman have been shot dead," said UN police spokesman Derek Chappell.

Two officers from the international police force, one local policeman and an interpreter had been aboard the vehicle as it was carrying out a patrol on the road leading south from the town of Podujevo.

"It attempted to stop a vehicle on the highway. As it did so it was attacked by at least one gunman who sprayed the car with bullets," said Chappell.

Police are searching the countryside for the one or more attackers that riddled the police vehilce with bullets. It as not immediately clear whether the shooting was an ambush.

The death was the second fatality among the international police officers after the killing of an Indian officer last year.

Close to 5,000 international police serve alongside 5,000 local police officers in the Serbian province which has been under UN administration since the 1999 war in which NATO intervened to end a Serbian crackdown on the ethnic Albanian population.

Tensions have remained high in the province since an outbreak of inter-ethnic violence last week in which 28 people were killed and over 600 injured.

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March 23, 2004

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HEADLINE: SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO ENVOY CALLS FOR PROTECTION OF KOSOVO'S SERBS

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The ambassador of Serbia and Montenegro in Athens Dusan Batakovic on Tuesday called for immediate action to save the lives of Serbs living in Kosovo, saying they were the target of ethnic cleansing at the hands of Albanians hoping to secure Kosovo's independence

According to the ambassador, all efforts to establish a multicultural society in Kosovo had obviously failed, as the recent outbreak of violence and destruction in the province proved

''The Albanians are trying to create an accomplished fact,'' Batakovic said, while noting that violent incidents had multiplied since KFOR arrived on the scene

The tally of the last five years of violence came to 2,000 Serbs killed, 1,000 missing, 170 churches burnt and 15,000 houses destroyed, the envoy claimed, while no one had been brought to justice and United Nations reports sought to downplay the extent of the destruction

''Quick solutions are needed for the safety of the Serb population and its cultural heritage, in an area that foreign observers refer to as the 'Heroin Republic','' Batakovic said

He also said there were indications that made it impossible to rule out the existence of 'sleeping' Al Qaeda cells in the area

He described Kosovo as an absolutely divided society, where the only possible solution was to create autonomous cantons within an autonomous Kosovo, on the condition that Serb refugees returned

Finally, the Serb envoy underlined the dangers of instability in Kosovo for the entire region, adding that the government in Belgrade would on no account recognise it as an independent state.

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March 23, 2004
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HEADLINE: US OFFICIAL SAYS ONLY MULTIETHNIC KOSOVO CAN BE PART OF EUROPE

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Belgrade, 23 March: United States (US) government democracies in transition project president Bruce Jackson on Tuesday (23 March) held talks with Serbia and Montenegro (SCG) President Svetozar Marovic and qualified the escalating violence in Kosovo as an attack on institutions and representatives of the United Nations (UN) and Kfor (Kosovo Force), and on the values that they represent in Kosovo and Metohija.

A mono-ethnic Kosovo would be a big threat to Southeast Europe, Jackson said, and only a multiethnic Kosovo can be a part of Europe. Marovic said it would be good if the international community could at this time make concrete moves to encourage all those in the region who advocate the establishment of modern democratic standards of a multiethnic society.

The SCG president also said it is necessary urgently to establish security for Serbs and Montenegrins in Kosovo, and then patiently and tolerantly to resolve problems, without unilateral moves, the SCG president's office said.

Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in English 1425 gmt 23 Mar 04

) BBC Monitoring

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March 23, 2004
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HEADLINE: SERBIAN AGENCY: UNMIK TO STOP COOPERATING WITH KOSOVO MEDIA THAT SPREAD HATRED

BODY:

Pristina, 23 March: UNMIK (UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo) has decided to suspend cooperation with all media in Kosovo which spread hatred and supported violence during last week's riots in the province (of Kosovo), FoNet has learnt from a source close to UNMIK.

The same source says that UNMIK is stopping all kinds of cooperation with the Pristina daily Epoka e Re.

It has been claimed unofficially that the same measure by UNMIK will be implemented towards Radio-Television Kosovo because of its biased reporting.

Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1722 gmt 23 Mar 04

) BBC Monitoring

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March 23, 2004
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HEADLINE: LEAFLETS CALL FOR KOSOVO'S "LIBERATION FROM UNMIK AT ANY PRICE"

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Pristina, 23 March: In some towns in Kosovo and Metohija appeared on Tuesday (23 March) leaflets demanding "liberation (of Kosovo) from UNMIK (UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo) at any price", and which called the international forces an enemy of Kosovo.

In the leaflets that appeared on buildings it is said that last week's violence was "in essence revolt that has accumulated during the incessant injustice towards our people to date by the dictatorial UNMIK leadership and erroneous policy of domestic institutions". A source close to UNMIK, which did not wish to be identified, told Tanjug that UNMIK knew that the leaflets appeared Tuesday afternoon in some places in Kosovo, but that it was not known who wrote them.

In the leaflet it is emphasized that the people was revolted "due to lack of freedom" and that the latest "protests of Albanians" were at first normal but that they reached their culmination "when UNMIK police and Kfor (Kosovo Force) opened fire on the people". "The revolt has grown even more due to the hostility of the international community towards Kosovo and because they ignore Kosovo institutions," it is said in the leaflets.

Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in English 1949 gmt 23 Mar 04

) BBC Monitoring

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HEADLINE: ROMA ASSOCIATION DONATES MEDICINES TO SERBIAN HOSPITAL

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Vranje, 23 March: The Vranje-based "Romalen" (Roma) association of citizens today donated medicines worth 10,000 dinars (145 euros) to the Vranje Health Centre's general ward. This is about "Synopen" capsules used to suppress allergic reactions, which are in deficit and are to be found on the (?Serbian government's Kosovo) list. The "Romalen" association raised these funds during a humanitarian ball with a help of the Vranje municipal assembly.

Source: Agency Vranje Press web site, Vranje, in Serbian 1224 gmt 23 Mar 04

) BBC Monitoring

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HEADLINE: EX-KOSOVO REBEL ARMY COMMANDER ARRESTED ON SUSPICION OF INCITEMENT TO VIOLENCE

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Pristina, 23 March: In Lipljan this evening Kfor (Kosovo Force) arrested one of the former OVK (Kosovo Liberation Army) commanders, Sukri Buja, on suspicion of incitement to violence in Lipljan, SRNA has learnt from the sources close to Kfor.

Sukri Buja is a member of Hashim Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosova (PDK), and brother of Rama Buja, senior PDK official who took part in the negotiations in Rambouillet before the war (NATO bombing) in 1999. According to SRNA's source, Buja was arrested around 1930 (1830 gmt) by Finnish Kfor soldiers.

Sukri Buja commanded the sixth OVK zone of responsibility for Kacanik, Stimlje and Nerodimlje.

Source: SRNA news agency, Bijeljina, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 2054 gmt 23 Mar 04

) BBC Monitoring

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HEADLINE: RUSSIA "SURPRISED" AT WORLD'S CALM RESPONSE TO DESTRUCTION OF KOSOVO CHURCHES

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Belgrade, 23 March: Russia is surprised at the world community's calm response to the destruction of Orthodox churches in Kosovo, Emergencies Minister Sergey Shoygu said at a meeting with Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church Pavle.

"We can very well recall the wave of indignation in the world caused by the Taleban's destruction of the stone statues of the Buddha in Afghanistan. It was the destruction of a cultural heritage," the minister said, stressing that "the same thing has happened" in Kosovo.

In Shoygu's view, the destruction of churches "is an attempt not only to destroy buildings but also to wash from the face of the earth and from memory and history that which was on this land before".

Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1143 gmt 23 Mar 04

) BBC Monitoring

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HEADLINE: KOSOVO SERB OFFICIAL REPORTED "HARASSED" BY KOSOVO POLICE SERVICE MEMBERS

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Gracanica, 23 March: At around 0800 (0700 gmt) this morning, Albanians from the Kosovo Police Service harassed for over an hour Randjel Nojkic, member of the Return coalition and the regional crisis headquarters, and another seven Serbs, Tanjug has learned in the Crisis Headquarters in Gracanica.

Nojkic and the group of Serbs left Gracanica to travel to the north of the province, to collect the aid for endangered Serbs and bring it to central Kosovo. Nojkic told the crisis headquarters that Albanians, members of the Kosovo Police Service, had stopped them on Gracanica-Ajvajlija road.

The incident occurred after members of Kfor (Kosovo Force) had announced that roads in the province were free and safe for travel without international forces' escort.

The case was reported to the police station in Gracanica.

Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 0839 gmt 23 Mar 04

) BBC Monitoring

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HEADLINE: SERBIAN ANALYST: KOSOVO VIOLENCE REFLECTS COLLAPSE OF UN SECURITY SYSTEM

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"Kosovo Violence Reflects Collapse of UN Security System", published by Serbian newspaper Borba on 19 March

The latest escalation of violence in Kosovo-Metohija represents a total collapse of the security system established in that region by the international community.

There are many signs that the Albanians' actions were well-orchestrated with events both in Serbia and in the international community, especially with the current crisis in Serbia, says analyst Dusan Janjic, the director of the Ethnic Relations Forum.

He goes on to say that it is obvious that Kosovo is no longer being used for some new and more active policy, to achieve some new democratic unification, but instead to weaken and bring down the (Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav) Kostunica government. That is why that government's reaction over the next few days will be very important, but its reaction and success will depend not only on the government and its conduct, but also on the conduct of the former DOS (Democratic Opposition of Serbia) parties. When asked what official Belgrade should do right now, Janjic says this:

"I think that Belgrade should continue with the steps that it has taken, which means continuing a more active approach towards the international community, especially emphasizing the security problem. It should also undertake some energetic measures in Serbia for the sake of rallying all those who are interested in Serbia's stability into a unified bloc. When I say that, I think both of parties and of civic organizations, because what is happening should not be allowed to turn into general violence and the further political destabilization of Serbia."

Janjic believes that Belgrade should carry out very serious reforms within the security system. This, he says, is an opportunity to seriously re-examine what has been done with regard to Kosmet (Kosovo-Metohija).

"We have once again seen that the Albanian movement is extremely well-organized, while Belgrade is again reacting too late. And that the entire reaction is actually being left to the people on the ground. It is absolutely clear now that there was not enough prevention. That the outgoing government and the diplomatic corps and the military have not left behind an adequate stock of necessary information. Thus, I think that it is time for serious discussion and for an energetic reconstruction of those apparatus," Janjic says.

In his view, this is also a strong motive for combating organized crime, especially the smuggling centred on Kosovo that is feeding the structures controlling the demonstrations in Kosovo.

"I must say that all of this was hidden from the domestic public. The demonstrations in Kosovo were planned. The new pretext only additionally focused them on Serbs, but the demonstrations in Kosovo were actually planned against UNMIK (UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo), which had halted the privatization process. This all clearly shows that people involved in illegal business in Kosovo are behind the demonstrations in Kosovo, and Belgrade must sever the ties that they have in Belgrade."

When asked to comment on the decision by the Serbia-Montenegro Defence Council to place part of the military and police at the disposal and under the control of Kfor (Kosovo Force) in order to calm down the situation in that region, Janjic's response was this:

"I think that the decisions that have been made are very good. This offer is a very good move strategically. I saw that not as sabre-rattling, but rather as a very active security and diplomatic policy. Experience shows that Kfor and the Kosovo police will need between 20 days and two months to stabilize security in Kosovo. Thus, it seems to me that the weaker Kfor is on the ground, the greater the likelihood that they will accept our offer. In any event, it is important that it has been put on the table and that means that the security question has also finally been placed on the Security Council agenda for all future talks on Kosmet. In my opinion, the security question is the key question in calming down the situation in Kosmet and in the survival of the Serb community there."

(Box) Demonstrations in Belgrade have anti-government focus

The state leadership is increasingly moving into the domain of an active negotiating policy and diplomatic initiative, but it must also stabilize the situation in Belgrade and beyond, Dusan Janjic declared.

"I do not consider these demonstrations problematic in terms of emotions or in terms of their message."

"It is true that there is nationalism here, that there is both reactive and aggressive nationalism, but the problem here is the demonstrators' increasingly anti-government focus."

"If the institutions in Belgrade are allowed to be toppled, then there can be no active policy towards Kosovo."

Welcoming top officials' turnaround on policy towards Kosovo and indications of a more active approach to solving the Kosmet problem, Janjic says this: "The success of the Kostunica government will depend not only on the government, but also on the conduct of the former DOS parties. It remains to be seen whether they too will join in the creation of a democratic atmosphere and oppose violence, or whether they will allow things to continue on the present course."

Source: Borba, Belgrade, in Serbian 19 Mar 04

) BBC Monitoring

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HEADLINE: SERBIAN POLICE SAY VIOLENCE AGAINST KOSOVO SERBS "ORGANIZED FROM ONE CENTRE"

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Novi Sad, 22 March: The Serbian Interior Ministry (MUP) said today that the violence against the Serbs in Kosovo was "organized, coordinated and synchronized from one centre".

"The violence and terror of the armed Albanian extremists, the way they launched their attacks on Serb enclaves simultaneously, their mass presence and logistics, point to an organized action conducted from one centre," said the MUP in a statement entitled "Information on the escalation of violence and terror against the Serbs in Kosovo from 17 to 21 March", which was handed out to reporters in the Vojvodina Assembly today. The MUP assessed that UNMIK (UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo) and Kfor (Kosovo Force) had failed to protect the Serbs in Kosovo, and themselves came under attack from the terrorists.

The MUP said it was unable to state with certainty how many Serbs had been killed in the violence, saying it had a reported figure of seven Serbs thus far, though the final count was feared to be higher, as 15 persons were reported missing. "More than 500 buildings were damaged and burned, including 27 Orthodox churches and monasteries, and three Orthodox cemeteries. Around 1,400 Serbs have been displaced from five towns and eight villages, and taken to other Serb enclaves," said the information.

It said 33 policemen were injured in the protests in Belgrade, four were kept in hospital, eight vehicles were destroyed, and 89 people detained.

In Vojvodina, 24 persons were arrested, charges for offence filed against 17, and criminal charges were brought against three known persons and several unknown persons.

"Frequent attacks - a total of 40, were registered against facilities owned by Albanians or Gorancis," it said.

Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1524 gmt 22 Mar 04

) BBC Monitoring

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HEADLINE: KOSOVO POLICE REPORTEDLY OBSTRUCTING DISTRIBUTION OF AID TO SERB ENCLAVES

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(Presenter) Not only Albanian extremists, but interim Kosovo institutions as well, i.e, the Kosovo police, are making the distribution of humanitarian aid to Serbs in enclaves harder.

(Reporter) Two vehicles left Gracanica en route to Leposavic and Zvecan in order to take humanitarian aid. When they arrived in Pristina, they had to return for some additional documentation. Problems appeared when a Kosovo police patrol stopped them as they were trying to enter Gracanica.

(Randjel Nojkic) There were two Albanians who first asked us to give them our documents. Then they started to harass us just because they saw that we were Serbs. That lasted maybe an hour. We then contacted our people in Gracanica, who then contacted the Kosovo police station where there are Serbs. The Gracanica police station commander, a Serb, arrived and put an end to our agony. Following maybe 15 minutes of discussion, they returned our documents. We took a different road and arrived in Gracanica.

Source: BKTV, Belgrade, in Serbian 1055 gmt 23 Mar 04

) BBC Monitoring

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HEADLINE: SERBS ARE DETERMINED TO STAY IN KOSOVO, BELGRADE JOURNALIST SAYS

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(Presenter) Our colleague Aljosa Milenkovic has just returned from Kosovska Mitrovica. Welcome, Aljosa. Could you tell us how the situation is now?

(Milenkovic) What I could see during my six-day stay in Kosovska Mitrovica is that people who have been living there for ages live quite normally, as if nothing were happening, as if they were accustomed to all the tension and pressure which have been present since 1999. Cafes and shops work normally, people go to work normally, just as they normally take care of security in their streets and in their town. What is also interesting is their stand towards us from so-called central Serbia. I was last there in November 2002, and things are drastically different this time - a much bigger unity can now be felt between Kosovo Serbs and those from central Serbia. One does not hear things like: You do not help us, you do not care. (Presenter) Have they lost hope or are they still ready to stay there?

(Milenkovic) No, not at all. People are, and now more than ever, determined to stay there. The number of shops which opened between 2002 and now speak of that fact. What bothers them now is the problem of refugees, or internally displaced people, some 4,000 Serbs who have arrived from their burnt-out villages. The question of what to do with them arises. What now? That also bothers Serbs in northern Kosovo. The situation will calm down, the humanitarian catastrophe will also be solved, because it is really a humanitarian catastrophe, but what will happen to those who started all this, this ethnic cleansing? Will they be arrested? Will they be punished? Will it those evicted from their homes be allowed to return? Will their homes be restored? Those are crucial questions bothering people in northern Kosovo now.

(Presenter) Are tensions calming down?

(Milenkovic) As I have said, there have been tensions there since 1999. It is something they live with, it is their daily routine. The situation is normal in that respect now, I would say. (Passage omitted)

(Presenter) You witnessed the arrival of humanitarian aid this morning at the Rudnica administrative border crossing. How was it? Are there problems with it? Are Serbs from all enclaves getting it?

(Milenkovic) Distribution of humanitarian aid is the biggest problem. What we witnessed over the several past days, especially on Saturday (20 March), when aid was being gathered in Belgrade - (changes thought) I am trying to find the exact words to describe you how it influenced the people in Kosovo-Metohija. BKTV, regardless of the fact that we are its employees, was the most watched TV station because it followed the way the aid was being gathered. What we then saw is that Serbs are getting organized within Kosovska Mitrovica and all of Kosovo to take over that aid and distribute it adequately.

(Presenter) Aljosa, thank you.

(Milenkovic) Thank you for inviting me.

Source: BKTV, Belgrade, in Serbian 1055 gmt 23 Mar 04

) BBC Monitoring

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HEADLINE: GERMAN TROOPS TO BLAME FOR LOSS OF ORTHODOX CHURCHES IN PRIZREN - EPARCHY

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Gracanica, 23 March: The Raska-Prizren Eparchy today accused Kfor (Kosovo Force) commander Holger Kammerhoff and German members of the international forces of being responsible for the harassment of 60 Serbs in Prizren and the destruction of 10 Serbian Orthodox churches in that town.

"It has never happened that all the churches in Prizren were destroyed, not even in the worst of times of Turkish rule. What Albanians did not manage during the period of Nazi Germany, they have done under the German forces of the so-called peacekeeping mission, representatives of which peacefully let the whole remaining Christian Orthodox heritage disappear in one night," a statement by the Eparchy said.

Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1126 gmt 23 Mar 04

) BBC Monitoring

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HEADLINE: RUSSIAN MINISTER URGES "VIGOROUS RESPONSE" TO ETHNIC CLEANSING OF KOSOVO SERBS

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Belgrade, 23 March: Russian Minister for Extraordinary Situations Sergey Shoygu said today, following the talks with Serbia-Montenegro (SCG) Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic that Russia held "a consolidated view" on the situation in Kosovo and Metohija and that this "distinct position" of the official Moscow would not change.

Addressing journalists together with Minister Svilanovic, Shoygu recalled that Russia's position on Kosovo was formulated by President Vladimir Putin, who had assessed, after the meeting of the state leadership on Saturday (20 March), that the latest wave of violence in the province represented ethnic cleansing of the Serbs, which should be met with "a vigorous response."

According to Shoygu, Putin's views were shared by all Russian politicians, the parliament, the prime minister, and members of the government. (passage omitted)

Asked by a journalist to comment on speculations of the Russian press that one of the issues of Shoygu's talks in Belgrade was also a potential return of Russian troops to Kosovo and Metohija, Svilanovic said that "this was not discussed."

In addition to the situation in Kosovo and Metohija, the talks focused, according to Svilanovic, on furthering bilateral cooperation, especially economic, knowing that the visit by the Russian minister had been planned "before the latest dramatic turn of the situation" in the province. (passage omitted)

Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1338 gmt 23 Mar 04

) BBC Monitoring

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