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NEWS SUMMARY FOR MARCH 15, 2000
Dateline: Pristina
Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA), Agence France Presse (AFP),
Associated Press (AP)
13/03/00
CLARK WARNS MILOSEVIC ON MONTENEGRO
NATO Supreme Commander General Wesley Clark on 13 March warned Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic against inciting confrontation with
Montenegro, wire services report. "Mr. Milosevic should be very aware
of NATO’s capabilities," Clark said, quoted by AP. "We see Mr.
Djukanovic (Montenegrin President) trying to create a democratic,
west-oriented republic here and we see Mr. Milosevic (Yugoslav
President) tightening the noose as he strengthens his military forces
and imposes economic blockades," he continued. The NATO Supreme
Commander did not provide specific details on how the alliance would
react if Milosevic moved militarily against Montenegro. The outgoing
NATO Supreme Commander spoke during a one-day trip to Bulgaria for talks
with the Balkan nation’s leadership.
Dateline: Nis, Yugoslavia
Source: Agence France Presse (AFP)
13/03/00
SERB COURT SENTENCES KOSOVAR ALBANIAN STUDENT TO 15 YEARS IN PRISON
A Serb court on 13 March issued a 15-year sentence to a Kosovar Albanian
student charged with terrorism, AFP reports. Albin Kurti, former leader
of the Independent Student Union, organised demonstrations against the
government of Serbia in 1997 and 1998. Serb authorities detained him
during NATO’s air campaign over Yugoslavia last year. "This court has
nothing to do with truth and justice, it serves the policies of
Milosevic’s regime which has kept Kosovo under occupation," AFP quoted
Kurti as saying during the trial.
Dateline: Gracanica
Source: Associated Press (AP)
13/03/00
U.S. STRIVES TO MAINTAIN A MULTI-ETHNIC KOSOVO
U.S. State Department Spokesman James Rubin on 13 March reassured the
Kosovar Serb community that the United States is striving to protect the
multiethnic makeup of Kosovo, AP reports. Speaking at a monastery in
Gracanica, Rubin stated that the U.S. did not put forth the effort to
expel the forces of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic from Kosovo to
allow ethnic Albanians to "act against" the province’s Serb population.
Rubin also met with provincial Serb leaders on 13 March. "The Serbs
should know that we want co-existence for all the peoples inside
Kosovo," Rubin said following the meeting, quoted by AP.
Dateline: Pristina
Source: Agence France Presse (AFP)
13/03/00
KOSOVO ELECTIONS LIKELY TO BE HELD IN OCTOBER: OSCE
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) announced
on 13 March that elections in Kosovo would likely be held in October
2000, AFP reports. "Elections must be credible," AFP quoted the OSCE
representative in Kosovo Daan Everts. "It is the key word. We cannot
afford fraudulent elections, thus we have to have a reliable civil
registry," he continued, in reference to the announcement that UNMIK
(U.N. Mission in Kosovo) is organising a province-wide census programme.
Dateline: United Nations
Source: Reuters, Associated Press (AP)
14/03/00
RUSSIAN FM CALLS ON INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO PREVENT EXPORT OF
VIOLENCE
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov on 13 March urged the international
community to prevent the export of violence from Kosovo to southern
Serbia, wire services report. In a letter drafted to the Group of Eight
nations, Ivanov called on the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo
(KFOR) to quell violence in the province in order to prevent its spread
to the ethnically tense Presevo Valley region of Serbia, according to
Reuters. The Presevo Valley is home to approximately 70,000 ethnic
Albanians, 10 percent of whom have fled to Kosovo due to reported
harassment from Serb forces stationed in the area.
Dateline: The Hague
Source: Reuters
13/03/00
TRIAL OF BOSNIAN SERB GENERAL ACCUSED OF GENOCIDE BEGINS
The trial of indicted Bosnian Serb war criminal Radislav Krstic opened
on 13 March at The Hague, Reuters reports. Krstic is charged with
genocide for his role as leader of Bosnian Serb troops during the 1995
Srebrenica massacre of thousands of Bosnian Moslems. He also stands
accused of organising the subsequent deportation of 30,000 people from
the Srebrenica area. "The victors abandoned all sense of humanity and
committed atrocities on a scale not seen since the Second World War,"
U.N. prosecutor Mark Harmon said, quoted by Reuters. Krstic’s trial is
estimated to last around six weeks.
Dateline: Belgrade
Source: Associated Press (AP), Reuters, Beta
13/03/00
OPPOSITION TO RALLY IF STUDIO B SHUT DOWN, TV 5 TOLD TO LEAVE
Leaders of Serbia’s opposition parties pressed their members to hold
public rallies on 14 March if the independent television station Studio
B is shut down by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, AP reports.
Following the development, according to Reuters, the Beta news agency
reported that the Third Yugoslov Army based in Nis ordered the city’s
independent stationTV5 to vacate the premises rented from the army. An
army notice cited that it wanted to "convert the unprofitable space into
accommodation facilities," an explanation quickly rejected by TV5 chief
editor Nikolic-Corbic. The government of President Milosevic has
recently increased its crackdown against media it deems threatening,
including the nationalisation of the independent daily Vecernje Novosti
and the beating of two employees of Studio B.
Dateline: Pristina
Source: Reuters
13/03/00
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ALLEGES HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES BY KFOR, UNMIK
A report issued by Amnesty International charged international
peacekeepers in Kosovo with human rights abuses, Reuters reports. The
human rights organisation alleges that 49 people arrested by French KFOR
troops during the recent violence in Mitrovica were held in inhuman
conditions and denied knowledge of why they were taken into custody,
according to Reuters. "We are concerned that the violations that we
observed that day in Mitrovica are illustrative of a wider pattern of
disregard for human rights by KFOR and UNMIK while operating in the
capacity of a law enforcement agency in Kosovo," Liz Griffen, co-author
of the report, was quoted by Reuters. UNMIK spokeswoman Susan Manuel
said a lack of law enforcement personnel in Mitrovica meant that KFOR
troops had to assume policing duties, a task for which they are
inadequately trained. She said both KFOR and UNMIK would study the
report’s findings.
Dateline: Kraljevo, Yugoslavia
Source: Agence France Presse (AFP)
13/03/00
YUGOSLAV ARMY RESERVISTS PROTEST FORCED MOBILISATION
Approximately 200 Yugoslav army reservists demonstrated in Kraljevo,
Yugoslavia against the alleged forced mobilisation of soldiers, AFP
reports. Reservists met with Kraljevo mayor Mladomir Novakovic who
backed their calls for discussions with regional army commanders,
according to AFP. "Never again will we go to war for (Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic)," chanted protestors, which included
dozens of members of the student opposition Otpor (Resistance) movement.
Protestors are to continue the protest on 14 March.
Dateline: Vucitrn, Yugoslavia
Source: Agence France Presse (AFP), Reuters
13/03/00
KING ABDULLAH VISITS JORDANIAN PEACEKEEPERS
King Abdullah II of Jordan was in Kosovo on 13 March for a short visit
with Jordanian KFOR soldiers, AFP reports. The king met with troops in
Vucitrn, located near Mitrovica, before flying to camp Bondsteel to meet
with other Jordanian troops stationed at the base. App
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