New Terrorists Intimidating Serbs
Glas Javnosti - June 12, 2009
Text of report by Serbian newspaper Glas javnosti website on 12 June
Pristina - Judging from everything, terrorist units are training in Kosmet once
again. This time, however, that is no secret. Instead, tapes are being shown
publicly on the Klan Kosova TV station. The well-informed say that the aim of
showing the tapes from Shiptar [Kosovo Albanian] training camps is to intimidate
the remaining Serbs. Several videotapes from one of the Shiptar military camps
on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, of the sort that have been in existence
for years already, were shown recently. Seen in one of the tapes are masked men
swearing an oath to the Albanian National Army (ANA) that they will "fight to
the end for the unification of Albanian territories," from which the viewer
should conclude that this involves recruit-attendees of a military camp. In the
other tapes, they are armed and allegedly patrolling along the administrative
crossing with Serbia so as to "protect the local Albanians from the dangers in
the north of Kosovo," where the Serbs are the majority population.
Meetings in the "Doni"
We have learned from a source in the KPS [Kosovo Police Service] who is also
close to the Security Forces of Kosovo (BSK) that located on Bajgori Mountain is
the "Dona" restaurant, the owners of which, the Ibis brothers, frequently play
host to members of the Albanian National Army (ANA in Serbian or AKS in
Albanian). The Ibis brothers otherwise engage in narcotics trafficking, and the
KPS members do not interfere in their activities, because many UCK [Kosovo
Liberation Army] fighters still hold senior positions in the KPS today, and the
Ibis brothers are their friends. One of the Ibis brothers is a member of the
Albanian National Army. This branch of the AKS is closely connected to AKS
members from the Podujevo region. Our source thinks that the sole purpose of the
stories about camps is intimidation, but he does not dispute that AKS units (we
are talking about Cobra members) have been seen in the area of the villages of
Cirez, Makrmalj, Rezala, and Obrinje.
Regardless of the fact that individual members of the AKS have been seen in
public with weapons and with insignia of the unit and that their identity is
known in the KPS, the UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo], and
the KFOR [Kosovo Force], investigatory proceedings have never been launched.
Rumours are circulating in the north of Kosovo about the three best-known
training camps, which have also been used by the supposedly disbanded KZK
(Kosovo Protection Corps) and to which KFOR has never had access. The first is
in the vicinity of the Slatina airport, the second on the Vrelo-Magura-Goles
line, and the third in the vicinity of Pec.
Solid Proof
According to the stories, one of the most important Albanian military camps in
the north of Kosovo was located (or is still located) between Zubin Potok and
Rogozna.
About a year ago, the KPS and the KFOR found in the vicinity of Istok and
Drenica the remains of a gunnery range, cartridge cases, bullets, and other
signs that training had been conducted in that location.
The military camps became an open secret when UNMIK police discovered at the
Slatina airport a few years ago a shipment of 200 sniper infrared optical sights
of Israeli manufacture intended for the KZK.
The military camps (such as the one whose exercise was taped and broadcast by
Klan Kosova) are headed by former KZK members with high ranks and combat
experience, while the "attendees" consist of interested civilians and the
so-called second call-up of reservists, of whom there were between 4,500 and
5,000, according to information from a year ago. The "second call-up"
reservists, or veterans, who participate in the camps receive a per-diem from
private accounts.
Nebojsa Jovic, chairman of the SNV [Serb National Council] of Kosovska Mitrovica,
says that that is nothing new to him:
"A similar tape of the Albanian Army appears from time to time, and, to me, that
is a test. By doing that, they want to show the powerlessness of the
international units in Kosovo and intimidate the Serbs. They have officially
been on the UNMIK's list of terrorist organizations since 2003, when the attempt
to blow up the overpass at Banjska occurred," Jovic says.
That is, according to him, a formation that sometimes appears on the territory
of Macedonia, sometimes in Presevo and Bujanovac, sometimes in the south of
Serbia, and they let it be clearly known that they have the goal of establishing
Greater Albania. It is the task of the EULEX to say publicly at last that the
international community has been powerless to confront the Albanian terrorists
over these past 10 years or that it does not wish to do so. It is impossible
that professionals, operatives from the UNMIK and the KFOR, lack the information
and ability to thwart actions of this kind.
"But that is also a message to our state that it cannot merely watch. The
Serbian Security Agency has announced that it has information that there could
easily be major problems this year and attacks on Serbs in Kosmet. What is our
state preparing to do?" Jovic asks himself.
Ready To Attack
To Serbs in the north of Kosmet, according to him, tapes of this kind do not
represent as much of a threat as they do to Serbs in the enclaves.
"We are sending the message that we are not going to become frightened and
leave," Nebojsa Jovic said.
Marko Jaksic of the SNV likewise says that those camps have been around for a
quite long time.
"Those running them do not think they have completed the whole job, and they are
well aware that time is not on their side. For that reason, they are trying
always to be ready to be able to erase in a single military onslaught tomorrow
all the remaining pockets in which Serbs continue to be present," Jaksic
relates.
That training, he says, is supported by the Americans, as was everything that
has happened in Kosmet and the south. To put it plainly, they have the common
goal of Kosovo completely separating from Serbia and of the Presevo Valley and
Macedonia being added to that.
[Box] Endangered Lives
"We, as a state, have to decipher them precisely and show the NATO forces that
it is not normal for two armies to exist down there. We have to be present on
the entire territory of Kosovo and Metohija in order to prevent an exodus of
Serbs, and we can only do that if Serbia is present at the administrative
crossings with a large number of members of the military and police forces. We
see, however, that the Serbian military is nowhere to be found. They think that
they will resolve the issue 'through peaceful and diplomatic means,' and, with
that approach, they are endangering the lives of Serbs, because they are putting
them within shooting range," Marko Jaksic says.
[Box] Nothing Without the Americans
To a question about whether the Serbs in Kosmet ought to be frightened in view
of the fact that tapes of this kind are appearing openly on television, Marko
Jaksic thinks that they do not need to be afraid, because this is a matter of
intimidation, and that the Albanians are not going to move against the Serbs if
the American side does not give them permission to do so. That is how it was in
'97, and '98 and '99, and 2001, 2004.... They have had the permission of their
allies for every one of their military actions.
Source: Glas javnosti website, Belgrade, in
Serbian, 12 Jun 09
Original URL: http://www.glas-javnosti.rs/clanak/tema/glas-javnosti-12-06-2009/novi-teroristi-zastrasuju-srbe
Posted for Fair Use only.