KOSOVO NEWS WIRE

KOSOVO NEWS WIRE: MARCH 24, 2004
Various Agencies - March 24, 2004

Ethnic cleansing in Kosovo under international protectorate, Covic

20:47 BELGRADE , March 24 (Tanjug) - "Ethnic cleansing is underway" in Kosovo-Metohija "in peace, and on the territory which is under the protection of the international community," which is the first such case in history, head of the Kosovo-Metohija coordination centre Nebojsa Covic said on Wednesday.

"In three days - March 17, 18 and 19, a lynch against Serbs began, and ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Serb population and other non-Albanians was carried out," Covic told a press conference in Belgrade.
(end)

Phones in Lipljan municipality operating once again

19:54 LIPLJAN , March 24 (Tanjug) - Serb villages in the municipality of Lipljan, south of Pristina, whose phone lines ethnic Albanians had cut off several days before March 17, on Wednesday re-established their phone connections with Central Serbia, deputy mayor Borivoje Vignjevic confirmed for Tanjug.

"The villages of Skulanevo, Lepina, Batuse, Novo Naselje and Suvi Do, which are located on the banks of the Sitnica River, were cut from the rest of the world four days before the attack against the Serb population, which proves that ethnic Albanians had planned a the destruction and burning down of Serb houses on a massive basis a lot earlier," Vignjevic said.
(end)

Rexhepi has no information violence was organised

19:41 BELGRADE , March 24 (Tanjug) - Kosovo Premier Bajram Rexhepi has not denied that the latest wave of violence aganinst Serbs in the province was previously organised, but said that he has "no information" about that and that UNMIK should have an answer to the question.

Speaking for the Wednesday issue of the Belgrade daily Blic, Rexhepi explained that besides the nine ministries of his cabinet, there was no other "service which would deal with such data."
(end)

Kfor authorises regional commenders to introduce curfew

19:01 PRISTINA , March 24 (Tanjug) - Kfor commander German General Holger Kammerhoff authorized on Wednesday regional commanders to introduce curfew, if necessary, in the areas they were in charge of.

General Cammerhoff authorized the commanders to introduce curfew, in the areas they were in charge of if they found it as necessary and for as long as they believed security was endangered, Kfor spokesman Jim Moran said, and the AFP news agency reported.
(end)

Svilanovic, OSCE chairman discuss Kosovo issue

18:28 BELGRADE , March 24 (Tanjug) - Serbia-Montenegro (SCG) Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic met in Belgrade on Wednesday with his Bulgarian coleague and Chairman of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe OSCE), Solomon Pasi, and discussed the situation in Kosovo-Metohija.

Speaking for the press after the meeting, Svilanovic said that various ideas on the province's reorganisation had been presented during the talks, which did not prejudge Kosovo's final status, as well as that he had informed his guest of the fact that the latest violence was aimed at expelling Serbs from Kosovo, suspending the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and overtaking from Kfor and UNMIK the control of the situation and the region itself.
(end)

Tadic called for return of Serbs to Kosovo-Metohija, rebuilding

17:13 PRESEVO , March 24 (Tanjug) - Serbia and Montenegro Defence Minister Boris Tadic urged on Wednesday the international community to enable an urgent return of expelled Serbs and the rebuilding of destroyed homes and churches in Kosovo and Metohija.

Tadic, after a brief visit to a SCG Army base in the ground security zone in southern Serbia, specified that he was not talking about the past ten days, but the period from June 1999.
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For Solana difficult to believe Albanian attacks not organized

16:22 BELGRADE , March 24 (Tanjug) - European Union High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security Javier Solana said that the latest developments in Kosovo inflicted great damage to the democratization of the province and that it was difficult for him to believe that the attacks of the Albanians on Serbs had not been organized.

Solana, in a statement to Radio Free Europe on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of NATO's bombing, called it a step backwards from the dreams and goals of a democratic and prosperous Kosovo, in which all national communities could live together.
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Near Podujevo another, third body, found

15:12 PRISTINA , March 24 (Tanjug) - Local Kosovo police stated on Wednesday that it found another body at the site where last night were killed one UNMIK police officer and one member of the Kosovo police service.

The identity of the third killed is not known for the time being, said un unnamed UNMIK spokesman, adding that the initial results of the investigation had shown that at the site there was an exchange of gunfire between the police and unknown attackers, French news agency AFP reported.
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Svilanovic, Rupel discussed Kosovo-Metohija

13:56 BELGRADE , March 24 (Tanjug) - The foreign minisiters of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro and of Slovenia, Goran Svilanovic and Dimitrij Rupel, discussed on Wednesday in Belgrade the situation in Kosovo and Metohija and the seeking of new concepts for resolving problems in the province.

In a statement to reporters after the meeting, Svilanovic said that the talks focused on the interest of all to end the violence that broke out last week, as well as on the opening of serious talks for rethinking the policy. He noted that Rupel came to Belgrade as a foreign minister of a country in the region and as the future OSCE chairman.
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Ethnic cleansing of Serbs in Kosovo with elements of pogrom

12:50 BELGRADE , March 24 (Tanjug) - The Serbian-Jewish Friendship Society on Wednesday expressed shock and indignation at the ethnic cleansing of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, with elements of a pogrom, committed on March 17 this year.

This orchestrated misdeed carried out in the entire territory of Kosovo and Metohija is absolutely reminiscent of the Nazi Kristal Nacht that took place under the Third Reich in the night between Nov 9-10, 1938, the statement said.
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Thirty churches and monasteries perish in ethnic Albanian violence in Kosovo

11:25 BELGRADE , March 24 (Tanjug) - The Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) Diocese of Raska and Prizren on Tuesday released the list of churches and monasteries destroyed or heavily damaged from March 17-19 in Kosovo and Metohija province, a total of 30 objects, the Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija said.

According to the list, which is not final, 10 temples and the Bishop's Court have been destroyed in Prizren, where the St Cyril and Methodius Faculty of Theology was torched first.
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Ethnic Albanian rampage in Kosovo unacceptable, says Minister Rupel

12:31 BELGRADE , March 24 (Tanjug) - Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said in Belgrade on Wednesday that it is unacceptable and uncivilized to destroy places of worship, as ethnic Albanians did in Kosovo and Metohija these days.

This is not the path that leads to a solution, but one of the possible solutions for Kosovo and Metohija is definitely the continuation of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, with the strong economic development of this part of the Balkans and the entire region, Rupel said in talks with Nebojsa Covic, head of the Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija of Serbia and Montenegro (SCG) and the Republic of Serbia.
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Greater engagement of KFOR in protection of Serbs, says Kostunica

09:35 BELGRADE , March 24 (Tanjug) - Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said late Tuesday on his return from Brussels and Paris that it had been unequivocally agreed in talks with European Union (EU) and NATO officials that there is a need for the greater engagement of the local peacekeeping force KFOR in protecting Kosovo-Metohija Serbs and other non-Albanians in this southern province.

In a statement for the press at Belgrade Airport, Kostunica said NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the latest wave of violence in Kosovo had been an orchestrated attack.
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Moscow seeks full implementation of UN resolution on Kosovo
16:04 MOSCOW , March 24 (Tanjug) - Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Jakovenko said on Wednesday, on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the beginning of NATO's bombing of the former FRY, that Russia insisted on resorting to all remaining possibilities for stopping the ethnic cleansing of non-Albanian populations in Kosovo and Metohija.

Jakovenko reminded that Resolution 1244, adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council in 1999, makes provision for Serbian security forces to protect minorities in Kosovo and Metohija and acknowledges that the province is part of Serbia and Montenegro.
(end)

March 24, 2004

LENGTH: 190 words

HEADLINE: KOSOVO TRAGEDY POSES DANGER TO EUROPE, NOT JUST BALKANS, SAYS RUSSIAN MP

BODY:

Sofia, 24 March: In the 21st century "no monasteries should be burning, there should be no more ethnic cleansing and religious persecutions, and there should be no bloodshed, as happened in the Balkans in the past", chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Federation Council (upper chamber of parliament) in Russia's Federal Assembly told journalists today after meeting Bulgarian National Assembly Chairman Ognyan Gerdzhikov. They were unanimous that the tragedy in Kosovo poses a serious danger for the region and for European development as a whole. "Unfortunately, military efforts of Kfor forces have failed to rid Kosovo of ethnic cleansing and bloodshed. Therefore, it is logical that Russia put forward a humanitarian initiative, providing real assistance to the people in Kosovo. Russia set a very good example of humanitarian influence on the conflict" Margelov said.

The Russian parliamentary stressed the importance of further international cooperation with the aim of stabilizing the situation in Kosovo

Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1632 gmt 24 Mar 04

) BBC Monitoring

JOURNAL-CODE: WBMS

LOAD-DATE: March 24, 2004

March 24, 2004

LENGTH: 337 words

HEADLINE: KOSOVO POLICE SERVICE HOLDS THREE SERB JOURNALISTS, UNMIK BANS OTHERS

BODY:

(Presenter) Our reporter Bojan Bozovic is with us on the phone from Pristina. Bojan?

(Bozovic) Good evening, Branka. The latest news in is that the Kosovo Police Service (KPS) is holding three RTV Most journalists at the KPS station in southern Kosovska Mitrovica. RTV Most is a RTS (Radio-Television Serbia, state radio-TV) branch office in Zvecan. As RTV Most producers have confirmed, three journalists who were filming events in southern Kosovska Mitrovica have been detained. The KPS took a journalist's mobile phone, producer Veroljub Miletic has told BKTV. Political representatives of Serbs from northern Kosovo are currently intervening in order to make sure that the three Serb journalists are released from custody. Nevertheless, this is not the only pressure against Serb journalists. As we have learnt, UNMIK (UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo) today banned several Serb journalists from reporting because, the explanation said, they were inciting interethnic hatred when reporting for their TV stations over the past several days. I am one of those journalists.

I have tried to reach Sunil Narul, UN spokesman. He did not tell me why, but he said that BKTV would not be allowed to follow events organized by UNMIK. I have also managed to talk to Oliver Ivanovic, member of the Kosovo presidency. He has condemned UNMIK's decision to ban Serb journalists from working and the KPS detaining three of them.

He added that he hoped that the dismissal of (UNMIK spokeswoman) Isabela Karlovic and (UN police information service head) Derek Chappell would only be a beginning of dismissal of those who occupy even higher positions and were accountable for all that had happened in Kosovo-Metohija. We will not have a successful solution unless the international community officials are self-critical and they admit their mistakes and dismiss officials (accountable for what happened), Oliver Ivanovic told BKTV.

Source: BKTV, Belgrade, in Serbian 1755 gmt 24 Mar 04

) BBC Monitoring

JOURNAL-CODE: WBMS

LOAD-DATE: March 24, 2004

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