Liberation of Kosovo: Independent Roundup Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit INDEPENDENT (London) June 15 Liberation of Kosovo - Russians bar Nato forces from airport By Kim Sengupta in Pristina and Phil Reeves in Moscow The commander of Nato forces in Kosovo yesterday conceded that the Russians have control of the vital supply point to Pristina airport. General Sir Michael Jackson also admitted that the Russians were a force outside his command and that he expected their troop strength to grow. As the impasse between Nato and its "ally" over the airport continued for the third day yesterday, despite intense negotiations, General Jackson insisted he did not want the airport anyway and the Russian paratroopers were welcome to it. He told a press conference in Pristina: "I am not in a turf war, they [the Russians] regard the airport as important, it's not important to me . I am very happy to leave the airport in Russian hands - if you think that's a feeble excuse, you are absolutely wrong." Visibly irritated by questioning about the airport, General Jackson said he had considered using it as his headquarters, but now felt "it is too far out of town". He added that he was "a little concerned about minefields and unexploded ordnance". The press conference itself had been held at the second attempt. A celebratory one was planned for Saturday evening at the airport following the entry of Nato into Kosovo from Macedonia, but that ended in disarray after the Russians objected to the venue and General Jackson was forced to talk in the pouring rain, with much of what he had to say drowned out by Russian manoeuvres. A Russian general has declared himself to be in charge at the airport and his forces now effectively control what flies in. They have also set up road-blocks which have barred Nato military vehicles, while allowing in Serbian tanks. Despite General Jackson's pronouncements, defence sources say the inability to use the airport is a major handicap. Apart from the basic military principle of securing the main airfield in any operation of this type, Nato's plan had been to fly reinforcements and supplies directly into Pristina airport and so avoid the tortuous overland route that passes throughGreece and Macedonia. After their hour-long telephone call on Sunday, Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Bill Clinton spoke again yesterday.Convinced that it is not being rewarded for its role in achieving the peace accord, Russia is demanding its own sector in Kosovo. Nato has refused, and insists on being in command of peace-keeping forces. Moscow is not wholly delighted by the way the airport crisis has developed. Russia's military top brass yesterday accused their own diplomats of failing to negotiate an air corridor to supply Russian paratroopers holding the airbase near Pristina. Senior Defence Ministry officials complained that their troops were isolated because Russia had been denied access to air corridors by Hungary and Bulgaria. While senior Russian officials have promised Nato that it will send no more soldiers into Kosovo without prior agreement, the head of Russia's airborne troops, General Georgy Shpak, said more paratroopers were ready to go. Nato yesterday continued to try to play the issue down, by arguing that Russia - meaning, the badly undermined Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov - accepted that its paratroopers would eventually be integrated into the international peace-keepers. But it is unlikely that this had the approval of the Defence Ministry, which has close ties with the Yugoslav military leadership. Russian news reports have suggested that Moscow's generals dispatched the paratroopers after consulting with the Yugoslav leadership. For all Nato's soft-pedalling,the deadlock seems to have shifted little. The Russian Prime Minister, Sergei Stepashin, yesterday reiterated Moscow's desire for a "substantial" peace-keeping role, under the auspices of the United Nations. * Liberation of Kosovo - Terrified and starving, 174 people hid in a small house By Emma Daly in Glogovac The rolling, flower-filled fields of central Kosovo were deserted yesterday, save for Serbian soldiers and police, lounging around outside houses, sleeping under an armoured vehicle, sun-bathing atop a tank. Then the white UN aid cars pulled up in the apparently deserted town of Glogovac, in the Drenica region that spawned the Albanian uprising against Belgrade. It was only when these vehicles arrived that the first, few brave souls ventured out, painfully thin and nervous. Within minutes we were surrounded by hordes of women, children and a few old men laughing, crying, even clapping and cheering by the end. Staffan de Mistura, a UN official, said about 18,500 "internally displaced persons" (IDPs) were living in Glogovac - the biggest single group that had been found since Nato forces arrived in Kosovo. "We are surprised that we found this many, we thought they would be hiding in the bushes still, but they must have heard that Nato is coming," he said. The crowd hugged us and thanked us (for what?) and led us to the cramped and malodorous rooms they now call home. "I am from Trstenik village, but at this moment no one is there," explained Azemina Kukaj, 25, leading us to the small, two-storey house with six rooms that she has shared for one month with 174 people. "We don't have anything to eat, we have been hungry," she said as she led us upstairs and showed us a metal stove bearing two pots - one filled with water, and one with yellow chunks of maize. "This is for one day for us, 27 people," Ms Kukaj, a biology student, explained, as her roommates gathered round. A delegate from the World Food Programme shook her head - "It is not enough" - and asked to see the water source. The small garden is a swamp, the well filled with foul water. This is where the refugees had to wash their clothes and themselves. In a small orchard, with no fruit growing, a second well provided cleaner drinking water. The foreign troops, however, will not move in for a few days, and meanwhile the Serb military machine is still close by. Perhaps 300 yards up the road, seven tanks, most flying the red, white and blue Serbian flag, sat parked in the sunshine, tucked in behind farm buildings (since their old bases in the area have been reduced to rubble by Nato). "These 48 hours are terribly delicate because as you can see, the Serbs are moving out, Nato is moving in and the people think they have made it," Mr de Mistura said. "There could be mistakes ." The surging crowd parted once or twice to let a red Lada Niva without number plates sail by, carrying two Yugoslav soldiers and a camp bed, but it barely dampened their spirits, despite stories of Serbian attacks. Ms Kukaj's father, who had a heart bypass operation two years ago, was arrested two weeks ago. But he was released. "He has had no medicine for a month, just God's help, only God's help," she said, in very good English. As the women and children crowded around the foreigners, some smiling, others weeping, Ms Kukaj said that about 200 men had been arrested by the Serbs in the past month. "And we don't know now ." Downstairs, in a small, dark room, she introduced us to Xhyla Kiqina. The old woman is 82 and unable to walk but she was still feisty. "I was here when the Serbian forces came into this house and maltreated all these young girls and women. I saw with my own eyes, they were more brutal than I have ever seen. They told me to go, but I cannot walk." Ms Kukaj agreed. "It was terrible. The night before we came here we could not sleep - the whole army, with tanks, rockets, everything. They killed a woman who has two children in the night, and her body was there until three days ago." Detention and disappearance is not the only risk these people have had to endure. The group said many babies had perished over the past three months for lack of sanitation and a total absence of medical care. And a Unicef official who spoke to a local nurse said there were 50 wounded people in the group, including a baby with a broken leg, whose mother came running out in search of help. Mr de Mistura radioed Pristina and ordered a food convoy and a medical team, and we set off up the road towards Srbica (Skenderaj in Albanian). There was another striking sight: a column of 150 women, children and old men, marching through a field and heading home to the villages of Cirez and Gradica in the Cicavica mountains. "We have been living in Glogovac, in houses, schools, whatever place we can find shelter," said Lumturije Muja, 17. "And now we are going home." She and her family and friends were tanned by the sun, faces smudged with dirt but they were smiling. "There is very little food, you can see the children, their condition," she said, gesturing to a small, silent toddler. "We lost a lot of children from starvation, 13 in all." For the four-hour walk home, the refugees had bundled their few possessions, or put them in wheelbarrows. Kosovo Liberation Army soldiers were close, they said, though we could not find them. Were the refugees worried about mines, or hostile soldiers? "No, the KLA controls the territory and they told us to come back because it is safe," Ms Muja said. "The KLA went back to the village and cleared the roads and the houses. We are very happy because we are going home, it's a great relief." In the distance, smoke billowed from one of perhaps a dozen houses we saw burning - the last legacy of the Serbian occupation of Drenica. The region had paid a heavy price: villages torched, mosques destroyed, people killed. But the Yugoslav Army paid a price too, attacked by Nato's bombs. Most regular soldiers (as opposed to the feared Interior Ministry police and the murderous irregulars) seemed almost pleased to see us. One group played volleyball in the sun, waiting for their buses out. Perhaps the arrival of Nato, whose soldiers will not be deployed in Glogovac for several days, means the end of the nightmare. The Albanians lining the road, throwing roses at our car and waving us on are depending on it. "I think that the terror is finished now," Ms Kukaj said. "I want to believe." * INDEPENDENT (London) June 15 Liberation of Kosovo - 11,000 Serbs fled in a week By Marcus Tanner More than 11,000 Serbs have fled Kosovo since last week's peace deal between Yugoslav forces and Nato, the International Committee of the Red Cross said yesterday. Jette Soerensen of the Geneva-based ICRC said about 10,000 Serbian civilians had fled into Serbia since Friday and another 1,000 had moved into Montenegro, which along with Serbia makes up the Yugoslav federation. However, some officials from the UN refugee body, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), believe that the true figure is closer to 15,000. Most of the Serbs appear to have come from Prizren, Djakovica and Urosevac, cities in the south and central part of Kosovo, from where Yugoslav forces have already withdrawn in line with the peace deal. Momcilo Trajkovic, leader of the Serbian Resistance Movement, a political party representing Kosovo's 180,000 Serbs, said he believed that at least 30,000 Serbs were now on the move because they feared revenge by returning Albanians and armed fighters of the Kosovo Liberation Army. "We are trying to prevent the exodus of the Serbs with the authorities, so they could remain where they live," Mr Trajkovic said. Although he said the situation for the Serbs was "stable" in some cities, there remains a distinct danger that whole of the Serbian population of Kosovo will leave once the Yugoslav army and police leave northern Kosovo by the 20 June deadline. Apart from the Pristina suburb of Kosovo Polje, a belt of villages round Pristina and the far north of the province, around Leposavic, Serbs are only a small minority in the communities where they live, and are therefore highly vulnerable. Nato has said it will restore law and order in Kosovo and will protect members of both communities but there are strong doubts that K-For has has the ability or the numbers to prevent revenge attacks. * INDEPENDENT (London) June 15 Liberation of Kosovo - Germans in struggle to gain control By Phil Davison in Prizren The operation seemed to go according to Nato's plan. The Serbs left Prizren, the Albanians partied and the resistance fighters came home. But all was not well in the city last night. There were still well-armed pockets of Serb forces and armed civilians, the partying threatened to turn violent and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) did not give up its arms. Instead, the fighters "liberated" many areas and took control of main roads. German forces, supposed to be in charge of southern Kosovo, appeared at a loss as to how to control the remaining armed Serbs, the celebrating Albanians and the KLA men who emerged from cellars and mountains to claim victory. A Serb policeman manning a [Image] gun turret on a convoy leaving Prizren yesterday. German K-For troops can be seen in the background The Germans were not in control of the roads out of Prizren. The main road from Albania was blocked throughout yesterday by at least 300 Serb paramilitaries described by German officers as "dangerously drunk". Four miles outside the city, on the road north to the Kosovo capital, Pristina, there were KLA fighters but no Germans. Tens of thousands of Albanians remained in the mountains, awaiting a sense of security before they came down to their mostly destroyed homes. In the morning, a Yugoslav armoured personnel carrier pulled up face-to-face with a German Leopard tank. The two stood within eight yards of each other, guns facing, with the German crew appearing tense and the Serbs looking cocky, smoking one cigarette after another. The Serbs were demanding German army security for a massive convoy of Serb soldiers, paramilitaries, police and civilian families who had lined up along the northern banks of the Bistrica river and in the winding streets of old Prizren, afraid to drive past the Albanians without an escort. For hours, the Serbs sat in or beside their vehicles, packed with their belongings, including furniture, while Albanians strolled past them above the banks of the Bistrica. At first, their was no hostility and some elderly Albanians stopped to greet their about-to-be-former neighbours. After witnessing the exodus of Kosovo Albanians in April and May, there was an overpowering irony in the sight of Serbian families packed on to the back of tractors and lorries, with newly homeless women and children peering out of the back. The faces were similar although the Serbs were carrying far more possessions than the Albanians ever had. But when the convoy of about 500 vehicles pulled out, younger Albanians no longer held back their feelings. They pounded the passing vehicles with stones and yelled obscenities. That was when the mutual anger showed. Even little girls inside the departing Serb cars held up three-fingered Serb victory signs towards the Albanian crowd lining the streets. It said a lot about how Serbs really felt towards their Albanian neighbours. Masar Kuksi, a local Albanian, was about to throw a stone at a passing car when he realised it was his own white Audi. "Lopovi [thieves]," he shouted as the crowd joined in. "Gypsies," yelled others. More and more of the crowd recognised their cars departing. The previous night, thousands more Serbs had left the city while Albanians were abiding by an unofficial curfew. It felt eerie to sit on the front steps of a hotel watching Serb soldiers and civilians sneak out in virtual silence from a land they had controlled for so long. Within minutes of the departure of the Serbs' daytime convoy, all hell broke loose. Long bursts of gunfire erupted near the hotel. When we got to the scene, we found the windows of a local cafe smashed in by celebrating Albanians. The Cafe Sfinga had been a favourite watering hole for Serb paramilitaries until the German forces arrived. Men in tracksuits suddenly produced AK-47 rifles or automatic pistols and emptied their magazines in the air. The KLA had come out from underground. Then local youths broke into another cafe, the Oasis, on Prizren's main Shadrvan square, and put on loud Turkish music while other young men fired more guns. Many Prizren Albanians are of Turkish origin and still speak the language. Four miles north of Prizren, in the village of Gorisha close to where Nato mistakenly killed scores of Kosovars rounded up by the Serbs with their tractors, we found dozens of KLA guerrillas who had just come down from the mountains after the Serb convoy passed. They said they had fought a long gun battle with the Serbs who had departed during the night. Zenel Ahmetaj was starting to clean up his totally burnt-out villa, torched by the Serbs before they left, and was expecting his family to come down from the mountains in a day or two once they were sure the Serbs had gone. He said there were 10,000 people in the wooded mountains directly above Gorisha alone. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nyteeu-06.19.99-05:35:25-13063