"KLA" MASSING FORCES AROUND SERB VILLAGES NEAR VITINA

by N. Zejak

Blic, Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia, October 8 1999

Gnjilane - The command of the American contingent of KFOR stationed in Gnjilane, reversed yesterday morning its decision to pull out all of its soldiers from the Serb villages in the Vitina municipality, report ham-radio operators [from Gnjilane]. Instead, the Americans brought new forces to Vitina since "KLA" forces are grouping at the outskirts of these villages.

The decision to pull out American soldiers three days ago was made after the local Serbs refused to allow UNMiK and ethnic Albanians to convert the local Serb school into a multiethnic school.

The situation in these Serb villages is still critical, emphasizes the same source. The evening before yesterday Albanian terrorists threw a hand grenade at business facilities of Ratko Denkic. Denkic was seriously wounded; however, he refused the offer by KFOR soldiers to be transported to the hospital in Gnjilane for treatment.

Dimitrije Vasic (72) had been beaten in Gnjilane the day before. A group of ethnic Albanians jumped over the wall, broke into his house and beat him up. He is now in the improvised hospital located in the church in Gnjilane. In Vasic's neighborhood, houses of Mira Janicijevic and Caslav Radivojevic had been looted two days earlier.

The People's Church Council from Gnjilane states that apartments of Slavica Petrovska and Zlata Kireva were robbed again and that ethnic Albanians have now moved in to these apartments by force. Several tens of houses were robbed, too. As the Center for Tolerance and peace finds out, the search for abducted Djordje Cvijanovic is under way. He disappeared two days ago and was last seen at the crossroads near the headquarters of "KLA guard" in Pristina.

KFOR spokesperson Roland Lavoie stated that two nights ago a Gypsy woman was killed and another injured by a hand grenade thrown into their house. A 25-year-old woman was abducted in the village of Cuculjaja. The investigation in this case is under way.

In Kosovska Mitrovica a Serb girl was lightly injured when a group of ethnic Albanians stoned the bus she was traveling in. In Prizren three unidentified individuals attacked a Gypsy man with knives. The victim is now in a hospital in the same town.

Two days ago a corpse of an Albanian man (50) was found in Suva Reka. His disappearance had been reported the day before. He was killed by a fire arm and the investigation is under way.

Yesterday German soldiers prevented two attempts of illegal crossing from Albania to Kosovo, said Levoie, adding that "similar cases are frequent and dangerous, both for the people who attempt to cross the border and KFOR soldiers who are securing the border". Two nights ago, 500 soldiers from Norway arrived in Kosovo. They will be stationed in Pristina. A Norwegian battalion with 980 soldiers will on October 12 replace British soldiers in Kosovo Polje, Obilic and Pristina.

Latest News from the Vitina Municipality

All Serb Houses Burned Down

Vitina - Two days ago, at noon, as ham-radio operators report, all Serb houses in the village of Podgorce in the Vitina municipality were set on fire. Podgorce is located next to the village of Vrbovac and before the arrival of KFOR it was an ethnically mixed village. However, 150 Serb families were expelled from Podgorce. Representatives of KFOR and UNMiK, who again placed sentries at the entrance to Podgorce, did not intervene, stress ham-radio operators.

KFOR getting ready for long-term presence

Military Base on 775 Hectares

by Z.V. Vlaskalic

Blic, Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia, October 8 1999

Urosevac - Members of international forces in Kosovo and Metohija have started construction of large military bases in the territory of the southern Serbian province. The largest of these is being built by American soldiers in Sojevo near Urosevac. This base will eventually spread over 775 hectares. Until the withdrawal of the Yugoslav Army and Police, this area was inhabited by Serbs.

The construction of the American base in Sojevo, about a kilometer and a half from Urosevac, started at the end of July, and it will eventually include three fitness centers, a supermarket, library, covered swimming pool, church as well as tank, helicopter and other parts of a military base dedicated to military purposes. As Blic finds out, the base in Sojevo will also include an airport for whose constructions $35 million have been earmarked. Besides "Bondstill", the first American base to be built in the Urosevac municipality, the base in Sojevo will be able to house 50,000 marines. Americans named it "American Disneyland in the Balkans".

In the Leposavic municipality, in the French KFOR contingent zone of responsibility, a large helicopter base is being built between the villages of Kosutovo and Saljska Bistrica on the southern slopes of Mount Kopaonik. British KFOR contingent is building a large base near Podujevo which also includes a runway.

Both in Sojevo, and in the helicopter base in Leposavic, only those members of KFOR who participate in construction are allowed to be present at these sites.

German minister for Defense publicly stated last month that German KFOR troops will stay in Kosovo for at least five years.

Victim of the attack near Supkovac identified

Miroljub Pecic Murdered

BETA

Blic, Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia, October 8 1999

Kosovska Mitrovica - The Serb who had been murdered on Tuesday in the village of Supkovac near Kosovska Mitrovica was identified yesterday. Victim's wife informed BETA that his name is Miroljub Pecic (52). She identified her husband yesterday in the morgue of the Kosovska Mitrovica hospital.

According to her, Miroljub Pecic was "mutilated" and murdered by blows with blunt objects.

On Tuesday afternoon, a convoy of Serbs that was moving towards central Serbia with KFOR escort was attacked in Supkovac, a southern suburb of Kosovska Mitrovica.

President of Serb National Council Vuko Antonijevic speaks for Blic

"All of us are Victims of 'KLA', Monstrous Regime, and UNMiK"

by N. Zejak

Blic, Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia, October 8 1999

Kosovska Mitrovica - More than 1,500 Albanians demonstrated yesterday around 2 pm in Kosovska Mitrovica in front of the UNMiK headquarters demanding to be enabled to return to schools and institutions in the northern, Serb part of the city. The demonstration ended without incident.

During the protest, several hundreds of Serbs gathered on the northern side of the bridge on the Ibar river. They observed the events in the southern part of the city.

Strong forces of KFOR, French Gendarmes, as well as Italian Carabignieri were deployed on the bridge. Their task is to control mass demonstrations.

After the attack two days ago on the remaining Serbs in the village of Suvi Dol and a protest of ethnic Albanians, president of the Serb National Council Vuko Antonijevic says the following for Blic:

"The minimum condition for the survival of Serbs in Kosmet is an urgent formation of some sort of cantons. Both the ethnic Albanians and the International Community are against that concept. At no time did they offer security to Serbs for their survival in ethnically mixed communities. Specifically, Serbs were not given an opportunity to survive in the southern part of Mitrovica. However, they insist on movement of Albanians to the remaining sixth of the city where before the war there was no Albanian population.

"Northern Mitrovica and Kosovo Polje are the only multiethnic communities in Kosmet. Serbs, Roma, Turks and Albanians loyal to the Serbian state live in these communities. In only three months of UNMiK's and KFOR's rule in Kosmet, the southern part of Mitrovica has turned into a multiethnic city with several tens of thousands of ethnic Albanians and three Serb families," says Antonijevic.

"All of us in this state have been suffering and grown impoverished because of a monstrous nature of the regime. Even worse, the [Milosevic's] regime, "KLA" and UNMiK are trying to expel every single Serb from Kosmet because that way all of them can maintain they presence in Kosmet," concludes Antonijevic.

Translated in November 1999