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Date: Mon, 24 May 1999 17:31:49 -0700
From: Mariana Nikolakopoulou <•••@••.•••>
To: CYBERJOURNAL <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Anti-War News
GREEK ALTERNATIVE ANTI-WAR LETTER [GR.A.A.L.]
a weekly electronic edition of F-newsletter
Athens, 19 May 1999
E-mail: <mailto:•••@••.•••>•••@••.•••,
<mailto:•••@••.•••>•••@••.•••
1. URGENT:
WHAT IS INCLUDED IN NATO'S "PROJECT 10601" ABOUT STARTING GROUND
TROOPS OPERATIONS
The paranoid "humanitarians" of NATO have started the final preparation of
sending ground troops in Yugoslavia; at the same time, and under the
pressure of the public opinion, diplomatic activities for peace are going
on by certain European countries. According to the Greek newspaper
"Rizospastis", NATO has distributed already to the General Staffs of its 19
state members the renewed "Project 10601". As the newspaper uncovers in
today's issue, Wednesday 19/5, in this top secret document joint ground,
air and naval operations are scheduled having as first target the
occupation of Montenegro. There will be multiple entrance points from
Bosnia, Albania and FYROM, all of them converging on the occupation of
Kosovo. The final project will be enriched with the remarks of all the
"national" General Staffs at the latest by the end of May. NATO will be
able to start the operations by the beginning of August.
Source: <http://www.rizospastis.gr/>Rizospastis
2. FRANCE AND GREECE TO PRESS FOR UN RESOLUTION ON KOSOVO
[ANA- I. Afentouli, Paris 18/05/1999]
Foreign Minister George Papandreou said yesterday that efforts to achieve a
diplomatic solution to the Kosovo crisis through the adoption of a UN
Security Council resolution were at the most difficult and sensitive point.
"We are at the most difficult and sensitive moment of the procedure that
could lead to a diplomatic solution through the adoption of a Security
Council resolution," he stated after two-and-a-half-hour talks with French
counterpart Hubert Vedrine. "Conditions are that the deployment of a
multinational force is accepted, that all refugees return to their homes
and that the provisional administration in Kosovo prepares the integration
of the area in the European family," he added.
The two men discussed the crisis in the region and the Stability Pact
promoted by Germany, which was adopted by the 15 EU foreign ministers in
Brussels yesterday.
Mr. Vedrine stated the need for the preparation and adoption as soon as
possible of a UN draft resolution that will open the way for an end to the
crisis.
"France and Greece will be cooperating closely, undertaking specific
bilateral initiatives in the Balkans," he added.
Asked if he agreed with the Greek proposal for a temporary ceasefire, Mr.
Vedrine replied that the adoption of a UN resolution had priority over any
other action.
"The ceasefire, too, is linked with the adoption of a resolution that will
be possible to implement in Kosovo as soon as possible," he added.
Source: <http://www.ana.gr/>Athens News Agency
3. URGENT:
BLACK OPERATIONS: MARKALE MARKET "MASSACREî THE SEQUEL
[Vojislav Rodic, War Against Yugoslavia @ www.inet.co.yu]
We have been notified from our unofficial sources (rather reliable, so far)
that a sequel to Sarajevo Markale market "massacre" is in preparation. NATO
countries' public has been reluctant to accept the ground troops
deployment. The air raids are not yielding any tangible results. The war
can not be won from air alone, and for escalating the air strike to full
deployment of ground troops a REALLY good cause is needed. Similar ideas
have been toyed with for quite a while. There were rumours of "something"
going on, some unspecified preparations being carried out, but no more
details given, leaving everything in the realm of the usual propaganda and
counter-propaganda of both sides. But latest information we gathered have
more disturbing details, adding considerable weight to the rumours:
"Reportedly a group of American and German pilots are training for some
time now on Yugoslav made Croatian Air Force planes "galeb" and "jastreb".
The planes will be painted in the FRY Air Force colours and insignia and
used for bombing the ethnic Albanian refugee camps in Albania. That would
be the "just" cause for ground troops intervention. Additional facts that
support this scenario are:
1. For days NATO has intensified the relocation of refugees from the border
regions of Albania and Macedonia further inland.
2. The arrival of NATO aeroplanes into Albania and Skopje is not covered by
tv reports as before (business associate in Macedonia confirmed that the
number of transport aeroplanes arriving to Skopje has significantly
increased).
3. Christian Amanpour has arrived to Albania. "
Our comment (World Act Now)
It is unclear whether Croatian AF has any of the "galeb" or "jastreb"
Yugoslav made planes. It is our guess that all of them were evacuated to
Yugoslavia in 1991. But, it would be easy to obtain these planes from some
of the African countries, that have purchased them when they were very
popular as reliable, low-budget jet planes. We know that several private
collectors from USA have purchased some of these planes from the Air Force
Museum in Belgrade. So, we can conclude that there are quite a few of these
planes outside FR Yugoslavia, and that they can be used as described.
Furthermore, according to the stipulations of the June 14th 1996 Agreement
on Sub Regional Arms Control signed in Florence, Italy, FR Yugoslavia has
decided to get rid of all "galeb" and "jastreb" planes, leaving in service
only "Super galeb G4" and "Orao" planes, plus MiG-21 and MiG-29. So, even
if an attack on refugee camps would be executed with "galeb" or "jastreb"
planes, that could hardly be attributed to FR Yugoslavia Air Force.
The movement of refugees further away from the border is a sure sign that
there is no expectation of peaceful settlement soon, and that border area
has to be cleared and secured for advancing troops.
Increase in NATO transport flights to Skopje can be explained in various
ways, mainly by increase in refugee relief supplies shipments. Keeping
these flights out of the public focus can mean only one thing - they are
bringing everything needed for ground invasion of Yugoslavia. But the fact
that preparations are under way for such a long period of time, could
undermine the igniting effect of yet another "massacre".
And to conclude, if all other data is missing, watch for Amanpour trail -
she is literally the "source" of news. Her timely appearance on each and
every occasion where a biased and hysteric media coverage is needed to
justify extreme measures against a side that Amanpour (a long time
proponent of biased journalism) labels as "bad guys", is probably the most
significant indication of future actions.
Source: World Act Now
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
<http://www.xs4all.nl/~roman1>http://www.xs4all.nl/~roman1
<http://www.xs4all.nl/~roman1/warningblackoperations.htm>http://www.xs4all.nl/~
roman1/warningblackoperations.htm
4. USE OF INHUMANE WEAPONS IN THE AGGRESSION OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC
TREATY ORGANIZATION AGAINST THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA
[Mrs. Jela Jovanovic, Art historian, Secretary General of The Committee
for National Solidarity
Tolstojeva 34, 11000 Belgrade, YU]
Belgrade, 15 May 1999
In its aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has been using banned military means
and weapons such as the use of cluster bombs and depleted uranium. These
weapons are damaging and threatening to the life and health of the people
and the consequences of their use are incomparably more inhumane and
dangerous than those of the use of conventional arms.
In the period between 25 March and 15 May 1999, over 60 containers, each
with 240 cluster bombs (i.e. over 15 000 bombs), as well as more than 400
cluster bombs, have been dropped over the territory of the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia. About 40 containers and over 250 cluster bombs have been
dropped over Kosovo and Metohija, killing about 200 and wounding over 450
people. Material damage has been enormous: entire housing estates have been
destroyed, as well as schools and hospitals, industrial plants and
communication infrastructure. Dozens of people, primarily children, have
been killed and wounded as a consequence of the delayed effect of the
cluster bombs and new human casualties and destruction can be expected from
the remaining unexploded bombs.
The Institute of Nuclear Studies at Vinca, Belgrade, has surveyed the
remnants of exploded bombs and positively established the presence of
uranium in the ammunition. The inhumane and banned ammunition is most often
used in Kosovo and Metohija which has been confirmed also by NATO
representatives themselves. They said in their statements that A-10 planes
are used in the aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,
whose payloads contained also the so-called depleted uranium ammunition.
In its aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, NATO has also
been using missiles with graphite-electromagnetic material. So far they
were used on 2, 8, 13 and 14 May 1999 against the distribution stations of
the power plants at Obrenovac and Kostolac, at Novi Sad, Nis and Bajina
Basta and against power installations at Lajkovac, Resnik, Lestane and the
Belgrade city section of Bezanijska kosa. According to the information
available to the competent Yugoslav authorities, the cluster bombs have
been used in the following instances:
1. On 28 March 1999 at 4.30 a.m. 4 missiles and 1 cluster bomb struck land
targets in Prizren, causing fires and damaging a number of civilian
facilities;
2. On 28 March 1999 at 4.30 a.m. an aerial cluster bomb hit the League of
Prizren memorial building near the Town Hall. The building was demolished
and the windows on the adjacent buildings were broken. Cluster bomb
remnants were found during investigation;
3. On 28 March 1999 at 5.00 and 8.30 p.m. cluster bombs were used against
targets in Nis, causing vast material damage;
4. On 28 March 1999 at 9.00 p.m. a cluster bomb was used against targets in
Sombor, causing vast material damage;
5. On 31 March 1999 at 1.15 a.m. over 30 cluster bombs were dropped on
Pristina, causing vast destruction and material damage; 10 bombs did not
explode;
6. On 31 March 1999 at 1.15 a.m. 14 containers with 240 cluster bombs were
used against targets in the vicinity of the village of Gracanica, causing
vast material damage. At the same time, a number of cluster bombs were used
against targets in the village of Lipljane;
7. On 2 April at 10.00 a.m. the area of Stari trg near Kosovska Mitrovica
was attacked with cluster bombs. The local mine facilities, as well as a
number of family houses were damaged;
8. On 5 and 15 April 1999 a number of cluster bombs were dropped in the
area of Podgorica, causing substantial material damage.
9. On 6 April 1999 between 1.00 and 2.00 p.m. cluster bombs were dropped on
the buildings of the construction firm "Ramiz Sadiku" in the village of
Pirane near Prizren, causing damage to the buildings and the access road
about 30 m long;
10. On 6 April 1999 at 8.45 p.m. civilian buildings were struck with
cluster bombs at Dubinje in the vicinity of Sjenica causing substantial
damage to the management building of the agricultural complex "Pester", as
well as to the dairy, workers' accommodation facilities and a number of
auxiliary and apartment buildings and motor vehicles. Telephone, power and
water supply lines were hit, cutting water and power supply and telephone
service;
11. On 7 April 1999 at 11.30 a.m. 4 aerial cluster bombs were dropped on
the village of Mala Krusa, municipality of Prizren, causing substantial
damage to private houses and apartment buildings;
12. On 8 April 1999 at 2.00 p.m. 2 aerial cluster bombs were dropped on the
village of Velika Hoca, municipality of Orahovac. 3 people were gravely and
5 lightly wounded, while vast material damage was caused to 29 family
houses;
13. On 8 April 1999 at about 11.15 a.m. two cluster bombs were dropped near
the building of "Ljubizda" in Prizren. One of them hit the dyes and
pharmaceuticals plant "Limit Duga". The plant was destroyed and 2 people
were gravely and 1 lightly wounded. The other bomb hit the agricultural
complex "Progres" and four family houses. 5 people were gravely and 6
lightly wounded and vast material damage was caused;
14. On 10 April 1999 at 11.55 p.m. targets in the village of Merdare,
municipality of Kursumlija, were struck with 52 missiles and 8 containers
with 240 cluster bombs each (1 920 cluster bombs in all). 5 people were
killed and 3 wounded, one of them a 6-month pregnant woman.
A road and part of the railroad (now out of commission) have been damaged,
as well as adjacent family houses. A number of cluster bombs remained
unexploded along the road;
15. On 11 April 1999, 42 missiles and a number of cluster bombs were
dropped in the vicinity of the Prokuplje-Podujevo highway. The highway,
part of the railroad and the adjacent houses were damaged, while a number
of unexploded cluster bombs remained along the highway which caused
prolonged traffic stoppages;
16. On 11 April 1999 at 2.00 a.m. a number of cluster bombs were dropped
near the villages of Merdare and Mirovac, near Podujevo, causing vast
material damage;
17. On 12 April 1999 at 1.00 a.m. a number of cluster bombs were dropped on
the village of Bare, municipality of Kraljevo, causing damage to 8 housing
buildings and the carriageway on the Kraljevo-Raska highway;
18. On 12 April 1999 between 10.45 and 11.20 a.m. targets in Urosevac were
struck with 6 missiles and 1 cluster bomb. Vast material damage wascaused,
including the damage to the orchard "Plantaza".
19. On 12 April 1999 at 12.00 noon, 1.15 and 1.30 p.m. targets at Suva
Reka, municipality of Prizren, were struck with 6 cluster bombs, one of
them destroying a mosque, while another fell in the nearby field;
20. On 12 April 1999 at 5.00 p.m. the "Efendi Bridge" at the
Djakovica-Ponosevac road was struck and substantially damaged. A box with
15 unexploded cluster bombs was found nearby;
21. On 12 April 1999 at 6.30 p.m. the Djakovica- Klina road at the exit
from Djakovica was struck with cluster bombs. Several people were killed
and wounded;
22. On 13 April 1999 at 0.40 a.m. 4 missiles hit Hotel "Baciste" at Mt.
Kopaonik. The entire hotel complex and 5 "Bacija" facilities were
demolished in the ensuant fire, while 1 person was lightly wounded. Prior
to the missile raid, more than 100 cluster bombs were dropped in front of
the hotel. 2 buses and 1 freight vehicle were destroyed.
The building of hotel "Putnik" was also substantially damaged;
On 15 April 1999 at 2.20 p.m. 1 person was killed in the cluster bomb
destruction operation near hotel "Baciste";
23. On 14 April 1999 at 2.05 p.m. targets around the Moravica river bridge
at the village of Levosoja, municipality of Bujanovac, were struck with
cluster bombs. 2 people were lightly wounded and substantial material
damage was caused;
24. On 14 April 1999 at 1.30 a.m. a container with 240 cluster bombs was
dropped on the village of Ravniste, municipality of Brus, most of which
exploded. 1 person was gravely wounded in the operation of the destruction
of unexploded bombs;
25. On 14 April 1999 at 12.00 noon land targets in Urosevac were struck
with 2 containers of cluster bombs;
26. On 14 April 1999 at 2.25 p.m. the area of the municipality of Vranje
was struck with cluster bombs, hitting housing buildings in the village of
Pavlovac. Several people were killed and gravely wounded. Vast material
damage was caused to housing buildings and to the bridge on the
Presevo-Vranje motorway. Civilian facilities along the motorway were also
damaged;
27. On 15 April 1999 from 2.30 to 2.50 a.m. a container with cluster bombs
was dropped in the area of the village of Samailo, municipality of
Kraljevo, causing substantial material damage;
28. On 15 April 1999 from 12.00 noon to 2.30 p.m. two raids were carried
out with cluster bombs against targets in the village of Raljan,
municipality of Presevo, on which occasion 8 people were killed;
29. On 15 April 1999 at 5.00 p.m. 1 person was gravely wounded by an
unexploded cluster bomb in the village of Belo Polje, municipality of Pec;
30. On 16 April 1999 at 2.05 p.m. targets in the region of the village of
Grlica, municipality of Urosevac, were struck with 5 missiles and a
container of cluster bombs, on which occasion 1 person was wounded;
31. On 17 April 1999 at 3.30 p.m. 5 missiles and a container of cluster
bombs were dropped in the region of the village of Kamena Glava,
municipality of Urosevac, causing substantial material damage;
32. On 18 April 1999 2 people were killed and 1 person gravely wounded in
the region of the village of Kamena Glava, municipality of Urosevac, as a
consequence of the explosion of unexploded cluster bombs;
33. On 19 April 1999 at 10.15 a.m. targets near afarm aircraft airport and
a transmitter in the region of the village of Grlica, municipality of
Urosevac, were struck with a number of missiles and a container of cluster
bombs;
34. On 22 April 1999 at about 12.00 noon a container of unexploded cluster
bombs was found in the village of Drenova, Gornji Milanovac;
35. On 22 April 1999 at 5.50 p.m. a container of cluster bombs was dropped
in the region of the village of Bapsko Polje, municipality of Kraljevo,
hitting a number of civilian targets;
36. On 24 April 1999 at 11.30 a.m. a container of cluster bombs was dropped
on the "Kodza" section of the village of Doganovic, municipality of
Kacanik, killing 5 and gravely wounding 2 people.
37. On 25 April 1999 at about 12.00 noon remnants of a cluster bomb
container were found in the area of "Bumbarevo brdo" in the region of Knic;
38. On 26 April 1999 at 12.15 p.m. a cluster bomb container was dropped in
the region of the village of Dulje, municipality of Suva Reka;
39. On 27 April 1999 unexploded cluster bombs were found in the village of
Bistrica, municipality of Nova Varos;
40. On 27 April 1999 at about 3.00 p.m. a container with cluster bombs was
dropped in the region of the village of Zur, municipality of Prizren. It
hit a power transmission line and damaged several pylons, creating a number
of craters spread over the distance of some 700 metres;
41. On 30 April 1999 between 9.05 and 9.15 p.m. a cluster bomb container
was dropped in the region of the village of Gare, municipality of Gadzin
Han, creating a crater in the vicinity of which a number of unexploded
cluster bombs were found;
42. On 1 May 1999 at about 9.30 a.m. a cluster bomb container was dropped
on the town park at Obilic;
43. On 1 May 1999 at about 12.40 p.m. a cluster bomb container was dropped
on the village of Sibnica on the Sibnica-Mirosaljci road. The bombs landed
also in the adjacent fields and meadows in the area of 250x100 m, creating
about 100 craters 20 cm in diameter and about 50 cm deep. A number of
people were wounded;
44. On 1 May 1999 at about 10.30 a.m. 3 and at 5.45 p.m. 7 cluster bombs
were dropped on the village of Veric, municipality of Istok, hitting a
number of family houses, while 1 cluster bomb was dropped on the "Djocaj"
section of the village of Kovrge;
45. On 2 May 1999 at 11.45 and 11.50 2 cluster bomb containers were dropped
on Ponosevac, municipality of Djakovica. A number of people were gravely
wounded and two passenger cars and several family houses were damaged;
46. On 2 May 1999 at 1.20 p.m. a cluster bomb container was dropped in the
region of the village of Ljug Bunar, municipality of Djakovica, damaging
the Djakovica-Klina highway. Substantial material damage was done to the
"Maras Petrol" gas station;
47. On 2 May 1999 at 1.25 p.m. a cluster bomb container was dropped in the
region of the village of Trakanic, municipality of Djakovica, causing grave
injuries to a large number of people;
48. On 2 May 1999 two cluster bombs were dropped on the facilities of Spa
Kursumlija;
49. On 3 May 1999 at 8.00 and 9.00 a.m. and 3.30 and 4.20 p.m. 5 missiles
and 2 cluster bombs were dropped in the region of the village of Dulje,
municipality of Suva Reka;
50. On 3 May 1999 between 9.00 a.m. and 9.00 p.m. cluster bombs were
dropped in the area of the village of Merdare, municipality of Kursumlija,
causing substantial damage in the area;
51. On 3 May 1999 between 11.00 a.m. and 12.00 noon 13 cluster bombs were
dropped in the Rugovska Gorge, municipality of Pec, causing substantial
material damage;
52. On 3 May 1999 between 11.00 a.m. and 12.00 noon a number of cluster
bombs were dropped in the region of the villages of Veliki and Mali
Stupelj, destroying a primary school building;
53. On 3 May 1999 between 11.45 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. 3 cruise missiles and a
number of cluster bombs were dropped on the Pec-Kula-Rozaje highway in the
region of Savine Vode, hitting a civilian bus with passengers travelling on
the Djakovica -Podgorica route. 17 people were killed, while 44 were
gravely or lightly wounded;
On 4 May 1999 at about 3.00 p.m. a "Ford Escort" passenger car was
destroyed by a delayed explosion of a cluster bomb on the Pec-Rozaje
highway at the site at which the civilian bus had been hit a day before.
Several people were killed and 1 person was wounded;
54. On 3 May 1999 at 1.20, 4.25 and 5.00 p.m. 5 missiles and 3 cluster
bombs were dropped in the region of the village of Banjica, municipality of
Kacanik, wounding a number of people;
55. On 4 May 1999 at about 3.00 a.m. a cluster bomb container was dropped
on the road between Krusevac and Rasic, interrupting traffic for a
protected period of time;
56. On 4 May 1999 at 7.00 a.m. 3 missiles and 1 cluster bomb were dropped
on the village of Orlate, municipality of Glogovac, wounding several people;
57. On 4 May 1999 two cluster bombs were dropped on the village of Rakos in
the vicinity of the lake Radonjic Dam;
58. On 5 May 1999 at about 9.50 p.m. a number of missiles and cluster bombs
were dropped on Knic; 59. On 5 May 1999 at 11.05 p.m. a missile and cluster
bombs hit a residential area of Lipljan, damaging family houses and
wounding a number of people, including a child 8 years old;
60. On 6 May 1999 at about 1.00 p.m. 2 missiles hit the village of Cedovo,
municipality of Sjenica, causing vast material damage;
61. On 7 May 1999 between 11.30 and 11.40 a.m. 2 cluster bomb containers
were dropped on Nis. 1 container fell in front of the Pathology Hospital,
the other in the town centre in front of the Nis University Rector's Office
and the "12 February" Health Centre. The central city market place near the
Nis Fortress was also shelled. 13 people were killed in the explosions of
cluster bombs, 18 were gravely and 11 lightly wounded. 120 housing units
were damaged and 47 destroyed, while 15 passenger cars were also destroyed;
62. On 8 May 1999 at 11.30 a.m. a cluster bomb container was dropped in the
region of the village of Merdaro, municipality of Podujevo, gravely
wounding a great number of people;
63. On 8 May 1999 at 3.50 p.m. a large number of unexploded cluster bombs
were found in the village of Crmljane, municipality of Djakovica;
64. On 8 May 1999 between 4.05 and 4.25 p.m. a missile hit the "12
February" Bridge and 2 cluster bomb containers were dropped near a car
dealership and the "Nis Express" parking lot in Nis. 1 person was gravely
and 10 people lightly wounded;
65. On 8 May 1999 at about 10.00 p.m. cluster bombs were dropped on a
residential area in the region of the village of Junik;
66. On 8 May 1999 at 10.15 p.m. 2 cluster bomb containers were dropped in
the region of the village of Srpski Babus, municipality of Urosevac,
causing substantial material damage;
67. On 8 May 1999 4 cluster bombs were dropped in the region of Decani in
the vicinity of the Decani Monastery;
68. On 9 May 1999 at 11.40 a.m. the region of Belopoljske Mountains in the
area of the municipality of Pec was hit with cluster bombs;
69. On 9 May 1999 between 10.00 and 11.45 a.m. 36 unexploded cluster bombs
were destroyed in the Rugovska Gorge dropped by NATO plane in the area;
70. On 10 May 1999 at about 1.45 a.m. a number of civilian targets were hit
with cluster bombs in Nis causing substantial material damage;
71. On 10 May 1999 from 11.15 to 11.45 a.m. a number of targets were struck
in the municipality of Djakovica;
72. On 10 May 1999 at about 4.00 p.m. a refugee convoy was struck with
cluster bombs on the Prizren-Djakovica motorway in the region of the
village of Mala Krusa, municipality of Prizren;
73. On 10 May 1999 at about 11 p.m. the region of the village of Brdarica,
municipality of Koceljevo, was struck with cluster bombs, causing
substantial material damage;
74. On 11 May 1999 at about 1.15 a.m. the region of the village of Staro
Gacko, municipality of Lipljan, was bombed. 3 people were killed and 4 were
gravely wounded while several family houses were damaged;
75. On 11 May 1999 at about 8.15 a.m. a number of cluster bombs were
dropped on the village of Babin Most, municipality of Obilic, causing
substantial material damage;
76. On 11 May 1999 at about 11.25 a.m. civilian targets were struck with
two containers of cluster bombs in Nis, causing vast material damage;
77. On 11 May 1999 at about 12 noon, the buildings of the "Krusik" company
in Valjevo were hit with cluster bombs, causing vast material damage;
78. On 12 May 1999 at about 0.15 a.m. the region of the village of
Kostanje, municipality of Urosevac, was bombed with cluster bombs. Several
people were gravely wounded and vast material damage was done;
79. On 13 May 1999 at 11.56 p.m., according to the initial and still
incomplete data, 84 people were killed and over 100 were wounded (Yugoslav
citizens of Albanian nationality, mainly women, children and the elderly)
by cluster bombs dropped by NATO planes on the refugee camp in the village
of Koriste on the road between Suva Reka and Prizren.
II
Bombing civilian targets in the territory of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, the NATO planes have used depleted uranium ammunition. NATO
bombing squadrons sent against targets in the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia include also A-10 planes, the payloads of which contain the
ammunition made of depleted uranium.
On 30 March 1999, A-10 planes bombed the region of Greater Prizren.
On 18 April 1999 A-10 planes used radio-active ammunition in the region of
Greater Bujanovac. On the basis of spectrometric tests and identification
of radio-nucleides it can be positively averred that the sample - the
bullet for the 30-millimetre cannon of the A-10 plane - contains depleted
uranium. The diametre of the core is 16 mm, length 95 mm, mass 292 gramme
and the calculated density about 18 g/cm. The tested sample has been
appropriately deposited and may be offered as evidence material.
The depleted uranium is radio-active nuclear waste, the combustion of which
releases products which are radio-active and poisonous. High temperature is
created at the impact of the missile and at least 70 per cent of the total
mass of the depleted uranium and its oxides is released in the form of
aerosol (particles below 5). These particles are inhaled into organisms,
they contaminate the environment and are spread creating a contamination of
broader proportions.
According to international standards uranium 238 belongs to the second
group of radio-nucleides of very high radio-activity and toxicity and as
such is very dangerous for the population. Its use is highly inhumane both
for its instantaneous and for its subsequent radio-active effect. The
effects of its use against troops and the civilian population are fatal
since they cause wounds followed by contamination which makes the use of
this ammunition a crime against humanity and international law.
5. BOMBINGS REIGNITE NUCLEAR WAR FEARS, by Dr. Mary-Wynne Ashford,
co-President of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
(IPPNW), Nobel Peace Prize winners
I am writing with an enormous sense of urgency and dread. I have just been
at a seminar in Moscow, followed by one at the Olof Palme Institute in
Stockholm. The meetings have convinced me we are on the brink of nuclear
war by the unintentional escalation of the war against Yugoslavia.
Only western press and television coverage does not portray the
significance of the change in Russian policy regarding nuclear weapons. The
media imply that Russian warnings of a looming world war, and their refusal
to ratify START II, are the usual political threats to gain concessions
from the U.S.A. and loans from the International Monetary Fund.
This analysis does not reflect the profound change in public
opinion expressed even by Moscow members of International Physicians for
the Prevention of Nuclear War. One of our long-term IPPNW doctors, Dr.
Davidenko, has changed from advocating nuclear disarmament to advocating
nuclear deterrence for Russia. Our meeting with Aleksander Arbatov, deputy
chairman of the Defence Committee of the Russian State Duma, left us deeply
concerned.
Arbatov stated that U.S.-Russian relations, in the wake of NATO's
bombing campaign in Yugoslavia, are at the "worst, most acute, most
dangerous juncture since the U.S.-Soviet Berlin and Cuban missile crises."
He states that START II is dead, co-operation with NATO is frozen,
co-operation on missile defence is out of the question, and Moscow's
willingness to co-operate on non-proliferation issues is at an all-time low.
Moreover, anti-U.S. sentiment in Russia is real, deep and more
wide-spread than ever, and the slogan describing NATO action - "today
Serbia, tomorrow Russia," is "deeply planted in Russian's minds." Arbatov
was bitter about 10 years of wasted opportunities on both sides, with
disarmament talks completely stalled even before this crisis.
Scientist, politicians, doctors and generals all told us the same
thing, that NATO bombings of Serbia have set back disarmament 20 years.
Some said that India and Pakistan are safe now they have nuclear weapons
and that other states like North Korea will step up their nuclear weapons
programs. Officials from Minatom, the Russian atomic energy agency, have
indicated their great concern about some 22 nuclear reactors in the region
of conflict. A bomb hitting a reactor by accident would cause a catastrophe
worse than Chernobyl. Government spokesmen told us repeatedly that Russia
will not allow the bombings to continue for another month, and that because
their conventional forces are in tatters, Russia must rely on its nuclear
weapons. I must ask, "if these are idle threats, what distinguishes them
from real threats?" The credibility of the people we spoke with has
convinced me that the threats are serious.
Opinion is divided in most countries, even in peace organizations,
about whether the NATO bombings were a humanitarian effort to stop a
genocide or an act of aggression by NATO, but their impact on nuclear
weapons policy is an extremely serious development. Most worrisome to us
was the consistency of the statements from speakers at the Moscow seminar
and those we met later in ministries of foreign affairs and health.
The single exception was Dr. Evgenie Chazov. He said we must renew
our efforts for nuclear disarmament in this very dangerous situation. Dr.
Chazov said we are back where we were in 1981 when he and American
cardiologist Dr. Bernard Lown founded IPPNW, but our work will be more
difficult now.
The Russian speakers deplored ethnic cleansing and did not support
Milosovic, but Dr. Serguei Kapitsa, a scientist famous for his weekly
television show, stated that Russians feel a sense of betrayal by the West
and a profound loss of confidence in treaties and in the United Nations
because NATO took this action outside the UN. Previously confident that
Russia was moving toward integration with Europe, they focused their
security concerns only on their southern and eastern boundaries. Now they
perceive their primary threat from the West.
Officials in Foreign Affairs (Arms Control and Disarmament) told us
that Russia has no option but to rely on nuclear weapons for its defence
because its conventional forces are inadequate. When I said that if Russia
used even a single nuclear weapon the U.S.A. would respond with hundreds or
thousands of missiles, they nodded and said "Yes, it would be suicidal, but
how else can we defend ourselves?"
As I left Moscow, I felt the same dread I experienced in the Reagan
years, with a similar sense of unreality. While the Russians are comparing
this situation to the Cuban missile crisis, journalists in the West tell me
that the war is almost over now that negotiations including the Russians
are under way. Why are they reassured when Milosevic has not agreed to
anything, and the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade has added even
greater tensions to this war?
Even if the bombings stop now, they changes in Russia's attitude
toward the West, its renewed reliance on nuclear weapons with thousands on
high alert, and its loss of confidence in international law leave us
vulnerable to catastrophe.
Those of us who live in NATO countries must convince our
governments to stop the bombings until negotiations can bring about a
settlement. This crisis makes de-alerting nuclear weapons more urgent than
ever. To those who say the Russian threat is all rhetoric, I reply that
rhetoric is what starts wars.
The global situation is the most urgent crisis of our time. We must
mobilize all or networks to stop this bombing before we slide into the
final world war.
Source: Times-Colonist p A15, 13 May 99
6. ANTI-NATO PROTESTS CONTINUE ALL OVER THE WORLD
THOUSANDS OF ANTI-WAR PROTESTERS OCCUPY THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE IN NYC IN
SUPPORT OF THE PEOPLE OF YUGOLSAVIA (May 15, 1999)
More than 5,000 demonstrators marched through lower Manhattan on May 15,
1999, to protest the U.S./NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. The demonstrators
included a large contingent of Chinese Americans waving the flag of the
People's Republic of China and carrying signs denouncing the bombing of the
Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.
The anti-war demonstration was called by the Emergency Mobilization to
Stop the War, a newly formed coalition that is planning a massive march on
June 5, 1999 from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC to the
Pentagon.
"Thousands of people marched today onto the Brooklyn Bridge in New York
City as a symbolic gesture of solidarity and friendship with the people in
Belgrade, Novi Sad, and other cities in Yugoslavia who are voluntarily
acting as human shields by rallying on bridges that are targeted for
bombing by NATO war planes," said Brian Becker of the International Action
Center, one of the sponsoring groups in the Emergency Mobilization to Stop
the War.
Becker continued, "Like the people in Yugoslavia, we wore NATO target
signs. We realize that when the people in Yugoslavia march onto these
bridges it is an act of great heroism because they could be killed by NATO
bombs just as the workers at the Yugo plant were bombed by NATO war planes
when they voluntarily acted as human shields in their factory several
weeks ago."
The organizers of the May 15 New York City protest attempted to march to
Chatham Square in Chinatown. But the New York City Police Department, with
large numbers of officers on hand, threatened to attack and arrest the
demonstrators in an effort to bar them access to the Chinese American
comunity.
"The police acted in an arbitrary manner, threatening us with violence and
arrest for trying to march into a part of Chinatown. This was a political
act by the police. They know that people in Chinatown would vigorously
support the protest against the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and the Chinese
Embassy in Belgrade," Becker stated.
The Emergency Mobilization to Stop the War has received the endorsement of
over 500 organizations and prominent individuals for the June 5, 1999 March
on the Pentagon. More than 40 cities have established organizing centers
and buses, vans, and car caravans will descend on Washington DC for the
largest anti-war demonstration since the beginning of the NATO bombing of
Yugoslavia on March 24, 1999.
[For press interviews and information on the Emergency Mobilization to Stop
the War, contact Brian Becker or Deirdre Sinnott at (212) 633-6646].
Source: International Action Center
39 West 14 St., #206 New York, NY 10011
Contacts: Deirdre Sinnott, Brian Becker (212) 633-6646 fax: (212) 633-2889
email: <mailto:•••@••.•••>•••@••.••• web:
<http://www.iacenter.org>www.iacenter.org
ROME, PERTH, VICTORIA, NEW YORK...
Photograph: Canadian Anti-War Coalition Demonstrators in Victoria Rome,
Perth, New York... (May 16)- As the NATO brass keep on spewing out their
anti-Serb racist propaganda, thousands of anti-war protests are being held
around the world every weekend, despite an obvious tiring effect.
For example, tens of thousands of people took part in a silent march in
central Italy on Sunday (May 16) to express their opposition to NATO's air
strikes against Yugoslavia.
According to the organisers, 80,000 people took part in the 24-kilometer
(15-mile) march from Perugia to Assisi. Police put the turnout at between
40,000 and 45,000.
The march was punctuated from time to time by the sound of an air-raid
siren to mark NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. Some
participants wore a T-shirt bearing the slogan, "Italy is at war, not me."
The protest was organized by the local pacifist organizations. Italy's
fragile left-of-center coalition has been strained by the Kosovo war, to
put it mildly. Last Monday, the outgoing president, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro,
called for a halt to the NATO air strikes.
Another demonstration against the NATO aggression on Yugoslavia took place
in the Western Australia capital, Perth, this weekend. A broad ethnic
representation by Serb, Chinese, Ukrainian, Greek, El Salvadorian and
indigenous aboriginal Australians took part, a TiM correspondent said.
Meanwhile, more than 5,000 demonstrators marched through lower Manhattan on
May 15, 1999, to protest the U.S./NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. The anti-war
demonstration was called by the Emergency Mobilization to Stop the War, a
newly formed coalition that is planning a massive March on June 5, 1999,
from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC ,to the Pentagon.
"Thousands of people marched today onto the Brooklyn Bridge in New York
City as a symbolic gesture of solidarity and friendship with the people in
Belgrade, Novi Sad, and other cities in Yugoslavia who are voluntarily
acting as human shields by rallying on bridges that are targeted for
bombing by NATO war planes," said Brian Becker of the International Action
Center, one of the sponsoring groups in the Emergency Mobilization to Stop
the War.
Source: The Special Truth in Media Global Watch Bulletins on NATO's war on
Serbia, can also be accessed at the Web site:
<http://www.truthinmedia.org>www.truthinmedia.org which is being updated
throughout the day.
Photo Album sections:
<http://www.truthinmedia.org/Kosovo/tim-stmet.html>http://www.truthinmedia.org/K
osovo/tim-stmt.html (+ click on "Photo Album" hyperlink) which has just
been updated with many new and dramatic photos of NATO's war on Serbia.
Demonstration from Perugia to Assisi (26 Km) More than 100,000 men, women
and children against the war. Here they are 40 photos from Italian TVs
regarding the biggest demonstration in Italy from the start of bombings:
<http://www.urra.it/mauro/mir/assisi.html>http://www.urra.it/mauro/mir/assisi.ht
ml<http://www.urra.it/mauro/mir/assisi.html>
Another very interesting link with photos
<http://airnet.net/craig/g4c/>http://airnet.net/craig/g4c/
IRELAND
According to the latest (even official opinion pools, 50% of the Irish are
against the NATO agression - despite all the official propaganda! 71% of
the Irish people are opposing Ireland joining NATO's Partnership for Peace!
I was on the streets myself yesterday collecting signatures from people
against the war. The response here in Dublin was tremendous - despite all
the official propaganda, despite the fact that the Irish media are just a
shadow copy of BBC and CNN, the majority of people do realize now what this
is all about!We didn't even have to ask for the signatures - people were
coming to us themselves and asking how can they help! We also received a
lot of donations for our campaign.
The next public meeting wil take place in Dublin on Wednesday 19th of May,
with the participation of John Gormley, TD (Green Party),John de Courcy
Ireland (President CND)and Shay Ryan (SWP).
We are preparing the national protest march on the 29/05 here in Dublin.
Last week more than 500 people marched to the US Embassy.Not a single Irish
major newspaper wrote about it.
This week Hilary Clinton was awarded Freedom of the City in Galway.
Cynically enough, she was awarded it for her "efforts for achieving
peace"! The antiwar protestors have disturbed the ceremony- their "Boo!"
was so loud that neither the First Lady nor the other organizers of this
farce could hear themselves! Did any American paper mention this fact?
Source: <http://www.iacenter.org>International Action Center
APPEAL TO END NATO BOMBINGS (from the Sinn Fein annual conference)
With debates raging in Ireland on NATO bombings and the possible
participation of Ireland in NATO's Partnership for Peace program, the
International Affairs and Neutrality session was one of the highlights of
the ard fheis.
Mairead Keane, head of Sinn Fein international affairs opened the session
with a call for NATO to end the bombings in the Balkans and called on the
delegates to support an Ard Chomhairle emergency motion to be accepted.
Her appeal was vibrant. "It is without a doubt that the bombing campaign is
politically, ethically and morally without justification." She added that
while NATO, described as the "world's policeman", has accepted to explain
its bombing campaign by trying to avert humanitarian disaster in Kosovo,
the actual plight of refugees has worsened daily.
The attempts by the government to join the NATO so-called Partnership for
Peace (PfP) program and abandon its neutrality was also slammed. A motion
demanding that a national referendum to counter moves by the present
government to push Ireland's entry into PfP by October 1999 was passed.
The ard fheis also called upon the Ard Chomhairle to effect a policy of
reaching out to members of ethnic communities, such as refugees.
One of the most passionate speeches was made by Gerry McGeough from Tyrone,
who heartfully called on Sinn Fein to vigorously oppose any debate on
suggestions that the 26 Counties should enter the British Commonwealth.
"What we should be doing is turning the debate away from the 26 Counties
joining the British Commonwealth to getting the Six Counties out of the
British Commonwealth. Once we achieve that, get Britain out of Ireland once
and for all."
The ard fheis also called for the release of the Kurdish leader Abdullah
Ocalan, whose trial opens at the end of the month.
Source: RM Distribution
Irish Republican News and Information
<http://irlnet.com/rmlist/>http://irlnet.com/rmlist/
PO Box 160, Galway, Ireland Phone/Fax: (353)1-6335113 PO Box
8630, Austin TX 78713, USA
<mailto:•••@••.•••>mailto:•••@••.•••
7. PEACE PROTESTS ON THE RISE IN BRITAIN by Roger Fletcher and Renee Sams
ALL AROUND Britain the outrage at what Nato is doing to Yugoslavia in our
name is mounting rapidly. Here we report just two major events, space does
not permit us to cover the whole spectrum of protest in detail.
Roger Fletcher reports on last Saturday's march through central London:
ESTIMATES put the numbers on the march at around 15,000 to 17,000. But last
Saturday's anti-war march, from the Embankment to a rally in Hyde Park, was
certainly the largest London demonstration of its kind for many years.
Its size totally refuted the media-generated myth of a nation wholly
behind this latest manifestation of "New World Order".
And there was evidence throughout the length of the march of a growing
realisation of what this "order" implies.
Not only were there pictures of crushed and fragmented bodies, but also
the concentric "targets" pinned on marchers' backs with the added slogan
"You could be next".
There were posters condemning US and British imperialism and placards that
contrasted resources available for military action with lack of resources
for education, health and social facilities.
And there was one poster inviting people to join the US airforce and visit
-- with a list of some 20 countries bombed by the USAF since 1945.
Saturday's march was a sign that despite an almost total media blackout on
any signs of opposition to the Nato aggression against Yugoslavia, people
are learning a great deal very quickly.
The ruling class, who control the mass media, are getting into greater
difficulties the more they twist and turn.
Once called "terminological inexactitudes" by Winston Churchill and more
recently "being economical with the truth" by a government representative
during the Peter Wright espionage trial, these discontinuities do not go
unnoticed.
Last Friday night Gerry Adams asked "Why active bombs on Yugoslavia are
acceptable, but the silent guns of the IRA are not?"
At the rally in Hyde Park, Labour MPs Tony Benn and Jeremy Corbyn spoke of
the lack of democracy, how our government engages in attacks on countries
like Iraq and Yugoslavia without consulting Parliament.
The National Union of Journalists' banner was prominent on the march and
NUJ general secretary John Foster expressed outrage at the bombing of
Yugoslav journalists at the television centre in Belgrade because it was
putting out information in a way that Nato does not approve.
Sales of the New Worker have been increasing steadily on recent peace
demos as people are eager to read E-mail letters and bulletins direct from
Belgrade that cannot get through by any other means, thanks to the Nato
news and information blockade.
Rennee Sams reports on the mass meeting in Central Hall on Wednesday 5 May:
THIS meeting, with a massive turn out, was organised by the Campaign for
Media Accuracy and Freedom of the Press against the bombing of the Balkans
and the media's distorted coverage of the terrible effects of the bombing
in the Balkans.
Several speakers noted that not only was the Nato coverage biased, it
contained downright lies as well.
The power of the media is enormous and behind it is the underlying
assumption that what Nato is doing is absolutely "right and proper.
Labour MP Tam Dalyell recalled the unbalanced reporting that had happened
before in the Gulf War. Government ministers made allegations of atrocities
but could not give factual details when pressed.
"I think the whole business is profoundly unreal," he said.
He cited the cruise missiles used against Iraq in 1994 and again in 1998.
He visited the region and was taken to the Almeria in Baghdad where a
cruise missile had landed.
Mr Dalyell said he had been absolutely shocked at the numbers of dead and
wounded -- old people, women and children.
"It's a terrible sight" he said, "but this is what cruise missiles do.
There are no such things as smart weapons."
Jeremy Corbyn MP commented on the number of Nato heads of government who
are "having great difficulty in sustaining their positions supporting this
action".
He said that Tony Blair has gone out of his way to praise those from the
new Nato countries who stood up against their own parliaments and public
opinion.
"Unfortunately in Britain Mr Blair does not have that problem because
under constitution -- or lack of a constitution -- Parliament does not have
a right to decide whether or not British troops or planes should go into
action."
"The media works from an assumption that it is light and proper for Nato
to play and aggressive role and to demonise the Serbs and Milosovich. They
used the same ploy in Iraq as they demonised Saddam Hussein."
The next speaker, from the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom,
spoke of the efforts of military spokespersons to use words and phrases
that tend "to produce a particular view of the war" -- phrases like
"collateral damage", "bombs seduced off target" and "regrettable casuaties".
Alice Mahon MP reminded the meeting that all communities in the area are
suffering and that includes the Serbs even though, according to TV
reporting is seems as though "Serbian suffering is somehow less than that
of Kosovars".
Tony Benn MP pointed out that "democracy does not work without information".
"Our best instrument." he said, "is information. And although the national
dailies and TV are owned by big corporations who are in support of the war,
and the powers that be have stopped post from Yugoslavia, the Internet is
still working and pouring out information on what is happening."
He noted that the mass protest outside the BBC the previous week had not
been reported.
"The destruction of Yugoslavia," he said, "has been central to the western
powers for many years. But I would never have believed that the party of
which I have been a member since I was 16 would tear up the United Nations
Charter."
Refugees, he said, "are being used to justify the war" and he called on
journalists to write the truth."
Source: New Communist Party of Britain Homepage
<http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/2853>http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/
2853
8. ARTICLE:
'It all went very well,' said the general. 'Another effective day'
by Robert Fisk in Brussels [The Independent, 15/May/99]
A massacre on the road to Prizren, more than 100 civilians - most of them
ethnic Albanians - torn apart in the village of Korisa, stories of women
and children ripped apart by Nato cluster bombs. And how did Nato kick off
its three o'clock follies yesterday afternoon? Without a single word about
these frightful reports, not a single bloody word of astonishment or
compassion.
Instead, Jamie Shea and his Luftwaffe general droned on about Nato's
successful operations over Kosovo. "They went very well," Major-General
Walter Jertz informed us. "It was another very effective day of operations."
In Saigon, during the Vietnam War, they had the five o'clock follies. In
the 1991 Gulf War, the Americans boasted of their military successes at the
four o'clock follies. In Brussels, Nato's follies start at three o'clock.
But yesterday, the Shea and Jertz show was theatre of the obscene.
Indeed, as we all waited to hear Nato's reaction to what might be its most
terrible bloodbath to date (or Serbia's most successful propaganda), a Nato
technician projected a massive test slide on to the screen next to the 19
flags of the alliance. "They say we're young and we don't know - won't find
out until we grow," the words said on the screen. Were these lines from the
Sonny and Cher song supposed to be gallows humour or just monumental
ill-taste? The moment Shea and Jertz walked to the podium, we knew.
"We still see no indications of a Serb ground force redeployal (sic),"
General Jertz announced. Forty tons of supplies had reached the Red Cross
at Pristina. "I can assure you we will do everything possible to ensure the
safe passage of these convoys."
All of us in the darkened Joseph Luns auditorium at Nato headquarters were
holding our breath. Several journalists (the television coverage never
shows this, of course) shook their heads in disbelief. There had, it
seemed, been no safe passage in Kosovo. We were thinking of the first
reports coming in - of Nato cluster bombs bursting amid 500 Albanian
refugees, many of them children, of a massacre that would make even the
Prizren-Djakovica slaughter in April small scale. We wanted to know about
those who were young but would never grow.
But no, General Jertz of the Luftwaffe - or the "German Air Force" as we
are for some reason encouraged to call it here - wanted to tell us that
there had been 679 Nato missions over Yugoslavia in 24 hours, that there
had been attacks on oil refineries, electricity stations, and the Batajnica
airfield.
Projected on to the slide screen - incredibly - were the words "A GOOD
DAY". Then Mr Shea - the Horatio Bottomley of Nato - launched into his
usual denunciations of Serb atrocities, exhuming some old pictures of
alleged mass graves and some (slightly) newer ones of burnt villages.
He quoted from old human rights and newspaper articles and managed to
mispronounce the names of seven Kosovo villages. "God knows, frankly, what
we are going to find when Kosovo is open," he said, solemnly shaking his
head.
God knows, I'm sure, what Mr Shea was thinking; he was far more frightened
of what Western journalists - bused to the scene by the Serb authorities -
would find in the village of Korisa. Fifty tractors had been destroyed in
the attack, the Serbs were reporting, close to an area that had been the
scene of sustained Nato attack.
It was, you see, significant that Mr Shea had not mentioned - had not
alluded for a second - to these extraordinary reports. Had he thought for a
moment that the Serbs had slaughtered these people, he would have told us
all he knew. But he was silent. A colleague muttered in my ear that when Mr
Shea was asked about the reported massacre, he would express no compassion
for the dead but "promise another of his full and thorough investigations".
And when at last he was asked, Mr Shea expressed no compassion for the dead
but promised "a full and thorough investigation". He hoped, he added
sarcastically, that the journalists bused to the village by the Serbs would
"insist on their right to go around freely and do their own research" - Mr
Shea is now apparently a professor of journalism as well as Nato flak - and
that they would investigate "ethnic cleansing" in the nearby town of
Prizren. "You know Nato - we give the truth on these issues, every single
time, the full facts."
But it doesn't. Nato does not give "the full facts" (or "the full fax" as
Mr Shea keeps saying).
It lies. When I asked for Nato's reaction to the KLA appointment of one of
the most notorious ethnic cleansers as its new military commander - Agim
Ceku, one of the planners of Croatia's ethnic cleansing of 300,000 Serbs in
Krajina - Mr Shea said he had no comment because "Nato has no direct
contact with the KLA".
This is totally untrue. Nato liaises with the KLA, holds security and
intelligence meetings with its commanders, maintains radio contact with KLA
men in Kosovo. Nato officials (including J Shea Esq) regularly announce KLA
operations with approval.
When I asked General Jertz if Nato was using depleted uranium munitions in
Serbia, he said it had not done so for two weeks but that depleted uranium
is harmless. This, too, is a lie. There is growing evidence that the dust
from spent depleted uranium shells has caused an epidemic of cancers in
southern Iraq and may well be a cause of Gulf War syndrome.
British weapons testing sites are meticulously washed down after depleted
uranium test- firings, their contents sealed in concrete. Nothing to worry
about, said the general. "You find uranium in all sorts of things - in
rocks, soil ..." No harm could be caused by the use of such shells, Mr Shea
added. So much for the deformed babies now being born in Basra. And so
much, I suppose, for the contaminated homes of Kosovo to which Nato claims
it will return all of the Albanian refugees.
I kept wondering what this whole farce reminded me of. Here were the two
Nato men recording, minute after minute, hour after hour, day after day,
the destruction of the Kosovo population - the fault of the Serbs, to be
sure, but the symbol none the less of Nato's total, abject failure in the
Balkans. Every day, they tell us about mass graves and death and torture.
And I recalled after a while what it all reminded me of - the discreet
voices, the dipped lights, the flags hanging like dead flowers behind the
podium, even the sinister iron Death Star, which stands grimly outside Nato
headquarters. It reminded me of an undertaker's office.
The mock soul-searching, the old pictures, the expressions of regret. The
cockney and the general were the morticians, as unable to contemplate an
end to Nato's bombardment of Serbia as they were to arrest old age or find
a cure for death.
Kosovo is dead. Its people are dead or dispossessed. For investigation,
read autopsy. And after a while it dawned on me, as it has dawned on others
attending these preposterous gatherings, that we are being prepared for the
death of Nato.
Source: <http://www.independent.co.uk/>The Independent
9. ARTICLE:
DISPATCH FROM KOSOVO - In One Village, Albanian Men Are Everywhere
By PAUL WATSON, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer (May 17, 1999)
SVETLJE, Yugoslavia-- Something strange is going on in this Kosovo Albanian
village in what was once a hard-line guerrilla stronghold, where NATO
accuses Serbs of committing genocide.
An estimated 15,000 displaced ethnic Albanians live in and around
Svetlje, in northern Kosovo, and hundreds of young men are everywhere,
strolling along the dirt roads or lying on the grass on a spring day.
So many fighting-age men in a region where the Kosovo Liberation Army
fought some of its fiercest battles against Serbian forces are a challenge
to the black-and-white versions of what is happening here.
By their own accounts, the men are not living in a concentration camp,
nor being forced to labor for the police or army, nor serving as human
shields for Serbs. Instead, they are waiting with their families for
permission to follow thousands who have risked going back home to nearby
villages because they do not want to give up and leave Kosovo, a province
of Serbia, the main Yugoslav republic.
"We wanted to stay here where we were born," Skender Velia, 39, said
through a translator. "Those who wanted to go through Macedonia and on to
Europe have already left. We did not want to follow." A foreign journalist
spent two hours in Svetlje over the weekend, his second visit in less than
a week, without a police or military escort or a Serbian official to
monitor what was seen or said.
The closest Serbian security forces were two policemen sitting at a
checkpoint half a mile up the dirt road, who weren't pleased to see so many
refugees moving back into the Podujevo area. Just as NATO accuses Yugoslav
forces of using ethnic Albanian refugees as "human shields," the Serbs say
KLA fighters hide among ethnic Albanian civilians to carry out "terrorist
attacks." But Velia and other ethnic Albanians interviewed in Svetlje
said they haven't had any problems with Serbian police since the police
allowed them to come back.
"For the month that we've been here, the police have come only to sell
cigarettes, but there hasn't been any harassment," Velia said. That isn't
what North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary-General Javier Solana
believes is happening in Kosovo.
Solana told BBC television Sunday that he expected much more evidence of
"ethnic cleansing" in the province to emerge once the war is over. "You
don't see males in their 30s to 60s," he said.
And on CBS-TV's "Face the Nation" on Sunday, Defense Secretary William S.
Cohen said that as many as 100,000 ethnic Albanian men of fighting age have
vanished in Kosovo and may have been killed by Serbian forces.
The claims and counterclaims are only part of the tangled web that
threatens to trap NATO after nearly two months of bombing intended to make
peace here. Kosovo Albanians continue to flee Yugoslavia, often with
detailed accounts of atrocities by Serbian security forces or
paramilitaries.
Yet thousands of other ethnic Albanians are coming out of hiding in
forests and in the mountains, hungry and frightened, and either going back
home or waiting for police permission to do so. While Serbian police seize
the identity documents of Kosovo Albanians crossing the border into
Albania or Macedonia, government officials in Pristina, Kosovo's provincial
capital, issue new identity cards to ethnic Albanians still here.
The Kosovo Democratic Initiative, an ethnic Albanian political party
opposed to the KLA's fight for independence, is distributing relief aid,
offering membership cards and gathering the names of Serbs accused of
committing atrocities. "As an Albanian, I am convinced that the Serbian
government and security forces are not committing any kind of genocide, "
Fatmir Seholi, the party's spokesman, said in an interview Sunday. "But in
a war, even innocent people die," Seholi said. "In every war, there are
those who want to profit. Here there is a minority of people who wanted to
steal, but that's not genocide. These are only crimes."
As an Albanian, Seholi also knows the risks of questioning claims that
Yugoslavia's leaders, police and military are committing crimes against
humanity in Kosovo. His father, Malic Seholi, was killed Jan. 9, 1997,
apparently for being too cooperative with Serbian authorities. The KLA
later claimed responsibility for the slaying in a statement published in
Bujku, a local Albanian-language newspaper, his son said. There are
pressures to toe the party line in villages like Svetlje too, where a man
who overheard Velia speaking with a Serbian correspondent for Agence
France-Presse told him to stop.
"Don't talk to the Serbs," the man said angrily in Albanian. "They are to
blame for everything that is happening." Velia, his wife, Hajiri, their
three children and his mother, Farita, 56, were among as many as 100,000
Kosovo Albanians who fled the northern city of Podujevo in the early days
of NATO's air war.
Some said Serbs drove them from their homes, while others said they were
simply scared and left on their own. But they all ended up moving from one
village to another, trying to escape fighting between KLA guerrillas and
Serbian security forces.
Now they must live with another danger--the NATO bombs that fall ever
closer to Svetlje as the alliance intensifies its attacks on Yugoslav
forces across Kosovo. Last week, a bomb exploded just 200 yards from the
five-room school that currently houses about 60 refugees. The explosion
killed an ethnic Albanian man named Bashota, who was about 22 years old and
from nearby Lapastica, Velia said.
When the foreign visitor asked Velia whether he thought NATO's bombing
was helping or hurting, he shifted at the wooden desk where he was sitting
in one of the school's classrooms. "My blood is the same as yours," he
said. "I just want the situation stabilized. People are not very
interested in what is going on with big [political] discussions here and
there. They are just interested in going home."
Despite the mass exodus of Kosovo Albanians during the NATO bombing,
several hundred thousand remain in the province, many of them still hiding
without proper food, medicine and shelter. After waves of looting, arson,
killings and other attacks turned many of Kosovo's cities into virtual
ghost towns, the government took steps to restore order, and ethnic
Albanians began to move back, often under police protection.
Of an estimated 100,000 people living in Pristina, roughly 80,000 are
ethnic Albanians and a quarter of those are displaced people from the
Podujevo area living with relatives, friends or in abandoned homes, Seholi
said.
An additional 32,000 ethnic Albanians are living in and around Podujevo
itself, he added. A total of 120,000 ethnic Albanians are waiting to
return to their homes in four areas--near Podujevo, Pristina, Stimlje and
Prizren--while another 350,000 have proper homes, Seholi estimated. Home
for Zajda Hasani, 76, and 10 others in her family is a classroom and an
adjoining storage room, where the shelves are stacked with books by writers
such as Twain and Tolstoy. "I have no problems at all," Hasani said
between long draws on a cigarette. "I'm relaxed."
In Svetlje, the biggest problem is getting enough to eat. None of the
foreign relief agencies delivering food to refugees outside Kosovo has been
able to come to feed those ethnic Albanians left behind. Agencies such as
the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees are negotiating with
Yugoslav authorities about security guarantees and other matters as a
prelude to resuming work in Kosovo.
On Friday, the International Committee of the Red Cross sent a four-truck
convoy carrying medicine, food and other relief, the first shipment since
NATO launched the air war March 24. It wasn't nearly enough to feed the
tens of thousands who are going hungry. The last aid Velia's family
received was from the Yugoslav Red Cross, which gave them 4? pounds of
flour and some yeast a month ago. Like many of the children in Svetlje,
Velia's 7-month-old daughter, Erinisa, is sick. The baby has received four
injections but needs six more. Her mother has to line up with other
refugees at the edge of Podujevo for police permission to enter the town
and visit the hospital.
The refugees have started a small, roadside market in Svetlje that sells
pasta, coffee, onions, rubber sandals, cigarettes and a few other assorted
items. But in the absence of any jobs, few people can afford to buy much.
"The entire day, we just sit here or walk and wander around," Velia said.
Although no one in Svetlje has been forced to work for the police or
military, "Who knows what may happen tomorrow?" he added.
Just a few minutes' walk away, there was a horrible reminder of just how
uncertain the future is. It was a human skull, partly charred by fire. It
lay in the grass outside a one-story building where refugees once were
sheltered in about half a dozen rooms that were previously municipal
offices.
The floors were covered with hay, where families slept, and the clothes
and other belongings they left behind were scattered everywhere. A single,
burned corpse lay in the middle of one room, not proof of genocide, but a
hint of the dark mystery that is Kosovo.
Source:
<http://www.latimes.com/HOME/NEWS/REPORTS/YUGO/>http://www.latimes.com/HOME/NEWS
/REPORTS/YUGO/lat_kosovo990517.htm
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