SABER-RATTLING ON THE UNOPENED SOUTHERN FRONT

written at : September 5,1995 19:45:34 W+1

The last operation of NATO forces, directed against the Bosnian Serbs, was commented on by the main mass media in Europe and the world carefully following the situation in the former Yugoslavia, thus placing the area of Bosnia in the epicenter of developments in the Balkans once again.

This coincided with incidents, if we can call them thus, in the southern part of the former Yugoslavia, which were, on the one hand of much lower intensity, but on the other had the effects of a time bomb. Everything happened after a relatively long period during which there were no killings in the territory of Kosovo, which has been in the focus of attention these past days because of the latest arrivals of refugees from Krajina, who, according to some estimates, number 10 thousand.

Namely, on August 26, an incident occurred on the Kosovo-Albanian border, in the village of Grcina, in the immediate vicinity of Djakovica in which the young Ymer Agushaj was shot dead by the border patrol of the Army of Yugoslavia. According to the testimonies of the villagers, who were on the scene of the crime, the military patrol arrived when youths from the village of Grcina were remedying, with shovels, damage caused by floods which had struck this area. The patrol was under the influence of alcohol, testify the witnesses. The patrol members reached the spot where the young men were working and started provoking and threatening them. While one demanded that they stop working, another demanded that they continue, at gun point.

The "game" ended with the shooting of young Agushaj, and the others ran away. In the evening, a delegation of high military officers came to the Agushaj family, who had requested the body of their family member, and according to the statements made to a journalist of the local daily in the Albanian language, BUJKU, did not intent to file charges against anyone, "because that was pointless". Strong reactions in respect of this tragic incident were voiced by the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo and the citizens, but the media in Serbia did not devote a single word to this event.

New incidents followed only three days later. On August 29, a patrol of the Army of Yugoslavia was shot at in the same border area, and on that occasion the soldier Darko Sretovic (1975) from the village of Ribnica near Kraljevo was shot from an automatic rifle, and Nebojsa Ivancev, whose life is not in danger after medical treatment, wounded. According to the Information Service of the Third Corps of the Army of Yugoslavia all this happened "300 meters inside Yugoslav territory", while the "terrorist group" made use of the "storm and fog" to cross over to the territory of Albania". In connexion with this incident the Yugoslav Government sent a protest note to the charge d' affaires of the Albanian Embassy in Belgrade, Mr. Besnik Konci.

The Albanian side reacted the very next day, with a report from its Foreign Ministry, severely accusing the other side of being responsible for the incident, on the basis of the forensic reports of a mixed Yugoslav-Albanian commission (although it had been established that the Yugoslav side had, in contravention of their agreement "tampered with the scene of the indicent"), which "clearly shows who is responsible for the incident".

According to the Albanian Ministry of the Interior, the event took place 400 meters inside the territory of Yugoslavia and "the most drastic finding implicating the Yugoslav side is that a grenade, a jeep and food in a plstic bag, all of Yugoslav production, were found on the spot"! In this report the Albanian side strongly condemns the Yugoslav side for the frequent provocations occurring on this border in recent years, i.e. for over 20 killed Albanians, nationals of Albania and Kosovo.

But, already the following day, also near the border in the village of Riznic near Decani, according to the Information Center of Kosovo, a strong detonation was heard from the local police station. It was followed by barrage fire from an automatic rifle, and at five in the morning, in the nearby hamlet of Mushkolaj, houses were raided and several members of the Mushkolaj family taken in by the police. The local television Pristina stated that two policemen, Ljubomir Ristic (29) and Agim Hadri (23) were wounded in the attack on the police station.

JEDINSTVO from Pristina, based on a Tanjug report, informed the following day that, according to the communal judge in Pec, Mr. Zivojin Cvejic, unidentified persons had thrown bombs of Chinese production on the police station in Riznic, one from the nearby skyscraper and the other one in front of the building. It also reported that the policemen sustained light injuries.

It is indicative that "grenades of Yugoslav production" were used that same day, and the explanation that the bombs thrown in Riznic were of "Chinese production" (so as probably to suggest, like many times so far, that they had come from the Albanian side) was supposed to strike a balance. For the time being there are two killed - Agushi and Sretovic, and three wounded.

It is interesting that the trial recently began of Ganimet Podvorica from the vicinity of Podujevo, on charges of "terrorism", for an event which took place on May 22, 1993 in Glogovac, when a police patrol in a van was shot at and two policemen killed.

The indictment is based on ballistic experts reports on the basis of the bullets found in the body of one of the policemen, tracing the bullets to the weapon of the accused Podvorica, who rejected this fully at the trial. "If I had done that, I certainly would not be here, or my weapon either", said Podvorica. His counsel, Bajram Keljmendi, also refuted his client's involvement and asked for a new ballistic report, as the rifle was not an automatic one enabling barrage shooting and the problem of the bullet had not been fully resolved, so that the entire case was referred for superexpertise.

The local papers in the Albanian language reminded that somewhat before the event in Glogovac, and after it, SPO President, Vuk Draskovic, had publicly stated that "Seselj and his bands are in Kosovo, and incidents may occur". Anyhow, this is the first time that the Serbian police specifically accused an Albanian for the commission of such an act. Tension, heightened as it was, was further exacerbated by the military drill of the army of Yugoslavia in Urosevac when several houses near the local barracks were damaged by rifle grenades.

MORE THAN A GAME

If we go back to the incidents on border crossings and the number of victims, the data are devastating. Over 20 people have been killed, mainly Albanians, either from neighbouring Albania or from Kosovo. Actually, as far back as in 1991, the Albanian army moved almost a kilometer away from the border line, which was commented on in all sorts of ways, from calling it a provocation intended to show "that there was no Albanian-Albanian border", to the fact that the Albanian army had in fact retreated, so as not to be held responsible for possible incidents.

But, if mainly Albanians lost their lives so far, which the Yugoslav side was always accused of, now we have the first victims on this side of the border, at a time when masses of refugees from Krajina are being brought to Kosovo and precisely at the time when NATO "showed its teeth" to the Bosnian Serbs by bombing their positions. The Belgrade weekly TELEGRAF, prone to sensationalic reporting, tried to make some forecasts about a possible "sixth Balkan war", where, allegedly according to an "anonymous and close associate of Ibrahim Rugova", the Albanians would, after a massive exodus following the Serbian attack, temporarily withdraw, to return armed to help their brothers in arms (about 200,000).

TELEGRAF, true to fashion, "operates" with numbers and effectives of the armies in the region, not failing to mention two American armoured brigades transferred from Germany to help the Albanian Army, towards the Yugoslav side, in the vicinity of Skadar and the valley of the Drim river. It also mentions the presence of American troops in Macedonia and their help to these two neighbouring states on Serbia's borders.

And while it is still unclear whether TELEGRAF is scaring or encouraging the Albanians, i.e. the Serbs, two delegations - of the American and German armies respectively

• visited Tirana, to prepare a joint military exercise called "Peaceful Albania", scheduled for this month. It is well-known that American predators on the mission of air control of positions take off from airports in Albania, and these days, after NATO attacked the positions of the Bosnian Serbs, president Sali Berisa once again offered the territory of his country to facilitate the operations of NATO forces.

Is this new saber rattling on the still unopened southern front or are these still fireworks for diplomatic pressures, remains to be seen in the days to come. It is also interesting that the Macedonian and Greek defense ministries have joined the strong protests from the highest level in Albania in respect of the arrival of Serbian refugees from Croatia.

Reactions to the latest refugees have also come from military circles. They could be interpreted as uneasiness and reactions to the possibility of the establishment of new Balkan trends in respect of the moving of the population and the exchange of territories, which could, based on the dangerous "domino game", to a great extent concern the neighbours in the south of the Balkans, and would not mean any alliance in the southeast of the peninsula. But, everyone in this area seems aware that incidents on the probably most sensitive border crossings, despite their low level of intensity, and also in the hottest hotbed in the Balkans, may mean something more than a game.

Ylber HYSA AIM Pristina