ARMOURED VEHICLE - PARTIAL SAFETY IN KOSOVO

AIM Pristina, 1 May, 1998

The tragic outcome of just the first three months of this year, according to the data of Pristina Committee for Protection of Human Rights, is 104 persons of Albanian ethnic origin killed by firearms or results of terrorizing by the Serbs, 10 of whom have not been identified to this day. Such a large number of victims in such a short time are part of the tragic developments which will be remembered in the history of Kosovo Albanians, and the number of killed Albanians just during events in the region of Drenica, according to connoisseurs of local circumstances, is the largest since the Second World War. Tragic events in Kosovo began in the end of January, as the Committee for Protection of Human Rights reminds, when the house of Saban Jasari in the village of Donje Prekaze was attacked and his two daughters were wounded and a native from the village killed, while another one was, as claimed, was kidnapped and his destiny is still unknown. That is when the conflict between the big family Jasari and the police occurred. After that, in the capital of Kosovo, a taxi driver was killed by a customs official in civilian clothes, and a seller of cigarettes was killed by a Serb policeman.

In the interval between the clash in Donje Prekaze with the Jasari family and the developments in the region of Drenica in the end of February when ten members of his family were killed, another four Kosovo Albanians lost their lives.

The greatest number of victims, according to this three-monthly report, were killed in the police operation in the region of Drenica, which began on 28 February, when, as stressed, more than 80 natives were massacred, including children, women and elderly persons. That is when the ten-member family Ahmeti were killed, together with two guests who had happened to be in their house when the police, according to the report of the Committee for human rights and freedoms, "broke into the house, ordered them to lie down on the floor and started torturing them", as underlined, "in the most barbaric way, after which they were killed so that it was difficult to identify them".

According to this report, the other mass murder occurred five days later when, according to the data of the Committee, 46 Kosovo Albanians were killed and many houses levelled to the ground, while the village Donje Prekaze as "the main target, was completely devastated". The Committee also reports about its findings that just on 5 March, 15 children, 17 women and several elderly persons were killed. In its report the Committee adds that the majority of them were members of the family of Saban Jasari. According to unconfirmed data, just a few members of this big family have survived and they are all in exile.

The Committee also reminds in its report that on 10 March, the police buried all the killed persons, without identification and autopsy. The next day, members of the families of the victims, dug them up again and then buried their dear ones, according to their customs. It is also underlined that it was impossible to find out anything about the six-member family of Sadik Jasari, although the Committee for human rights doubts that they had remained in a cellar of a house which was tore down later. It is stressed that members of this Committee tried to reach this village, but they were not permitted by the police to do so.

This Committee does not have any information either about the destiny of 30 arrested persons who "even the media in Serbia reported about". It is stated in the report that they fear that "in the ammunition factory which is located between Srbica and Donji Prekaz, hostages Albanians are held and that it was turned into a typical concentration camp where they are tortured". After the comparison of this factory with camps which existed during the war in Bosnia, it is further stated that in Drenica village Broja, 110 women, children and elderly persons were held "hostages" until 11 March.

Even after all these developments in central part of Kosovo, it is still under "strong police siege", the Committee for protection of human rights and freedoms states in its report. The result of the current situation is the fact that more than 20 thousand people left their homes, while Serb forces, as it was stated, left signs on them with messages such as: "This is Serbia", "Death to the Albanians" and similar.

The events in Drenica did not end the operation of the Serbian police, but a "new front" was opened in the region of Decani, the Committee concludes. "The first attack occurred in the end of March in the village of Glodjane where three Albanians were killed, and many houses were damaged and levelled to the ground", it is stated further in the text of the report.

Along with the note that complete data are not available, it is said in this document that apart from 104 killed persons, 3095 Kosovo Albanians were maltrteated "in various ways, 44 of them were wounded, and 30 were victims of attempted murder, that an enormous number were arrested, summoned for interogation and tortured"...

"Such a situation intensified the situation in Kosovo and shook up the Albanian public which as part of its commitment to a peaceful solution of the issue of Kosovo, manifested its discontent in numerous protests which were on several occasions 'stifled' by force", it is said in the end of the report of the Committee for protection of human rights seated in Pristina.

Judging by the developments which are accelerating again, the possibility of a very high number of new victims and maltreated persons cannot be eliminated in the future either.

Only in the last few days of April, in Decani municipality about 30 Albanians were killed. The only difference is that only the Serbian police was engaged in the developments in Drenica, but now its "cooperation" with the army is not concealed any more. Judging by the newly created situation which is quickly complicating, the ultimate figure of victims is feared to be incomplete. This time, it is almost impossible for numerous domestic and foreign journalists to get through to the critical regions (except the privileged ones) and register the actual situation. It is even more difficult for the members of non-governmental organizations and those which are concerned with human rights (especially those with an Albanian name on the identity card) to arrive on the spot and gather the necessary data. Nobody wants to go to the central and the western part of Kosovo any more without an armoured car. That is the reason why the possibility that true results of the undeclared war in Kosovo may never become known must be taken into account.

AIM Pristina

Djeraqina TUHINA