The Kosovo International

February 28, 1998: ethnic Albanian terrorists attacked a police patrol in Likosan near Glogovac. The Serbian internal affairs ministry said four policemen were killed in the attack and two wounded and added that 16 terrorists were killed and nine captured.

The Kosovo Information Center claimed that “16 ethnic Albanians were killed according to sources on the ground and over 20 wounded”. In Srbica, unidentified attackers fired automatic weapons at a school which is home to Serb refugees.

March 1: Slobodan Milosevic expressed his deepest condolences to the families of the killed policemen. A telegram to the families sent by Milosevic to Serbian President Milan Milutinovic, the FRY president said that the Kosovo problem can only be successfully solved in Serbia, and added that terrorism aimed at internationalizing the issue will bring the most damage to those people who launched it. He called on ethnic Albanians not to spill blood for the interests of political profiteers and foreign mentors because the future lies in life together, peace and equality.

Several thousand ethnic Albanian women demonstrated in front of the US Information Center in Pristina, demanding an end to alleged violence over the population of the Drenica area.

The US embassy in Belgrade said “the US is deeply concerned over reports of violence in the Drenica region and calls on all sides to show restraint”.

Albania’s foreign ministry demanded that “Yugoslavia stop the escalation of violence against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo” and called the EU, OSCE and Contact Group to pressure Belgrade into stopping the Serb violence and to convince the Serbian authorities to start negotiations with Kosovo Albanian leaders.

March 2: In Pristina, police used water cannons, tear gas and batons to disperse a crowd reported to be over 50,000. The coordinating board of the Kosovo Albanian political parties organized those demonstrations “in protest against terror, violence and ethnic cleansing”.

The Serbian internal affairs ministry (MUP) said “an attempt to organize demonstrations was made in Pristina, Podujevo and Vucitrn at the call of the ethnic Albanian separatist leadership, which members of the MUP efficiently dispersed”. The MUP said no demonstrations or similar acts in support of terrorism will be allowed.

Ibrahim Rugova called the US and EU to create conditions to open a dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade with third party mediation. Rugova declared a day of mourning in Kosovo on March 3.

The US sent a protest to Belgrade concerning “violent repression over the ethnic Albanians who took part in yesterday’s demonstrations”, the state department said. Spokesman James Rubin said “the US wants Serbs and Kosovo Albanians to lower tensions by implementing the agreement on education”.

German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel condemned terrorism and violence and said the EU political committee will discuss Kosovo.

The EU “called for urgent negotiations between the authorities in Belgrade and the leaders of the Kosovo Albanians to find a peaceful solution to the crisis”, the British foreign office said.

The investigating judge at the district court in Pec said ethnic Albanian terrorists had launched several synchronized attacks on the houses of Serbs and Montenegrins in Klina, Djakovica and Decani.

March 3: The Belgrade press said the towns of Kosovo are ghostly quiet following the mass demonstrations and police intervention.

March 4: Luleta Pula-Beqiri spoke to the BBC, Rexhep Qosja wrote in the Albanian-language newspaper Bujku, and others spoke at the funeral of the ethnic Albanian terrorists, blaming Bill Clinton’s special envoy Robert Gelbard for his condemnation of terrorism which they said provoked the violence in Kosovo and encouraged the Serbian regime.
Gelbard said that “the US will intervene militarily if Belgrade tries to transfer the war from Bosnia to Kosovo”.

The EU political committee said “the EU has no desire or intention of internationalizing the Kosovo problem. The problem has internationalized itself and is no longer an internal affair of Yugoslavia or Serbia. EU Ministerial Council Chairman Robin Cook will go to Belgrade to convey the EU message to the authorities there”.

March 5: Milosevic received Cook. After Belgrade, Cook went to Pristina for talks with Rugova, Fehmi Agani and ethnic Albanian student leaders. Before leaving for Yugoslavia, Cook said he wants Belgrade to respect the rights of the ethnic Albanians, the implementation of the education agreement and permission for a permanent international observer mission in Kosovo. Cook said Milosevic voiced “a robust stand” on those demands. The MUP said “26 hardened terrorists headed by Adem Jashari were killed in a clash with the nucleus of the ethnic Albanian separatist terrorist gangs in Doni Prekaz”. Two policemen were killed in that clash and seven more wounded. The Kosovo Information Center claimed that police killed 50 ethnic Albanians.

The MUP “energetically denied the monstrous fabrications and lies launched in some domestic and foreign media on the alleged torture of the arrested ethnic Albanians”.
Milutinovic received a MUP delegation and said “one of the established priorities for Serbia is to wisely, and with all the tools of the state of law, energetically and efficiently deal with the ethnic Albanian separatists who launched terrorism in Kosovo and Metohija”. Milutinovic paid tribute to the police for their professionalism, decisiveness and courage in defending order, territorial integrity, and the peace and security of all the citizens of Serbia.

Albania demanded a UN Security Council debate.

The US withdrew their decision to grant the FRY economic and diplomatic concessions and demanded an international investigation into the clashes in Kosovo.

March 6: Greek Foreign Minister Teodoros Pangalos met with Milosevic, Milutinovic and FRY Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic in Belgrade. Pangalos said Greece opposes separatism of any kind and added that the implementation of the education agreement could be the start of creating greater trust between the two sides. He expressed readiness to offer his country’s good services.

Contact Group ambassadors visited Pristina.

In Albania’s capital Tirana, a crowd of 30,000 shouted We Want Guns.

The district prosecutor in Belgrade took “appropriate measures against the editors of four Belgrade dailies”.

Rugova demanded that the Security Council debate Kosovo and claimed the Serbian regime was ethnically cleansing Kosovo.

Washington told the Belgrade authorities that the Hague war crimes tribunal has jurisdiction over Kosovo as well.

The EU asked Yugoslavia’s neighbors not to raise the combat readiness of their armies, which Albania refused to do.

March 8: Ambassadors of some 40 states visited the site of the clash in the village of Donji Prekaz.

Ismail Jem, the Turkish foreign minister, met Milosevic and called for a peaceful solution to the Kosovo conflict.

Some 2,000 ethnic Albanian women protested in front of the US Information Center in Pristina. Over 3,000 ethnic Albanian women demonstrated in Ulcinj, Montenegro, in support of “the brethren in Kosovo”.

March 9: In London, the Contact Group adopted a 10-point action plan demanding that Milosevic withdraw police special units from Kosovo within 10 days, allow an international investigation of the clash and start a dialogue with Kosovo Albanians.

Gelbard visited Belgrade to convey the Contact Group message to the authorities, and later went to Pristina for talks with Rugova. In Pristina and several other places in Kosovo, ethnic Albanians staged mass demonstrations which the police did not prevent.

March 10: The Serbian government called representatives of the ethnic Albanians to talks. Rugova accepted negotiations, but said he would only talk about the independence of Kosovo.

Balkan states (Greece, Romania, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey) expressed concern over the situation in Kosovo and called for the implementation of the education agreement.

After a blockade of several days, traffic was restored in Drenica. The ethnic Albanians refused to bury the dead and demanded an investigation by foreign forensic experts. The MUP and firemen buried the dead and the next day the families of the dead dug up the bodies and re-buried them according to Moslem rituals.

March 11: The UN Security Council did not adopt a presidential statement on Kosovo because China’s ambassador opposed it saying Kosovo is the FRY’s internal affair. The Russian Duma adopted a resolution calling the government to oppose all sanctions against Yugoslavia over Kosovo.

NATO rejected Albania’s demand for a military intervention in Kosovo. A group of UNCH representatives left Kosovo after a series of anonymous threats.