Kosovo: Mosques & Churches burn.......
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| Thu, 03-18-2004 - 10:50am |
http://www.itv.com/news/1236587.html
Britain is to send 750 more troops to Kosovo at Nato's request after serious ethnic violence between Serbs and Albanians.
The force, drawn from 1 The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment, will fly to Kosovo over the next four days, the MoD said.
The unit, based in west London, is part of the Army's high state of readiness "spearhead land element". The UK is currently the Nato reserve force for Kosovo and already has about 280 troops there.
Nato called for reinforcements after 22 people were killed and hundreds injured in fighting between Serbs and ethnic Albanians - the worst violence since the province's 1998-99 war.
The trouble began amid reports that Serbs set a dog on a group of ethnic Albanian boys, sending three fleeing into an icy river - authorities have recovered two bodies, and are searching for a third.
It has also provoked unrest in Serbia, and mobs roamed the streets of Belgrade last night and set the city's 17th century mosque on fire after clashing with police trying to guard the building.
Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon told the Cabinet this morning of Nato's request for the extra British troops.
The spokesman said it shows "we take our responsibilities to Kosovo seriously...the Government would ensure that any deployments that have to be made are consistent with our other obligations elsewhere in the world."
Britain has 3,200 troops based in Cyprus, 22,500 in Germany and 13,500 in Northern Ireland.
Another 1,130 troops on deployment in Bosnia and Croatia, 8,800 in Iraq, 1,385 in Kuwait and other Gulf countries, 350 in Afghanistan, 1,240 in the Falklands, 420 in Gibraltar and 100 in Sierra Leone.
A further 450 troops are deployed on various UN missions around the world.
A church was torched in the flashpoint town of Mitrovica despite the efforts of French NATO peacekeepers, who fired teargas and rubber bullets to drive off the mob.
Gunshots were heard, but it was not clear where from.
A Serb church and Serb homes were also set ablaze in the central town of Obilic, near the provincial capital Pristina.
Reports from Obilic said NATO peacekeepers had evacuated about 100 Serbs because it could not guarantee their safety -- as happened on Wednesday night in the capital, Pristina.
NATO summoned reinforcements after 22 people were killed in the worst ethnic clashes in Kosovo since the allies and the United Nations took control of the province from Serbia in 1999. Some 500 have been injured, of whom 20 were in intensive care.
The new troops will reinforce 17,500 peacekeepers and 9,000 local and international police trying to keep a lid on the province of two million Muslim Albanians demanding independence and 100,000 Serbs, many in enclaves relying on NATO protection.
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http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4597285§ion=news


Thousands in Kosovo Mourn Boys at Burial.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3887742,00.html
Thousands of mourners gathered at a wind-swept hilltop cemetery Sunday to bury two ethnic Albanian boys whose drowning sparked Kosovo's deadliest violence in five years.
NATO helicopters patrolled overhead and Italian Carabinieri paramilitary police encircled this northern village to ensure calm in a critical test of alliance efforts to stabilize the province. Fearing more unrest, troops set up checkpoints every 10 miles along the main road leading to Cabra. They warned people they would be turned away.
Still, as many as 7,000 mourners came anyway, walking to Cabra along dusty roads. As many as 25,000 people had been expected to attend the funerals for Egzon Deliu, 12, and Avni Veseli, 11, but the unprecedented security and an appeal from the family for a quiet ceremony kept people away.
The Tuesday drowning of the boys triggered days of rioting, looting and arson by ethnic Albanians mobs against Serbs they blamed for the deaths. The violence left 28 dead, 600 injured and 4,000 people homeless.
``Their deaths brought more deaths to Kosovo and this has made our pain greater,'' Sali Deliu, an uncle of Egzon. ``Let's hope these are the last ones.''
The violence illustrated the depth of hatred between Kosovo's mostly Muslim ethnic Albanians, who want independence, and Orthodox Christian Serbs, a minority in Kosovo, who want the U.N.-run province to remain part of Serbia-Montenegro. NATO has tried to keep the peace here since the war ended in 1999.
With the restoration of some order, authorities Sunday started investigating claims by a 13-year-old boy, Fitim Veseli, that a group of Serbs with a dog chased him and the other ethnic Albanian children into the Ibar River.
The teen was among the mourners Sunday, crying so hard he could barely lift his head. His cousin was one of the boys who died, and just down the hill, along the banks of the river, divers kept looking for his 9-year-old brother, Florent, missing since Tuesday.
The tight-knit families in this village of 1,400 appeared both united and shattered by their grief. Women wearing white scarves of mourning wept and fainted after pausing by the open coffins, gazing into the faces of the boys for the last time.
The grief overwhelmed the mourners as Sevdije Deliu leaned over to kiss her son's forehead before the coffin closed. As she turned, Egzon's seven sisters shrieked hysterically and held on to each other.
Playmates of the two boys pushed to the front of the crowd gathered for the burial, holding wreaths and carrying small signs, reading, ``Stop the Violence'' and ``We want peace.''
But the emotions failed to trigger the same outbursts of violence seen earlier in the week. The village, 25 miles north of the capital, Pristina, is also just outside Kosovska Mitrovica, the tense and ethnically divided city where the riots started.
The unrest spread from there. Serbs fled the attacks and took shelter on bases used by NATO-led peacekeepers. A small group of Serbs, including several injured in the rioting, left Kosovo on Sunday.
As he crossed from Kosovo into Serbia proper, Trifun Stojilovic, his head and hands bandaged, said a group of ethnic Albanians grabbed him outside his home and stabbed him four times. The elderly man was rescued by NATO peacekeepers in the town of Kosovo Polje, just outside the capital.
Flags across Serbia-Montenegro were lowered to half staff. Serbian Orthodox priests led liturgies and prayer services Sunday as the country marked a day of mourning for the victims of ethnic violence. Kosovo declared Monday a day of mourning.
The attacks were the worst outbreak of violence since 1999, when a NATO air war ended a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanians seeking independence. The war killed 10,000 people.
Kosovo has been an international protectorate since then, whose final status is to be decided by the United Nations. For now, it officially remains a part of Serbia-Montenegro, the successor state of Yugoslavia.
Zaim Deliu, the father of 12-year-old Egzon, recalled the war as he discussed his son's death. Zaim Deliu stared down at the carpet in his home and said he and his family had suffered greatly during the conflict.
``Even after what they (the Serbs) have done to us, if I saw a Serb child drowning, I would have jumped in to help,'' he said. ``They drowned our children on purpose.''
Despite their bitterness, the families appealed for an end to the violence.
``Though I lost my son, I wouldn't want more problems here,'' said Abide Veseli, 35, Avni's mother. ``I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.''
The wave of violence has been too coordinated to be a spontaneous, popular reaction to rumors. "It was planned in advance," said Derek Chappell, the U.N.'s Kosovo mission spokesman. All that was needed was a pretext. It is clear that some in the Kosovo Albanian leadership believe that by cleansing all remaining Serbs from the area (having already achieved the cleansing of two-thirds of Kosovo's Serbs after its "liberation" in 1999) and destroying Serbian cultural sites, they can present the international community with a fait accompli.
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/krnjevicmiskovic200403190842.asp
Renee
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Kosovo%20Clashes
Monday, March 22, 2004 · Last updated 11:26 a.m. PT
Kosovo declares day of mourning
By FISNIK ABRASHI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro -- The top U.N. official in Kosovo inspected Serb homes damaged in fires set last week by ethnic Albanian mobs as the province marked a day of mourning Monday for the 28 people who died in the ethnic violence.
Harri Holkeri expressed his shock over the recent violence, but said he remained determined to see peace established in the troubled province.
"Kosovo is a test for humanity and we will win in that battle," Holkeri told reporters as he walked through an apartment complex in Pristina set ablaze Wednesday by ethnic Albanians. The Serbs who lived there were evacuated after the attacks and brought to safety at a NATO camp.
Touring with him was Kosovo's ethnic Albanian prime minister, Bajram Rexhepi, who promised that his government would try to repair damage inflicted on the Serb community by funding the reconstruction of destroyed homes and churches.
"But what we cannot repair is the lost lives," Rexhepi said.
Ibrahim Rugova, Kosovo's president, promised a thorough investigation into the violence and promised action to remedy the source of the hatred.
But he also repeated his calls for the province to become independent - the most contentious issue here.
Meanwhile, flags flew at half staff and classical music was played on Kosovo television, as the province marked a day of mourning.
Last week's attacks were the worst outbreak of violence since 1999, when a NATO air war ended a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanians seeking independence. The war killed 10,000 ethnic people.
Kosovo has since been an international protectorate, its final status to be decided some time in the future by the United Nations. For now, it officially remains a part of Serbia-Montenegro, the successor state of Yugoslavia.
Throughout Serbia-Montenegro, flags were also lowered and Serbian Orthodox priests led liturgies and prayer services Sunday as the country mourned the victims. As church bells tolled, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Pavle, appealed for calm.
Also Sunday, thousands in Kosovo attended the funeral of two ethnic Albanian boys whose drowning was blamed on the Serbs and had sparked the violence.
The deaths of the boys on Tuesday triggered days of rioting, looting and arson by ethnic Albanian mobs against Serbs. About 600 people were injured and 4,000 were homeless by week's end.
The violence in Kosovo in turn set off riots in Serbia - these targeting ethnic Albanians. On Monday the Belgrade police chief was fired for failing to stop a Serb mob from torching the capital's only mosque. The government of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has claimed it ordered the mosque secured.
The unrest illustrated the depth of hatred between Kosovo's mostly Muslim ethnic Albanians, who want independence, and Orthodox Christian Serbs, a minority in Kosovo, who want the U.N.-run province to remain part of Serbia-Montenegro. NATO has tried to keep the peace here since the end of the war in 1999.
With fresh troops now visible and deployed throughout the province, NATO took steps to keep law and order on streets wracked for days by chaos.
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