What Serbs Did Seven years ago today, Can Do Again (March 21, 1999)

THIS MESSAGE IS A RAW REPORT OF THE GENOCIDE CARRIED OUT BY SERBS AGAINST ALBANIANS IN KOSOVO
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Archives
* Fleeing civilians spoke of summary executions on the street
* Serbian Military Mounts Attacks in Large Parts of Kosova
* Serbians Forces Mount Heavy Shelling of Drenica Villages
* Several Villages in Vushtrri Area _Shelled_, Serb Forces
Positioned at Mihaliq
* Serbian Forces Crack down on Prugoc, Besi and Barilevë Villages
of Prishtina
* Scores of Tanks and Other Serb Combat Vehicles Arrive in Lipjan

Fleeing civilians spoke of summary executions on the street

03.20.99

Armed Serbs wearing black masks and white jumpsuits drove
thousands of ethnic Albanians out of their homes in the Kosova
town of Srbica on Saturday, local witnesses said.

A column of refugees stretched for miles through the hills of the
central Drenica region as men, women and children fled in
freezing cold with only the clothes on their backs, a Reuters
news team in Lausa, just west of Srbica, reported.

Automatic weapons and machine-gun fire and detonations echoed
from the direction of Srbica. Fleeing civilians spoke of summary
executions on the street, but there was no independent
confirmation of those reports.

Some of the new refugees fled on foot, some in private cars and
most in tractor-drawn wagons which shuttled back and forth
between Lausa, the first village west of Srbica, and Vojnik, a
village some 10 km (six miles) further west.

``They wore white uniforms with black masks. We didn't run away.
They forced us to leave. They came at 8.30 a.m. (0730 GMT). We
were sitting in our homes when they broke in and forced us to
leave at gunpoint,'' said Selim Dragaj, 37. ``They said to me you
can take your shoes and go to Albania. Albania is what you wanted
and Albania is what you are going to get.''

The Drenica area has been a bastion of separatist ethnic Albanian
guerrillas but they have been pushed back by Serbian security
forces in a recent offensive, and Saturday's withdrawal of
international monitors from Kosova may have been a key factor in
the reported Serb assault on Srbica's inhabitants.

An AP reporter saw a Yugoslav convoy heading toward the
fighting. About 30 tanks, armored vehicles and trucks with anti-
aircraft guns were on the move. Serbian security forces, backed
by armor including tanks, blocked the highway between Kosova's
capital Pristina and Belgrade. Reporters were halted by police
about 10 km (six miles) north of Pristina. Tanks, armored
personnel carriers (APCs) and army troops were deployed on and
near the highway. Heavy small - arms fire tore through the air
in the vicinity.

Serbian police in battle gear backed by tanks and APCs earlier
blocked a Reuters news team trying to drive north along the Glogovac-
Srbica road from the Komorane highway junction in central Kosova.
The corridor was believed to have been in guerrilla hands as
recently as Friday.

Civilians were seen fleeing shelling in the hills west of Srbica
in north-central Kosova as fighting intensified in a dangerous
vacuum caused by the withdrawal of international truce monitors.

Yugoslav federal army troops with armor were arrayed along the
main highway west of Pristina that runs through Komorane en route
to Pec in the far west of Kosova. The area between Luzane and
Podujevo has seen regular clashes between government troops and
guerrillas since mid-December, when a Yugoslav army armored
brigade moved into the area in violation of a cease-fire
agreement.

A buildup of government troops in the region since then has led
some analysts to worry that a government offensive against
suspected KLA positions in the area is about to start.

Aid workers trying to go north to Belgrade from Pristina to leave
the country were blocked by Saturday's fighting.

Reuters reporters met some 30 ethnic Albanian refugees from the
village of Poklek, outside Glogovac, about 20 km (12 miles) west
of Pristina. Mostly women and children, they were trudging
through the snow as shells exploded in the distance.

The refugees said security forces began bombarding a nearby
village at 7 a.m. (0600 GMT) Saturday from the Koretica area
where the Serbs were known to have armor and artillery.

``Only God knows how much we have suffered and we're still
suffering now,'' said Sanije Hoxha , an elderly woman leaning
wearily on a cane,.

Compiled from AP ë Reuters reports.

Serbian Military Mounts Attacks in Large Parts of Kosova

_PRISHTINA,_ March 20 (KIC) 10:00 CET - While the OSCE Kosova
Verification Mission (KVM), the 1,400-international mission which
oversaw the situation in Kosova since autumn, has been evacuating
today, Serbian military and paramilitary police troops have
launched offensive operations in several parts of Kosova, perhaps
one fourth of the entire territory of Kosova. Local LDK sources
have reported Serbian attacks today morning in the Podujeva,
Vushtrri, Mitrovica, Skenderaj and Gllogovc municipalities, in
northern and central Kosova. The population of the villages of
Dumnicë e Epërme and Përpellac, municipality of Podujeva,
situated along the northern Kosova-Serbia border, have fled their
homes today morning. A huge Serbian military convoy, which had so
far been on the Serbian side of the border, entered these
Albanian villages today morning, local sources said. The Serb
military has deployed at a location called "Te lisat" in Dumnicë
e Epërme as well as near the local school in Përpellac.
Meanwhile, Serbian forces _shelled_ today morning the villages of
Majac, Buricë, Godishnjakë and Sallabajë, municipality of
Podujeva, some 20 km north of capital Prishtina. At 6:30 CET
today, Serbian forces started shelling the villages of Oshlan,
Pantinë and Lkej, municipality of Vushtrri, which have been under
daily Serb attack for almost a month now. A huge convoy of
Serbian forces, consisting of over 50 combat vehicles, left today
morning Mitrovica heading for Skenderaj ('Srbica'), where there
has been an increased Serb forces' presence, resulting in the
flight of the Albanian population to escape an expected
onslaught. At 6:30 CET, Serbian forces started shelling the
villages of Mikushnicë and Prekaz, municipality of Skenderaj,
where the current Serbian aggression and war in Kosova actually
started in early March last year. The Serbian infantry units have
reportedly entered Prekaz i Ulët, Prekaz i Epërm and Polac
villages in the area. Many Serbian vehicles were seen travelling
the Mitrovica-Skenderaj roadways today morning. A source from
Skenderaj told the KIC large Serb forces have been concentrating
around the town, and that the population in the vicinity of the
Game Ammunition Factory in the suburbs has fled their homes.
Serbian forces dressed in camouflaged, white uniforms have been
seen roaming the streets of Skenderaj. The local people, locked
up in their homes, fear an imminent Serb crackdown. Early in the
morning today, Serbian forces started shelling the villages of
the municipality of Gllogovc, in central Kosova, local sources
told the KIC.

Serbians Forces Mount Heavy Shelling of Drenica Villages

_PRISHTINA,_ March 20 (KIC) 12:00 CET- Serbian forces entered
Korroticë e Epërme village at 9:00 CET today. They have been
shelling Korroticë and Vasilevë villages from there, reports
said. >From their military/police base at the Ferronikeli
(Ferrous nickel) industrial compound, Serbs have been shelling
^ikatovë e Vjetër and Gllobar villages, the U^K's Kosovapress
news agency reported from Gllogovc. Huge Serbian forces have been
massing around the Drenica region for some time now, while large
parts of the area around ^i^avica mountains has been besieged by
huge Serbian army and paramilitary police forces, according to
Kosovapress. Meanwhile, in the neighboring municipality of
Skenderaj, smoke has been reported billowing from an Albanian
neighborhood near the Game Ammunition Factory, abandoned earlier
today by its population. Serb police have been raiding Albanian
houses in the vicinity of the Skenderaj town hospital today,
local sources said.

Several Villages in Vushtrri Area _Shelled_, Serb Forces
Positioned at Mihaliq

_PRISHTINA,_ March 20 (KIC) - Last night, Serbian forces
_shelled_ the village of Be^uk, local sources said. Serbian
forces near the Shkabaj ('Orlovic') village blocked the
movement of people on the Prishtina-Mitrovica highway today
morning. Today, at 10:15 CET, Serbian military resumed shelling
the villages of Oshlan, Balinc, Liqej, Pantinë and other
outlying areas in the municipality. A Serbian police convoy
headed at 6:00 CET today towards the village of Pantinë.
Meanwhile, yesterday afternoon nine Serbian army tanks and
three lorryloads of soldiers left Mitrovica for Vushtrri, at a
time four Serb tanks arrived in Vushtrri from Prishtina. They
headed to Mihaliq village, where they deployed, local LDK
sources in Vushtrri reported.

Serbian Forces Crack down on Prugoc, Besi and Barilevë Villages
of Prishtina

_PRISHTINA,_ March 20 (KIC) - Serbian forces opened fire on an
Albanian family compound at Prugoc village, and were seen later
establishing their presence in the neighboring villages of
Barilevë and Besi, a dozen km north of _Prishtina,_ near the Prishtina-
Podujeva highway. Albanian residents of these villages, which
have arrived in the capital _Prishtina,_ said Serb forces had
entered the area, and the local people fled their homes.

Scores of Tanks and Other Serb Combat Vehicles Arrive in Lipjan

Proceed towards neighboring Shtime municipality _PRISHTINA,_
March 20 (KIC) - Scores of Serbian combat vehicles, including
army tanks, arrived today in the town of Lipjan, south of
Prishtina. They were taken in by train. Local LDK sources said
the armor was unloaded in Lipjan, and then headed towards the
neighboring Shtime municipality.

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