-Caveat Lector- ----Original Message Follows---- From: MichaelP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: undisclosed-recipients:; Subject: Kosovo/NATO items Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 20:31:04 -0500 (CDT) From: Karl Waldron <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Gracanica, September 22 Today on Sep 22 on the session of the Kosovo Transitional Council the representatives of the Serbian national commuity, Bishop Artemije and Mr. Trajkovic officially resigned from their positions within the KTC. They explained their leaving of the Council with the fact that after three months of KFOR and UNMIK presence in Kosovo the multiethnic concept in Kosovo has failed. This failure was crowned by the transformation of the KLA into a monoethnic and armed Kosovo Protection Corps which is directly violating the UN Security Council Resolution 1244. After three months of peace the results are catastrophic for the Serbs in the province: about 200.000 expelled, more than 350 killed, 450 abducted, thousands of burned and looted Serb houses as well as 70 destroyed churches and monasteries in the presence of almost 50.000 international peace forces. In Kosovo there is not a single multiethnic institution. Serbs have been practically expelled from all multiethnic areas and forced into reservations and ghettoes. They are denied the basic human rights and freedom of movement, education, work and medical protection. Nothing is done to enable the expelled Serb to go back to their homes while the remaining Serbs and other non-Albanians are still being persecuted, killed, raped and beaten. According to the words of Mr. Trajkovic the winners in the so far process in Kosovo are Mr. Thaci and Mr. Milosevic while the loosers are Kosovo Serbs, Serb and Albanian moderate and democratic forces and especially the international community (KFOR and UNMIK). The Serb representatives in the KTC said that their participation in the Council was motivated with the idea to constantly point out to the difficult security situation for the Serbs in Kosovo and make efforts to contribute to the better conditions for life and survival of our people. But Bishop Artemije and Mr. Trajkovic have clearly explained that they are not ready to take upon themselves the political responsibility for the decisions which are made in Kosovo without the consultation with the Kosovo Serbs and against their interests. The international community is working more and more in direction of creating the independent Kosovo for which no one from the Kosovo Serb community can and should take responsibility. Kosovo Protection Corps which is already translated into Albanian as KOSOVO DEFENSIVE TROOPS is the continuation of the KLA with full continuity of its millitary structure with the General Agim Ceku as its head. The fact that KLA have given over only one part of mostly outdated weapons and have hidden the majority of the modern wapons in their secret depots is only an attempt to show that UNMIK and KFOR have managed to demilitarize KLA, what was envisaged by the UN Resolution 1244. In reality this is a tacit legalization of a monoethnic army built on the foundations of an organization which is considered by many as a terrorist organization directly responsible for many crimes against the Serb and other non-Albanian population. The New Corps is nothing but a nucleus of the future ethnic Albanian army of Kosovo. Since the international community has completely denied the multiethnic approach to the resolution of the Kosovo issue and focused on attempts to resolve Albanian question only, the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija with full right might ask for resolution of the Serbian ethnic question in direction of cantonization and the establishment of the Serbian Protection Corps. Bishop Artemije and Mr. Trajkovic have clearly manifested that in the present situation they have not the mandate to represent the Serbian people in Kosovo and they proposed to Mr. Kouchner to find other representatives for the Council among those who seek the ethnic approach to the Kosovo issue or to build Kosovo future with Albanians only. The Serb representativTOP cannot be any longer a decoration of the inexistent multiethnicity. Despite leaving of the Council, Bishop Artemije and Mr. Trajkovic said that they remain open for the further cooperation with the international community in order to better protect the human rights and freedoms of the Serbian national community in the southern Serbian province. Information Service of the Church and National Committee -- Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren Gracanica Monastery, Pristina, Kosovo and Metohija http://www.decani.yunet.com e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reuters: Solana declares Kosovo force dead, others disagree By Douglas Hamilton TORONTO, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Outgoing NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana asserted on Tuesday that the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was dead but Yugoslavia and some of the guerrillas themselves disagreed. "The UCK (KLA) doesn't exist anymore," Solana told reporters at a NATO defense ministers' conference in Toronto. "The process of demilitarization has been completed." Solana said a NATO-brokered agreement allowing KLA members to form a 5,000-strong Kosovo Protection Force spelled the end of the ethnic Albanian guerrilla organization. "So, therefore, we have the beginning of a new page in the reconstruction of Kosovo," he said. U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen, however, told his alliance counterparts not to even think about "resting on their laurels" or reducing their peacekeeping contingents in Kosovo. NATO has over 40,000 troops in Kosovo and a further 9,000 in Macedonia and Albania, plus 31,000 in Bosnia, straining its ability to sustain the role of peace guarantor. A NATO official said Solana's designated successor, the current British defense minister George Robertson, advocated an election in Kosovo as early as next spring, to woo the restless guerrilla leaders over to politics and power via the ballot box. Solana, in the chair for the last time before handing over to Robertson, said "thousands of weapons have been handed over and millions of rounds of ammunition." The KLA has delivered 10,000 guns to NATO. But military sources say there is hardly any doubt that many more weapons remain hidden, including heavy arms and armor salvaged from Serb units that were pounded by NATO during 11 weeks of bombing. NATO's Supreme Commander Europe General Wesley Clark said there were "undoubtedly lots and lots of weapons throughout the Balkans" and it would be impossible ever to completely disarm the region. Military sources said KLA leaders were also understandably afraid that, without arms, they could be easy targets for Serb paramilitary forces which NATO says are infiltrating Kosovo. Ministers sidestepped questions about the tricky "final status" of Kosovo and the fact that it appears headed for independence whether the West likes it or not. They acknowledged that NATO's heavy commitment in the Balkans remains open-ended, although an improving climate in Bosnia would permit a reduction of the peacekeeping force there to 20,000 by next spring. The NATO official said the alliance was also concerned that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic might attempt to foment fresh trouble by sending his forces back into Kosovo or trying to oust Montenegro's pro-Western government. Yugoslavia and Russia have accused NATO of failing to secure genuine demobilization and disarmament by the KLA, as required by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244. It was farcical to maintain that signing an accord to change the name and the uniform of the guerrillas would change their nature or basic aspirations at a stroke, Belgrade said. "This is a smokescreen to cover (NATO's) own inability to control the situation," Serbian Deputy Information Minister Miodrag Popovic commented. The guerrillas themselves say they see the new civilian force -- which is to have French-supplied green uniforms and a United Nations payroll -- as the kernel of the future army of an independent Kosovo. "I think the whole process is going in the right direction ... I see the Kosovo Protection Corps as a core of a Kosovo military force in future," senior KLA logistics officer Hysen Geci told Reuters in Kosovo. Throughout its bombing campaign to force Belgrade into compliance with international demands on Kosovo, the NATO allies insisted they were "not the air force of the KLA." But Western diplomats say the KLA has dismayed the West by its ability to capitalize on NATO's action, stubbornly pursuing a separatist agenda while paying lip-service to the ideal of a multiethnic, autonomous Kosovo. An independent Kosovo would come under pressure from ultra-nationalist Albanians to join Tirana in the creation of a Greater Albania, a move which would severely destabilize the Balkans and could trigger the breakup of Bosnia. Tuesday September 21 9:17 PM ET Protesters Crowd Streets As NATO Ministers Dine By Sarah Edmonds TORONTO (Reuters) - An estimated 1,000 protesters filled the street in front of Toronto's Royal York hotel Tuesday, chanting, whistling and waving signs condemning the bombing of Kosovo as NATO defense ministers ate dinner inside. A line of flack-jacket clad police and metal barricades kept the irate crowd -- some of whom marched from the U.S. consulate and some from a Toronto convention center where the defense ministers are holding a two-day informal meeting -- from crossing the road to the hotel. The protesters sported black-and-white target buttons and brandished flags and placards which bore slogans such as "NATO 'victory' - Balkan tragedy". Several blew shrill whistles and the group took up various chants including "NATO nazis" and "NATO out of Canada". Police said they did not anticipate any violence "at the moment." "But we do have a history with them, so anything can happen," said Sgt. Lorna Kozmik of the Metropolitan Toronto Police. Last spring, protesters armed with Molotov cocktails firebombed the U.S. consulate in Toronto. "I really don't know (how long we'll stay). Emotions are running very high," protester Vera Stefanovic told Reuters. "Personally I would like to see (NATO Secretary-General Javier) Solana and ask him why he hates Serbs so much." Earlier in the morning, the protest was confined to a desultory handful of people who shouted abuse at NATO defense ministers arriving at the convention center turned militarized zone. But their numbers swelled through the day. "The world has already forgotten the victims of NATO aggression," said Snezana Vitorovic of the Center for Peace in the Balkans. She called on NATO to rebuild the country. One megaphone-toting protester at the morning gathering chanted monotonously: "NATO baby-killers, NATO arms dealers." As the United States and Britain pressed NATO allies inside the conference to open their wallets and lay out the cash to modernize their armies, protester Greg Duffell called for the total dissolution of the organization. |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| http://www.angelfire.com/mi/smilinks/thirdeye.html |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
