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Serbs identify items belonging to 50 relatives believed killed in Kosovo Tue Apr 16, 9:53 AM ET By DRAGAN ILIC, Associated Press Writer -About 200.000 Kosovo Serbs fled the province soon after NATO forces took control.... The display of personal items in Rudare, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of the Yugoslav capital, Belgrade, was held outside Kosovo, partly to accommodate those afraid to return. RUDARE, Yugoslavia - In a four-day painful effort ending Tuesday, hundreds of relatives of Serbs missing since the end of Kosovo's war identified clothes and other personal items of 50 of loved ones believed slain in the province. Families wearing surgical masks to protect them from infection wandered through four tents examining clothes, wedding rings, cigarette cases, wrist watches and other items found by U.N. forensic investigators with 360 bodies unearthed at sites throughout Kosovo after fighting ended there in 1999. "So far we have had 50 identification (cases) of clothes and other personal items," Gvozden Gagic, head of the Serbian government's Bureau for Missing Persons, told The Associated Press. Gagic said as many as 250 relatives also gave blood samples, providing DNA evidence that could help U.N. investigators determine the identities of some of the remains. Some 1,300 Serbs have been reported missing since NATO (news - web sites) bombing forced former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to end his crackdown against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. Most of them are presumed dead. Olga Krstic sobbed as she recognized a skirt, a pair of trousers and a shirt belonging to her parents � father Milivoje, 73, and mother Milka, 63 � who disappeared together with other villagers from their homes in Donji Ratis near the western Kosovo town of Decani. They were believed abducted by ethnic Albanian rebels belonging to the now-disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army. "There's no doubt in my mind, it's their clothes," cried Krstic, 35, a refugee now living in central Serbia. Her search dashed her desperate hope that her parents might still be alive, she said. In recent months, U.N. officials have promised to do more to determine the fate of the missing, both Serbs and ethnic Albanians. Some 3,000 ethnic Albanians are also still unaccounted for, nearly three years after NATO bombing halted Milosevic's crackdown and drove out Yugoslav government forces. Meanwhile, investigators of the Netherlands-based U.N. war crimes tribunal have interviewed 44 people in an attempt to collect evidence for possible indictments of those responsible for the killings. "Our investigation is aimed at indicting war crimes suspects, but it is too soon to talk about indictments against any particular individual," said Mati Raatikinen, a war crimes investigator. About 200.000 Kosovo Serbs fled the province soon after NATO forces took control, fearing revenge attacks. The display of personal items in Rudare, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of the Yugoslav capital, Belgrade, was held outside Kosovo, partly to accommodate those afraid to return. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
