-Caveat Lector-
from alt.conspiracy
-----
As always, Caveat Lector.
Om
K
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<A HREF="aol://5863:126/alt.conspiracy:514495">Serb "reign of terror" turns
Pristina into "wasteland"
</A>
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Subject: Serb "reign of terror" turns Pristina into "wasteland"
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Xjr3000)
Date: Tue, Apr 13, 1999 5:50 AM
Message-id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Kukes, Albania (April 13) - Refugees from the suburbs of Kosovo's capital told
on Tuesday of a burned-out city where just a few thousand people remain in
hiding, perilously low on food and fearing for their lives.
''Pristina is dead,'' Saliq Kraisniqi, a 42-year-old accountant, told
Reuters after crossing the border into Albania in a ragged convoy of 3,000
ethnic Albanians driven out of their homes by Serb forces.
People from the area said parts of the once-thriving provincial capital
resembled a ghost town, with some neighborhoods burned to the ground, sporadic
gunfire echoing in the streets and acrid smoke blanketing the city center.
From accounts given by many refugees, a Serb reign of terror that has
forced
hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians from their Yugoslav homes since the
start of a NATO bombing campaign has continued unabated.
People who lived on the outskirts of Pristina told of masked gunmen
storming
into their villages, killing a few of their neighbors to set an example and
then ordering them out.
Several thousand people from the towns of Silatina and Henc, near
Pristina's
airport, hid in the mountains for days until Serb troops found them.
The men were told their families could return safely to their homes if they
agreed to join in fighting Kosovo separatist guerrillas, but none took them up
on the offer.
Kraisniqi said they were beaten with gun butts for their defiance. His
face
was still painfully swollen, his lip split with a deep, bloody gash.
On the way to the border, Serb soldiers taunted the refugees and at one
point opened fire into a tractor-drawn cart, killing a 12-year-old boy,
witnesses said.
A young women was dragged away from her family and killed by Serb guards.
Refugees believe she may have been resisting rape...
Latest deportees could provide only scant details since most had been
bottled up in their villages for days by Serb forces. But the picture emerged
of a devastated city.
Refugees estimated that as little as 10 percent of the original population
of 250,000 remained, a testament to the efficiency of the Yugoslavian
government's ''ethnic cleansing'' campaign. Most were too afraid to venture
out for fear of being detected. Food was running out and electricity and water
had been cut to much of the city. Shops owned by ethnic Albanians had been
looted.
The Yugoslav government has blamed NATO bombers for the devastation visited
upon Pristina, but refugees scoff at that and say Serb forces were
responsible.
Soldiers occupy much of the city and have taken over some of the better
homes. Tanks, troop carriers and armoured vehicles rumble constantly through
the streets.
Refugees now fear that those who remain will be used as ''human shields''
if NATO ground troops invade Kosovo.
They have already suffered reprisals for NATO attacks. When NATO warplanes
bombarded Pristina airport, knocking it out of commission, Serb artillery
gunners responded by shelling nearby villages, killing two people, refugees
said.
-Reuters news, April 13, 1999
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Aloha, He'Ping,
Om, Shalom, Salaam.
Em Hotep, Peace Be,
Omnia Bona Bonis,
All My Relations.
Adieu, Adios, Aloha.
Amen.
Roads End
Kris
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