Thursday 06 May 1999 London-UK [k27/599] From: Parveez Syed Shanti Communications, Global Media Monitoring Unit One Stuart Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 8RA1 UK Telephone: London-UK 44-831-196693 E-Mail INTERNET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Copyright 1998 (c) Shanti Communications news agency. All rights reserved. The following feature may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part. Copying, storing, transfer, redistribution, retransmission, publication and exploitation of this information is hereby expressly forbidden without the prior written consent of Shanti Communications UK. Section 326 of the USA-FCC Communications Act; Title 17 USC Section 107; Article 19 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the First Amendment US rights apply to all material, contents and ideas published and broadcasted by Shanti Communications and Shanti RTV news agency. Kosovans fend for themselves [k27/599] by Parveez Syed (c) Shanti RTV LONDON-UK (SC/SRTV) - Penniless, hungry and tired Kosovans are being forced out of their homeland. Some 800,000 Kosovans now based in various camps in Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro. The tragedy in Kosovo is the result of an attack on an entire people simply on the basis of their ethnicity and religion. They are brutalised, murdered, raped, forced from their homes, their family histories erased. Only a few years ago in Bosnia there were more than two million refugees and a quarter of a million people killed. In April 1999 more than 1,000,000 people from Kosovo were forced out of their country, making this one of the largest exodus of non-Christian but unarmed European civilians since WW2. Neighbouring countries in the Balkans are overwhelmed by refugee camps, and they are still pouring out of Kosovo. Others are scattered all over Europe. They are grief-stricken, stripped of their belongings, money and passport. Two of the refugees were found hiding in the back of a truck bound for a warehouse near London's Heathrow airport on Tuesday 04 May 1999. Farmer Hasan Kranmidi, 27, and student Ridian Alia, 18, fled from a camp in the Balkans, where they had lived since the start of NATO bombing. Their trip across the French-English channel was the final leg of a long journey, which included hopping trains through Italy and France. A friendly Turk helped them into the back of the truck parked at the French ferry port in Calais. French driver discovered the men when he opened the truck door to unload car parts from Germany and Sweden. British police officers questioned the men through three-way translation from Italian to French to English. But after hearing their story, the officer released them on the spot, and advised the refugees to register with the immigration department of the British Home Office (interior ministry). Before leaving, the penniless refugees apologised to the French driver for inconveniencing him and assured him they had touched nothing in the back of the truck. The two men did not turn up at the British immigration department in Croydon-Surrey, and the police fear the refugees could be sleeping rough. Kosovans are seen as a problem nobody wants to deal with. The two men were lucky enough to have escaped the genocidal ethnic cleansing, and even luckier to have made it to the UK without a penny to their names. Yet despite the polite concern for their well-being, not one British government official who dealt with them this week was willing to take responsibility for them. The officials did not refer the non-English speaking stowaways to refugee aid groups to help them find food and shelter. Nobody drew them a map or offered them money to go to Croydon. According to police officials, there are hundreds of Kosovan refugees sleeping rough in London every night. Home Office officials often say: "we don't deal with things that happen outside the building in Croydon. We can't help". The police say the immigration officials don't want to help the refugees. They escaped from hell, and are left to fend for themselves. From hatred to indifference. Do we really understand the endless anguish of the people who are worried about their loved ones still in Kosovo and the camps? Can we really look the other way yet again in the face of this brutality? Is there a moral imperative? Is there a strategic imperative? Do we care about saving lives? Do we care about justice and peace? Can we again afford to be indifferent - at home or abroad? Who is going to define the future of this part of the world? Who will provide the model for how the people who have emerged from communism resolve their own legitimate problems? Can we really understand the unimaginable pressures of the endless human and economic costs? Can we help them preserve their lives and health, and their hope of return? Would you help them fulfill their mission for justice and lasting peace? Can you help to lead to a new day for the people of this long-suffering region. What is the alternative? Surely, nobody can help but be moved by the man-made human tragedy of frightened, starving, hungry and sick families forced out of their homes and country in the name of ethnic cleansing. US airforce almost always find it hard not to kill at least a few people on the same team in any attack. That is "friendly fire", killing unarmed Kosovan refugees, unarmed civilians and Chinese diplomats etc. Armed Serbian terror gangs roaming the streets in Kosovo, forcing unarmed Kosovans from their homes, torturing the men and raping the women are trickier to hunt down, needing soldiers on the ground. No prizes for guessing which one US-led NATO forces go for. In the wake of the US school shootings to celebrate Adolf Hitler's birthday, US president Bill Clinton urged school children not to settle their differences with weapons. That is a bit rich for someone who is bombing the living **** out of unarmed Iraq and armed Serbia. Is this the "New World Order"? Is this a new Palestine in Europe? Is this another Bosnia in Europe? Is this a new Iraq in Europe? Developing....... for updates and further information contact Shanti RTV news agency by email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ends; Presented by: Shanti RTV (c) 06 May 1999 [k27/599] [The author, Parveez Syed, is an investigative journalist and a mass media programming consultant. He has exposed many liars, subverters and deceivers. Moles and whistleblowers e-mail leaks and briefings to him. His copyrighted, unique features are often developed into probing factual television documentaries. The features are archived on thousands of websites worldwide] ----------------------------------------------------------------- Parveez Syed's direct contact details are: One Stuart Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 8RA1 UK Tel: London-UK 0044-831-196693; ***{After 30 September 1999 dial code change 0044-7831-196693}*** INTERNET emailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----------------------------------------------------------------
