[news] News, 15.04.2004, 16:00 Uhr UTC
Deutsche Welle English Service News 15 April 2004, 16:00 UTC -- Final Round: Go East! The EU Quiz: Europe is expanding East. Embark on a journey through the 10 candidate countries set to enter the EU by playing the fourth and final round of DW-WORLD's Go East quiz Lots of great prizes are waiting to be discovered. http://dw-world.de/go-east -- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Europe Outraged by Alleged Bin Laden Tape EU leaders on Thursday dismissed the offer of a truce from terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, who said his terror network al Qaeda might spare Europe from attacks. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1433_A_1171074_1_A,00.html -- Three Japanese hostages in Iraq set free Three Japanese nationals taken hostage last week have been released in the Iraqicapital Baghdad. The pan-Arabtelevision station Al-Jazeera broadcastpictures of them sitting on a sofa in a Baghdad office, apparently in good health. The station said the two aid workers and a journalist had been turned over to the Committee of Muslim Scholars in Baghdad, a Sunni Muslimorganization that mediated their freedom. InTokyo, national broadcaster NHK reported Japanese government confirmation of their release. The three Japanese civilians were taken hostage in Iraqby militants who threatened to kill them unless Japan withdraws its non-combat troops from southern Iraq. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi had refused, insisting the soldiers will complete their humanitarian mission. US to raise US troops number in Iraq: US General The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, said here Thursday that US troops numbers will be increased in Iraq due to what he called significant security challenges. Myers told a press conference in Baghdad that General John Abizaid, the commander of US Central Command, and Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the head of US forces in Iraq, had indicated they would need more troops. He added that he believed any extra troops would show U.S. resolve to see this situation through. Iraq's Sistani tells US to stay out of Najaf Iraq's leading Shi'ite Muslim cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has warned the United States against entering the holy city of Najaf in pursuit of Moqtada al-Sadr, Shi'ite religious and political sources said on Thursday. Sistani, a political rival of rebel cleric Sadr, has issued statements in the past urging respect for law and order and the sanctity of Iraq's holy places, but he has refrained from commenting directly on the Shi'ite uprising by Sadr's militiamen. A 2,500-strong U.S. force is currently near Najaf after soldiers were sent south from bases north of Baghdad. UN's Kofi Annan criticises US President Bush for backing Israel United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has criticised US President George W. Bush for changing his policy on the Middle East peace process. Bush has shown support for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip while retaining settlements in the West Bank. Annan said Bush was ignoring the wishes of Palestinians and circumventing the peace process. The secretary general said unresolved issues should be determined by both parties based on Security Council resolutions. Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie said Bush was the first US president to give legitimacy to Jewish settlements on Palestinian territories. Russia supports Israel's Gaza Strip pull-out plan Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday conditionally welcomed Israel's initiative to withdraw Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip, but made no mention of a controversial plan to keep them in the West Bank. Lavrov told reporters an Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip was generally in line with the road map plan for a Middle East settlement -- supported by the quartet of the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia. EU opposes unilateral change to Mideast borders Meanwhile the European Union has said it opposes any kind of unilateral change to Mideast borders. A spokesman for the European Commission said the US support for Israel's plan to retain part of the West Bank did not conform with a position reached by EU leaders last month. The spokesman said the EU would not recognise changes to the pre-1967 borders different to those agreed by both sides. Spain's Zapatero signals policy shift Spain's Prime Minister designate Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has
[news] Serbes du Kosovo : La valise ou le cercueil
Title: Message Le Figaro Magazine Serbs of Kosovo: the suitcase or the coffin * 28 dead, 600 wounded persons, 3 200 refugees, 30 churches or convents burned-out: in Kosovo, the anti-Serbian pogroms resumed with a greater violence. For the first time since 1999, international civil servants evoke publicly an "ethnic cleansing". Objective of the Albanian extremists: get rid of the last 100 000 Serbs of the province. Report on the damned of the war.* Allusion to the motto "la valise ou le cercueil" that the Algerian Muslims were writing on the walls of Algiers in 1960-61 when they understood that they would be granted independence but did not want their Christian neighbors to stay. From our special correspondent Jean-Louis Tremblais[April 09th, 2004]http://www.lefigaro.fr/magazine/20040408.MAG0020.html Serbes du Kosovo : La valise ou le cercueil 28 morts, 600 blesss, 3 200 rfugis, 30 glises ou monastres incendis : au Kosovo, les pogroms anti-Serbes ont repris avec une violence accrue. Pour la premire fois depuis 1999, des fonctionnaires internationaux voquent publiquement un "nettoyage ethnique". Objectif des extrmistes albanais : se dbarrasser des 100 000 derniers Serbes de la province. Reportage chez les damns de la guerre. De notre envoy spciaul Jean-Louis Tremblais[09 avril 2004] A notre dernire rencontre, Borislav Kevkic tait en sursis. Ce prtre orthodoxe veillait sur Saint-Sava, la dernire glise de Mitrovica-Sud (NDLR : secteur albanais de cette ville divise par la rivire Ibar ; le nord tant serbe). A ses cts, rpartis dans trois bicoques, on comptait six Serbes : sa femme, deux autres popes tmraires, une vieille paralytique et paranoaque, les petits-enfants de cette malheureuse partant tous les matins l'cole sous escorte militaire. Et puis des chats. Plein de chats, ni serbes ni albanais, flins apatrides se jouant des check-points et autres barbels. Dans cette ultime enclave, protge vingt-quatre heures sur vingt-quatre par les soldats de la Kfor (la force multinationale de l'Otan), interdite de sortie sous peine de lynchage, cette communaut irrductible et anachronique (sur)vivait tant bien que mal. Six Serbes au milieu de 80 000 Albanais. Les derniers des Mohicans. Chaque dimanche, le pre Borislav sonnait les cloches toute vole. Pour la forme, car Saint-Sava restait vide, les Serbes de Mitrovica-Nord refusant de s'aventurer de l'autre ct du pont, chez les Shiptars (nom que se donnent eux-mmes les Albanais et que les Serbes emploient avec mpris). Malgr tout, le prtre disait la messe. Pour lui et les siens. Pour Dieu et la Serbie. Si je m'en vais, me disait-il, ils construiront une mosque. Huit mois plus tard, si la mosque n'est pas encore construite, l'glise est dj dtruite... Incendie le 18 mars lors du pogrom qui a fait 28 morts et 600 blesss dans tout le Kosovo. De Saint-Sava il ne reste qu'un btiment calcin et la croix du toit (trop haut pour les vandales). A l'intrieur, ce n'est plus qu'un tas de cendres : icnes, statues, chaire, autel, etc. Idem pour les habitations, pilles avant d'tre brles. Le cimetire du jardin, o reposent des ecclsiastiques, a t profan. Stles renverses et fracasses. Des parachutistes franais (la brigade multinationale nord-est de la Kfor, qui contrle la rgion de Mitrovica, est place sous commandement franais) gardent dsormais cet amas de ruines que mme les chats ont dsert, griffons coeurs par le spectacle de la folie humaine. - Il faisait nuit, se souvient le pre Borislav, aujourd'hui rfugi Mitrovica-Nord, en zone serbe et donc sre. Les Albanais ont dfonc les grilles. Ils rclamaient ma tte. Je les entendais vocifrer. Heureusement, les soldats marocains de la Kfor sont venus nous chercher et nous ont sortis de l'enfer. Nous n'avons pas eu le temps de faire nos valises. On a ramass ce que l'on pouvait dans un sac en plastique, et puis adieu. Les Albanais ont commenc par casser, par voler. Le lendemain, ils ont tout fait flamber. Quarante annes de ma vie sont parties en fume !Maisons incendies et scnes de pogrom Pour chapper ses tourmenteurs, le religieux a t exfiltr grve un hlicoptre franais. Il squatte maintenant la maison d'un pope, avec une couverture et quelques hardes dans son balluchon. Ils sont 3 200 Serbes (et quelques Ashkalis, des Tziganes musulmans perscuts galement par les Albanais en tant qu'ex-collaborateurs du rgime Milosevic) dans le mme cas. Dans la novlangue onusienne, on les appelle les IDP (Internal Displaced Persons), littralement des personnes internes dplaces. Subtilit juridique qui vite de les comptabiliser comme rfugis et permet de sauver la face. Vous avez droit au retour, leur a promis Harri Holkeri, administrateur finlandais de l'ONU au Kosovo. Mais revenir o ? Sept villages serbes ont t rays de la carte. Svinjare, Obilic, Kosovo Polje, Gnjilane, Caglavica, Lipljan, Urosevac. A Pristina, capitale de la province, il n'y a plus un Serbe. Les 200 qui vivotaient
[news] Kosovo: A watershed for NATO
Title: Message www.apisgroup.orgApis Group, BelgradeApril 12, 2004Kosovo: A watershed for NATOThe most recent security reports from various sources confirm that insome parts of Kosovo the Kosovo Liberation Army is reactivating and thatKosovo Albanian militants are intensifying preparations for thecontinuation of armed attacks against Serbs and international forces.Belgrade officials, the Return Coalition (Povratak) and the SerbianOrthodox Church have already requested an immediate increase in troopnumbers from NATO and broader measures of engagement against Albanianterrorist formations because new attacks can be expected in the nearfuture as soon as Albanian extremists comprehend that NATO is indecisiveon the issue of how to effectively face the situation on the ground.Like in a hijack operation the Albanian terrorists have already detectedthe indecision of the five leading Western governments (the Quint -U.S., Britain, France, Germany and Italy) where some believe the cost oftheir political failure can be covered up by recognizing theindependence of Kosovo. Many of them hope that this will placate the"hijackers" and help the plane to land safely with all the passengershopefully still alive. However, the mentality of the terrorists isdifferent. Concessions have proven to be signs of weakness and theterrorists will soon comprehend they can do more or perhaps serve as aninspiration to others to redefine the map of Europe using similarmethods.At the same time, Kosovo Albanian leaders are buying time by issuingpathetic appeals for "peace" while they seek to avoid personalresponsibility for the March pogrom. Appeals by Hashim Thaci and others,resembling more or less calls to chastity and virtue by pimps, arebecoming the subject of jeers even in the Kosovo Albanian media. Severalleading international officials (including Javier Solana, Jaap de HoopScheffer, Gregory Johnson and others) have clearly pointed out thatintelligence reports indicate that the attacks on the Serbs and KFORduring the period from March 17-19 were planned and well orchestrated.Hundreds of young Albanians, many of them armed, were transferred by busto Mitrovica and Pristina to set fire to the houses of Serbs or attackKFOR soldiers and international police. Trucks and other vehiclesblocked the maneuvers of KFOR troops in the most critical locations.There are too many coincidences to believe that the violence wasspontaneous.Regardless of the extent to which the present UNMIK policy, underpressure from some Western governments who are trying to cover up theirown failure and wrong assessments, attempted to convince everyone tobelieve that the pogrom represented a spontaneous reaction by peopledissatisfied with social conditions, it remains clear that neither NATOnor UNMIK police have yet undertaken concrete action against theorganizers and terrorist groups which took part in the orchestration ofthe violence by the rampaging mob in Kosovo. As someone wisely observed"the clock was turned back a few weeks" and a strategy of amnesia wasadopted in order assist in the rehabilitation of the failed mission. TheUNMIK bureaucrats reemerged from their rat holes with their programs forrefugee returns, assessments, diagrams and schemes, lecturing onsomething they themselves no longer believe. It is a well-known factthat UNMIK failed to act in the most critical moments while HarriHolkeri personally lacked all control outside his own offices. The flagof the Republic of Albania was flying over almost all the policestations in the province as well as, needless to add, all publicbuildings. Perhaps what happened could be described as a putsch? It is afact that on March 17 and 18 Kosovo institutions ceased to function andall power was in the hands of the violent mobs in the streets.In any case, considering the attempts to hush up the problem of "KosovoAlbanian extremism" thus described, to everyone's complete surprise, byself-proclaimed Kosovo president Ibrahim Rugova for the British media,international peacekeeping forces will be hard pressed to save their owndamaged reputation and credibility unless they urgently undertakeradical and surgical measures.Their hesitation, television and other media appeals and attempts tomake everything look relaxes in fact only demonstrates the lack of aclear strategy and the surprising truth that Kosovo Albanian terroristgroups have already taken the initiative on the battleground. Afteryears of dressed up and self-lauding reports from Pristina, many in theWest can hardly believe that their Kosovo success story is in fact ahard blow to the solar plexus of Europe. The aftermath of the Marchevent sin Kosovo for NATO and the Western governments can be veryadequately compared with the aftermath of September 11, 2001 in theUnited States of America. In both cases, the hard blows came from formerallies (who had been useful for a while in the past).The Serbian
