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KDOM Daily Report Released by the Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs, Office of South Central European Affairs, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC, November 15, 1998

Compiled by EUR/SCE (202-647-4850) from daily reports
of the U.S. element of the Kosovo Diplomatic Observer Mission

November 15, 1998

One to three shots were apparently fired toward a KDOM vehicle today by VJ personnel in a passing convoy. The incident took place on the Suva Reka-Stimlje road near Dulje. After the VJ convoy passed the KDOM vehicle, going in the opposite direction, KDOM team members saw muzzle flashes from the back of one of the VJ vehicles and heard the bullets pass over their heads. The KDOM personnel were in a bright orange colored Humvee, not likely to be mistaken for anything but a KDOM vehicle. The KDOM team departed the scene quickly. In another incident near Malisevo, KDOM personnel were standing outside their vehicle when a police car came toward them rapidly, swerving away only at the last moment. As the vehicle passed, a Serbian policeman inside aimed a weapon toward the KDOM team. KDOM is making appropriate protests to the Serbian authorities over both incidents.

KDOM again accompanied police patrols from Belavica to Blace. When Serbian police personnel brandished their weapons in an intimidating manner while passing through villages, however, KDOM discontinued accompanying the patrols and advised the police commander that this behavior is in violation of the October agreement.

Near Kosovska Mitrovica, a soldier denied KDOM access to a VJ base. In contacts with KLA west of Glogovac, KDOM personnel were twice denied access to a westward route for lack of "a letter from Adem Demaci." KDOM will once again protest this action to Demaci and other KLA leaders.

KDOM met with senior KLA leaders over the issues of missing persons, rules of the road, a mixed commission on building material supply, and other matters. The KLA leaders said they will provide a contact structure down to local levels to assist in creating a better interface with KDOM. The KLA leaders said they did not like the KDOM patrolling with police. They also requested KDOM to ask the police not to interfere with KLA exhumation of four ethnic Albanians buried by police in Drenica.

Villagers in Kisela Banja (near Podujevo) told KDOM that almost all IDPs have now returned to their area and that they were well supplied with staples. They added that no NGOs had visited their region but that it was not important as few were in need of aid.

KDOM has 182 Americans today and is operating with 40 vehicles.

[End of Document]

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