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Kosovo Update Released by the Bureau of European Affairs, Office of South Central European Affairs, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC, March 3, 1999

(Editor's Note: With the progressive changeover of responsibility from KDOM to OSCE/KVM, the KDOM Daily Report has been replaced by this Update, which is published as material becomes available.)

Compiled by EUR/SCE (202-647-5624) from daily reports of the U.S. element
of the Kosovo Diplomatic Observers Mission and other sources

March 3, 1999

March 3, 1999 Although the sun is shining brightly today in Kosovo, tensions remain high and there are reports of continued shooting in the area west of Djeneral Jankovic near the Macedonian border. Some 2,000 villagers in the region were reportedly displaced by the fighting earlier this week. Most have now flooded into the center of Djeneral Jankovic. Tensions are running very high also in the Urahovac area as a result of the recent kidnapings and killings there.

OSCE/KVM reports that there was artillery and heavy machinegun fire in the area west of Vucitrn and south of Mitrovica last night. Also, the area around Glocovac remains nervous as a police convoy is scheduled to pass through a KLA-controlled area today. Small arms, mortar, and artillery fire also were reported late yesterday in the villages of Palivodenica and Kotlina near Pristina.

KDOM reports that VJ and police units are on the move today with some VJ units deploying in new positions near the Kosovo-Macedonia border.

In the Malisevo area, KDOM personnel observed significant reconstruction in progress. A dozen homes in villages to the north of the town sport new roofs of plastic sheeting. In the area, also, people are now working their fields and children are in school. KDOM estimates that about 2,000 displaced residents have now returned to Malisevo.

There is a demonstration scheduled today in Strpce (at noon local time) to protest the death of a police commander in Kacanik. The demonstrators reportedly will walk from Strpce to Brezovica. There are no reports of any violence accompanying this demonstration.

KVM is investigating an unidentified body found in Trakanie near Pec. They are also looking into the case of an Albanian male whose body was discovered last night in Brestovac near Prizren.

OSCE/KVM patrols continue to be harassed by Serb military and police who regularly stop and request searches of the verifiers' vehicles. The KVM personnel do not permit their vehicles to be searched and are thus regularly delayed for extended periods before being permitted to proceed. With the arrival of improved weather, NGOs are accelerating their activities. Working with the OSCE/KVM patrols, UNHCR, World Food Program, and several others are delivering food and other relief supplies to villages in the Djeneral Janovic area. Also, working with KDOM and KVM some NGOs are evacuating women and children from the town of Garje where there has been recent fighting.

U.S. KDOM remains based in Skopje and is running daily missions into Kosovo when so authorized.

[End of Document]

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