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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 4, 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(Editor's Note: With the progressive changeover of responsibility from KDOM to OSCE/KVM, the KDOM Daily Report has been replaced by this Update, which is published as material becomes available.)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 4, 1999

March 4, 1999 Generally Kosovo is quiet today -- with one major exception. OSCE/KVM reports heavy fighting near Lapusnik, southwest of Pristina, involving artillery, tank, mortar, and small arms fire. The shooting began around 7:00 AM. Several KVM patrols monitored the action throughout the day and report that it had slackened by late afternoon. No casualty reports are yet available.

There have been no reports of a continuation of the fighting we saw earlier this week in the Djeneral Jankovic area along the Macedonian border. That fighting was the cause of a UNHCR-organized evacuation of 250 IDPs who had been surviving for several days under plastic sheeting following flight from their villages in the troubled area.

KVM is working today on the case of a VJ soldier being held by the KLA in the village of Mijalic on the highway between Pristina and Vucitrn. Serb police have requested they be permitted to investigate the killing of two other Serbs associated with the soldier's kidnapping. So far, the KLA is not permitting the police to investigate the matter.

Reports from the Podujevo area say repairs to power lines and other infrastructure have been completed. Electric power will be restored throughout the region within a few days. To help assure their security, KVM patrols accompanied the work crews as the necessary repairs were made.

The "firing exercise" conducted by the VJ in the Bukos area south of Mitrovica beginning on February 25 resulted in some villagers being forced from their homes, according to reports gathered by the KVM. The reports also contain allegations of VJ personnel being involved in looting during the exercise.

[End of Document]

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