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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 11, 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(Editor's Note: With the progressive changeover of responsibility from KDOM to OSCE/KVM, the KDOM Daily Report has been replaced by this Update, which is published as material becomes available.)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 11, 1999

Reports from sources on the ground this morning indicate Kosovo is generally quiet today. There are minor skirmishes reported, however, around Vucitrn and tensions continue to run high there and elsewhere. Other reports say there are unusually high numbers of Serb VJ and police troops along the Pristina-Skopje route. The weather throughout the province has improved and sunny, warm conditions prevail today with the temperatures in the low-to-mid 60s F.

We have reports that Serb VJ forces have conducted extensive sweep operations this week, attempting to find KLA units to the west of the Kacanik-to-Djeneral Jankovic highway. These operations have forced hundreds of villagers from their homes. The UNHCR estimates that since these sweeps around Kacanik began on February 26, more than 5,000 villagers have been driven from their homes. Some 4,000 of these have had to spend at least one night outside in the open. It is not clear today how many of these IDPs remain in the open today.

Yesterday, KLA units reportedly attacked Serb police on similar sweep operations northeast of Malisevo and in the Orahovac region. We have no reports of casualties in that action.

These sweep operations and the disaster they represent for so many innocent civilians are disturbingly reminiscent of the tactics the world saw the Serb force employ last autumn during the height of the Kosovo fighting. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke met with F.R.Y. President Milosevic for 3 1/2 hours yesterday but apparently no modification in Milosevic's firm rejection of NATO troops in Kosovo has been achieved.

With the resumed peace talks scheduled to open in France on Monday, the position of the ethnic Albanian side appears somewhat equivocal. In public statements, Fehmi Agani, an LDK member of the Albanian delegation, said on March 9 that his negotiating team will not go to the resumed talks if the Serbs are not willing to agree beforehand to the Rambouillet accords. He added that the ethnic Albanians want a signing ceremony -- not more negotiations. KLA General Staff spokesman Jakup Krasniqi said on March 10 that the accord is still being discussed within his organization. He estimated the chances of the KLA signing the accord at 50-50. Meanwhile, Tirana press reports say Hasim Thaqi, "prime minister" of the shadow Albanian Kosovar government, has left Albania for Washington.

So far this month, the UNHCR and several NGOs working on relief have been able to deliver more than 400 tons of food and other needed supplies to IDPs in the Srbica, Glogovac, Kosovska Mitrovi, Suva Reka, Klina, Stimlje, and Kacanik areas.

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