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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 16, 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(Editor's Note: With the progressive changeover of responsibility from KDOM to OSCE/KVM, the KDOM Daily Report has been replaced by this Update, which is published as material becomes available.)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 16, 1999

The focus for most Kosovo-watchers today is on Paris where the peace talks resumed yesterday. Hashim Thaqi, Chairman of the ethnic Albanian delegation to the talks, sent a letter to Secretary of State Albright yesterday announcing formally his delegation's readiness to sign the Rambouillet agreement for peace and self-government in Kosovo. This development was welcomed by the secretary and was labeled "an important step forward in the negotiating process, one that furthers prospects for a peaceful resolution of the Kosovo conflict."

Secretary Albright's statement also said that it is now up to the F.R.Y./Serbian side to accept the proposed interim settlement -- refusal by Belgrade to do so will place the responsibility for failure of the process clearly on the shoulders of the F.R.Y. Government.

The KVM reports an ongoing VJ/police operation today at Obilic, northwest of Pristina. We have no details of that action. There are no other reports of major fighting in the province today. There have been numerous movements of Serb military and police convoys into and within Kosovo observed in the past few days, perhaps a precursor of an offensive in the near future, some observers comment.

The heavy fighting reported yesterday in the vicinity of Klina resulted in "numerous" casualties according to observers. Four Albanians were reportedly killed in the nearby village of Dus but it is not clear whether they were KLA combatants or civilians.

The KVM has confirmed reports carried by the Pristina media that Serb police killed four members of a Kosovar Albanian family (including a 16-year-old) near Suva Reka on Sunday. There was no apparent motive for the killings according to the reports.

The long-awaited report by a team of Finnish pathologists on the autopsies performed following the massacre at Racak late last year is scheduled to be released by the EU this week.

[End of Document]

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