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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 18, 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(Editor's Note: With the progressive changeover of responsibility from KDOM to OSCE/KVM, the KDOM Daily Report has been replaced by this Update, which is published as material becomes available.)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 18, 1999

Reports from the field today indicate that the Serbs continue to move sizeable reinforcements in and around Kosovo. As of yesterday, there were some 18,000-21,000 troops poised just outside the province. Over the past 3 days, there have been significant troop movements along the Albanian border and near Pristina. The KVM reported yesterday two VJ convoys in the Gnilane region including 80 armed Serb civilians (presumably reservists).

The Serb troop movements as well as their attacks on ethnic Albanian villages appear to be designed to further destabilize the situation during the peace talks in Paris. The number of F.R.Y. and Serbian troops now out of barracks and in Kosovo and the introduction of new battle tanks puts Belgrade grossly out of compliance with the obligation it undertook last October.

The peace talks continue today but appear to have reached a stalemate as the Albanians are prepared to sign the Rambouillet accords while the F.R.Y. side is not. At Paris, Serb President Milutonovic maintains that his delegation would not discuss the implementation sections of the accords until agreement was reached on a political settlement. No further negotiation on the terms of that agreement are planned in this session. If the Serbs continue to refuse to discuss the agreement seriously the talks will not continue for long.

A summary of the report by Finnish pathologists on the January 15 killings at Racak indicates that the 45 victims were all unarmed civilians, including several elderly men and women. None wore badges or other military identification. They all died at approximately the same time and most were shot where they were found.

While the team's medical summary tends to confirm the KVM and UN Security Council conclusions that what happened at Racak was a massacre, it is not equivalent to a full criminal investigation. The F.R.Y. government is under considerable international pressure to allow an impartial investigation by the ICTY of this and other possible crimes against humanity in Kosovo.

The Belgrade government has closed down two ethnic Albanian publications, according to media reports from Kosovo. Shops were prohibited from selling the daily Kosova Sot and the bi-weekly Gazeta Shqiptare beginning yesterday.

There has been an increase recently in incidents of hostility against OSCE/KVM personnel in Kosovo. Although there have been no reported injuries involved, KVM vehicles and patrols have been assailed by angry crowds, some throwing stones.

Yesterday 500-700 IDPs fled their homes in Korisa in southern Kosovo northeast of Prizren when six T-55 tanks and 200 VJ troops deployed in their neighborhood.

[End of Document]

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