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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 24, 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to OSCE/KVM, the KDOM Daily Report has been replaced by this Update,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 the Department of State, EUR/SCE, Room 3253, (202-647-5624)
from reports of the U.S. element of the Kosovo Diplomatic Observers Mission,
the OSCE/Kosovo Verification Mission, and other sources

March 24, 1999

The situation in Pristina at latest report is quiet but there are tanks on the streets. One tank is reportedly parked in front of the American Center with its gun pointing toward the building. Last night there were also a dozen police with their automatic weapons trained on the center.

Heavy fighting reportedly continues in the Drenica region. New fighting is also reported in the area between Stimlje and Suva Reka. There are also reports of increased Serb activity in southern and southwest Kosovo where "burn and destroy" missions seem to be underway.

The UNHCR and the U.S. embassy in Skopje report that the Macedonians have essentially closed the border to the flow of Kosovo refugees. The F.Y.R.O.M. foreign ministry said on Monday that there were 10,200 Kosovo refugees in Macedonia and that the number was rising rapidly. Local agencies report the number to be considerably higher now, placing a strain on the Macedonoians' ability to accommodate the refugees.

The American embassy in Belgrade has now closed, and the personnel have departed. The UN withdrew its international staff from Kosovo this morning. With the exception of International Red Cross (ICRC), all international relief assistance activities in Kosovo have now been suspended. Indigenous organizations, such as the Mother Teresa Society, continue to operate.

As the situation in Kosovo deteriorated, Albanian Prime Minister Majko met earlier this week with the ethnic Albanian Kosovar negotiators for discussions of the crisis. The Albanian leader had earlier called for deployment of NATO forces in Kosovo. The Albanians are reportedly reinforcing their security forces along the Serb frontiers following an incident on Sunday when Serb forces entered Albania near Kamenice and mined some border territory.

The Pristina Albanian-language daily Koha Ditore, which was closed down by Serb authorities last week, was fined a total of 520,000 dinars by a Serb court on Monday. Following the imposition of the fine, the paper's management went ahead with the daily's publication, then met to decide whether or not to comply with what it called the court's "outrage."

[End of Document]

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