Kosovo-militsen UCPMB vil fortsette væpnet kamp
UCPMB uttalte i forrige uke at de skulle stoppe de væpnede aksjonene
i Sør-Serbia. Ifølge Washington Post har ingen avvæpning skjedd, og
UCPMB fortsetter å holde militære øvelser i Dubrosin. En kommandant
har gått ut til Koha Ditore og sagt at den væpnede kampen skal
fortsette. Hashim Thaqi har tydeligvis ikke kontrollen over UCPMB.
Den makedonske avisa Dnevnik hevder videre at UCK opererer i
fire makedonske landsbyer rett over grensa fra Kosovo; Lojane,
Vaksince, Straza og Lipkovo. Dette benektes av NATO, som sier at UCK
ikke er aktive utenfor Kosovo.
Øistein Holen
P.S. Tiden er knapp om dagen, jeg vil ikke ha tid til å diskutere
eller poste på KK-forum igjen før om et par måneders tid.
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Utdrag fra Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27008-2000Mar27.html
Kosovo Militia Fails to Honor Vow to Disarm
(...) Elements within the organization--the Liberation Army of Presevo,
Medvedja and Buganovac, which is composed largely of former Kosovo
Liberation Army members--seem determined to continue their challenge to
Serbian security forces in the Presevo Valley, a predominantly ethnic
Albanian-populated area of southern Serbia just outside the U.S.-patrolled
zone of eastern Kosovo, the officials said.
Despite the agreement last Thursday, these militiamen have continued to
wear uniforms and conduct training exercises with AK-47 assault rifles in
and around the village of Dubrosin, which lies in a neutral zone between
U.S. forces in Kosovo and Yugoslav forces in Serbia proper. In addition,
some members of the militia group have continued to cross back and forth
between the U.S.-patrolled area of Kosovo and the neutral zone, where they
undergo military training. (...)
Just hours after making the declaration last Thursday, however, the group-
-known as the UCPMB in Albanian--staged "platoon-type training exercises"
around Dubrosin, according to a U.S. military spokesman with the Kosovo
peacekeeping force. "As a matter of fact, the numbers of soldiers training
in and around Dubrosin continues to increase," said Army Lt. Col. Jeffrey
Snow.(...)
Western military and diplomatic officials believe the group has little
popular support either in Kosovo or the Presevo Valley but that it
contains some elements--including supporters of an expanded Albania--that
are determined to continue armed struggle against Serbia. Moreover,
according to ethnic Albanian sources, some of the group's sponsors
anticipate that a fresh guerrilla conflict could tap large amounts of
money from Albanian communities in Western Europe and the United States.
(...)
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Dagsavisen, idag:
http://www.dagsavisen.no/utenriks/2000/03/465322.shtml
(...)
En av kommandantene for den kosovoalbanske UCPMB-militsen gikk i går ut
og feide til side avtalen andre UCPMB-ledere og Hashim Thaci inngikk i
helgen om ikke å provosere de serbiske spesialstyrkene sør i Serbia.
Under sterkt press fra amerikanske diplomater kunngjorde Hashim
Thaci, tidligere leder for den kosovoalbanske UCK-geriljaen, i helgen
at den nye kosovoalbanske militsen som kaller seg Frigjøringshæren for
Presevo, Medvedja og Bujanovac (UCPMB) ville nedlegge sine våpen. UCPMB
har operert fra baser i Kosovo inn i selve Serbia.
NATO-landene frykter at Jugoslavias president Slobodan Milosevic
vil kunne bruke provokasjoner fra UCPMB til å trappe ytterligere opp
nærværet av serbiske spesialstyrker og den jugoslaviske hær i Presevo-
dalen. (...)
UCPMB forplikter seg nå til å gi opp sin militære aktivitet og
isteden begynne vanlig politisk virksomhet, sa Thaci optimistisk etter
et ni timer langt møte med amerikanske diplomater og flere UCPMB-ledere
i Gjilan.
Men i går trykket avisen Koha Ditore et brev undertegnet UCPMB-
kommandant Vullnet Ibishi som blankt avviser Thacis løfter. Koha Ditore
stiller spørsmål ved hvem denne kommandanten er, og dermed er det helt
uvisst om UCPMB-aksjonene i Serbia vil opphøre. (...)
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http://www.transitions-online.org/week.html
(...)
Is the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) active in Macedonia? On 21 March the
Macedonian daily Dnevnik reported that the sixth zone of UCK activities
spills into Macedonia. The daily claimed that information was confirmed
by a 3 March report of the International Crisis Group. According to
Dnevnik, the UCK operates in Lojane, Vaksince, Straza, and Lipkovo - all
Macedonian villages close to the border with Kosovo, where the majority
of the population is ethnic Albanian. NATO representatives in Macedonia
have said that the UCK does not operate outside Kosovo and that it is
not active in Macedonia. They also claimed they were not familiar with
the report from Brussels (which, incidentally, confirms six zones of
UCK operation but does not mention Macedonia). Arben Xaferi, the leader
of the Democratic Party of Albanians (the biggest Albanian party in
Macedonia, which participates in the government) told Dnevnik that the
sixth area in which the UCK operates is nothing new, and that the UCK
works in coordination with NATO. He added that everyone—including "naive
representatives from international organizations"—is buying into the myth
that ethnic Albanians are seeking to create a "greater Albania."
(...)
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