Posted on 3/23/2004, 6:55:01 PM by MarMema
A Personal Account Of Ethnic Cleansing, Terror: "They Wanted to Burn Us"
'I heard a terrible noise. I looked through a window and saw our church in fire. I took the children to Hranislav's yard so quickly. The children did not ask me 'Mama will they kill us?' because they are too small to ask something like that', Verica Mladenovic says.
She is 40. She is from Obilic. She lived in Cerska Street only several gardens from the Stolices house. The Stolices were killed and burnt last year. Two days ago while rushing children into armored UNMIK jeep she saw smoke from the direction of her house. She has three sons, Milosh 11, Milorad 8 and Nikola 5.
We are dialing the number of her mobile telephone.
'Is that Belgrade', she says and begins to tell her story immediately.
'The first night when the violence started we all were sitting in front of our houses. The situation with us was peaceful, but nobody went to bed. Then all of a sudden it began. About 8 a.m. after our church, three white skyscrapers were set on fire. Kosovo Police arrived and took us into the station. We ran away to Hranislav Radovanovic, the man that has bees. There were 50 adults and 11 children. My neighbor, that Albanian is not telling me whether I should stay or leave. He was only watching.
When I left I did not know that I would never see my house again. . Very soon Kosovo Protection Corpus arrived to tell us that we should leave Obilic', Verica says.
Since they refused to leave, later on they were taken to a barracks in Pristina where Italian soldiers are.
'We have decided to leave. Italian soldiers told us that everything that belonged to Serbs had burnt in fire. We all shall leave from here as soon as possible'.
March 22, 2004, 10:07 a.m.
Carnage in Kosovo
Where's the Western resolve?
By Nikolas K. Gvosdev
The world should be watching Kosovo, but it probably isn't. In the United States, many believe that the dispatch of additional forces to the troubled province of Kosovo "solved" the crisis. The problem is, the damage to NATO's credibility has already been done - and is worsening by the day. The alliance that for 50 years was prepared to spit in Joe Stalin's eye is frightened to death by rampaging ethnic cleansers.
The whole premise of the American-led intervention in 1999 was that the Western Alliance could stop ethnic cleansing "at the heart of Europe" and bring the conditions necessary for the creation of a peaceful, multiethnic society. It was an embarrassment, of course, that in the first weeks of NATO's deployment nearly 100 Serbian Orthodox holy sites were destroyed and some two-thirds of the province's Serb population (along with other non-Albanian ethnic groups) were ethnically cleansed. But the line adopted in Washington, London, Berlin, and Paris was that once NATO was firmly in control of Kosovo these outrages would cease. The Serbs who remained in the province took the West at its word.
The latest outbreak of violence, which in a three-day period has already left 25 churches and monasteries - including UNESCO-protected sites - in ruins and made nearly 4,000 people homeless took place under the noses of 18,000 international peacekeepers and exposes the hollowness of Western guarantees. No one should have been caught by surprise. "It was planned in advance," said Derek Chappell, the U.N.'s Kosovo Mission spokesman. Another put it more forcefully: "This is planned, coordinated, one-way violence from the Albanians against the Serbs. It is spreading and has been brewing for the past week.... Wherever there is a Serbian population there is Albanian action against them." International officials have used the terms "pogrom" and "Kristallnacht" to describe the violence against the Serbs.
And yet, even in the last few weeks, the NATO mission in Kosovo has been touted as an example of successful peacekeeping. Over the last year, proposals have been advanced for deploying NATO forces to keep the peace in other sensitive areas in the Balkans and the Greater Middle East such as Moldova and Georgia, among the two communities in Cyprus, and between Israel and the Palestinians once a settlement is reached. After the events of this past week, does anyone believe that others will trust NATO promises?
Two sad lessons have been communicated. The first is that NATO countries have placed such a high value on "no-casualty" missions that aggressive and effective peacekeeping - including disarming militias, hunting down war criminals and combating organized crime and terrorist groups - takes a back seat to "not stirring things up." Even if the deployment of additional U.S. and British forces this week to Kosovo calms things down, we simply return to the pre-March 2004 status quo.
The second is that ethnic cleansing still works as a strategy, despite all the West's moralizing. Throughout the region, there has been a clear logic at work: When an ethnic community that forms an overall minority in a country wants to purse self-determination, it finds it useful to establish itself as the absolute majority in the territory in question. The Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Abkhaz, and the Turkish Cypriots all found it politically expedient to push out residents of the titular majority (Azeris, Georgians, Greek Cypriots, respectively) to bolster their case for separation.
Kosovo was supposed to be different. Then-president Clinton and Prime Minister Blair stated that the West had to draw the line and stop this cycle of violence. The immense power of the Western Alliance was to be deployed to first reverse the expulsion of the Kosovo Albanians by Slobodan Milosevic, and then to make members of all Kosovo communities feel safe and secure, so as to construct civil society and lay the foundations for democracy. The whole justification for ending actual Serbian jurisdiction over Kosovo and placing it in the hands of an international authority backed by NATO firepower was to prevent any further ethnic cleansing.
And now you find that many of the same people who pushed for intervention in 1999 are arguing that, regretfully, the only solution is to push for an independent Kosovo. Yet the attempt to advance a political agenda through the use of violence and terror tactics should be of particular concern to the West. Apparently NATO, the grand alliance prepared to stop the forces of the Soviet Union from overwhelming Western Europe, is unable to prevent mobs from frustrating the West's stated desire to ensure that ethnic cleansing will not be legitimized.
The Bush administration can throw up its hands and do nothing - and, in so doing, kiss goodbye to any hope of solving the area's other protracted conflicts. Or, it can take action to make a reality the declaration made on Friday by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Foreign Minister of Serbia and Montenegro Goran Svilanovic that "no party can be allowed to profit or advance a political agenda through violence."
And it is essential that the West not abandon its commitment to "standards before status" with regard to Kosovo. Aid and assistance must be made conditional upon a fundamental improvement of the security of the non-Albanian population. As far as the reality on the ground is concerned, we are back to June 1999: We need to start from scratch in how we approach the province's governance. The failures of the past five years do not provide a workable foundation for further progress.
It may be that the ultimate solution to Kosovo is cantonization between an Albanian and a Serbian entity (with extraterritorial supervision for Orthodox sites in an Albanian zone). But that should come about through negotiation and compromise, not murder and arson.
In Iraq and in Kosovo and elsewhere, the United States has made promises about providing peace and security. Extremists and terrorists everywhere are challenging America's commitment to seeing its promises through. And others are watching to see how our resolve holds up.
- Nikolas K. Gvosdev is a senior fellow for strategic studies at the Nixon Center.
Kelly sees latest Kosovo terror firsthand THE CHIPPEWA HERALD
Bill Kelly's neighbor tried to stay outside all night with her sister her four children. She was that terrified that ethnic Albanians in Kosovo were going to come and burn down her house, and the village church as well, Kelly said in an e-mail from the war-torn nation.
The woman had good reason to fear. Renewed violence has ripped through the Balkan nations that once made up the Eastern Block country of Yugoslavia. Kelly, a former Chippewa County Sheriff's Deputy, is serving a law enforcement role with the United Nations. He helps train a new Kosovo police force and man a checkpoint at the border with Macedonia.
And he does what he can to protect his friends and neighbors there.
"Living in the Serbian village and watching this (expletive) is heartbreaking," Kelly said.
He stayed up with the neighbors and about 4 a.m. convinced them that it was safer inside than outside.
The Associated Press reported this morning that top U.N. official in Kosovo inspected Serb homes damaged in fires set last week by ethnic Albanian mobs as the province marked a day of mourning for the 28 people who died in the latest ethnic violence.
"The border is closed and we are on high alert status and working twelve hour shifts with two teams," Kelly said. "I was worried that the UN would evacuate us and leave them. I don't know if I could have done that."
Last week's attacks were the worst outbreak of violence since 1999, when a NATO air war ended a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanians seeking independence. The war killed 10,000 ethnic people.
Kosovo has since been an international protectorate, its final status to be decided some time in the future by the United Nations. For now, it officially remains a part of Serbia-Montenegro, the successor state of Yugoslavia.
"I think the only two churches left standing in Kosovo are the two by us -- one just up the road from my house and one in Strpce about three klicks away," Kelly said.
The violence is seen throughout the region. Kelly said a man and his son trying to get past a checkpoint were shot and killed by U.N. forces from Ukraine on Sunday.
Kelly was happy to see reinforcements in the form of 600 German troops arriving.
"You read about this and watch CNN and you feel something, but to actually see the terror these people face now and in the past is very difficult," Kelly said. You want to stand up and scream 'Stop this madness!'"
Throughout Serbia-Montenegro, flags were also lowered and Serbian Orthodox priests led liturgies and prayer services Sunday as the country mourned the victims. As church bells tolled, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Pavle, appealed for calm.
Also Sunday, thousands in Kosovo attended the funeral of two ethnic Albanian boys whose drowning was blamed on the Serbs and had sparked the violence.
The deaths of the boys on Tuesday triggered days of rioting, looting and arson by ethnic Albanian mobs against Serbs. About 600 people were injured and 4,000 were homeless by week's end.
The violence illustrated the depth of hatred between Kosovo's mostly Muslim ethnic Albanians, who want independence, and Orthodox Christian Serbs, a minority in Kosovo, who want the U.N.- run province to remain part of Serbia-Montenegro. NATO has tried to keep the peace here since the end of the war in 1999.
With fresh troops now visible and deployed throughout the province, NATO took steps to keep law and order on streets wracked for days by chaos.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Report of Fr. Dragisa Jerinic from Kosovo Polje parish
On March 17, 2004, when the rioting of the Albanian mob began, the health center was attacked first, at about 15,00 hours. The first attack occurred from the main road from Pristina to Pec from the direction of Pec. About 3,000 young Albanian extremists passed through Bresje and stopped at the Health Center. They were led by members of the Kosovo Police Service (KPS). When they arrived, the Albanian extremists began to stone the Health Center after receiving the go-ahead from a Kosovo policeman named Isa from Gornje Dobrevo. At the time of the attack there were about 40 Serb staff in the Health Center and about 20 patients in the hospital next to it. It is with great difficulty that the staff and the patients managed to save their bare lives. The hospital was set on fire immediately in the presence of UNMIK and the KPS who were at a distance of some 20-30 meters. After 5 or 10 minutes a firefighting team arrived which was allegedly not allowed to put out the fire; however, according to testimony by Health Center staff and people present, the firefighting team waited ready to put out the fire if it should spread to nearby buildings inhabited by Albanians. The second fire truck that arrived on the scene was full of gasoline. As soon as the fire began to die out they would pour gasoline on it and the fire would resume burning.
After burning the Health Center the Albanian terrorists continued with the burning of nearby Serb houses and one Serb shop. They then continued toward St. Sava School Center which was also set on fire. After that they burned all the remaining Serb houses near the school. Then they headed for the post office in Kosovo Polje and also set it on fire, thus burning all Serbian institutions near the main road.
From the very beginning, on Wednesday, March 17 at 15,00 hours until the morning of the next day the Albanian extremists who led the raging crowd burned about 20 houses in Kosovo Polje and 16 houses in Bresje. On Thursday, March 18, two more Serb houses were burned during the day, and 20 more during the night. At about 10,30 on the same day the Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas in Kosovo Polje, built in 1939, was burned. The home of the priest in Kosovo Polje was not burned because of its proximity to an Albanian house.
We are also aware that during the course of these events, at least one Serb was killed: Zlatibor Trajkovic, whose body, his family learned, has been taken to Orahovac for autopsy. A second Serb, Trifun Stojilovic, was ambushed by the Albanians on the way to his house, repeatedly stabbed with a knife and heavily beaten prior to being left for dead on the road. Also heavily beaten was Predrag Jovanovic of Kosovo Polje.
Mirko Lopata "Lale" is a Serb who has gone missing and nothing is known of his whereabouts.
The houses of all eminent Serbs who fought to live and survive in Kosovo Polje have been burned.
During the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo Polje a clear tactic could be observed. First members of the KPS would chase the Serbs from their homes; they were followed by masses of Albanians who would first loot and then set fire to the Serb houses. This looked like a well rehearsed and coordinating campaign.
In Gracanica, on March 21, 2004
Fr. D. Jerinic
Parish priest of Kosovo Polje
Monday March 22, 2004
Kosovo 'needs God's help'
Archbishop Christodoulos yesterday denounced the «ethnic cleansing» of Serbs in Kosovo and appealed for divine intervention for peace in the province, remarking that military forces could do little to combat «an evil that weapons cannot destroy.» He lamented the destruction of places of worship, «whether they be churches or mosques.»
«We cannot remain passive viewers of what appears to be a distant fire but can spread to our neighborhood,» the archbishop told a congregation in Pangrati. «May God intervene so the hostilities may end,» he added. «The ethnic cleansing of Serbs cannot bring peace because it is not a just solution,» the archbishop said, describing Kosovo as «the cradle of Serbian Orthodoxy and culture.» He stressed that the only solution was one of peaceful coexistence. Damaged churches would be repaired by the church's «Solidarity» non-governmental organization, he said.
Russia worried by indifference to Serb churches destruction
23.03.2004, 15.20
BELGRADE, March 23 (Itar-Tass) - Russia is perplexed over the calm reaction of the world community to the destruction of Orthodox churches in Kosovo, Russian Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting with Patriarch Pavle of the Serb Orthodox Church.
"We remember well a wave of indignation over the destruction by Taliban troops in Afghanistan of the stone statue of Buddha, because it was the destruction of cultural heritage," he said. He stressed that the same thing had taken place in Kosovo.
In the opinion of Shoigu, the destruction of the churches "is an attempt not only to destroy the buildings, but also to wipe out from the earth, from people's memory, all that could remind one of the people who lived on that land before."
Russian assistance to Kosovo refugees "will not be a single act, it will be rendered on a long-term basis," Shoigu said on Tuesday, responding to questions of Russian journalists.
"Russia regards as one of its main tasks the curbing of the exodus of the non-Albanian population from Kosovo and the building of long-term relations with the government of Serbia and Montenegro in the humanitarian sphere," Shoigu continued.
Report on events in Serb returnee village of Belo Polje near Pec on Wednesday,
March 17, 2004
Arandjel Arsenijevic, a Serb returnee from the village of Belo Polje near Pec, informed the Diocese of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija today regarding unfortunate events that occurred on March 17 of this year. In the early afternoon on that day, the village of Belo Polje was one of the first targets of Albanian extremists during their three-day pillaging and burning in the province.
Several members of the UNMIK police in Pec, suspecting an incident could occur, came to the Serbs in the village and advised them to all gather in a single location in order to facilitate their own protection if needed. Italian troops had a hard time understanding what was happening due to a lack of knowledge of English. At the entrance to the village there was no KFOR security checkpoint and security was ensured by periodic patrols.
"Suddenly about 5,000 people appeared who were rushing at us in a real stampede," explained Arandjel. "We were all surprised, of course. They were carrying axes, knives and rocks in their hands. One of the Albanians lunged at me and stabbed me with a knife in the arm. Then he tried to lunge at another Serb returnee. An UNMIK policeman shouted at him and the Albanian suddenly switched targets, heading toward a policewoman from the U.S. Seeing what the extremist was getting ready to do, the policewoman opened fire and killed him on the spot," said Arandjel, explaining how it all began. The fired shot caused confusion among the Albanians, enabling the Serbs to flee to the parish home, where the majority of them were temporarily housed.
The Albanians then began to shower the parish home with rocks. "We placed chairs over our heads for protection; without the chairs, they would have killed us all with the hail of rocks they threw at us," Arandjel continued, elaborating on the horrible details. "It was our great fortune that they did not simply throw a grenade at us in that moment or we would have all been killed."
While all this was going on the Italians somehow managed to get organized and drive their truck up to the parish hall. They began to organize the transfer of Serbs into the KFOR truck. "We all headed for the truck and the mass rushed at us, so that half of us hesitated and returned to the parish home," Arandjel continued his testimony. "That's what ultimately saved us because 30 people wouldn't have been able to get quickly into the truck." The Italians then came back and in a second round managed to get the remaining 15 Serbs into their truck and remove them to safety in the nearby Italian military base.
After this the Albanians set fire to all 25 houses that the refugees had managed to restore with a lot of hard work since their return to the village on July 14 of last year. The reveling over the ruins of the village lasted all night. The Serbian Orthodox Church of the Entry of the Holy Mother of God into the Temple was again set on fire; the church had been destroyed in 1999 but had been partially restored for use in religious service. All grave markers on the cemetery in Belo Polje were also destroyed. In addition to Arandjel, other seriously wounded Serbs included Milutin Batojevic and Mijo Petrovic; neither of them is in life-threatening danger.
The Serb returnees to Belo Polje are temporarily lodged in the Italian military base near Pec even thought the official UNMIK report states that they were allegedly evacuated to Montenegro. The Serbs are willing to remain in their centuries-old homes but the situation in Pec remains extremely tense and their safety without full KFOR military protection would not be possible.
Ansa - Rome, March 20, 2004
Italian philosopher Massimo Cacciari issued a statement today following the destruction of the Orthodox artistic and cultural heritage in Kosovo, which is endangered as a result of violence between the Albanian and Serb communities. In a written communiqué Cacciari said that some of the most beautiful artistic and architectural expressions of the Eastern Church have in recent days been exposed to fire and sword.
In Kosovo, which for centuries has been the center of this culture, churches and monasteries are in flames. In addition to the dead and wounded, they are also killing the irreplaceable witnesses of everything that we still want to call Europe.
"The desperate appeal of the monks and nuns of Djakovica, Pec, Prizren, Vitina and Urosevac," continued Cacciari, "appears to be falling into an endless abyss. Where are the forces that were supposed to protect these treasure troves and these people?" Cacciari asks, reminding that the West "started a war for that very reason" and that last year the Italian foreign affairs ministry "assured us of reinforced defensive forces".
ZGARBI ASKS FOR ITALIAN REINFORCEMENTS
ANSA - Belgrade, March 20, 2004
The destruction of ancient Serbian monasteries and churches in Kosovo shows the "insensitivity" of the Kosovo of Albanians, who are not sparing even those buildings that are not only religious but historically. More Italian soldiers need to be sent to defend this heritage.
This is the opinion of Vittorio Zgarbi, who visited these historic locations of Serbian Orthodox spirituality a few months ago. "We cannot hold peace marches if we are incapable of ensuring the survival of these cultural monuments," said this art critic during a telephone interview for Ansa. "It's irrelevant whether or not you support the policies of (U.S. president George) Bush. Italian soldiers are in Iraq and in Kosovo to protect the cultural heritage which does not belong to this or that group but to humanity."
"They are historical symbols that must be protected in Iraq from carelessness and looting, in Kosovo from civil war." Frescoes in Orthodox churches in Kosovo "have the same value for art history as Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel in Padua".
The priority that must be stressed by the presence of Italian troops defending this heritage is that it is not a political or a religious issue but a responsibility. Zgarbi also announced his intention to return to Kosovo soon to see for himself the extent of the damage.
This can't be right, Ronly Bonly Osama was just telling me that his kind-hearted Muslim friends where simply helping the Serbs move to a new and nicer neighborhood. I'm sure he thinks the church fires are nothing more than farewell barbeques or some such thing.
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