Albanians posed as Serbs [to kill UN cops] to stoke ethnic fires in Kosovo

telegraph.co.uk ^ | 28/03/2004 | Neil Barnett

[Destro]

Albanians posed as Serbs to stoke ethnic fires in Kosovo

By Neil Barnett in Pristina

(Filed: 28/03/2004)

The murder of a United Nations policeman in Kosovo last week was committed by ethnic Albanians who posed as Serbs in an effort to cast their bitter rivals as villains, the Telegraph has learned.

The UN policeman, from Ghana, and a local Albanian police officer were killed when their car was sprayed with bullets near the town of Podujevo, the centre of Albanian resistance against the Belgrade government.

Kosovo, in which Serbs make up only about 10 per cent of the population, is nominally part of Serbia and Montenegro but has been administered by the local UN mission since the war in 1999.

The ambush has heightened fears that the mob violence against Serbs which recently broke out in the disputed enclave will usher in a new campaign of attacks against Nato Kosovo Force (Kfor) troops and the UN mission by Albanian extremists impatient for Kosovo's independence.

The UN car was hit after a man flagged it down at the roadside. As the gunmen opened fire with Kalashnikovs, they were heard speaking Serbian. According to a senior security official, however, when one gunman was shot by a survivor, he instinctively screamed in Albanian: "I've been hit."

Afterwards the gunmen were forced to hijack a passing Mercedes when their getaway car failed to start. Security officials said that police officers gave chase for several miles, exchanging fire with gang members, but failed to capture them.

Soon after, however, Kfor troops raided a local Albanian-owned farm where they found two Kalashnikovs and a corpse with gunshot wounds, believed to be that of the gunman hit in the attack. Four people were arrested.

During the riots a fortnight ago in the towns of Mitrovica and Pristina - the first serious unrest for five years - 28 people died and 500 houses were destroyed, as well as 42 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries.

Major Tim Dunne, a Kfor spokesman, said that there was evidence that the mob violence had been carefully orchestrated. "We stopped numerous buses carrying men aged 18 to 40 from going to Mitrovica," he said. The troops believed that the men were being bussed in to take part in the unrest.

The violence flared when three Albanian children drowned after allegedly being chased into a river by Serbs. Unrest quickly spread and, according to one UN official, the "subsequent disturbances all over Kosovo, and their prolonged nature, point to widespread orchestration".

Doubts have also been cast over how the children came to drown as suspicions grew that the blame had been wrongly placed on Serbs. Allegations that they were involved were made by a fourth child who survived, yet during the violence a spokesman for the UN mission, Derek Chapple, said that police had no conclusive evidence. Last Wednesday, Mr Chapple was "moved to other duties" on the orders of senior UN mission officials, who are believed to think he had been too frank.

Last week, after mainly British reinforcements arrived, the streets of Kosovo were largely calm. With more than 3,800 Serbs still displaced, however, tensions remained. Major James Daniel, second in command of the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment, said that his troops had been "well received" by both communities.

[Destro]

Mr Chapple was "moved to other duties" on the orders of senior UN mission officials, who are believed to think he had been too frank.

For telling the truth and not blaming the Serbs and taking a stand against the Albanians they "move him on". You mean he ruined the pogrom by the Muslim Albanians against the Christian Serbs and for that the UN moved him on???

Why is the USA still supporting this abomination of a mission?

[Destro]

bump

[Jim_Curtis]

This is a classic Muslim tactic. The market bombings in Sarajevo that killed all those Muslims that triggered the war against the Serbs were committed by Muslims who killed their own to effect public opinion against the falsely blamed Serbs. The English and the French even admitted it and Clinton overruled them.

[YoSoy2]

Time to let the Serbs mop up Kosovo from the Albanian muslim terrorist and return it to their historically right owners - Serbia.

Why is the US still supporting the Albanian muslims in Kosovo?

[Destro]

bump

[greenwolf]

We need to let the albanians build their "greater albania" vertically within the borders of Albania proper. If they built vertically downwards rather than upwards, they'd eventually reach hell, which is where they basically belong.

[Outraged]

I will wait with bated breath for the hearings exposing Bill Clinton and the media machine for selling to the American public the wholesale slaughter of Serbian Christians, in support of KLA heroin trafficking terrorists...Every bit a lie. Where is the genocide? Why did the ethnic cleansing happen? How many Serbians were killed for this fabricated war? What was our National interest in the operation?

This is no less than a war crime, but Republican cowardice and complicity in DNC propaganda taint both sides and, therefore, there will be nothing but sickening silence to follow.

[Destro]

Republican cowardice and complicity in DNC propaganda taint both sides and, therefore, there will be nothing but sickening silence to follow

That was Clinton's genius. His media machine would turn the issue over to emotionalistic sensationalisim and then use that to bait the opposition. Thus Republicans, media, etc eager not to appear as uncaring or not with the times got painted into the corner and thus Clinton baited and trapped them. Once the policy is seen as a failure they could not attack the policy since it would also show up their stupidity for backing it.

The problem in this country is that no one in Washington is made to be accountable for policy failure. When 9/11 happened Bush should have fired as many hold overs as possible like Clarke. Yet they were allowed to stay in power and Clinton policy in Kosovo and Bosnia was continued more or less. Bush has to accept some blame in that.

[jpsb]

thanks, posted this a my site. Kosovo makes me sick. Clinton really screwed up big time.

[jpsb]

I remember a small vocal minority of us here at FR were totally against the US involvement in the Balkins. It is really Russia place to keep peace in the Balkins.

This entire mess could really blow up, does NATO really think Serbia and Russia are just going to stand by and watch the Albanias kill all the Serb in Kosovo? I think not.

I don;t know if it is true or not, but I have read that German NATO troops, either stood by and watched or ran when the Albania muslims burned churches to the ground. If that is true, then the Slavs (Serbs and Russian) must be really pissed off.

[zinochka]

Right from the start I knew the U.S. (under Clinton) was aiding the wrong side.

[zinochka]

This is a classic Muslim tactic. The market bombings in Sarajevo that killed all those Muslims that triggered the war against the Serbs were committed by Muslims who killed their own to effect public opinion against the falsely blamed Serbs.

Exactly. A classic tactic. Likewize, Wahhabist Muslims in Chechnya kill Sufi Muslims; Sufi Chechen militia kills Chechen Sufi civilians who have aided and abetted Wahhabis -- and both blame Russian Federal troops. Same old story.

[Condor51]

FREE SLOBO!

FREE SLOBO!

FREE SLOBO!

FREE SLOBO!

FREE SLOBO!

Ed Asner & Susan Sarandon will not be chanting that at any rally, anytime soon
-- now as to Mumia......

[LjubivojeRadosavljevic]

["Time to let the Serbs mop up...."


I believe that time will come.

As the US military becomes more and more spread out (e.g. Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.), the US will reach a conclusion that they're going to have to depend on the Serbs to deal with Islamic fanaticism.

[vooch]

The KLA tactic of 'speaking Serbian' while attacking anti-KLA Albanians is old hat to experienced Balkan Watchers.

During Remi's murderous campaign in Pristina, Podujevo, and Mitrovica between Oct 1998 and June 1999.........His assasins used this technique many times.

[vooch]

your point is ?

[Ronly Bonly Jones]

The KLA tactic of 'speaking Serbian' while attacking anti-KLA Albanians is old hat to experienced Balkan Watchers.>>>

Not nearly as old hat as the Serbs shooting themselves in the foot and then, pointing at the hole in their pedal organ, screaming about how the Muslims tried to crucify them.

[Condor51]

If you don't 'get it', attempting to explain it would be fruitless.

Have a nice day

[getoffmylawn]

When war first broke out in Croatia I worked with a Croatian woman that told me that she received a letter from relatives in Croatia that said Croatians were dressing up like "Chetniks", breaking into the homes of "unionist" Croats and killing them. This would serve to stir ethnic hatred for Serbs and also eliminate the Croatian element that wanted Croatia to remain part of Yugoslavia. It was a pretty smart tactic that killed two birds with one stone.

It looks like the lesson wasn't lost on the KLA.