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Alternative News on Kosovo

Our picks of insightful news and analysis of the Kosovo crisis. Updated three days a week.

Aug. 3, 1999

Human Rights Watch report on Harassment and Violence Against Serbs and Roma in Kosovo
Human Rights Watch released a report today documenting the harassment and violence which ethnic Serbians and Roma (Gypsies) have suffered in Kosovo since mid-June. According to the report, more than 164,000 Serbs have left Kosovo over the past seven weeks. It documents a campaign, carried out by uniformed KLA soldiers, of systematic harassment of Serbs and Roma. Typically, victims are forcibly brought to a KLA detention center, interrogated and severely beaten. Many have been stabbed, and several dozen murdered. As most of the young Serbian men have fled the province, the report notes that most of the victims are elderly. Arson and looting of Serb and Roma property has also been widespread since the KFOR takeover.

UN administrator backpedals over mass grave count
Bernard Kouchner, head of the UN organized civil administration in Kosovo, has backpedalled over comments he made on Monday that "11,000 people died" in the province during the Serb military operation against ethnic Albanians. Although International War Crimes Tribunal investigators have now been working inside Kosovo for more than two months, there has still been no official tally of the death count. Ironically, the rough estimate of 10,000 which has been reported for months (and upon which Kouchner's original comment is apparently based) was derived from information gathered before KFOR and Tribunal representatives entered Kosovo. The estimate is a rough tally of incidents reported by ethnic Albanian refugees during interviews conducted by the US State Department, and other groups, during the bombing campaign.

Excerpts from these interviews can be read on the at US State Department Web site. The information was last updated on June 4. The report actually puts the death count at about 6,000, but says, "the number would be far higher if we added the countless tales of individual murder." A State Department official said he presumed this caveat is what led a British government official to estimate the death toll at 10,000. This figure, uttered in a statement made just after KFOR entered Kosovo in early June, was seized upon by the press and has been reported as fact ever since.

Aug. 5, 1999

Radio B-92 back on the air
Belgrade's independent radio station, B-92 -- which was taken over by Milosevic loyalists in April -- is back on the air as B2-92. According to THE WASHINGTON POST, the station is broadcasting on a new frequency controlled by the party of Vuk Draskovic, a leading opposition figure. The original frequency is still occupied by the pro-government staff that took over the old B-92.

The station is also on the web at http://www.b92.co.yu. Most of the site is not in English, but it's worth checking out anyway. Besides good links (some even to English-language websites), the site has an article posted on the front page (at the bottom) about the effects of the toxic chemicals unleashed by NATO's bombing on civilians in the Serbian town of Pancevo. During the war, NATO bombed an oil refinery, a petrochemical plant and a fertilizer factory there.

US Gen. Wesley Clark canned
The early dismissal of Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark has raised a few eyebrows despite Washington's claims that the decision did not reflect displeasure with Clark's performance during the war in Kosovo. THE IRISH TIMES details how Clark and Lieut. Gen. Michael Jackson, the British commander of KFOR, have waged "a battle of wills" since the war's conclusion. According to the Times, when Russian troops occupied the Slatina airfield in Kosovo on June 11th, Clark ordered in troops and helicopters. However, Jackson refused the request, reportedly saying "I'm not going to start the third World War for you."

Meanwhile, Stratfor offers up their own commentary: Clark screwed up big time, and now he's history. "General Clark was one of four top Clinton advisors most responsible for pushing the U.S. and NATO into a military confrontation over Kosovo...Clark['s] is not the first head to roll. His is just the most public."