British drag off death camp Serb
The Guardian - June 26, 2000
By Julian Borger

British troops in Bosnia snatched the commander of one of the Serb's most notorious wartime prison camps yesterday, breaking down the door of his home and wrestling him to the ground before flying him to the Hague to face trial.

Dusko Sikirica was indicted by the war crimes tribunal in July 1995 for genocide and crimes against humanity for presiding over the massacre of Muslims and Croats at the Keraterm camp in Prijedor.

Serb news media reported that British troops, including members of the SAS, drove up to Mr Sikirica's house in Prijedor at 2.45am in four vehicles. They knocked down the door, forced him to the floor, tied him up and dragged him away. Within hours he was on a flight to the Netherlands.

Since 1997, 21 war crimes suspects have been taken to the Hague for trial, eight of them since October, when George Robertson, the former British defence secretary, became Nato secretary general. He promised to make the arrest of war criminals a priority.

Keraterm ranks alongside Omarska, Trnopolje and Srebrenica as one of the most gruesome massacre sites of the Bosnian war. According to the indictment against Mr Sikirica, more than 3,000 prisoners were held in the abandoned ceramics factory, where they were "killed, sexually assaulted, tortured, beaten and otherwise subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment".

"The overcrowded conditions were extreme, to the extent that on many occasions the detainees could not lie down," it added. "Detainees were fed starvation rations once a day, with little time to eat.

"Severe beatings were commonplace; all manner of weapons were used, including wooden batons, metal rods, baseball bats, lengths of thick industrial cable that had metal balls affixed to the end."

The corpses of detainees were piled next to a garbage area.

In one incident in July 1992, the guards herded 140 inmates into a factory warehouse and mowed them down with machine guns. When they discovered that a few prisoners had somehow survived the massacre and escaped, they selected 20 other prisoners and executed them on the spot, the indictment said.

Twelve camp guards and officials were charged with war crimes alongside Mr Sikirica. Three of them are already in custody. He was indicted for genocide because of his role as camp commander.

"This detention shows the international community has not forgotten one of the most gruesome episodes of the war," the defence secretary, Geoffrey Hoon, and foreign secretary, Robin Cook, said yesterday.

Mr Sikirica is one of the most senior Serb officers from the camps to be arrested as Nato troops start to focus on the higher ranks of the Bosnian Serb authorities. Momcilo Krajisnik, the breakaway republic's deputy leader, was arrested in April.

The wartime Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, and his military commander, Ratko Mladic, remain at large.

RACANICA, Kosovo, June 25 -- Moderate Kosovo Serbs decided today to resume cooperation with Kosovo Albanians and United Nations representatives by returning to an interim United Nations-controlled provincial government.

Four of the 83 Serbian delegates at the meeting walked out to show their opposition, but the Rev. Sava Janjic, a leading moderate, said the majority had endorsed the move.

Kosovo's Serbs walked away from the interim government late last year, accusing it of pro-Albanian bias. The decision to return depends on the United Nations' sending antiterrorist police to Serbian areas to prevent attacks and to admit more Serbs into the Albanian-dominated Kosovo police force, Father Janjic said. There was no immediate United Nations confirmation that it had made such a commitment.

In a sign of the continuing ethnic tensions, NATO officials said that one Serb had been killed and another wounded today when armed men fired on their car in the town of Kosovo Polje, west of Pristina.

A BOSNIAN Serb who was commandant of a concentration camp where 140 prisoners were machine-gunned was seized by SAS soldiers at his home in Bosnia yesterday and taken to The Hague to face genocide charges.

General Dusko Sikirica, 36, who was in charge of the Keraterm camp in Prijedor, his home town, will go on trial for a massacre that took place eight years ago. The British special forces unit, attached to the Nato-led Stabilisation Force in Bosnia, arrived at his house in Prijedor in four vehicles just before 3am. They broke down the front door, tied up General Sikirica and drove him away. The arrest took only minutes.

The Bosnian Serb Interior Ministry claimed that he was shoved to the floor and bound and gagged. His wife and two children were said to have been in the house at the time.

More than 3,000 Muslim and Croat prisoners were held at the Keraterm camp between May 24 and August 30, 1992. Detained in inhumane conditions in what had been a ceramics factory, hundreds were killed, sexually assaulted, tortured or beaten, according to indictments drawn up by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

All of the prisoners should have been protected by the Geneva Conventions of 1949.

General Sikirica was indicted by the tribunal along with three shift commanders and others employed as guards or interrogators. General Sikirica was accused of "intending to destroy, in whole or in part, the Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat people as national, ethic or religious groups".

NATO'S commander during the Kosovo conflict has fired a bitter parting shot at his Pentagon bosses, suggesting that the US is being weakened by fear of battlefield casualties.

General Wesley Clark riled his superiors by calling for tougher action in Kosovo against President Milosevic of Yugoslavia and he was required to stand down early from his post as Nato's Supreme Commander in Europe in what was widely seen as a mark of official displeasure.

At a ceremony marking his retirement from the US Army last Friday, General Clark unleashed a thinly veiled attack on Washington leaders for shying away from bold action that could lead to loss of life.

"What better to fight for than what you believe in and value?" General Clark asked at the military ceremony at Fort Meyer, Washington. The time had come for the army leadership to develop "a new mentality", he said. "Give us a mission and send us in."

General Clark was allowed to muster massive fire-power only once the Nato bombardent was already under way, and he clashed dramatically with Lieutenant-General Michael Jackson, Nato commander in Kosovo, when the British general refused to carry out orders for an air assault to prevent the Russians from taking over Pristina airport.

Not a single Nato soldier was lost in the Kosovo conflict, but General Clark believes that only the credible threat of invasion caused President Milosevic to buckle.

Mr Clinton said that suggestions that General Clark had incurred official displeasure were "flat out wrong".

The retired general is now writing his memoirs, which are sure to bring him into dispute again with the Pentagon and his former superiors.

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — British peacekeepers arrested a leading Serbian war-crimes suspect and flew him to the Netherlands yesterday to stand trial on charges of massacring Muslim and Croatian prisoners during the Bosnian war.
Dusko Sikirica, 36, was indicted by the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague in July 1995 for crimes against humanity, war crimes and other offenses. He was flown yesterday afternoon to the Netherlands and transferred to the Scheveningen detention facility in The Hague.
Tribunal officials said he was expected to appear in court by Wednesday.
A NATO statement said he was arrested early yesterday. A statement by the British Defense Ministry confirmed the arrest was carried out by British soldiers at Mr. Sikirica's home in the Bosnian Serb town Prijedor.
The Bosnian Serb Interior Ministry said armed men drove in four vehicles to Mr. Sikirica's home, broke down the door, shoved him to the floor, bound him and dragged him away. Mr. Sikirica's wife and two children were in the house at the time but were not injured.
The 1995 indictment said more than 3,000 Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats were held at a former ceramics factory at Keraterm, where detainees "were killed, sexually assaulted, tortured, beaten and otherwise subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment."
In one incident, guards systematically machine-gunned inmates in one room in July 1992, the indictment said. When guards learned that a few prisoners had escaped the carnage, 20 detainees were selected and summarily executed, the indictment said.
The tribunal prosecution argued that as camp commander, Mr. Sikirica was responsible for all actions taken by his subordinates.
Tribunal spokesman Paul Risley said three others charged in connection with the Keraterm camp were already in custody.
Mr. Sikirica is among several leading Bosnian Serbs arrested in recent months by NATO, which has come under criticism for allowing indicted suspects to remain free years after the Bosnian war ended in 1995.

Serb snatched by other Serbs from UN police convoy in Kosovo

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, June 26 (AFP) - A Serbian man was kidnapped after his car was cut off from a convoy escorted by UN police near the northwestern Kosovo town of Podujevo, a UN police spokesman said Monday.

A UN police vehicle was leading a small convoy of Serbs from a border crossing near Merdare Saturday when a car with four Serb men pulled in front of the last vehicle which was carrying a man and a woman, said spokesman Charley Johnson.

The suspect car then slowed down, separating the car from the convoy and forcing it to stop. The woman was driven back to the boundary with Serbia by the men and the man was abducted, Johnson said.

It was "just like a wolf singling out a sheep," said Johnson. Local Serb witnesses told AFP the man was Tomislav Marlovic and identified the woman with him as his wife.

Johnson said UN police were investigating the incident and considering also putting escort vehicles at the rear of convoys in the future, although the force is severely understaffed.

Serbs entering and leaving the UN-run Yugoslav province are frequently escorted by international peacekeeping troops or UN police for their own safety, amid persistent anti-Serb violence a year after the end of the war.

BELGRADE, June 23 (AFP) - The Yugoslav government adopted Friday a draft anti-terrorism law and instructed the federal parliament to discuss it and "adopt it in an urgent procedure", state news agency Tanjug reported.

The draft will include "solutions existing in the legal systems of states which have faced terrorism problems ... like Britain, Spain, Italy, France and Ireland," the government said.

Such solutions are "necessary for efficiently stamping out the criminal deed of terrorism, with the full respect of the constitutional human rights and freedoms of citizens," it added, calling on the assembly to "adopt the draft urgently".

Tanjug also reported that an emergency session of the two-chamber Yugoslav parliament, dominated by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's allies, would be held on June 30.

The parliament is expected to adopt the draft, since the deputies of Montenegro, Serbia's junior partner in Yugoslavia, are boycotting all federal institutions over Belgrade's refusal to recognise the reformist and pro-Western leadership of the tiny republic.

Milan Radovic, chairman of Montenegro's supreme court, said that Montenegro "needs no federal law against terrorism", Beta news agency reported.

Montenegro, led by President Milo Djukanovic, has been at odds with Milosevic's regime, blaming it for the international isolation of the country and a repressive internal policy.

Belgrade officials have repeatedly accused Milosevic's foes, especially the student-led movement Otpor (Resistance), of being involved in "terrorism" supported by the Western powers aimed at overthrowing the regime.

They also accuse Milosevic's rivals of being behind several recent murders, branded as "terrorist acts", which have targetted government officials.

Yugoslav Information Minister Goran Matic said this week that the West, "after political attempts at destabilising Yugoslavia", was trying to "infiltrate subversive-terrorist organisations on our territory."

Such groups "are aimed at destroying our social and political situation by executions and other means of pressure," Matic said. However, opposition figures, denying all such charges, fear that the proposed draft would lead to further repressive measures against

Milosevic's rivals, who have faced police detention and questioning in recent months.

by Alexandra Niksic

BELGRADE, June 26 (AFP) - Five men accused of plotting to assassinate Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic under French orders were scheduled for trial here Tuesday, seven months after spectacular accusations levelled by the authorities.

The five were originally accused of devising four different plans to kill Milosevic, including a sniper attack, a bomb placed in a gutter, a booby-trapped car and an armed raid on his residence.

The accused, all Serbs from Yugoslavia and Bosnia, were arrested last November, alleged to be members of an underground group called Spider. The Belgrade prosecution charges that they took instructions from Paris.

"France was caught red-handed," Information Minister Goran Matic said at the time.

But his allegations that a French intelligence service connected with the group was involved in a plot to kill Milosevic were dismissed by French officials as "totally unsubstantiated."

Matic said Spider had been set up in 1996 and headed by Jugoslav Petrusic, a 37-year-old man with joint Yugoslav-French citizenship.

Petrusic had worked for France for 10 years under the codename "Dominique," the minister charged.

Petrusic is on trial with Milorad Pelemis, 35, Branko Vlaco, 46, Rade Petrovic, 25, and Slobodan Orasanin, 43.

Matic said the five were "ruthless mercenaries," who had fought in the Bosnian and Kosovo wars on the Serb side, but had also been ndercover agents recruited by France.

The original charges that the five had devised four different plans for the assassination of Milosevic were later dropped.

Instead they were charged by a Belgrade court with "spying for a foreign country" -- France -- and with the murder of two Albanians in the Kosovo province during 1999 NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.

However, full details of the indictment have not been made public yet, and the start of the trial on Tuesday was to be in camera, "due to the revealing of details considered top secret," defence lawyers said.

Thirteen prosecution witnesses are to testify, defence lawyer Nenad Vukasovic said, stressing difficulties in the communication process with the defendants.

Since the start of the investigation, only a handful of details linked to the investigation have leaked out, and press reports have frequently repeated Matic's claims of Spider's involvement in a series of crimes in the past decade.

Matic alleged that in 1994 Petrusic had committed a "massacre in Algeria in which 15 Algerians were killed, on the instructions of France."

The minister also claimed Petrusic was part of a group that had participated in the July 1995 massacre of Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica, the bloodiest incident of the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.

Matic said Pelemis, Vlaco and Petrovic had been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for crimes committed in Srebrenica, but that they had escaped prosecution by working for the French.

After the end of Bosnian war in 1996, Petrusic had been involved in recruiting foreign mercenaries for fighting in Zaire -- the present day Democratic Republic of Congo -- again under French instructions, Matic asserted.

During the Kosovo bombing campaign, the Spider group had gone to the province in a failed attempt to kill a leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), "Commander Remi," but the group had later killed several Albanians in the province, the minister also claimed.

After the end of NATO bombings in June 1999, Petrusic had allegedly returned to France, but later came to Kosovo with the French contingent of the NATO-led peacekeeping force (KFOR), under the name "Jean-Pierre Pironi", according to Matic.

"His task was to take part in setting up the mixed civilian police in the province, whose members he would recruit for the French secret services," Matic said.

Neither the authorities in Belgrade nor the media have said the alleged plot was uncovered, while evidence presented to journalists has consisted mostly of photographs and unclear statements by Petrusic and the others given during the investigation.

MOSCOW, June 26 (AFP) - A high-level Yugoslav military delegation was due in Moscow on Monday at the start of a five-day visit to boost defense cooperation, Russian news agencies reported.

Russia wants to develop military ties with Belgrade without violating the UN arms embargo against Yugoslavia, a Russian defense ministry official told Interfax.

Contacted by AFP, the defence ministry would not confirm the visit, which comes after Moscow hosted Yugoslav Defence Minister Dragoljub Ojdanic, an indicted warcrimes suspect, in early May, for a visit that provoked international criticism.

The mission, led by Yugoslav air force chief General Spasoje Smiljanic, will visit arms factories, the Russian air force academy and several air force and air defence units as well as the cosmonaut training centre, Interfax cited the official as saying.

During the visit from June 26 to 30, the Yugoslav delegation will also hold talks with top brass at Russia's defence ministry and air force, AVN military news agency said.

The two sides will discuss defense cooperation, promoting ties between various branches of the military, confidence-building steps in the Balkans, and training for Yugoslav officers in Russia.

The UN imposed a ban on military sales to rump Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) in March 1998 in response to the conflict in Kosovo between Belgrade and the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).

A year later Russia froze its ties with NATO after the alliance launched an air campaign against Belgrade, in a bid to force President Slobodan Milosevic to negotiate with the Serbian province's majority ethnic Albanians.

Moscow, a historic ally of the Serbians, who are fellow Slavs, has since began to thaw ties with NATO.

But Russia continues to accuse the West of promoting independence for Kosovo and protests that nothing has been done to protect the province's dwindling Serbian population.

Monde - lundi 26 juin 2000

BELGRADE, 26 juin (AFP) - Cinq Serbes accusés d'avoir espionné pour le compte de la France et d'avoir projeté de tuer le président yougoslave Slobodan Milosevic devaient comparaître mardi devant un tribunal de Belgrade, sept mois après leur arrestation très médiatisée.

Les cinq hommes, des Serbes de Yougoslavie et de Bosnie-Herzégovine, avaient été appréhendés en novembre et accusés d'avoir formé un groupe terroriste clandestin baptisé "Araignée". Selon l'acte d'accusation, ils prenaient leurs instructions à Paris.

En révélant de manière spectaculaire leur arrestation en novembre, le ministre yougoslave de l'Information, Goran Matic, a affirmé que le groupe avait été créé en 1996 et était dirigé par Jugoslav Petrusic, un Serbe de 37 ans ayant la double nationalité yougoslave et française.

Selon M. Matic, Petrusic travaillait depuis dix ans pour la France sous le nom de code "Dominique".

Les quatre autres accusés sont Milorad Pelemis, Branko Vlaco, Rade Petrovic et Slobodan Orasanin.

Le ministre a affirmé que les cinq hommes étaient "des mercenaires sans pitié" qui avaient commis de nombreux crimes, entre autres pendant les guerres en Bosnie-Herzégovine et au Kosovo, et des agents français.

"La France a été prise la main dans la sac", a déclaré M. Matic. Mais son affirmation qu'un service de renseignement français était impliqué avec le groupe dans un projet pour tuer M. Milosevic a été rejetée comme "entièrement dépourvue de fondement" par le ministère français des Affaires étrangères.

Après leur arrestation, les cinq hommes ont été accusés par Belgrade d'avoir envisagé quatre plans différents pour assassiner le président yougoslave, dont un tireur d'élite, une bombe placée dans les égouts, une voiture piégée et un assaut de commando contre sa résidence.

Mais, par la suite, le groupe n'a été inculpé que pour "espionnage au bénéfice d'un pays étranger", la France, et pour l'assassinat de deux Albanais du Kosovo pendant les bombardements de l'OTAN en 1999.

Les détails de l'acte d'accusation n'ont pas été publiés avant le procès, qui devait débuter à huis clos dans la mesure où des informations considérées comme secrètes devaient être évoquées, selon des avocats de la défense.

Depuis le début de l'instruction, seules quelques indications ont filtré, et la presse a surtout répété les accusations de M. Matic selon lesquelles les cinq hommes ont été impliqués depuis des années dans une série de crimes.

Selon M. Matic, en 1994, Petrusic a commis "un massacre en Algérie dans lequel 15 Algériens ont été tués, sur instruction de la France".

Le ministre a affirmé que Petrusic avait participé au massacre de Musulmans en juillet 1995 à Srebrenica, en Bosnie orientale. Plusieurs milliers de Musulmans ont été tués par les forces serbes après la chute de cette enclave musulmane.

M. Matic a aussi affirmé que Pelemis, Vlaco et Petrovic avaient été inculpés secrètement par le Tribunal pénal international pour l'ex-Yougoslavie (TPI) mais avaient échappé à des poursuites en raison de leurs liens avec la France.

En 1996, Petrusic a été impliqué dans les opérations de mercenaires étrangers au Zaïre pour soutenir le régime du président Mobutu Sese Seko, de nouveau sous instructions françaises, selon Belgrade.

Monde - lundi 26 juin 2000

PREOCE (Yougoslavie), 26 juin (AFP) - Assises autour d'une table de bois, des femmes du village serbe de Preoce au Kosovo, entièrement vêtues de noir, pleurent un des leurs, un jeune homme qui a sauté sur une mine il y a onze jours.

Borko Filipovic avait 25 ans. Il est mort le 15 juin en roulant avec son véhicule sur une mine antichar placée sur une piste qui traverse les champs de blé mûr en direction du village, situé à quelques kilomètres au sud de Pristina.

"C'est un crime qui a été commis par des Albanais d'un village voisin. Vous vous rendez compte, ils font cela à leurs voisins", affirme le père de la victime brandissant le pantalon en lambeau de son fils mort. Les femmes en deuil éclatent en sanglots.

Le village, d'environ un millier d'habitants, semble en apparence paisible, protégé par le bataillon suédois de la Force multinationale de paix (KFOR). Une vache broute placidement de l'herbe à l'ombre d'un arbre. Des poules caquètent dans la basse-cour, des enfants s'amusent dans un jardin.

"La mine a été déposée peu de temps avant l'accident. Il ne s'agit pas de mine placée par les forces militaires serbes pendant la guerre il y a un an", affirme un officier suédois, le commandant Ake Norling. "Mais nous n'avons pas retrouvé les responsables", ajoute-t-il.

Les habitants du village, pour la plupart agriculteurs, sont inquiets. Bientôt les récoltes vont commencer et ils ne savent pas s'ils pourront sortir dans leurs champs.

"Comment pourrons-nous faire nos récoltes ? Il nous faut une protection pour aller dans les champs", estime le chef du village, Jorgic Zikica.

Les Serbes de Preoce se sentent piégés, encerclés par les Albanais qui leur vouent une haine qui ne semble pas vouloir s'apaiser.

Depuis la fin de la guerre il y a un an, plus de 200.000 non Albanais ont fui la province yougoslave à majorité albanaise.

Pour tous leurs déplacements les villageois de Preoce sont escortés par les troupes suédoises pour éviter toute attaque. "Ils n'ont pas de famille en Serbie et ne veulent pas donc partir", explique le commandant Norling.

"Ce n'est pas une vie, c'est de la survie", explique Zorica Filipovic, une des femmes en deuil. "Notre avenir est sombre. Nous avons besoin de changements rapides", ajoute-t-elle.

"Nous vivons dans un ghetto. On ne peut pas se déplacer, déclare un homme du village, Vasio Milan. Pour la nourriture, on a ce qu'il faut, mais cela ne suffit pas. On veut pouvoir aller dans des magasins, à l'hôpital."

"La dernière fois que je suis allé à Pristina, c'était en juillet 1999", un mois après l'arrivée de la KFOR au Kosovo, se souvient-il.

June 26, 2000

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) _ The main U.N. refugee relief agency decided Monday to keep its offices closed in the Serb part of Kosovska Mitrovica, three days after suspending its activities there because rioters attacked humanitarian workers and their property.

Paula Ghedini, spokeswoman for the Kosovo office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said the suspension would continue for at least 24 hours and would be reviewed on a daily basis.

Past riots in the northern and predominantly Serb part of the city have targeted U.N. vehicles and injured U.N. workers. Shortly before Friday's suspension Serb rioters escalated the violence, attacking an international aid worker, destroying five U.N. vehicles and damaging 20 others.

The northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica is one of the few in the overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian province where many Serbs remain. It has been the site of constant unrest since the United Nations took over administration of Kosovo last year.

After closing the UNHCR office in northern Kosovska Mitrovica, agency employees relocated to the southern and predominantly ethnic Albanian part of the city.

Over the weekend a grenade blast rocked northern Kosovska Mitrovica, Maj Scott Slaten a NATO spokesman in Pristina said. Serb sources in the city claimed the grenade, apparently homemade, was hurled by unknown assailants at a Serb home in a predominantly ethnic Albanian neighborhood in the northern part of the city.

Slaten said another grenade attack Sunday in the predominantly Serb city of Kosovo Polje left a 50-year-old Serb woman stunned, but not injured. Her house suffered damage.

BEIJING (AP) _ Looking to tap British experience, China and Britain discussed United Nations' peacekeeping operations Monday with London saying Chinese participation in U.N. missions would be welcome.

While Beijing has not announced any intentions to expand its present limited role in peacekeeping, British Defense Secretary Geoffrey Hoon said it was important that China assert its authority as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.

``They are members of the international community. If they would be willing to assist, I think that would be extremely welcome,'' Hoon said in an interview Monday after opening a two-day China-Britain seminar on U.N. peacekeeping. `

`They have two and a half million troops and I can't see any reason why they shouldn't be available to assist in an appropriate situation,'' said Hoon.

China sent engineers in the 1990s to assist de-mining efforts in Cambodia and this year sent a small contingent of police officers to East Timor, in their first such overseas mission. China also has a handful of military observers in Sierra Leone, the Western Sahara and Iraq, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.

But China was adamantly opposed to NATO's war against Yugoslavia over Kosovo and has repeatedly argued that foreign powers should not use humanitarian crises to meddle in countries' internal affairs.

China's worries stem from its own domestic problems: it fears interference in its own restive western regions of Tibet and Muslim Xinjiang, as well as over the Beijing-claimed island of Taiwan.

In a criticism of NATO's 78-day bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan warned against military intervention outside of U.N. auspices.

``To stage military interventions in a sovereign state under the pretext of a humanitarian crisis by bypassing the Security Council is inconsistent with the U.N. charter, extremely dangerous and should be resolutely opposed,'' Tang said in his opening speech to the peacekeeping seminar.

Tang did not say if China plans to expand its participation in U.N. missions.

But noting Britain's ``rich experience in the training of peacekeepers,'' Tang said the seminar ``will help us to better understand the challenges U.N. peacekeeping operations face and expand cooperation in peacekeeping and enable us to contribute more to a strengthened role of the United Nations.''

Britain has 500 people on eight U.N.-led peacekeeping missions and 7,000 on U.N.-mandated NATO deployments in Europe.

Hoon, whose four-day visit to China is the first by a British defense minister in over a decade, said Britain's long involvement in North Ireland also has taught its troops to deal ``with the kind of problems that do arise in sensitive peacekeeping contexts.''

He said there was a growing demand in peacekeeping for non-military personnel including judges, police, lawyers and prison officers.

UN says storming, destruction of UN office organized by Serbs.

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) _ The United Nations accused radical Serbs Monday of organizing a rampage that destroyed a U.N. office in a town south of the capital, while praising steps by Serb moderates to cooperate with international officials.

U.N. spokeswoman Nadia Younes said the attack Friday on a U.N. office in Strpce, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) was preceded by gunshots and the ringing of church bells. Minutes afterward, a crowd of up to 800 Serbs had gathered in front of the office.

Locals said some of the ringleaders were not from the area, leading to suspicions that the destruction was planned in advance by outsiders, she said.

Bernard Kouchner, the chief U.N. representative, ``strongly condemns the violence,'' said Younes. Strpce has been the scene of previous confrontations between villagers and NATO peacekeepers and U.N. police.

The incident occurred amid increased tensions, after NATO peacekeepers refused residents' request for a helicopter to search for an elderly villager who had gone missing, organizing a foot patrol instead.

Tensions further grew when U.S. and Polish peacekeepers removed a Serb roadblock and put up their own checkpoint to keep additional Serbs from coming into the area.

Younes also said Kouchner welcomed a decision by moderate Serbs to resume cooperation with ethnic Albanian representatives in the U.N.-controlled interim council helping run Kosovo.

The Serbs said Saturday the decision depended, however, on implementing a written U.N. commitment to send anti-terrorist police to Serb areas and admit more Serbs to the Albanian-dominated Kosovo police force.

Younes on Monday confirmed the existence of an ``understanding,'' to be signed later in the week by Kouchner, but declined to say what it contained.

Kosovo's Serbs first walked away from the interim government late last year, accusing it of pro-Albanian bias.

Radical Serbs oppose the deal, however, arguing that working together with the Albanians on the council only hastens the ultimate Albanian goal of independence for Kosovo, which formally remains part of Serbia even though it is run by the United Nations and NATO-ledacked humanitarian workers and their property.

Paula Ghedini, spokeswoman for the Kosovo office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said the suspension would continue for at least 24 hours and would be reviewed on a daily basis.

Shortly before Friday's suspension, Serb rioters attacked an international aid worker and destroyed five U.N. vehicles and damaged 20 others.

The northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica is one of the few areas in the overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian province where many Serbs remain. It has been the site of constant unrest since the United Nations took over administration of Kosovo last year.

After closing the UNHCR office in northern Kosovska Mitrovica, agency employees relocated to the southern and predominantly ethnic Albanian part of the city.

Over the weekend, grenade attacks, allegedly targeting Serbs, occurred in northern Kosovska Mitrovica and the ethnically mixed town of Obilic, said Maj. Scott Slaten a NATO spokesman in Pristina.

Slaten said a 50-year-old Serb woman stunned, but not injured in the Obilic attack. Slaten earlier said the attack occurred in Kosovo Polje, another mixed town.

SARAJEVO, Bosnia, June 25 -- NATO-led peacekeepers today arrested a leading Serbian war crimes suspect accused of massacring Muslim and Croat prisoners while he commanded the notorious Keraterm prison camp during the Bosnian war.

Dusko Sikirica, 36, was indicted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague in July 1995 for crimes against humanity, war crimes and other offenses. He was flown this afternoon to the Netherlands and transferred to a detention facility in The Hague. Tribunal officials said he was expected to appear in court by Wednesday.

A NATO statement said Sikirica was arrested early today but gave few other details. Yugoslavia's private Beta news agency said British troops made the arrest about 2:45 a.m. at Sikirica's home in the Bosnian Serb town of Prijedor. Bosnia is divided into two regions, the Bosnian Serb Republic and a Muslim-Croat federation.

The Bosnian Serb interior ministry said armed men drove four vehicles to Sikirica's home, broke down the door, shoved the suspect to the floor, bound him and dragged him away. Sikirica's wife and two children were in the house at the time but were not injured.

The indictment said that in July 1992, guards systematically machine-gunned inmates in one room of the prison camp. When guards learned that a few prisoners had escaped the carnage, 20 detainees were selected and summarily executed, the indictment said.

The 1995 indictment said more than 3,000 Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats were held at a former ceramics factory at Keraterm, where detainees "were killed, sexually assaulted, tortured, beaten and otherwise subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment."

The tribunal prosecution alleged that as camp commander, Sikirica was responsible for all actions taken by his subordinates.

"He is one of the main figures, responsible for war crimes in Keraterm," said Amor Masovic, head of the Muslim Commission for Missing Persons. "Justice is slow but attainable."

Tribunal spokesman Paul Risley said three others charged in connection with the Keraterm camp were already in custody.

Sikirica is among several leading Bosnian Serbs arrested in recent months by NATO, which has come under criticism for allowing indicted suspects to remain free for years after the Bosnian war ended in 1995.

Gen. Momir Talic and Radoslav Brdjanin, a former Bosnian Serb deputy prime minister, were arraigned in January. Momcilo Krajisnik, a close ally of Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic, was arrested by French NATO troops on April 3. On April 21, NATO troops arrested Dragan Nikolic, a Bosnian Serb who commanded a nearby prison camp at Susica.

The two prime suspects, Karadzic and his military chief, Gen. Ratko Mladic, remain at large.

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) _ A Serbian court on Monday convicted six Kosovo Albanians of conspiring against the state and sentenced them to 14 months in prison each, the independent Beta news agency reported.

The six were sentenced by a district court in the southern city of Nis for joining the now disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army in 1998 and participating in fighting against Serbian security forces.

With the withdrawal of the Serbian forces from Kosovo in June 1999 and the deployment of NATO peacekeepers there, about 2,000 ethnic Albanian prisoners were transferred to prisons in central Serbia.

At present more than 900 Kosovo Albanians are jailed in Serbia.

PRISTINA, Yougoslavie (AP) -- Le Haut commissariat aux réfugiés des Nations unies (UNHCR) a décidé lundi de maintenir ses bureaux fermés dans la partie serbe de la ville de Mitrovica, au Kosovo, trois jours après avoir suspendu ses activités à la suite d'agressions dirigées contre ses employés et son matériel.

La porte-parole du HCR au Kosovo, Paula Ghedini, a expliqué que cette suspension se poursuivrait au moins 24 heures et serait réexaminée au jour le jour.

Dans les derniers mois, des émeutes ont endommagé plusieurs véhicules et blessé des agents onusiens dans la partie nord de la ville, majoritairement serbe. La suspension des actions du HCR est intervenue vendredi quelques jours après un nouvel incident au cours duquel des casseurs serbes ont attaqué un agent onusien, détruit cinq véhicules des Nations unies et endommagé une vingtaine d'autres.

La ville de Mitrovica, au nord du Kosovo, est l'une des dernières zones majoritairement serbes au coeur de cette province à dominante albanaise; elle n'a pas cessé d'être le théâtre d'affrontements, malgré l'administration de la province par l'ONU.

Après la fermeture de leurs locaux, les agents du HCR se sont réinstallé au sud de la cité, peuplé en majorité d'Albanais.

Plusieurs incidents ont aussi émaillé le week-end, comme à Strpce, à une quarantaine de kilomètres au sud de Pristina, où environ 400 Serbes ont dévasté vendredi un bureau des Nations unies, a rapporté samedi le porte-parole de l'ONU François Charlier.

British peacekeepers in Kosovo have been accused of stealing cash and valuables from civilians at a road checkpoint.

The four men are believed to be privates from the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.
Kosovan civilians claim the soldiers took mobile phones, cameras and up to £10,000 worth of Deutschemarks from them at a vehicle checkpoint in Pristina, the provincial capital.

The Military Police special investigation branch is examining the allegations.

The four soldiers, whose battalion is part of the UN multinational peacekeeping force and based in Pristina, have been split up and assigned other duties.

The incident is alleged to have happened within the last week.

Damien Plant, spokesman for the British forces in Kosovo, said the claims were being taken very seriously but the sums were exaggerated.

"The allegations have been made by local citizens and we are looking at a specific incident that took place on one night," he said.

"We've had such a good record in Kosovo that we're determined to get to the bottom of this.

"Administrative measures are in place to ensure the soldiers are separated and are not working together as a team but this is not an admission of guilt."

Mr Plant said that vehicle patrols were used to check for weapons and stressed they were essential for maintaining order.

The battalion replaced the Royal Green Jackets and are on a six-month tour of duty which ends in September.

Harsh Words for Dienstbier from UN Mission Chief in Kosovo

PRAGUE, Jun 22, 2000 -- (Carolina - Charles University)

Bernard Kouchner, the head of the UN civilian administration in Kosovo (UNMIK), criticized former Czechoslovak Foreign Minister Jiri Dienstbier at a press conference in Pristina June 12.

When answering a question about the critical remarks concerning the situation in Kosovo made by Dienstbier, who serves as a UN human rights envoy for the former Yugoslavia, Kouchner said, "Shut up, Mr. Dienstbier," and said he is not interested in the person and opinions of Dienstbier any more.

According to Czech media reports, Kouchner's slip of tongue ("I am not ready to receive you, Mr. Dienstbier, nor Mr. Vaclav Havel") mistakenly sullied the Czech president, who strongly objected to Dienstbier's opinion on UN policy in Kosovo in the past. Kouchner sent a personal letter to Havel June 13 rectifying his remark and explaining Kouchner's appreciation for Havel position.

PRIJEDOR, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- A Bosnian Serb general accused of running a concentration camp during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina was captured Sunday by British NATO forces and transferred to an international criminal tribunal in the Netherlands.

The general, Dusko Sikirica, 36, had been indicted by the tribunal in 1995 for alleged involvement in the massacre of 140 Bosnian Muslims and ethnic Croats at the Bosnian Keraterm concentration camp at Prijedor, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Sikirica is accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and violations of the laws or customs of laws.

The Bosnian Serb interior ministry said armed men drove in four vehicles to Sikirica's home, broke down the door, shoved the suspect to the floor, and bound and dragged him away. Sikirica's wife and two children were in the house at the time but were not injured.

The NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR), which safeguards Bosnia-Herzegovina's peace process with some 21,000 troops, said in the statement it sustained no casualties during the arrest.

"Sikirica as camp commander is accused of genocide, violation of laws and custom of war and grave breaches of the Geneva Convention as well as being criminally responsible for the acts of subordinates in committing murder, torture, inhuman acts and crimes against humanity," NATO Secretary-General George Robertson said in a statement from NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Tribunal officials said Sikirica was expected to appear in court by Wednesday.

The 1995 indictment said more than 3,000 Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats were held at a former ceramics factory at Keraterm, where detainees "were killed, sexually assaulted, tortured, beaten and otherwise subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment."

In one incident, guards systematically machine-gunned inmates in one room in July 1992, the indictment said. When guards learned that a few prisoners had escaped the carnage, 20 detainees were selected and summarily executed, according to the indictment.

Fikret Alic, an emaciated prisoner who was seen on CNN in 1992 standing behind the camp's barbed wire, has said he was a witness to the massacre. Alic's image became an emblem of so-called "ethnic cleansing" during the war.

Living conditions for the prisoners were cruel, prosecutors said.

"The overcrowded conditions in the rooms were extreme, to the extent that on many occasions the detainees could not lie down," the indictment said. "The detainees were fed starvation rations once a day, with little time to eat."

"Severe beatings were commonplace. All manner of weapons were used during these beatings, including wooden batons, metal rods, baseball bats, lengths of thick industrial cable that had metal balls affixed to the end ... The corpses of detainees were piled next to a garbage area," it said.

The tribunal prosecution argued that as camp commander, Sikirica was responsible for all actions taken by his subordinates.

"He is one of the main figures responsible for war crimes in Keraterm," said Amor Masovic, head of the Muslim Commission for Missing Persons. "Justice is slow but attainable."

Sikirica, the 21st Bosnian war crime suspect arrested since 1997, will join about 40 war crimes suspects in detention in The Hague. Some of the suspects surrendered voluntarily.

Gen. Momir Talic and Radoslav Brdjanin, a former Bosnian Serb deputy prime minister, were arraigned in The Hague in January. On April 3, Momcilo Krajisnik, a close ally of Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic, was arrested by French NATO troops at his home in eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina.

However, about 30 publicly indicted war crimes suspects remain at large, including the two prime suspects, Karadzic and his military chief, Gen. Ratko Mladic. An unknown number of other suspects have been secretly accused in sealed indictments.

PRISTINA, Jun 25, 2000 -- (Reuters) Europe's human rights and security watchdog, the OSCE, condemned on Friday a near-fatal attack on a Kosovo Serb woman radio journalist and announced a program of action to protect media workers.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was reacting to the attack on Valentina Cukic, who works for the multi-ethnic local station Radio Kontact.

Cukic was shot and seriously wounded in a drive-by attack on Tuesday night while walking with a Serb companion in a central Pristina street. Her companion was also hit, but both are expected to recover.

"We cannot allow such attacks to take place," said Daan Everts, ambassador in Kosovo of the OSCE. "The freedom of journalists to do their jobs and the freedom of the media are rights which have to be respected."

Although nobody has been arrested for the attack, there is little doubt that Cukic was targeted as a Serb and a journalist in a city now almost exclusively the domain of ethnic Albanians.

"Unfortunately there is a high level of intimidation of journalists of all ethnicity working across Kosovo. Working in these conditions distorts all journalism and undermines attempts to build a free and democratic media and society," the OSCE said in a statement.

The same intimidation exists in Serb-held areas of journalists, interpreters and Albanian workers for international agencies.

"Are there any Albanians around here?" a Serb asked menacingly while a Reuters journalist sat recently in a cafe in the Serbian north of the flashpoint town of Mitrovica. Nobody answered.

To help local journalists, the OSCE issued guidelines on Friday defining a range of dangers confronting them. These included threats, intimidation, harassment and pressure by authorities, plus a variety of ways in which they might be inhibited from reporting freely.

OSCE said it was setting up a program to protect journalists and gave hotline numbers they could ring for help. But it added: "OSCE can assist in investigation and prosecution of these offences, but only if we know about them. Your silence only encourages those who threaten you."

Despite Doubts, Kosovo Serbs Vote to Cooperate with UN

GRACANICA, Jun 26, 2000 -- (Reuters) Leaders of Kosovo's embattled Serbs threw in their lot with the United Nations on Sunday, deciding that cooperation not confrontation was the only way forward.

The Serbian National Council (SNC), representing the Serb minority in the province, voted to return to U.N.-led inter-ethnic institutions, saying it was the only way for Serbs to survive in what they regard as the cradle of their people.

"The results of the work of the UN mission (in Kosovo) so far cannot be called a success, at least concerning the Serb community, but...we cannot live on rhetoric and criticism, we have to give our own constructive contribution," said Father Sava Jancic, a Serbian Orthodox priest and SNC spokesman.

Eighty-three SNC delegates met at the Orthodox monastery in this Serb-held town southeast of the Kosovo capital Pristina, and with only four dissenting voices agreed to rejoin the bodies it walked out of 15 days ago in protest at the level of violence in the province against the Serbian minority.

And in a move towards moderation, contrasting with violent statements in Belgrade, the SNC indicated that it was looking for support from the United States, which little more than a year ago led NATO bombing raids directed at the Serbs.

Father Sava told reporters after the four-hour-long SNC conclave that a visit last week by James O'Brien, special representative of President Bill Clinton and the U.S. State Department, had been instrumental in drawing the Serbs back into the talks.

NEW UN PROGRAMME TO SAFGEGUARD SERBS

Father Sava said UNMIK, the UN interim mission in Kosovo, had agreed to devise a new program aimed at improving the lot of the Serbs.

"The very fact that one of the important goals of Mr. O'Brien's visit to Kosovo was working with the Serb community on implementation of this program and the interest which has been shown by the Secretary of State in Washington gives us assurance that there is will in the U.S. administration to improve the security situation which, according to their own assessment, is very bad" he said.

Until the NATO campaign forced the Yugoslav army to withdraw, the 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority in Serbia's southern province were ruled by Belgrade with a heavy hand.

Since the bombing ended, more than half the Serb minority have fled to Serbia proper, and those who remain live in heavily guarded areas patrolled by troops of the NATO-led KFOR (Kosovo Force).

Roads into Gracanica are guarded by Swedish checkpoints, and as the SNC delegates talked, the ancient monastery was ringed by soldiers and armored vehicles, many of them British, American and Polish, which had escorted them to the meeting.

Their protection is needed: attacks on Serbs have continued since the SNC boycott began on June 10, but Father Sava said: "That makes more urgent more active participation of the SNC with the international community to prevent these attacks."

He said the understanding between UNMIK and the SNC would take the form of a written commitment to improving the position of the Serb population in Kosovo.

This would include:

- Deployment of additional UNMIK police forces in Serb areas

- More Serb candidates in the Kosovo police force

- More international judges to be employed in Kosovo

- Continuation of work on the return of Serbs within the Committee for the Returns headed by Serbian Bishop Artemije and UN Special Representative Bernard Kouchner and others

- Opening of local community offices in Serb areas where local Serbs together with UNMIK local officials would work on the "burning issues of the Serbian community"

- A special committee for protection of Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries.

BELGRADE, Jun 26, 2000 -- (Reuters) Two elderly Serbs disappeared from a village in a volatile area of Serbia near the boundary with Kosovo and all their Albanian neighbors then fled to Kosovo, Serb and Albanian sources said on Sunday.

A Serbian police officer said by telephone that Vlado Miletic, 95, and his daughter Persa,
64, the only Serbs living in Mali Trnovac, had gone missing from the village and police had found traces of blood and bullets in their house on Friday.

Police inspector Vujica Velickovic said the two had most probably been killed but their bodies had not been found.

A representative of a human rights committee in nearby Bujanovac, Shaip Kamberi, an Albanian, confirmed the disappearance and said the perpetrators were not known. He said around 20 Albanian families had fled Mali Trnovac to Kosovo in "fear of revenge".

The area had seen sporadic clashes between police and an armed Albanian group calling itself the Liberation Army of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja at the beginning of the year, but tensions had died down until several bomb blasts last week.

GRACANICA, Jun 26, 2000 -- (Reuters) Leaders of Kosovo's embattled Serbs threw in their lot with the United Nations on Sunday, deciding that cooperation not confrontation was the only way forward.

The Serbian National Council (SNC), representing the Serb minority in the province, voted to return to U.N.-led inter-ethnic institutions, saying it was the only way for Serbs to survive in what they regard as the cradle of their people.

"The results of the work of the UN mission (in Kosovo) so far cannot be called a success, at least concerning the Serb community, but...we cannot live on rhetoric and criticism, we have to give our own constructive contribution," said Father Sava Jancic, a Serbian Orthodox priest and SNC spokesman.

Eighty-three SNC delegates met at the Orthodox monastery in this Serb-held town southeast of the Kosovo capital Pristina, and with only four dissenting voices agreed to rejoin the bodies it walked out of 15 days ago in protest at the level of violence in the province against the Serbian minority.

And in a move towards moderation, contrasting with violent statements in Belgrade, the SNC indicated that it was looking for support from the United States, which little more than a year ago led NATO bombing raids directed at the Serbs.

Father Sava told reporters after the four-hour-long SNC conclave that a visit last week by James O'Brien, special representative of President Bill Clinton and the U.S. State Department, had been instrumental in drawing the Serbs back into the talks.

NEW UN PROGRAM TO SAFGEGUARD SERBS

Father Sava said UNMIK, the UN interim mission in Kosovo, had agreed to devise a new program aimed at improving the lot of the Serbs.

"The very fact that one of the important goals of Mr. O'Brien's visit to Kosovo was working with the Serb community on implementation of this program and the interest which has been shown by the Secretary of State in Washington gives us assurance that there is will in the U.S. administration to improve the security situation which, according to their own assessment, is very bad" he said.

Until the NATO campaign forced the Yugoslav army to withdraw, the 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority in Serbia's southern province were ruled by Belgrade with a heavy hand.

Since the bombing ended, more than half the Serb minority have fled to Serbia proper, and those who remain live in heavily guarded areas patrolled by troops of the NATO-led KFOR (Kosovo Force).

Roads into Gracanica are guarded by Swedish checkpoints, and as the SNC delegates talked, the ancient monastery was ringed by soldiers and armored vehicles, many of them British, American and Polish, which had escorted them to the meeting.

Their protection is needed: attacks on Serbs have continued since the SNC boycott began on June 10, but Father Sava said: "That makes more urgent more active participation of the SNC with the international community to prevent these attacks."

He said the understanding between UNMIK and the SNC would take the form of a written commitment to improving the position of the Serb population in Kosovo.

This would include:

Deployment of additional UNMIK police forces in Serb areas.

More Serb candidates in the Kosovo police force.

More international judges to be employed in Kosovo.

Continuation of work on the return of Serbs within the Committee for the Returns headed by Serbian Bishop Artemije and UN Special Representative Bernard Kouchner and others.

Opening of local community offices in Serb areas where local Serbs together with UNMIK local officials would work on the "burning issues of the Serbian community".

A special committee for protection of Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries.

KOSOVO SERB JOURNALIST SHOT There's growing international concern for thesafety of ethnic minority journalists in Kosovo after a Serb reporter was shot and wounded in central Pristina. Llazar Semini reports from Pristina.

RUGOVA COMEBACK? There are signs that Ibrahim Rugova, a peripheral political figure since the end of the war, is preparing to make a comeback.

Llazar Semini reports from Pristina.

RACAN'S HIGH-RISK STRATEGY Croatian Prime Minister, Ivica Racan, may call a snap election to extricate his government from his troublesome six-party coalition. The strategy could prove disastrous. Drago Hedl reports from Osijek.

RUSSIA INTERVENES IN DNESTR DISPUTE Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to work towards a resolution of Moldova's separatist conflict. Marian Chiriac reports from Bucharest.

KOSOVO SERB JOURNALIST SHOT

There's growing international concern for the safety of ethnic minority journalists in Kosovo after a Serb reporter was shot and wounded in central Pristina.

By Llazar Semini in Pristina

The gun-attack against a Serb journalist and her boyfriend earlier this week has heightened concerns over the vulnerability of ethnic minority reporters in the province.

Valentina Cukic, in her 20s, a journalist at the multi-ethnic Radio Contact in Pristina, and her boyfriend were shot in Mother Teresa Street. Cukic was hit in the chest. Her condition is serious but not life threatening. Her boyfriend suffered minor injuries to his leg.

UNMIK Pristina police told IWPR the couple were shot by three gunmen. They said the motive for the attack, which comes against a background of growing inter-ethnic tension and violence in the province, has yet to be established.

A day after the incident, senior UN officials - including UNMIK head, Bernard Kouchner and Hague Tribunal prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte - and members of the Kosovo Transitional Council laid a wreath at the site of the shooting.

"All of us are here to express our outrage and our determined opposition to the continued violence in Kosovo," said Kouchner. "The violence must stop. Let us work towards a Kosovo based on justice, tolerance, freedom and democracy."

The editor-in-chief of Radio Contact, Zvonko Tarle, claimed the shooting was a consequence of a heated exchange of views in the Kosovo media.

In a news report for IWPR, Tarle alleged a grenade attack on an apartment used by Radio Contact staff was the work of Albanian extremists. A subsequent article in the Albanian daily, Koha Ditore, claimed Tarle's report was factually incorrect and biased.

Koha Ditore editor-in-chief, Baton Haxhiu, blamed the attack on Belgrade's secret police, claiming Slobodan Milosevic's regime had no interest in seeing multi-ethnic institutions in the province prosper.

Haxhiu said Milosevic suppporters had recently demolished a Serb radio station supporting moderate Orthodox Bishop Artemije. In another incident, Serbian Orthodox Church -owned Radio 106 in Caglavica, a Serb-populated village near  Pristina, was burgled. The bulk of its equipment was stolen.

The Association of Independent Electronic Media expressed shock and outrage at this week's shooting. The Association said it was "astonished Cukic was shot in the centre of Pristina while wearing KFOR press identification.

"The Association appeals to the international community in Kosovo, above all KFOR, UNMIK and Bernard Kouchner, to do all in their power to bring the attackers to justice and to prevent such incidents in the future."

A Radio Contact statement said, "It seem likely that the gunfire was directed at Radio Contact, that all the fears we've expressed to UNMIK, the UN police, KFOR and OSCE, have come true.

"All the members of the editorial staff, regardless of nationality, are endangered by this terrorist attack. Radio Contact will broadcast only music and public service information as a sign of protest."

Llazar Semini is IWPR's Kosova Project Manager in Pristina.

RUGOVA COMEBACK?

There are signs that Ibrahim Rugova, a peripheral political figure since the end of the war, is preparing to make a comeback.

By Llazar Semini in Pristina

Kosovo's pre-war pacifist leader, IbrahimRugova, and his party, the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, appear to be attempting to revive their waning political fortunes in the run-up to municipal elections in the autumn.

Rugova, who's made few public appearances since the end of the war, recently stepped back into the political spotlight with a highly publicised visit to the southeast town of Gnjilane (Gjilan), where he was greeted by several thousand party activists and supporters.

At the same time, junior LDK officials have been much more active at local authority level, raising the party's profile and competing for council posts.

The undisputed leader of the Kosovo Albanians before the war, Rugova's standing in the province dropped significantly during and after the conflict.

A televised meeting between him and Slobodan Milosevic, apparently discussing the province's future at the height of the Serbian ethnic cleansing campaign, turned many Kosovars against Rugova and his party.

And in the wake of the war, claims by political rivals that his policy of passive resistance against Belgrade only perpetuated Albanian suffering further eroded support and led to a backlash against LDK officials - some of whom were murdered.

Rugova's cause hasn't been helped by upheavals within the LDK. A number of senior officials have left in protest over party policy, the most recent being one of his closest aides, Milazim Krasniqi.

The trouble with the LDK is that it has not adapted to post-war conditions. The party programme has changed little since the party was formed over ten years ago. Some wonder whether it has any strategy at all.

In truth, though, other parties appear similarly lacking in ideas. All talk of the need for independence, but none have tried to tackle social and economic problems, such as Kosovo's growing unemployment.

Rugova, meanwhile, has not helped either his party or himself by keeping a very low profile. He works closely with UNMIK, issues statements denouncing ethnic violence and appealing for greater co-operation with the international institutions in the province. He does very little else.

There are two possible explanations for Rugova's inactivity. It might well be that he's run out of steam and has very little else to offer, or that he's simply biding his time, waiting for his political rivals to make mistakes.

"Maybe he's stuck in that old style of passive resistance politics and has nothing more to say," said one Pristina student. "On the other hand, he could just be waiting for others to fail."

The latter possibility is the more likely. The wait-and-see approach was his favoured tactic before the war. Moreover, his recent Gnjilane visit and the revival of LDK activity at local authority level all point to him preparing a comeback.

While Rugova's prospects at the moment do not look great, he probably wouldn't have to put in too much effort to improve his chances of doing well at the forthcoming municipal polls. After all, many people have an emotional attachment to him despite his mistakes. And the sniff of corruption surrounding some of his rivals could well lose them votes.

Llazar Semini is IWPR's Kosovo Project Manager in Pristina

RACAN'S HIGH-RISK STRATEGY

Croatian Prime Minister, Ivica Racan, may call a snap election to extricate his government from his troublesome six-party coalition. The strategy could prove disastrous.

By Drago Hedl in Osijek

Six months into Croatia's new government and Marko Boskovic, a 64-year-old pensioner, is still waiting for the promised improvement in his living standards. Before the election, Prime Minister Ivica Racan's Social Democratic Party, SDP, assured voters they would deliver pension arrears accumulated under the previous administration. But Boskovic is still struggling to get by on his 1,500 kunas (390 German marks) a month.

Racan's government faces an up-hill battle to meet the high expectations of voters. The state treasury is empty, the economy is in crisis and unemployment is just shy of 20 per cent.

To make any headway in turning Croatia around, Racan has had to introduce a series of unpopular measures - reducing police and army budgets, enabling the return of Croatian Serb refugees, co-operating with The Hague Tribunal, delaying the repayment of debts to pensioners and postponing promised tax cuts. As a result, SDP popularity has plummeted since the January elections.

Racan's administration is made up of six parties and although the SDP holds the majority of senior posts, ministers from the smaller coalition members - the Liberal Party, the Croatian Peoples Party of President Stipe Mesic and the Istra Democratic Federation - are increasingly critical of government policy. Aware of the administration's growing unpopularity, these parties are trying to distance themselves from Racan's more controversial policies.

To govern with an increasingly fragmented six-party coalition - with different political agendas and divergent programmes - could prove impossible. And in a recent newspaper interview, Zdravko Tomac, a close party colleague of Racan and vice president of the Croatian parliament, warned that new general elections were not out of the question.

Some believe a snap poll would strengthen Racan's hand. With the former ruling Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, in the midst of political crisis and the increasing popularity of Mesic's party, the ballot could deliver a stonger two-party, SDP and People's Party, HNS, coalition. Such an arrangement would also enable Racan and Mesic to agree on a new division of political power and help resolve their differences.

To call early elections is, however, fraught with risks. After ten years of declining living standards, people want to see and feel rapid improvements.

Racan's successes - joining the Partnership for Peace, imminent membership of the World Trade Organisation and the European Union - are unlikely to produce any genuine and immediate material benefits for the likes of pensioner Marko Boskovic.

Having made rash promises to create 200,000 new jobs, the government is confronted with the reality of large employers going to the wall, shedding thousands of workers. The Zagreb warehouse chain, NAMA, is expected to close within the next few days. The Djura Djakovic factory in Slavonski Brod is to shut with the loss of several hundred jobs.

Worse still, the once prosperous DIOKOM factory in Split is to close. Prior to the break-up of former Yugoslavia, DIOKOM, then known as Jugoplastika, was so successful it sponsored one of the country's top basketball teams. The factory had provided components for the Zastava car factory in Kragujevac in present day Serbia.

Some analysts believe the right-wing in Croatia could seize the opportunity of an early election to foment social unrest. HDZ internal turmoil has triggered a re-alignment on the right. It is a distinct possibility that party radicals will unite with the extreme right-wing Croatian Party of  Rights to produce a new and potentially powerful political force.

Politicians from the Croatian right are well known for promising quick fixes and voters disillusioned with Racan's failure to deliver tangible improvements could easily give their votes to them.

Drago Hedl is a regular contributor to IWPR.

RUSSIA INTERVENES IN DNESTR DISPUTE

Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to work towards a resolution of Moldova's separatist conflict.

By Marian Chiriac in Bucharest

Former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov is to head a new commission aimed at resolving the long-running dispute between Moldova and its breakaway Dnestr region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the new initiative during a visit to the tiny republic on June 17."It is in Russia's national interests for Moldova to develop dynamically as an independent, sovereign state with its territory intact," said Putin.

Putin, eager to rebuild ties with the former Soviet republics, said the Moldovan government had asked Russia to "increase her efforts" in resolving the ten-year dispute over Dnestr's status. The Russian president added, however, that a solution would only be found if the interests of all people in the region were respected.

The Kremlin leader declined a private meeting with Dnestr's separatist leader, Igor Smirnov - sending a clear signal that Moscow seeks a solution which stops short of independence for the breakaway region.

Dnestr, which borders the Ukraine, has a population of around 600,000, just over half of whom are Slav (Russian and Ukrainian). In 1990, the region unilaterally declared itself independent amidst fears that Moldova's ethnic Romanian majority would seek to merge with Romania after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Seven hundred people died during the ensuing conflict, which raged until 1992. Only the intervention of Russian troops, still stationed in Moldova, brought the fighting to an end.

Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE have all acted as intermediaries between the two sides. In 1997, years of negotiations between Moldova and the breakaway region finally produced a "memorandum of understanding".

Dnestr still has its own currency, constitution and armed forces, however, and still demands recognition as a separate state.

Moscow has around 2,500 troops stationed in Dnestr as well as a large number of Soviet era weapons and munitions. At the OSCE summit in Istanbul in December 1999, Russia agreed to end its military presence in the region by the end of 2002, but a timetable for the withdrawal has yet to be established.

The OSCE has set aside $30 million to help finance the military pullout. Plans to deploy an OSCE peacekeeping force have, however, met with considerable resistance from Dnestr's leaders who have called instead for a NATO-led force.

"People in Dnestr are well aware that the NATO option is not acceptable, especially after what happened in Kosovo," said Vladimir Atamanyuk, Moldova's vice-president.

Putin made no direct references to Russian troop withdrawals during the visit, saying simply Moscow respects the decisions of international organisations and Moldovan territorial integrity. The Kremlin leader said he had agreed with his Moldovan counterpart, Petru Lucinschi, to begin work on a bilateral treaty.

Luchinschi said Putin had assured him Moscow "does not intend to keep Moldova on a short leash."

With presidential elections scheduled for later this year, Putin's visit could well bolster Lucinschi's standing among the republic's large number of Russian voters.

Many Moldovan officials, however, were less enthusiastic about the Russian leader's visit. They remain sceptical that Russia's new president will honour the Istanbul agreement and remove Russian troops from Moldova.

"The Dnestr conflict was an opportunity for Russia to prolong its military presence in this region, an area which acts as a bridge between Russia and south-east Europe," one local politician said.

Russia's continued military presence enables Moscow to exert tangible influence on Moldovan politics particularly over issues such as integration into the Commonwealth of Independent States and co-operation with NATO, the politician said.

Marian Chiriac is news editor of the MediaFax News Agency in Bucharest and editor of Foreign Policy, a quarterly published by the Romanian Academic Society.

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