The State Department web site below is a permanent electronic archive of information released prior to January 20, 2001.  Please see www.state.gov for material released since President George W. Bush took office on that date.  This site is not updated so external links may no longer function.  Contact us with any questions about finding information. NOTE: External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views contained therein.

Kosovo Update Released by the Bureau of European Affairs, Office of South Central European Affairs, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC, March 8, 1999

(Editor's Note: With the progressive changeover of responsibility from KDOM to OSCE/KVM, the KDOM Daily Report has been replaced by this Update, which is published as material becomes available.)

Compiled by EUR/SCE (202-647-5624) from daily reports of the U.S. element
of the Kosovo Diplomatic Observers Mission and other sources

March 8, 1999

Kosovo remained generally quiet over the weekend although tensions remain high in many areas. Some skirmishes were reported in the Vucitrn vicinity where VJ and police reinforcements continue to arrive. Serb forces remained active also in the Suva Reka area and near Gniljane in eastern Kosovo.

On Saturday four ethnic Albanians were reportedly kidnapped by armed Serbian civilians in the town of Orahovac. This incident followed the drive-by shooting in Pristina on Friday in which one ethnic Albanian was killed and six were wounded while sitting in a cafe.

On Sunday two Serb policemen were killed and a third was wounded in what is described as a "gangland type attack". According to local media accounts, the KLA is not suspected of carrying out these killings. Since the police were serving a warrant on a suspected car thief at the time of the killings, it appears more likely to have been a criminal act. The police are reported to have beaten up 15 ethnic Albanians in their investigation of the matter.

A VJ soldier captured by the KLA west of Vucitrn several days ago remains alive and in the hands of the KLA zone commander. OSCE/KVM is working intensively for the soldier's release.

On Saturday the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) announced it would ratify the interim peace agreement if it were signed by the Kosovar Albanian delegation to the talks. Also on Saturday, Vetton Surroi, editor of the influential Pristina newspaper "Koha Dittore", urged the Kosovar Albanian side to sign onto the Rambouillet draft accord before March 10.

As co-chairmen of the Rambouillet negotiations, British Foreign Secretary Cook and French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine, issued a joint statement on Friday in which they say the Rambouillet talks put into place the political framework for a system of substantial autonomy for Kosovo. There was a consensus support for this framework at Rambouillet. The aim of the March 15 conference is to reach full agreement on all civilian and military aspects of the accord, the statement said. The co-chairs expect the parties to return to the conference ready to finalize an agreement. Any who put obstacles in the way of successful realization of the accords will be held responsible, they add.

Ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch, the OSCE negotiator on Kosovo, told the OSCE Permanent Council on March 4 that Rambouillet represented a major step toward ending the conflict in Kosovo. He said the Kosovar Albanians are now close to accepting the agreement in its totality, but that Belgrade appears to be backsliding even from its previous acceptance of the political portion of the agreement.

[End of Document]

Previous reports

Special Section on Kosovo Home Page
Office of the Special Representative
Bureau of European Affairs Home Page.
DOSFAN Home Page.