ALBANIA:SICK REFUGEES FROM KOSOVO AIRLIFTED TO TIRANA/ THE CHAIRMAN OF OSCE, KNUT VOLLEBAEK, HOPES RUSSIA WILL KEEP TRYING TO RESOLVE THE KOSOVO CRISIS

Record ID: 274769

  • Title: ALBANIA:SICK REFUGEES FROM KOSOVO AIRLIFTED TO TIRANA/ THE CHAIRMAN OF OSCE, KNUT VOLLEBAEK, HOPES RUSSIA WILL KEEP TRYING TO RESOLVE THE KOSOVO CRISIS
  • Date: 7th April 1999
  • Summary: TIRANA, ALBANIA (APRIL 6, 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV HELICOPTER LANDING AT TIRANA AIRPORT - HELICOPTER ARRIVING FROM KUKES BRINGING BACK INJURED CHILDREN 0.14 2. SV ARMED GUARD IN FRONT OF HELICOPTER 0.21 3. SV SICK CHILDREN IS CARRIED OFF HELICOPTER IN STRETCHER SURROUNDED BY MEDICS (2 SHOTS) 0.50 4. SV ANOTHER CHILD IS CARRIE
  • Embargoed: 22nd April 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TIRANA, ALBANIA
  • Country: Albania
  • Reuters ID: LVACKXTG01GA0QPE5RZG16GPOHMN
  • Story Text: The chairman of the Organisation for Security and
    Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Norwegian Foreign Minister Knut
    Vollebaek, said on Tuesday he hoped Russia would keep trying
    to resolve the Kosovo crisis.Vollebaek was speaking in the
    Albanian capital, Tirana, after visiting Kosovo refugees on
    the country's northern border.

    As he spoke, sick refugee children from Kukes, in Northern
    Albania, were being brought by military helicopters to Tirana
    for urgent medical treatment.

    Vollebaek said he had witnessed an incredible
    humanitarian catastrophe and accused Yugoslav President
    Slobodan Milosevic of trying to destabilise the whole region.

    He said Russia's Kosovo peace initiative last week, when
    Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov travelled to Belgrade, had
    been important.

    "It was not successful at that stage, but I hope that
    Russia will continue to be involved and we will discuss if
    there are any ways and means that they see in moving this
    conflict towards a solution," he told a news conference in
    Tirana.

    Vollebaek was due to visit Macedonia and Romania on
    Wednesday before flying to Moscow on Thursday.

    The 54-nation OSCE is a security watchdog grouping the
    United States, Canada and all European countries except
    Yugoslavia, which has been suspended.

    Vollebaek said the scenes he had witnessed on Albania's
    border with Kosovo earlier on Tuesday had been horrendous.

    Asked about reports of mass killings of ethnic Albanians
    by Serbian forces in Kosovo, Vollebaek said it was difficult
    to get verifiable information and the situation appeared to
    vary in different parts of the province.

    "But according to the stories, in some areas I think we
    have to admit that we're talking about genocide, we're talking
    about ethnic cleansing, we're talking about barbaric acts
    against civilians."
    "I fear that part of these actions that we see from
    President Milosevic's side actually is aimed at destabilising
    the whole region."
    Asked about the offer of a ceasefire by President
    Milosevic, Vollenbaek said that if he (Milosevic) was serious
    it would have to imply the entry of an international armed
    presence in Kosovo to verify what was going on.

    At Tirana airport, sick refugee children, some with
    shrapnel wounds, were arriving by helicopter for treatment by
    NATO medical personnel.

    The youngsters were given immediate first aid on the
    ground before being taken to hospitals in Tirana.

    The Albanian President Rexhep Meidani on Tuesday denounced
    Yugoslavia's offer of a ceasefire in Kosovo province and said
    refugees should be allowed to return home with the help of
    NATO troops.

    "Belgrade's offer of a unilateral ceasefire is demagogy
    and cynical provocation," Meidani told NATO Deputy Secretary
    General Sergio Balanzino, according to a statement released
    after their talks.

    "Albanians of Kosovo can return to their homes with ground
    troops led by NATO or immediately after their deployment," he
    said.

    Prime Minister Pandeli Majko told Balanzino Albania was
    pleased that NATO had rejected the Yugoslav ceasefire and
    repeated Albania's readiness to help the alliance.

    "I am authorised on behalf of the government to offer full
    collaboration with NATO for any further action," he said.
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