- Title: YUGOSLAVIA: SHOOTING INCIDENTS IN KOSOVO LEAD TO RISE IN ETHNIC TENSION
- Date: 27th April 1996
- Summary: DECANI, PEC AND PRISTINA, KOSOVO (APRIL 27, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) DECANI 1. GV/CU: EXTERIOR OF CAFE/ SIGN (2 SHOTS) 0.09 2. VARIOUS: INTERIOR OF CAFE SHOWING BROKEN FURNITURE, BLOOD ON THE GROUND AND WALLS MARKED BY GUNFIRE (6 SHOTS) 0.38 3. MCU: CAFE OWNER KOSARA STESEVIC SAYING THE SHOOTING INCIDENTS AGAINST SERBS ARE HAPPENING BECAUSE THE ALBANIANS WANT A "MOTHERLAND ALBANIA". SHE ADDS THAT HISTORY SHOWS THAT THIS (KOSOVO) IS SERBIAN AND I LIVE IN SERBIA (SERBO-CROAT) 0.54 PECI 4. GV: EXTERIOR OF HOSPITAL 0.58 5. GV: HOSPITAL WARD 1.01 6. MCU: KOCAN SAFET, ONE OF THE TWO WOUNDED SERB POLICEMEN SAYING HE AND FELLOW POLICEMAN ZORAN DASIC APPROACHED A CAR WITH MACEDONIAN NUMBER PLATES ON MONDAY NIGHT. WHEN THEY ASKED THE OCCUPANTS FOR INDENTIFICATIONS THEY WERE FIRED ON. (SERBO-CROAT)/ SAFET IN BED (2 SHOTS) 1.30 KOSOVO 7. CU: SOCIALIST PARTY OF SERBIA (SPS) LOGO 1.32 8. MV: VOJISLAV ZIVKOVIC, PRESIDENT OF SPS BRANCH - KOSOVO SAYING THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT THE RECENT ATTACKS AGAINST SERBS AND MONTENEGRAN CITIZENS IN KOSOVO HAVE BEEN PRE-PLANNED (SERBO-CROAT) 1.52 9. GV: PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE ALBANIAN DEMOCRATIC LEAGUE OF KOSOVO (LDK) 1.59 10. SV: JOURNALISTS/ NOTEBOOK (2 SHOTS) 2.04 11. HIDAET HUSENI, ONE OF THE LEADERS OF THE LDK SAYING THE SITUATION IN KOSOVO IS EXPLOSIVE AND CALLING FOR URGENT INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY INTERVENTION TO STOP REPRESSION. (SERBO-CROAT) HUSENI SAYING THERE IS A CONFLICT IN KOSOVO, BUT IT IS NOT ONE OF NATIONALITIES. IT IS A CONFLICT CAUSED BY THE OCCUPATIONAL REGIME OF BELGRADE (SERBO-CROAT)/ JOURNALISTS (4 SHOTS) 3.13 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 12th May 1996 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: DECANI, PEC AND PRISTINA, KOSOVO, YUGOSLAVIA
- City:
- Country: Yugoslavia
- Reuters ID: LVA4Z5ZET7QNZJBUQ82IYOHA9QAP
- Story Text: INTRO: Shooting incidents in mainly Albanian Kosovo in Serbia have raised ethnic tension and set Serbian police on edge but both Belgrade and Albanian leaders are keen to avoid open conflict in the province, analysts say.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Shooting incidents in Kosovo, Serbia, which have left five people dead and five wounded in the past week have raised tensions between the mainly Albanian population and local Serbian police.
On eincident took place in a cefe.
Cafe owner Kosara Stesevic said the shooting incidents against Serbs were happening because the Albanians wanted a "motherland Albania", adding that history showed "Kosovo is Serbian".
In one incident, two Serb police were fired on. Kocan Safet, one of the two police, said in hospital as he recovered from his wounds that they were fired on when they asked the occupants of a car with Macedonian number plates for identification.
The leaders of the Albanian Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) have long felt violence would lose them support from Western governments crucial for their separatist campaign.
One of their leaders, Hidaet Huseni, said that the situation, which is "difficult and explosive" called for quick and energetic intervention by the international community to stop repression which "has been going on for years in Kosovo".
"We must stop and prevent a wider conflict, we are for demilitarisation and depolitisation of Kosovo", Huseni said.
"We want a Kosovo as an independent republic of all citizens and people open both towards Albania and Serbia - we greet all efforts of the international factors to solve the Kosovo question", Huseni said.
Serbia has been careful not to stir up already hostile relations in its southern Kosovo province after five Serbs, including a policeman, were killed by unidentified gunmen.
With his country exhausted by supporting Serb war efforts in Croatia and Bosnia and the resulting international sanctions Serbia's President Slobodan Milosevic has nothing to gain by worsening ethnic tensions in Kosovo.
Albanian leaders were angered that Dayton failed to address the Kosovo issue and allowed Belgrade to win diplomatic recognition this month from European Union countries.
The small Serb minority in Kosovo continues to dwindle and the two million Albanians, already 90 percent of the population, are increasing in number.
Analysts say Milosevic may have already begun preparing the ground for a compromise on Kosovo, citing the demotion of hard-line nationalists in the local administration.
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