ALBANIA/YUGOSALVIA: KFOR BOLSTER SECURITY AT MAIN KOSOVO/ALBANIA BORDER TO DETER SMUGGLING/THOUSANDS GATHER IN SRBICA TO REMEMBER 146 PEOPLE MASSACRED BY SERB PARAMILITARIES

Record ID: 566003

  • Title: ALBANIA/YUGOSALVIA: KFOR BOLSTER SECURITY AT MAIN KOSOVO/ALBANIA BORDER TO DETER SMUGGLING/THOUSANDS GATHER IN SRBICA TO REMEMBER 146 PEOPLE MASSACRED BY SERB PARAMILITARIES
  • Date: 28th March 2000
  • Summary: MORINA, ALBANIA, MARCH 28 2000 (REUTERS) 1. WS/LV: BORDER CROSSING WITH KOSOVO (2 SHOTS) 0.07 2. VARIOUS OF GERMAN, POLISH AND ARGENTINE TROOPS CHECKING TRAFFIC AND TRAVELLERS (7 SHOTS) 0.37 3. SV/CU: MAN BEING SEARCHED (GERMAN SOLDIER SEARCHING WHILE POLISH COLLEAGUE STANDS GUARD) OVER OPERATION (3 SHOTS) 0.51 4. SV/CU/SCU: (SOUNDBITE)(Albanian) ALBANIAN MAN WHO HAS BEEN SEARCHED SAYING: "The checks are not disturbing us. This is good because they are stopping crime and helping to prevent weapons smuggling." (3 SHOTS) 1.09 ZUR, KOSOVO, MARCH 28, 2000 (REUTERS) 5. VARIOUS OF JOINT FOOT PATROLS BEING CONDUCTED BY GERMAN AND POLISH TROOPS IN A SMALL VILLAGE JUST INSIDE THE BORDER WITH ALBANIA (4 SHOTS) 1.21 MORINA, ALBANIA, MARCH 28 2000 (REUTERS) 6. SCU: (SOUNDBITE)(English) GERMAN BRIGADIER RONALD KATHER, COMMANDER OF MULTINATIONAL BRIGADE SOUTH SAYING: "We told them, it's absolutely peaceful its just for the purpose of security, everybody knows about it and I think people accept it. It's good for Kosovo, for the the Prizren area and for my soldiers." 1.42 7. SV: KATHER SHAKING HANDS OF POLISH SOLDIERS 1.46 8. WIDE OF BORDER POST (2 SHOTS) 1.51 9. VARIOUS OF GERMAN AND ARGENTINEAN SOLDIERS MONITORING BORDER FOR SMUGGLERS (7 SHOTS) 2.18 10. CU UN CUSTOMS SIGN 2.21 11. LV: CUSTOMS POST ON BORDER 2.26 SRBICA, SERBIA, MARCH 28 2000 (REUTERS) 12. WS: ALBANIAN FLAG ABOVE CROWD OF MORE THAN 3,000 GATHERED TO MOURN ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY SIX PEOPLE KILLED BY SERBS ONE YEAR AGO 2.30 13. CLOSE UP OF GRAVES 2.33 14. VARIOUS MOURNERS AMONG GRAVES (2 SHOTS) 2.42 15. PAN/LV: CROWDS AT SITE (2 SHOTS) 2.54 16. MV: RELATIVES HOLDING PICTURES OF KILLED FAMILY MEMBERS 2.58 17. MV: ALBANIAN FLAG BEING HOISTED 3.04 18. MV: SPEAKERS ON STAGE, CU: CROWD LISTENING (2 SHOTS) 3.11 19. SV: HACHIM THAQI, FORMER LEADER OF THE KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY LISTENING 3.15 20. WS/SCU: CROWDS/ MV: SPEAKERS ON STAGE (3 SHOTS) 3.25 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 12th April 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MORINA, ALBANIA/ KOSOVO-ALBANIA BORDER/ SRBICA, KOSOVO; YUGOSLAVIA
  • City:
  • Country: Yugoslavia
  • Reuters ID: LVADKA26VS12EYBKVQ6794HLI6U3
  • Story Text: German and Polish peacekeepers are working together to
    boost security at Kosovo's main border crossing with Albania,
    one of the key places for smuggling into the war-torn
    province.In Srbica, central Kosovo, thousands gathered to
    remember 146 people massacred in a bloody one-day rampage by
    Serb paramilitaries.

    German soldiers were working alongside their Polish
    counterparts at the main border crossing with Kosovo on
    Tuesday (March 28).

    NATO-led peacekeepers are beefing up security along the
    border with Albania in a move that NATO hopes will deter the
    smuggling of goods and weapons.

    The second message was one to the country's warring Serb
    and ethnic Albanian communities: that former foes can work
    together in harmony.

    Barely more than 50 years ago, German troops crashed over
    the border with Poland at the start of the Second World War
    that killed more than 10 million people.Five decades on, a
    German brigadier was complementing Polish troops on their
    reinforcement of NATO peacekeepers in the region.

    The operation was part of a multinational exercise
    underway in Kosovo to test the flexibility of the
    30-nation-strong peacekeeping force.

    During the course of this week, soldiers from the United
    States, Argentina, Poland and Romania will be working
    alongside KFOR peacekeepers.The aim is to see how rapidly
    troops could reinforce soldiers in the region.

    Coming as it does on the first anniversary of the start of
    NATO bombing over Yugoslavia and Kosovo, it is also a powerful
    signal to Serbia that the Alliance stands ready to deal with
    any threat from the outside.

    But whatever the hopes the international community may
    have for a reconciliation, they will clearly not be swift.

    Outside Srbica in central Kosovo, more than 3,000 people
    gathered to mourn 146 ethnic Albanians killed by Serb forces
    one year ago on Tuesday.

    In one of the most infamous episodes of the 78-day
    conflict, Serb forces ploughed through the village apparently
    killing most of the people they came across.

    In a moving ceremony on Tuesday, the dead were remembered
    with flowers,
    hymns and speeches.Relatives of the bereaved looked on, tears
    steaming down their eyes.


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