YUGOSLAVIA: AS INTERNATIONAL TROOPS SWEEP INTO MITROVINA TO SUT DOWN A LEAD FACTORY SERBIAN WORKERS CLASH WITH FRENCH KFOR TROOPS

Record ID: 647709

  • Title: YUGOSLAVIA: AS INTERNATIONAL TROOPS SWEEP INTO MITROVINA TO SUT DOWN A LEAD FACTORY SERBIAN WORKERS CLASH WITH FRENCH KFOR TROOPS
  • Date: 14th August 2000
  • Summary: MITROVICA, YUGOSLAVIA (AUGUST 14, 2000) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF POLLUTING SMELTER TAKEN OVER BY KFOR 0.13 2. VARIOUS INTERIORS OF THE SMELTER 0.43 3. VARIOUS NIGHT VIEWS OF NATO FORCES ON ROAD WHICH GOES DIRECTLY INTO THE SMELTING PLANT 0.56 4. VARIOUS OF KFOR TRUCKS ON ROAD AT NIGHT 1.19 5. SCU SOUNDBITE (English) FRENCH KFOR SPOKESMAN COLONEL HENRI AUSSAVY SAYING: " Monday 14th August at 0430am in Mitrovica in accordance with resolution number 1,244 of the United Nations Security Council KFOR supported UNMIK (United Nations Mission in Kosovo) to take over control of Zvecan plant and ensure the security of the area, this action takes place after the UNMIK decision to temporarily shut down the factory to stop the polluting activities, indeed since early June the pollution in the air has reached the senatory alert level for all the inhabitants of Kosovo and KFOR soldiers, this action was conducted by KFOR and directed by multinational brigade with French, Danish and British troops, as soon as the area will be definitely secured UNMIK will progressively replace KFOR in this mission". 2.23 6. VARIOUS KFOR CHECKPOINTS EARLY MONDAY MORNING, ON THE ROAD OUTSIDE FACTORY 2.39 7. SLV SERB WORKERS ON THE BRIDGE TO THE SMELTING PLANT PUSHING AND SHOVING GENDARMES/ STONE-THROWING 3.08 8. SCU SOUNDBITE (Serbian) LOCAL SERB LEADER OLIVER IVANOVIC : "We expected this action from KFOR so we were not surprised. we will try to keep the situation calm and avoid any incidents. If they (KFOR) want to prevent our workers from going to work, and if they want to cut their salaries and bring back albanians to the plant and to North Mitrovica we cannot allow that but we can agree on everything else". 3.40 9. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) SUSAN MANUEL, UNMIK SPOKESPERSON SAYING: "Our technical went to the plant to assess how to shut down the factory, we wanted to give the workers a salary as a sign of goodwill, but as I understand, the workers outside the plant blocked the officials at the entrance, but as I know the situation now is not that violent". 4.00 10. SLV CHECKPOINT 4.09 11. SLV CHIMNEY OF FACTORY 4.14 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 29th August 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MITROVICA, YUGOSLAVIA
  • City:
  • Country: Yugoslavia
  • Reuters ID: LVAET6QP3RNJ8AAM8ORKVNK93QTL
  • Story Text: British, French and Danish troops swept in force into
    Serb-held Mitrovica in Kosovo around dawn to shut down a lead
    smelter that had been pumping toxic fumes into the air. Later,
    about 250 Serbian workers clashed with French KFOR police at
    the factory.



    The soldiers moved into the plant early on Monday
    (August 14), some in armoured vehicles, crossing the River
    Ibar which marks the divide between ethnic Albanian-dominated
    Kosovo and Mitrovica, the last major urban concentration of
    Serbs in the Yugoslav province.

    The action, billed as a public health measure, will also
    stamp NATO's authority on the divided northern Kosovan city,
    which has been a persistent trouble spot since international
    forces arrived in the province in mid-1999.

    French spokesman Colonel Henri Aussavy said the troops had
    encountered no resistance when they swept through the gates of
    the rundown Zvecan smelter, which United Nations officials say
    is pumping 200 times the safe level of lead into the
    atmosphere.

    "We've noted a significant increase in the level of lead
    in the air, which was dangerous for the people of Mitrovica
    and for KFOR (NATO-led) troops," said Aussavy. "We had to
    react."
    It was the most vigorous action in Kosovo by NATO forces
    for some time and was spearheaded by the French, who have been
    criticised in the past for failing to control the volatile
    city.

    Zvecan's Serb managers, who reported to headquarters in
    Belgrade, had refused U.N. entreaties to shut down the plant
    and would not accept the U.N.'s right under Security Council
    resolutions to manage former Yugoslav state property.

    A group of 250 Serbian workers clashed with French riot
    police at the factory.

    The workers pushed and shoved KFOR troops on the bridge
    leading to the smelting plant. Some threw stones at the
    gendarmes who had moved in to help shut down the area.

    Local Serb leader Oliver Ivanovic said he wants to keep
    the situation calm, but warned against possible KFOR moves to
    introduce Albanian workers to the smelting plant.

    UNMIK spokeswoman Susan Manuel said later that the
    situation had calmed down.

    Control of Trepca's mineral wealth has long been disputed
    between Serbs and Kosovo's ethnic Albanian population. KFOR on
    Monday assured Serb workers they would continue to be paid
    even while the smelter was shut for repairs.

    The smelter forms part of the vast Trepca mining and
    metals group, a collection of pits and decrepit factories that
    straddle the ethnic divide in Mitrovica and which the U.N.

    hopes to rehabilitate into a major contributor to the economy
    of Kosovo.

    The U.N. is on the verge of signing a 15-16 million dollar
    contract with a French, U.S. and Swedish consortium that will
    carry out emergency repairs of the mines and assess what
    industrial plants can be resurrected.

    The city of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo has effectively
    been partitioned since NATO forces expelled Yugoslav troops in
    mid-1999 after an air campaign designed to halt Serb
    persecution of ethnic Albanians.



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