VARIOUS: NATO SUPREME COMMANDER WESLEY CLARK VISITS MACEDONIA AS SERB TROOPS BUILD UP IN THE KOSOVO REGION

Record ID: 674053

  • Title: VARIOUS: NATO SUPREME COMMANDER WESLEY CLARK VISITS MACEDONIA AS SERB TROOPS BUILD UP IN THE KOSOVO REGION
  • Date: 18th March 1999
  • Summary: DUBOVAC /GLAVOTINA, KOSOVO, YUGOSLAVIA (MARCH 18, 1999) SLV/MV SERB TANKS MOVING ALONG MOUNTAINSIDE / SCU TANK CREWS (8 SHOTS) SLV PAN/ SCU DESERTED KLA TRENCHES /LV / SLV VILLAGE (4 SHOTS) LV KLA FIGHTERS AND DESERTED VILLAGES (4 SHOTS) SCU/MV KLA OBSERVING SERB POSITIONS THROUGH BINOCULARS / SLV KLA FIGHTERS WALKING UP SLOPE (3 SHOTS) SLV/MV/SCU REFUGEES HUDDLED ON TRACTORS AND TRAILERS IN SNOW (8 SHOTS) SCU INJURED WOMAN SHOWING SONS INJURED ARM CU INJURED CHILD / SCU REFUGEES ON BACK OF TRAILER COVERING UP WITH DUVET (2 SHOTS) SLV REFUGEES ENTERING HOUSE/ REFUGEES SEATED IN HOUSE (3 SHOTS) SCU SOUNDBITE (Albanian) REFUGEE RAHMIJE MEHAMI "If we could only see the Serbs leaving here we could live in peace" BORDER AREA, KOSOVO/MACEDONIA (MARCH 18, 1999) (REUTERS) SLV REFUGEES ON TRACTORS (2 SHOTS) SKOPJE, MACEDONIA (MARCH 18, 1999) (RTN) SLV AID DISTRIBUTED FROM WAREHOUSE, RED CROSS-UNHCR DISTRIBUTION CENTRE (5 SHOTS) SCU SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) ROGER DOAN VAN HAY, UNHCR "If the number is increasing in such a way that the community cannot absorb, we must set up camps." SLV/MV MEETING BETWEEN NATO GENERAL WESLEY CLARK AND MACEDONIAN PRESIDENT KIRO GLIGOROV (3 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 2nd April 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SKOPJE, MACEDONIA/DUBOVAC,GLAVOTINA, KOSOVO, YUGOSLAVIA/ KOSOVO-MACEDONIA BORDER
  • City:
  • Country: Yugoslavia
  • Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA74KLBIVQ3QVC10GKOK0F329UY
  • Story Text: North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Supreme Commander General Wesley Clark of the United States is visiting Macedonia to see NATO troops and have talks with the government in Skopje.
    The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has voiced concern that the buildup of Serb troops in north Korovo has forced about 5,000 people to leave the region, and nine villages are now deserted.
    As the hostilities in Kosovo continued on Thursday (March 18), thousands of refugees trudged the roads of Kosovo leaving their shattered villages and ruined homes.The United States has warned that the province faces more violence from a big Yugoslav army build-up in and around the region.
    A fresh fall of snow has made life even more difficult for the refugees as they sit huddled on the back of their tractors, covered in blankets.
    The Brahimi family have been moving from village to village since September last year.Bedrije Brahimi mother of three-year-old Bashkim, showed the wound in her son's arm after he had been hit by Serb artillery fire.
    About 40 refugees took cover from the cold, huddled together in a house.Rahmije Mehami said if we could only see the Serbs leaving here we could live in peace.
    Approximately eight to ten thousand Kosovo refugees have fled Kosovo for neighbouring Macedonia.Most of these have crossed the border in the last ten days.
    Many villages along the border with Macedonia are now empty ruins after being attacked by Serb forces over the last two weeks.
    With no sign of an end to the hostilities in sight, aid workers fear the refugee influx may become too great to cope with.
    UNHCR spokesman for Macedonia Roger Doan Van Hay said if the fighting escalates and the situation worsens it will be a scramble to find accommodation for refugees in Macedonia, and refugee camps will have to be set up.
    He said the organization has now registered 8,500 refugees.About 7,000 of these arrived in the last two weeks as villages along the border were shelled by Serbian troops.
    With new refugees constantly arriving, that number increases every day.
    Most of the Kosovo villages along the border with Macedonia are now abandoned and Serb forces can be seen patrolling the area.
    General Wesley Clark met Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov and the Macedonian Foreign Minister Aleksandar Dimitrov.
    Clark was expected to visit the Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) which is heading a force of 10,000 U.S., German, Italian, British and French troops deployed near the Kosovo border to act as a vanguard for a NATO-led peackeeping mission if Yugoslavia agrees.
    So far, Belgrade is saying it will not allow NATO on Kosovo soil and would resist them.The United States said on Tuesday that a Yugoslav military buildup could be a preparation for war with NATO.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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