Kosovo Albanians Jeer, Demand Exit
Of Russians
KOSOVSKA KAMENICA, Serbia, Aug 13,
1999 -- (Reuters) About 2,000 ethnic Albanian
protesters jeered Russian peacekeepers and
thumped their vehicles on Thursday, demanding
that they leave the volatile southeast of Kosovo.
Anti-Russian sentiment among ethnic Albanians,
bred by Moscow's longtime support for Serbia's
attempt to crush self-rule aspirations in Kosovo,
threatens to boil over after the fatal shooting of an
Albanian near a Russian checkpoint.
Ethnic Albanians say a Russian soldier gunned
down their kinsman, execution-style, early on
Monday.
The U.S. military, in charge of Kosovo's southeast
zone, is investigating the murder in the village of
Koretin but says there is no evidence a Russian was involved.
The ethnic Albanians reject U.S. insistence that Russian conduct has been
impartial and professional. They claim the Russians have intimidated them at
checkpoints and allowed local Serbs to join in, and are protecting
paramilitaries in Serb villages.
Russian army checkpoints have come under fire at night from suspected
ethnic Albanian gunmen several times.
Kosovska Kamenica, an ethnically mixed municipality close to the
provincial border with the rest of Serbia, is a cauldron of tension between
Albanians and Russian peacekeepers.
Protesters marched past the main Russian base in Kamenica, then split into
two columns which converged like a pincer on two Russian armored
personnel carriers (APCs) and a troop truck with soldiers standing nearby.
As they surged past, demonstrators beat on the APCs and truck with their
fists and the shafts of protest banners.
They chanted "Russians Go Home", "Russians No, NATO Yes", and
"Amer-ee-ka", punctuated by rhythmic clapping.
The Russians, in the midst of street patrols or circulating in and out of their
base, were hemmed in by the throng for several minutes but only watched
impassively until it moved on.
"We just try to endure it, turn our head away sometimes. We've got used to
this. It happens every day. It's mostly kids, not many adults," said one
Russian soldier.
About a dozen ethnic Albanian men approached a few Russian soldiers in
an aggressive manner but were quickly pushed back by crowd stewards
with red armbands.
Some protesters carried a banner: "Accomplices in War Crimes Cannot Be
Peacekeepers".
They also shouted "UCK, UCK", the Albanian-language acronym for the
KLA, and carried KLA emblems.
Organizers denied they were from the KLA, but rather a Kamenica council
of civic-minded ethnic Albanians.
"We are deeply concerned with the establishment of the Russian contingent
and the retreat of ... the American contingent which has eroded the security
of this municipality," council member Ismet Shabani said in a speech to the
crowd.
Kosovo's interim U.N. and NATO authorities believe a Russian presence is
vital to safeguard Serbs from "ethnic cleansing in reverse" by Albanian
nationalists that would dim prospects for democracy in Kosovo. ((c) 1999
Reuters)
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