Concentration camp conditions in Strpce, say Serbs

B92 ^ | 1/31/02 | B92

[bob808]

B92, January 31, 2002 Concentration camp conditions in Strpce, say Serbs

11:40 STRPCE, Thursday - Ten thousand Serbs from the southern Kosovo Serb enclave of Strpce have been unable to leave the area for nine days because KFOR has refused to provide escorts for convoys travelling either to Serbia or to Macedonia.

International peacekeepers are withholding the escorts until the majority Serb population allows the UNMIK-appointed Albanian mayor to enter the local council building.

UNMIK police have surrounded all Serb residential areas in the region throughout the nine-day standoff, as Serbs block Mayor Bahri Hiseni and his associates from entering their offices.

The escorted convoys are the Serbs only means of obtaining supplies of food and medicines and their only transport to hospitals.

International administrators have directed Serbs needing medical treatment to the closest hospital in Gnjilane, which has all Albanian staff.

"We are living in Strpce as if we’re in a concentration camp," one local Serb told media. (Beta)

[bob808]

Just imagine if the roles were reversed, and Serbs were withholding access to food and medical care from Albanians until they buckled in and allowed an APPOINTED official in.

[bob808]

Balkans bump.

[philosofy123]

It is about time that Bush acknoweledges the mistakes of the Clinton Serbia policy, and take steps to reverse it. Let us side with the Serbes, against the Moslems!

[joan]

This is reminiscent of the evils done to Serbs under Clinton's administration.

US Soldiers Stop Escorting Serbs

The Associated Press
Saturday, July 1, 2000; 7:37 p.m. EDT

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia -- American peacekeepers imposed punitive measures on a Serb community in Kosovo where riots erupted last month, NATO-led peacekeepers said Saturday.

Until the local community improves cooperation with the peacekeepers, U.S. soldiers will stop providing armed escorts for Serbs traveling in convoys to buy food, a statement from U.S. peacekeepers said. All community improvement projects will also be halted.

The decision came after violence last month that followed the abduction and death of an elderly Serb farmer in Strpce, about 25 miles south of Pristina.

The Serbs have accused U.N. police and NATO peacekeepers of failing to search in earnest for the missing man. The Serbs rioted and demolished a U.N. office to press for greater action. His body was found days later.

"The intent here is to say that we are not going to continue to assist the community, pay for things, when they themselves are causing us trouble and destroying what we are trying to fix," said U.S. Maj. Scott Slaten, a spokesman for the NATO-led peacekeepers.

Serb representatives of the enclave met Saturday with U.S. military officials to protest the decision to withhold the armed security needed for Serb convoys that connect Strpce with southern Serbia twice a week, passing through ethnic-Albanian populated areas, Beta said.

Serbs have consistently argued that they have been at risk in the year since NATO-led peacekeepers took over the province after a 78-day air war to force Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to stop his repression of ethnic Albanians.

© Copyright 2000 The Associated Press

[crazykatz]

AND, why DOES a MAJORITY Town of Serbs have to have an albanian thug for a mayor?????? I thought hato was trying to "establish democracy"....NOT!!