Posted on 10/27/2002 8:13:15 AM PST by Destro
27 Oct 2002 15:05
Kosovo mayor said killed in post-vote shooting
(Recasts with mayor reported dead, quotes)
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Oct 27 (Reuters) - An ethnic Albanian mayor of a small Kosovo town was shot dead on Sunday, a day after the U.N.-run Yugoslav province held a peaceful municipal election, a local agency monitoring the vote said.
An official of the mayor's party, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), earlier told Reuters that Uke Bytyci and three of his aides were injured in the shooting near the town of Suva Reka and taken to hospital.
"We believe that the motive was political," the official, who declined to be named, told Reuters.
The head of Kosovo Action for Civic Initiative (KACI), whose monitors were at the scene, said the mayor later died from his injuries.
KACI director Ylber Hysa said Bytyci was trying to calm a dispute between rival supporters of the LDK and another Kosovo Albanian party when he was shot.
"After half an hour he died in Prizren hospital," Hysa told a news conference broadcast live on television, referring to a larger southern town.
A spokesman for the U.N.-led administration of Kosovo confirmed the incident, saying one person had died in hospital, but did not identify him.
"We understand that a senior local politician was among the victims," spokesman Andrea Angeli told Reuters, saying police had detained one suspect.
The LDK, led by veteran pacifist Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova, remained the biggest party in Suva Reka in the election, according to early result projections. Elsewhere, it lost some ground to two parties that emerged from the guerrilla force that battled Serbian troops in 1998-99.
Suva Reka was one of 30 municipalities where Saturday's election was held. International officials said earlier that voting day itself passed without any major incidents, hailing it as a peaceful and successful election, despite low Serb turnout.
I am so glad NATO made Kosovo safe for affiliates of al-Qaeda terrorists to flourish.
How many Serbs are left in Pristina to "turn out?" Couldn't be many.
You bet! Kosovo has been a success. See James Rubin's latest article in the WP. (sarcasm off) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49819-2002Oct18.html
Three shot dead by political opponents after Kosovo vote
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Oct 27 (AFP) - A senior member of Kosovo's president Ibrahim Rugova's party and two other men were shot dead by political opponents in western Kosovo on Sunday, a day after the province's local elections, poll monitors said.
This is the first politically motivated attack in this election period. Kosovo's first local election in 2000, overwhelmingly won by Rugova's League of Democratic Kosovo (LDK), was marred by political violence between rival ethnic Albanian groups.
Ylber Hysa, head of the non-government Kosovo Action for Civic Initiatives (KACI) monitoring the election, identified the dead LDK official as Uke Bytyci, mayor of Suva Reka, some 60 kilometres (35 miles) west of provincial capital Pristina.
Hysa said celebrating members of the ethnic Albanian LDK -- which is expected to win Saturday's election -- ran into supporters of the rival Party of Democratic Kosovo (PDK), led by former ethnic Albanian rebel Hashim Thaci.
"A young supporter of the PDK drew a gun and shot at the mayor and two other people accompanying him. All three have died," Hysa said.
Andrea Angeli, spokesman for the United Nation mission in Kosovo, gave a slight different account of the shooting.
He said Bytyci and two people with him had been shot and injured by at least one person in the village of Lesan, some six kilometres south of Suva Reka.
He said UN police were interrogating a suspect held at Suva Reka police station.
Although the official results of Kosovo's local election have yet to be announced by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Hysa's KACI said the LDK had won the vote in most of the province's 30 municipalities, including Suva Reka.
The Albanian-dominated southern Serbian province of Kosovo has been under UN and NATO administration since 1999.
Kosovo mayor, guards shot dead in post-vote violence
...Among Albanians, early projections indicated that the LDK lost some ground to parties that emerged from rebel force that battled Serbian troops in 1998-99.It looked set to win clear majority in up to 11 of Kosovo's 30 municipalities, including Suva Ruka, according to separate forecasts from two local election agencies. This would still be fewer than in the last local poll two years ago.
The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) led by former guerrilla chief Hashim Thaci advanced in two municipalities, becoming the biggest party in eight. A smaller party of ex-rebel commander Ramush Haradinaj did well in western Kosovo.
That Jamie Rubin article deserves a triple-barf bag barf alert!!!!
The slimy little shill says that our "nation-builders" will enable the "successful" Kosovo to "stand on its own". But an islamic Kosovo has no right to stand at all!!!! KOSOVO IS SERBIA!!!!
A muslim Kosovo is a danger to its neighbors, to Europe, and to America.
Can the UN can point with pride to any accomplishments in the past 50+ years? I can't think of any.
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