Kosovo Briefing, a bulletin on human rights, humanitarian and security developments on Kosovo, is issued by the Open Society Institute (Washington Office). OSI also issues Serbia Watch, a bulletin on civil society, political and economic developments in Serbia and Montenegro. Please communicate any questions, comments or requests to receive these bulletins to Jay Wise at (202) 496-2401, fax: (202) 296-5381, or <jwise@osi-dc.org> Note: Place names rendered primarily in Serbian spelling

I . TODAY'S TOP EVENTS: REFUGEES STREAM OUT OF KOSOVO; 500,000 KOSOVO

ALBANIANS NOW DISPLACED; MASSACRES, ROUND-UPS, EXPULSIONS CONTINUE

The New York Times reported today that in Pristina, "several residentswho reached relatives abroad reported that families were being expelled from their apartments and collected in the city stadium. The head of the Kosovo Crisis Group in London, Bajram Gecaj, said that the dean of the School of Medicine in Pristina, Alush Gashi, had been executed."

Reuters today reported that Albania's deputy Prime Minister Ilir Meta "said Monday more than 60,000 refugees fleeing the fighting in Kosovo had entered the northern part of Albania over the last 35 hours. He told BBC radio that previous estimates... had been far too low since they did not include many travelling on little-known routes." The Washington Post reported today that "arriving refugees spoke of a column stretching back more than 10 miles, with an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 on the way." The New York Times today noted United Nations High Commission for Refugees [UNHCR] spokesman Panos Moumtzis said Sunday night "there were no men in the group [of newly-arrived refugees] between the ages of 16 and 60, and many young women were being kept behind in Kosovo." The Independent

(London) reported today that as a tractor convoy of ethnic Albanian refugees "moved towards the [Yugoslavia-Albania] border, Yugoslav soldiers picked out men, pulled them out of the convoy and took them away... Thousands of men are said to have disappeared."

The New York Times also reported today that "NATO officials said that Serb forces were creating a buffer zone about six miles wide along the Albanian border. This was being accomplished by emptying and then burning villages along that swath of territory... European observers near the border could see villages in flames, including Orahovac, a major settlement." Reuters yesterday reported that according to a statement by Albania's Information Ministry "the refugees say thousands of others are waiting in the mountains to come in. They have been forced to leave their homes by the campaign of Serbian violence." Reuters reported that NATO spokesman Jamie Shea yesterday "said people driven from their homes in Kosovo...now number more than 500,000, a quarter of the population of the province. He said 50,000 of those have come in the past few days." CNN today cited refugee accounts of "thousands of people taken away in covered trucks... in a considered campaign of ethnic cleansing."

The Independent (London) reported today that "aid agencies said the refugees forced into neighboring Albania were stripped of their identification cards and car number plates on the frontier to ensure they never return." Agence France-Presse reported yesterday that "refugees, quoted by the media, said that the Serbian authorities forced them to sign a document written in Serbian, reportedly saying they were leaving for Albania of their own free will." The Times (London) reported today that "the refugees pouring over four borders last night told similar stories of having their passports and documents confiscated so that they can never return to their homeland."

The Washington Post today noted a report by a refugee fleeing into Albania from Kosovo: "Isuf Morina...described how Serbian forces had selected about 200 men from his village of Krush and forced them to give the three-fingered Serbian salute before mowing them down with automatic weapons."

The New York Times today reported that "the chief representative of the Kosovo rebels here...said he had reports of a column of refugees some five miles long on the way to Montenegro from [the city of] Pec." Another New York Times report today noted "continued reports Sunday of widespread fires and forced expulsions by police in...Pec. Some of the refugees arriving in Montenegro said the Serbian police in Pec had spread the word that the remaining ethnic Albanian population there would be forced to board buses Monday to take them to the Montenegro border." CNN today also noted reports of an organized, forced expulsion from Pec by bus planned for Monday. The Washington Post today reported that "about 5,000 people entered Montenegro today, five times the previous day's total." Following an interview with an ethnic Albanian woman who had fled to Macedonia, National Public Radio correspondent Anne Gerrals reported that "her relatives have been forced out of Pec, and we've been told that they're on a forced March, possibly to Montenegro."

The Washington Post yesterday reported that "refugees passing through Rozaje, Yugoslavia, said that many of the 40,000 residents of Pec in western Kosovo were trapped in and around the center of the city, where government troops looted, burned and shelled homes. About 1,000 residents, they said, managed to flee into the snow-covered mountains on the border between Kosovo and the Yugoslav republic of Montenegro. Some eyewitness accounts from Pec reported dead bodies lying unburied in the streets. In a challenge to NATO bombers, antiaircraft weapons were set up in the center of town." The New York Times yesterday reported that "according to several accounts, a large swath of Pec...was on fire Saturday night. An ethnicAlbanian living in Washington...said he talked Saturday night to a relative in Pec who described seeing burning houses from his window and hearing steady shelling from the direction of Serb military positions. The relative said that he had seen about 200 civilian men being marched down the main road of the city to an unknown destination. The men were flanked by Serbian policemen, he said."

Agence France-Presse today reported that "a new wave of Kosovo refugees reached Macedonia Sunday... At least 1,000 were estimated to have crossed the main border checkpoint at Blace during the day."

The New York Times yesterday reported that "human rights workers and officials of the OSCE, who have been trying to collect evidence of the past few days' atrocities, described a mass execution near Velika Krusa, just north of Prizren in southern Kosovo... The bodies of about 35 men, women and children were found around Velika Krusa Saturday, according to a military official with the OSCE. The official said he had been told by a commander of the KLA...by satellite phone, that the bodies were found shot and mutilated near a rail line. Thirteen other bodies from two families were found nearby and the bodies of two elderly men burned in their homeswere also found. The guerrilla commander had also described seeing many other bodies, maybe as many as several hundred, in the area, but his men had been unable to approach them because of fighting...in the area, the official recounted. This official...said he was confident the information he received from the local guerrilla commander was credible, in part because he had been able to double check it with other sources in Kosovo."

The Daily Telegraph (London) reported today that "around 1,600 people from a ribbon of border towns, Globobic, Goranc, Kotlin [Kotlina/Kutlin], Ivaj and Straz, have all fled." Agence France-Presse yesterday reported that refugees quoted by Albanian media "said that several hundred Kosovars were killed in recent days in half a dozen villages in the province." The Guardian (London) Saturday reported an account by a resident of Kotlina village: "Serb army and irregulars... [were] shooting and burning everything. They burnt all the homes, the school, the ambulance. They didn't touch the mosque, but they burnt everything else... They gathered everybody together in the center of the village, men, women and children... They made a selection: men to the left, women and children to the right; 268 women and children were taken by the police in lorries and buses towards the border with Macedonia and then dumped [at the border], thirty-nine men were taken away. We fear they have been massacred."

Reporting yesterday from the Yugoslavia-Macedonia border on Voice of America, Phillip Smucker said: "A group of male refugees interviewed on the Macedonian border say that men in the village of Kutlin [Kotlina], in southern Kosovo, had been rounded up at gunpoint by Serbian special police on Thursday -- after the first NATO air attack on Serbia. They say the Serb forces marched the men to a village water facility and beat them there for four hours. One man who hid behind a waterfall all day said he heard constant beating. Another man saw Serbian police units force the Albanian men into a covered water facility before tossing a bomb in. The report could not be independently confirmed. The men who escaped from Kutlin say they believe their fellow village males are now dead. They say the women and children in Kutlin were taken on trucks by Serb forces to the nearby town of Kacanik."

Agence France-Presse today reported that "a spokesman for the Albanian Coordination Council said that about 30,000 Kosovars were forced to march to Montenegro on Sunday under the guns of Yugoslav tanks."

The Sunday Times (London) reported that ethnic Albanian refugees arriving Saturday in Albania "told of forced expulsions and killings, including the murder of 20 people in a villages called Landovic."

The Sunday Times (London) yesterday reported that "a Washington official said the State Department had been told that civilians were to be used as human shields in front of tanks: 'Some of the Yugoslav sources are claiming they have orders to start executing some of the people.'"

Reuters yesterday quoted Albanian sources saying that in Mitrovica, "two people lay dead at a bus station and two more people were killed by Serbian police when they tried to move the bodies. The sources added that a large number of Mitrovica residents had been forced out of their homes and took cover in a nearby forest with few clothes and nothing to eat in late-winter cold." The Washington Post yesterday reported that "in Kosovska Mitrovica, many ethnic Albanian houses and shops have been set ablaze. There is no electric power. Foreign diplomats say that Serbs murdered Latif Berisha, a prominent ethnic Albanian politician."

Reuters yesterday reported from the Yugoslavia-Macedonia border that an ethnic Albanian refugee from southern Kosovo "said Serbs had detained ethnic Albanians and taunted them by putting knives to their throats. Weeping for her husband and son, whom the Serbs had kept behind, she said the soldiers had snatched young girls." Reuters yesterday noted that "U.S. officials said Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic appeared to have stepped up 'ethnic cleansing'...[with Serbian forces] executing and raping ethnic Albanians."

The Washington Post yesterday reported that Serbian forces are "reportedly targeting civilians identified...with European and US peace monitors. A Western diplomat said that in Pristina, Serbs had executed two former bodyguards of [OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission chief] Ambassador William Walker... The diplomat said that Serbs had threatened other ethnic Albanians who had worked with international monitors in Pristina, warning them that 'they know who they are.'" The Daily Telegraph today cited an unnamed United Nations High Commission for Refugees worker saying that "we are hearing about executions of persons affiliated with Western aid agencies and embassies."

The Washington Post yesterday reported that "Ferizaj [Urosevac]...is in flames, refugees said. 'You can see houses burning from Pristina to the border,' said Hasim Mjekici, a railroad worker who has taken refuge in Macedonia. An education student from Ferizaj said that soldiers, masked paramilitary troops and armed civilians looted pharmacies and other stores and set gasoline stations ablaze." National Public Radio correspondent Anne Gerrals reporting from Macedonia today quoted one ethnic Albanian refugee saying that in Ferizaj, there was "'complete panic, buildings on fire'... it appears the Serbian police have become much more aggressive."

The Washington Post yesterday reported that "elsewhere in Kosovo, Serbian soldiers reportedly shelled and torched the town of Podujevo ...refugees and diplomats said, as well as towns and villages in the west of the province... Homes in villages around the southern town of Kacanik have also been set on fire." Voice of America yesterday reported that "Western diplomats in Macedonia say they have credible reports that Serbian paramilitary gangs attacked the town of Podujevo in northern Kosovo on Sunday. Albanian sources report that five thousand to seven thousand refugees are on the run from Podujevo and are moving south in the direction of... Pristina."

Associated Press yesterday reported that "one group [of refugees] said they saw 10 young men who had been shot dead lying by the road as they entered Prizren." The Guardian (London) reported today that "in Prizren, Serbs attacked the Albanian League Memorial Center with rifle-propelled grenades."

The Washington Post yesterday reported that "reports from a variety of sources described civilians being forcibly corralled in the cities of Pristina, Kosovska Mitrovica and Kacanik. Police and soldiers are said to be routing residents of outlying towns and villages from their homes and ordering them into these cities, swelling their populations. In some places, damage to homes is forcing more and more refugees into fewer and fewer buildings."

Montenegro's Trade Mission to the United States yesterday reported that over 7,000 refugees had crossed the Serbia-Montenegro border in the past two days, and noted that "the Montenegrin government will have great difficulty in dealing with this increasing humanitarian crisis." CNN reported today that 10,000 refugees had crossed into Montenegro in the last 24 hours.

CNN yesterday noted that Serbian state-run television reported and showed footage of large fires burning in Pristina's civilian neighborhoods and claimed the fires were caused by NATO bombing. [Kosovo Briefing #59 Saturday noted a report by the Times (London) that "Serb police and army units were razing villages north of the city, including several that were predominantly Serb, apparently in order to blame NATO bombs or the KLA."]

The Daily Telegraph (London) cited reports today of "credible reports of terror on the streets of Pristina... Bodies were seen on the streets as armed Serb gangs went on the rampage. The home of Ibrahim Rugova, th de facto Albanian leader, was said to have been burnt to the ground and he was believed to have gone into hiding." The Guardian (London) reported today that "three bodies were found in Pristina's Dardania neighborhood." The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that "men in civilian cars seen driving out of an army base on the edge of Pristina have been tossing leaflets onto the street in what appears to be a crude attempt to create a mass exodus of ethnic Albanians from the capital. The leaflets, professionally printed in black type on red paper, carry the insignia of the...KLA at the top. But they are signed by Ibrahim Rugova...despised by many KLA fighters for having insisted that peaceful resistance was the best way to win Kosovo's independence."

Britain's Defense Secretary George Robertson yesterday said that "we received reports that the notorious paramilitary leader known as Arkan has been operating with the Serbian forces in the region of Pristina... The fact that Milosevic has been recruiting people like Arkan and has sent them to Kosovo tells us, and anybody else, what they need to know about their true intentions. And it also reinforces our determination to stop him... Those carrying out these acts of savagery against the civilian population are committing war crimes and those in authority over them are also responsible and can be brought to justice." The Times (London) reported today that "NATO sources says Arkan was reported as being present in at least two towns where civilians were being rounded up and properties owned by Albanians were looted, then destroyed. Arkan is experienced in setting light to villages and killing those young enough to fight. There is ample evidence of him prosecuting his scorched-earth policy."

The Times (London) reported today that "at Trepca, there were reports of 200 men being rounded up by Serbs and marched to the coal mine where they worked. Troops said they wanted to protect the men from air strikes and told them to shelter in the mine. Once they were inside, the entrance to the coalface was sealed shut. There are no reports of what has happened to these hostages."

II. DOUBT OVER NATO MOVE TO "SECOND STAGE" OF ATTACKS

The Washington Post today reported that despite announcements of NATO's movement into a second phase of bombing targeting Serbian military assets in Kosovo, "defense officials indicated it may be some time before commanders unleash slow, lower-flying aircraft like A-10 Warthogs designed for use against tanks... Another senior Pentagon official described the shift into the second phase of the air operation as 'more of an evolution than a sharp change in direction.'" The New York Times yesterday quoted a senior Pentagon official saying yesterday that the announcement of a change in targeting "is very duplicitous... The phasing is more for the political side, not the military." The New York Times today reported a NATO military planner "said [NATOís] civilian leaders had ruled out attacking the Belgrade headquarters where Milosevic's military lieutenants were planning operations in Kosovo."